California is known for its giant, multi-laned highways bustling under bright blue skies. And while this infrastructure is useful to humans, the Golden State’s many highways represent an almost impenetrable barrier for wildlife.

Soon, habitats on either side of the 10-laned 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, California will be reconnected thanks to the world’s largest wildlife crossing, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is scheduled for completion on December 2.

Wildlife crossings are structures that help animals safely cross roads. In the United States, collisions between motorists and large animals take place more than a million times a year. Experts estimate that this results in 400 human deaths every year. But the problem isn’t just road accidents. Habitat fragmentation is also a concern, especially for species that require a large range. Inbreeding can occur if a small enough group of animals becomes isolated. 

In the Los Angeles area, mountain lions (Puma concolor), also known as pumas or cougars, are currently the species most vulnerable to genetic isolation caused by roads and development, according to the project’s website. And the 101 Freeway appears to be the most important obstacle, out of all the roads in the area, to the region’s ecological health. 

As such, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing aims to reconnect local plants and animals in the ecosystem of the Santa Monica Mountains.  It’s about 210 feet long and about 170 to 174 feet wide. A thick, sturdy-looking vegetation-covered bridge already straddles the busy freeway—but the weather might throw a wrench in the project’s schedule. 

“We’re just hoping El Niño‘s on our side,” Beth Pratt, president of the Wildlife Crossing Fund, tells the Los Angeles Times, in reference to the climate pattern that typically brings wetter winter weather along the United States’ southern border. Flooding would put work on pause, according to the outlet. “I keep saying, ‘Mother Nature, we’re trying to help you. Let’s not throw any more complications our way.’” 

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In November 392, the Roman emperor Theodosius I signed a law banning every pagan rite, including those performed in private. Against that date, the claim now coming from Bulgaria’s National Museum of History sounds startling: that people went on honoring the old gods until around the middle of the fifth century, in a temple built […]

Rattlesnake venom is a complex blend of necrotic toxins designed to quickly disrupt blood coagulation and destroy tissue cells. This effective biological weapon comes at a major premium, however. Snakes must regularly replenish their venom reserves, which means they need to dole out just the right amount with each bite. Injecting too little venom into prey may allow their next meal to escape, while delivering too much can leave a rattlesnake defenseless against its own predators.

But that doesn’t mean rattlesnakes adhere to a one-bite-fits-all policy. According to researchers at California’s Loma Linda University, the amount of venom routinely varies by individual reptile. Their recent findings published in Frontiers in Ethology indicate these dosage ranges aren’t randomly distributed, and that snakes and their venom are much more complicated than many people realize.

“This study gives us a better understanding that reptiles, such as rattlesnakes, are behaviorally complex and have personalities like humans do,” explained Loma Linda University biologist and study co-author Chelsea Martin.

Martin and her colleague, William Hayes, focused on the preferences of the Pacific rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus helleri). On three occasions over a four-week window, the team offered 48 snakes the chance to sink their fangs into a membrane-covered beaker. Previous experiments mainly focused on the frequency of bites, but Martin and Hayes also measured the amount of injected venom in each instance. They then compared the data across snakes.

“The results were striking in their consistency,” the study’s authors wrote in an accompanying Phys.org rundown.

The team also reported measured behaviors like aggressiveness, bite willingness, and the amount of venom amount were statistically significant and repeatable across many of the snakes. Additionally, their study further debunks the lingering myth that larger snakes actually produce less venom.

“Larger snakes expended more venom than smaller snakes, as expected given their greater capacity for venom storage,” explained the biologists, while noting that actual delivered levels still occasionally varied regardless of size.

The study’s authors emphasize that their findings shouldn’t be held against the rattlesnakes themselves. While often feared, the snakes generally do everything they can to avoid confrontations with larger animals like humans. Bites are almost always the result of an unintentional encounter in the wild rather than an overly aggressive serpent. If anything, it’s people who aren’t paying attention to their surroundings, and not the other way around.

“One practical lesson remains unchanged: No rattlesnake should be approached or handled on the assumption that it will behave predictably,” the authors said. “Consistent individual differences do not make any particular snake safe.”

The post Rattlesnake bite venom is based on their personality appeared first on Popular Science.

Our fingerprints, patterns on whale flukes, and fur patterns on cheetahs are examples of the natural ways we can tell one individual animal from another. For an Amazonian treefrog called the egg-eating spiny-backed frog (Osteocephalus oophagus), we need to look into their eyeballs. Fine black radial lines cross their golden irises, and form a pattern similar to our fingerprints. A study recently published in the journal Herpetozoa details the discovery.

The project began with study co-author Mélissa Peignier, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Bern in Switzerland, admiring frog eyes. 

“At the time, I was doing my PhD, studying Allobates femoralis in the field in French Guiana,” Peignier said in a statement. “My first reaction was simply something along the lines of, ‘Wow, what beautiful eyes!’ That initial curiosity gradually turned into a genuine interest in the species, and I realised how little we actually know about them.”

There was also an ethical component. One of the standard ways to tell amphibians apart from one another is toe-clipping, where a section or all of a single toe is removed. This procedure can affect their survival, physiology, and behavior. 

“Other studies have used toe-clipping, which involves removing some of the digits. Personally, I was uncomfortable with this approach, especially given that these are arboreal frogs that rely on their limbs to climb trees.”

Looking for other markings could offer a more humane solution and a way to observe the animals natural behavior unimpeded.

For this study, fieldwork took place over three rainy seasons (2021 to 2023) on a river island in the Nouragues Nature Reserve in French Guiana. They identified 103 individual frogs over the course of the study.

During their later encounters, the team took pictures of each animal’s eyes without touching it and then compared the images with a reference library. This way, the recognised frogs were left undisturbed and their eyes appeared in their more natural state. The identifications were then independently verified using Wild-ID, a software package that analyzes photographic markings in animals.

They found highly distinctive iris patterns. Within one season, between 56 and 80 percent of the frogs were recaptured and reliably re-identified. According to the team, this indicates that the patterns on their eyes remain stable enough to monitor the frog in the short-term. Photographs could even be taken of frogs while in their mating embrace (called amplexus) without disrupting them. The team hopes that this method will spread. 

“In a world where biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate, it is essential that we minimise our impact on the animals we study,” added Peignier. “If we can reliably identify individuals using naturally occurring features, we may be able to reduce the need for more invasive marking techniques while still collecting the data needed to answer important scientific questions.”

While the reliability of the eye markings will vary between species, and should be done case by case, the team sees considerable promise for amphibians with complex irises. And working with them offers its own benefits. 

“Honestly, the frogs themselves are incredibly beautiful and surprisingly chill, which makes working with them a real pleasure,” Peignier said. 

The post Treefrog ‘fingerprints’ are on their eyeballs appeared first on Popular Science.

Fall is here, and with it comes very determined deer. Mating season for the hoofed ruminants typically begins once temperatures dive and the days grow shorter, but the annual event also poses problems for humans. The deer have one thing on their mind, which means they pay even less attention to vehicles and roadways. In New Jersey, roughly 41 percent of all annual animal collisions occur between October and December, while the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety routinely tallies over 275 fatalities from similar accidents nationwide every year.

Driving gets even riskier in rural areas, which frequently host higher deer populations and much darker roads. However, a recent pilot program in Virginia offers a promising tool that may keep commuters safe while also allowing the animals to do their thing. At the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), researchers designed an automated digital roadside sensor system that warns drivers of large jaywalkers like deer and elk.

According to VTTI engineer Shreyas Bhat, the year-long trial demonstrated a “measurable change” in how local drivers responded when alerted to oncoming wildlife. Bhat and his colleagues tested the system with help from the state’s Department of Transportation along a 14-mile section of Route 460 in southwest Virginia. The array was composed of eight portable, solar-powered trailers and customizable digital message signs. Each station included thermal cameras analyzed by onboard machine learning software, which triggered the sign alerts whenever it flagged nearby medium– to large–sized animals.

Over the course of the trial, researchers amassed driving data on over 10,000 vehicles, while the detection system maintained an estimated accuracy of around 97 percent. This is particularly impressive given the region’s environmental and infrastructural challenges.

“This system is unique because of the requirements of the area—it needed to be solar powered, portable, and be able to withstand all weather conditions,” explained VTTI engineer Jean Paul Talledo Vilela.

The team reported an average reduced speed of about three miles per hour thanks to the roadside warning signs. That may not seem like much, but even a slight slowdown can save lives. It also proved people took note of the system.

“Speed is an important data point to understand if drivers were actually paying attention to the message board,” said Talledo Vilela. “Even if they are not braking aggressively, some reduction in speed indicates that they may be paying more attention to their surroundings because they got that alert.”

While Talledo Vilela, Bhat, and their collaborators are still parsing through data from the program,(it ended in September) the initial findings remain promising. From here, the team hopes to refine the overall system while organizing future trials in other regions of the country. If successful, the relatively simple installations could also be adapted for other year-round road safety situations like construction or real-time weather hazards.

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A comienzos del siglo V, una mujer de alto rango fue enterrada junto a una antigua posta de la Vía Augusta, en la actual provincia de Castellón, con un vaso de vidrio y dos alfileres de oro de tradición danubiana. Su hermano acabó sus días en Mérida, la romana Augusta Emerita, a unos 725 kilómetros […]

Before giant manta rays (Mobula birostris) can grow to up to 30 feet long and 4,409 pounds, they must start small like most living things. Giant manta ray babies (called pups) in Central America don’t have their size to protect them from orca whales (Orcinus orca) and the numerous sharks in the open ocean. Their solution—sticking to the coast, where there is plenty of food to help them grow and defend themselves. A new study published today in the journal Frontiers in Fish Science details the baby rays’ behavior. 

“We show that manta rays’ lifestyle isn’t a one-size-fits-all behavior. Giant manta rays in Central America undergo a dramatic shift in space use as they mature,” Jeffry Madrigal-Mesén, a study co-author and project leader of Mantas Costa Rica, said in a statement. “Juveniles remained strictly within shallow nearshore waters that serve as coastal refuges, but most of the tracked adults executed long-distance transboundary migrations along the continental shelf break into Central America.”

Where the pups grow

In the study, the team used multiple methods to track and identify mantas at five locations between 2018 and 2025. Acoustic telemetry uses underwater sound pulses to monitor fish movements and allowed the team to track 59 individual rays. With satellite telemetry, transmitters track movement and behavior from a distance and helped the team track large-scale movements of 12 individuals. Lastly, photo identification helped to identify individual manta rays.

“If we hadn’t used all three technologies together, we simply wouldn’t have been able to piece this puzzle together,” explained Madrigal-Mesén. “Combining these tools turned fragmented data into a unified, undeniable story.”

The team ended up with a dataset of over 12,000 detections. The data showed that young mantas (those with a body about 10 feet or less) stick to shallow coastal refuges. In these more shallow spots, the pups have a safe place that doesn’t overlap with their predators’ hunting grounds. They have plenty of food and places to hide, and even get essential services like cleaning from reefs.

“Mature adults can rely on their massive body size and their ability to dive deep to evade threats. But juveniles don’t have that luxury,” said Madrigal-Mesén. “What is truly amazing is seeing how strictly young manta rays stick to coastal waters as long-term refuges. We see the same individuals more often than once a year. In fact, just recently, they were sighted again at the exact same tagging location. It is always a joy to see them again—they have truly become a part of the family.”

By comparison, nine mature mantas in the study went on expansive migrations along the continental shelf break. One manta ray nicknamed Mickey Mouse because of a spot pattern on his belly had movements that suggest the fish also continue to display loyalty to a particular site once they grow up. Unusually approachable for a manta, Mickey Mouse allowed the team tag him multiple times over several years, which provided a continuous dataset. In 2020, he logged 462 acoustic detections at a coastal hub called El Secreto. He returned to the same shelf in 2023, and stayed there for 38 days.

“Nearshore cleaning stations transcend basic hygienic function; they act as primary social hubs where courtship and reproductive interactions take place,” said Madrigal-Mesén. “Returning to a predictable coastal depot allows mature rays to prioritize social and cleaning needs before undertaking large-scale regional migrations.”

Traveling the manta swimway—safely

Once they leave coastal regions, adult manta rays face different dangers. Coastal areas are often legally protected marine reserves, but the open ocean is another story. They no longer have legal protection and are exposed to dangers from industrial fisheries and vessel strikes.

According to the team, this shows that marine protected areas alone are not enough to protect this highly mobile species as it swims across Central America. They say that multi-national “conservation swimways”  that link the domestic juvenile coastal refuges with adult migratory corridors could help keep the endangered rays safe. 

“This study opens a new chapter for manta ray research in Central America,” Madrigal-Mesén concluded. “We hope it sparks fresh enthusiasm and encourages future collaborators to join us in executing the new ideas and research projects we have planned for the conservation of this species.”

The post Baby manta rays stick to the shallows to avoid sharks and orca appeared first on Popular Science.

A plant-derived compound called ailanthone reduced HSV-1 replication in several cell models and eased corneal disease in a mouse model of herpes simplex keratitis, according to the study. The researchers found that ailanthone acted mainly after the virus entered cells and linked much of this effect to reduced expression of integrin beta 2, or ITGB2, a host protein that supports viral replication. The results identify ailanthone as a potential drug candidate, but the experiments do not establish that it is safe or effective in people.

The team began by screening natural compounds and testing ailanthone in African green monkey kidney Vero cells infected with HSV-1. Concentrations of 100 to 3,000 nanomolar reduced transcription of the viral immediate-early genes ICP0 and ICP4 and the late gene gD in a dose-dependent manner. The compound also reduced plaque formation and the concentration of progeny virus released into culture. Ailanthone had a half-maximal cytotoxic concentration above 10,000 nanomolar in these cells, while its half-maximal effective concentration against viral replication was 197.4 nanomolar, giving a selectivity index greater than 50. It also suppressed HSV-1-induced increases in the inflammatory cytokine genes IL-1B and TNF-α.

Antiviral activity was subsequently observed in human corneal epithelial cells, a model more directly relevant to the tissue affected by keratitis. Ailanthone concentrations of 100 to 500 nanomolar markedly reduced the cytopathic effects of HSV-1F, lowered expression of ICP0, ICP4 and gD, and reduced the viral induction of IL-1B and TNF-α. Its effective concentration in these cells was 50.16 nanomolar, with a cytotoxicity concentration above 10,000 nanomolar and a selectivity index greater than 100. The researchers also tested the compound in human retinal pigment epithelial ARPE-19 cells, where it reduced viral gene expression, plaque formation and progeny-virus titers while showing low cytotoxicity.

Activity was not restricted to the laboratory HSV-1F strain. In ARPE-19 cells, ailanthone concentration-dependently inhibited the late gD gene in the clinical acyclovir-resistant strain HSV-1/153, whereas 1,000 nanomolar acyclovir had little effect. The compound’s effective concentration was 35.05 nanomolar against HSV-1F and 227.4 nanomolar against HSV-1/153, with selectivity indices above 100 for both strains. A time-of-addition experiment indicated that ailanthone did not prevent attachment of HSV-1 to cells. It reduced entry under one experimental schedule and had its strongest effect on post-entry replication, where it lowered gD expression.

To investigate how the compound might work, the researchers combined computational target prediction with protein-interaction network analysis. They identified 36 targets shared by ailanthone and herpes simplex keratitis, then selected ITGB2 as a highly connected hub in the resulting network and as a top candidate in molecular docking. The predicted docking score for ailanthone and ITGB2 was −8.6 kcal per mole. Computational predictions alone cannot establish direct binding, so the team also performed a drug affinity responsive target stability assay in THP-1 cell lysates. Ailanthone protected ITGB2 from digestion by the protease pronase E in a dose-dependent manner, while acyclovir did not, providing biochemical evidence consistent with a direct interaction.

Functional experiments then tested whether ITGB2 was necessary for the antiviral effect. Three independent small interfering RNAs reduced ITGB2 messenger RNA and protein in THP-1 cells. Following HSV-1 infection, this knockdown lowered gD messenger RNA and protein and reduced the number of plaques produced when culture supernatants were transferred to fresh Vero cells. The converse pattern appeared when ITGB2 was overexpressed: elevated ITGB2 increased gD expression in infected cells, and it partially counteracted the reduction in gD protein caused by ailanthone in 293T and ARPE-19 cells. Together, these loss- and gain-of-function results support the conclusion that ailanthone’s antiviral activity is mediated at least partly by lowering ITGB2.

The researchers next tested ailanthone in an acute mouse model of HSV-1 keratitis. Six-week-old male BALB/c mice received a corneal scratch followed by application of HSV-1F, then received intraperitoneal ailanthone at 1 or 5 milligrams per kilogram or acyclovir at 5 milligrams per kilogram on days 1, 3 and 5 after infection. The methods section states that six animals were assigned to each group, although the discussion says five mice per group were used in the animal experiment. The 5-milligram-per-kilogram ailanthone treatment significantly reduced clinical disease scores, improved the appearance of the cornea under normal and cobalt-blue illumination, and lowered fluorescein staining scores on days 3 and 5. Hematoxylin and eosin staining at day 6 also indicated reduced corneal inflammation, and viral titers in ocular swabs were significantly lower than in infected mice given vehicle.

Analysis of mouse corneal tissue was consistent with the proposed mechanism. ITGB2 was upregulated in the corneas of infected animals, and ailanthone reduced its fluorescence intensity in a dose-dependent manner. Acyclovir did not significantly alter corneal ITGB2 levels. The investigators interpreted this as evidence that ailanthone differs from a direct viral DNA-replication inhibitor: the data are consistent with modulation of a host dependency factor rather than action solely through a viral enzyme. However, the study did not determine precisely how binding to ITGB2 leads to lower protein abundance. The authors note that transcriptional regulation, changes in messenger-RNA stability, or enhanced protein degradation could all be involved, and dedicated experiments would be required to distinguish among them.

Several limitations constrain how far the findings can be generalized. The cell experiments used established lines, including corneal epithelial and retinal pigment epithelial cells, rather than primary human corneal cells or an intact human immune system. The animal experiment examined acute primary infection in young male mice, whereas recurrent reactivation and the inflammation associated with repeated episodes are important features of human herpes simplex keratitis. Ailanthone was administered by intraperitoneal injection, but no topical ophthalmic formulation, corneal penetration, intraocular distribution, or optimized dosing regimen was evaluated. Long-term ocular toxicity and safety under repeated exposure also remain unknown. The natural compound may additionally affect multiple targets, and compensation among integrins could limit or alter its effects. The evidence therefore supports further preclinical investigation of ailanthone and ITGB2 as a host-directed antiviral strategy, not a clinical recommendation or a claim of human therapeutic benefit.

Subject of Research: Preclinical evaluation of ailanthone as a host-directed inhibitor of HSV-1 replication and herpes simplex keratitis.

Article Title: Natural compound ailanthone alleviates herpes simplex keratitis in mice by inhibiting HSV-1 replication

Article References: Chen, L., Yang, E., Zhang, X., Zhang, L., Wu, L., Chen, S., Jin, W., Qin, Q., Chen, R., Wu, J., & Chen, D. (2026). Natural compound ailanthone alleviates herpes simplex keratitis in mice by inhibiting HSV-1 replication. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 17, Article 1937590. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2026.1937590

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2026.1937590

Keywords: HSV-1, herpes simplex keratitis, ailanthone, ITGB2, host-directed antivirals, viral replication, corneal infection, mouse model, integrin beta 2, drug resistance, Natural, compound

Researchers at ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland, have produced a high-intensity beam of muonium atoms in a cold state, an experimental advance that could enable a direct test of whether gravity acts differently on second-generation matter. The peer-reviewed study in Nature Physics describes a new method for generating muonium in superfluid helium. The resulting atoms travel at similar speeds and almost parallel to one another, properties required for a future interferometer that would measure the tiny influence of gravity on muonium.

The study did not conduct that gravitational measurement or find evidence that gravity departs from its expected behavior for ordinary matter; it instead developed the beam source needed for the proposed test. The experiment is designed to examine the universality of free fall and the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass, a cornerstone of Albert Einstein’s theory of gravitation. In ordinary matter, bodies fall at the same rate at a given point within a gravitational field, while the equivalence principle links gravitational mass with inertial mass.

According to the research team, this principle has so far been demonstrated only with ordinary matter or first-generation antimatter. Muonium is a neutral atom formed from a positively charged antimuon and a negatively charged electron, making it a second-generation probe. A gravity experiment with this exotic atom would test whether the equivalence continues to hold for particles outside the first generation.

Muonium has two characteristics that make it useful for this test: it is neutral, and it belongs to a heavier and less familiar generation of particles. A neutral object allows gravitational behavior to be studied without the weak gravitational signal being masked by stray electromagnetic fields, which can dominate the behavior of charged particles. At the same time, muonium is exceptionally difficult to produce and control.

Its constituent muon decays after only about 2.2 microseconds. Earlier sources generated muonium atoms that flew off in many directions at different speeds and were therefore unsuitable for the precision required in a gravity experiment. The researchers addressed this problem by creating a cold, intense and well-directed beam.

The antimuons were directed into a thin layer of superfluid helium that had been cooled close to absolute zero, at minus 273 degrees Celsius. Superfluid helium is a quantum fluid in which individual helium atoms lose their identity and in which impurities are not tolerated. Lead author Jesse Zhang said the researchers used the superfluid as an “atomic cannon,” exploiting the conversion of chemical potential into kinetic energy to propel the newly formed muonium atoms out of the liquid.

When an antimuon encounters a free electron in the superfluid helium, it forms a neutral muonium atom with positive chemical potential. The atom is forced out of the liquid, and as it reaches the surface, that chemical potential is converted into kinetic energy. The resulting boost sends the muonium vertically out of the helium.

Importantly, the atoms must move through the quantum liquid at a suitable speed without collisions, because excessive scattering would prevent them from reaching the surface within their very short lifetime. The high-intensity antimuon beam from PSI allows many muonium atoms to be generated for the planned experiments. Anna Soter, a professor of physics at ETH Zurich and member of the research team, said the cold state is what makes the proposed gravity experiment possible.

In this context, “cold” does not mean that the atoms are motionless; it means that they propagate at similar speeds and nearly parallel to one another. This improved control over direction and velocity is important because the planned instrument will use the wave properties of the atoms to create an interference pattern. A very small shift in that pattern caused by Earth’s gravitational pull would provide a measure of gravity’s effect on muonium.

The study establishes the upstream beam capability rather than reporting the result of that comparison. The next stage of the program is the development of a muonium interferometer. According to the researchers, they hoped to test the method for the first time with the atomic beam in the year of the announcement and, if that worked as expected, to carry out the actual gravity experiment two or three years later.

Those are planned milestones rather than completed measurements. If the interference pattern of muonium shifts differently from the pattern expected for ordinary matter, Soter said the result would be surprising and could, among other theoretical possibilities, point toward the existence of a fifth force. No fifth force has been proven, and the present work provides no evidence for one.

The team’s primary aim is to measure whether the equivalence between gravitational and inertial mass applies to a second-generation particle. Physics recognizes four fundamental interactions: gravity, electromagnetism, the strong interaction and the weak interaction. A fifth force has been proposed repeatedly, but it has never been established.

Soter emphasized that the researchers are open-minded about what the measurement may show while keeping the immediate objective focused on the first such test. The new beam is therefore an enabling experimental result, not a demonstration that Einstein’s theory has been challenged or overturned. Beyond the planned gravity measurement, the high-intensity muonium beam is expected to enable more precise laser-spectroscopy experiments.

These could allow muonium to be measured more accurately than in previous work and provide information about the muon’s mass and fundamental physical constants, which are stated goals of the research group. The same experimental source can thus serve two purposes: supplying a cold, directed beam for a gravitational comparison and providing a larger, better-controlled population of muonium for detailed spectroscopic study. The reported advance addresses a major technical obstacle while leaving the central scientific question unresolved.

A successful gravitational test will still require an interferometer capable of resolving a minuscule shift in an interference pattern while dealing with muonium’s short lifetime, beam quality and other sources of uncertainty. The study’s demonstrated result is the generation of a high-intensity, superthermal muonium beam in superfluid helium, with atoms emerging in the cold state needed for future work. Whether muonium falls exactly as expected for ordinary matter remains to be measured.

The beam nevertheless supplies the experimental foundation for testing gravitational universality in a second-generation particle, a comparison that had not previously been carried out with muonium.

Subject of Research: A cold muonium beam developed for future tests of gravitational universality and laser spectroscopy

Article Title: Novel particle beam could challenge Einstein’s Theory of Gravity

Article References: Novel particle beam could challenge Einstein’s Theory of Gravity. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: muonium, muon beam, gravity, gravitational universality, equivalence principle, interferometry, superfluid helium, laser spectroscopy, ETH Zurich, Paul Scherrer Institute, Novel, particle

The PLOS One editors have issued an expression of concern for a 2024 case study concerning the digital economy, innovation factor allocation and industrial structure transformation in China’s Yangtze River Delta city cluster. The notice, published on October 21, 2026, states that the article was identified as one of a series of submissions for which the journal has concerns about the integrity or reliability of the peer-review process. Readers are advised to interpret the original study with this issue in mind.

The notice does not report a new scientific finding, identify an error in the paper or evaluate the study’s scientific validity. According to the editors, PLOS did not assess the article’s integrity or scientific validity when following up on the matter. The expression of concern therefore records a concern about the circumstances surrounding peer review rather than announcing that the study’s data, methods or conclusions have been disproved. The editors also state that they have no concerns regarding the authors’ conduct during the peer-review process.

The affected article was published in PLOS One in 2024 under the title “Digital economy, innovation factor allocation and industrial structure transformation—A case study of the Yangtze River Delta city cluster in China.” The supplied notice does not provide the study’s findings, population details, analytical methods, model estimates, uncertainty measures or specific mechanisms linking the subjects named in the title. As a result, the notice does not support conclusions about the relationship between digital-economy development, innovation factors and industrial structure in the region, nor does it establish whether any reported association or causal effect is reliable.

For the wider research record, the immediate effect is that the 2024 article is accompanied by an editorial notice questioning the integrity or reliability of its peer-review process. The notice does not provide details about the submissions or explain the specific basis for the journal’s concerns. It also does not announce a correction, replacement analysis or revised conclusion. The central status of the paper’s scientific validity remains unevaluated in the supplied material, while the issue is sufficiently significant for PLOS One to advise readers to consider it when interpreting the study.

Subject of Research: A PLOS One expression of concern concerning peer-review reliability in a Yangtze River Delta regional-economy case study.

Article Title: Expression of Concern: Digital economy, innovation factor allocation and industrial structure transformation—A case study of the Yangtze River Delta city cluster in China

Article References: The PLOS One Editors (2026). Expression of Concern: Digital economy, innovation factor allocation and industrial structure transformation—A case study of the Yangtze River Delta city cluster in China. PLOS One, 21(10), e0360867. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0360867

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0360867

Keywords: PLOS One, expression of concern, peer review, research integrity, digital economy, innovation factors, industrial structure, Yangtze River Delta, China, Expression, Concern, Digital

A nurse-led chronic disease management clinic in the urology department of a tertiary hospital recorded 14,013 outpatient registrations between July 2024 and September 2026, according to a single-center retrospective descriptive study using routinely collected service records. The clinic primarily supported long-term management of patients with prostate and bladder cancer while also providing specialty nursing services for other urological conditions. Its follow-up system marked 3,547 of 3,553 assigned tasks as successful, a task-level success rate of 99.83%. These figures describe service activity and record completion; the study did not measure whether the clinic improved clinical outcomes or economic performance.

The clinic was established in July 2024 within the hospital’s existing specialty nursing outpatient service framework. Its operating model included staffing and qualification requirements, professional training, clearly defined nursing responsibilities, physician–nurse collaboration, standardized procedures, information-system support and quality management. Nurses worked within their authorized scope of practice, while urologists participated in medical assessment and treatment decisions when required. The service had four reported components: patient assessment and follow-up planning; treatment follow-up and adverse-event monitoring; rehabilitation guidance and health promotion; and assistance with healthcare policies and basic nursing care.

Monthly registrations increased from 147 in July 2024 to a peak of 710 in August 2026, with fluctuations during the reporting period. Total registration fees were CNY 152,758. The clinic delivered 14,246 prostate cancer-related injections, 3,523 urinary catheterizations, 2,777 intravesical instillation procedures and 2,142 urinary catheter removals. It also assisted patients with prostate or bladder cancer in applying for outpatient chronic and special disease insurance benefits. The study reports these counts as routine service activities, but it did not compare the procedures with those delivered elsewhere or evaluate their individual clinical effects.

Follow-up management was integrated into the clinic’s information system, which contained records for 1,111 patients. Of these, 953 patients had been followed up and 951 had successful follow-up records. Nurses also executed 3,553 follow-up tasks, of which 3,547 were successful, corresponding to the reported 99.83% task-level rate. The descriptive data do not specify the duration or effectiveness of patient follow-up, assess whether missed contacts influenced treatment adherence or health outcomes, or establish how the results would compare with another care model.

Because the research covered one tertiary hospital and relied on routinely collected records, it cannot establish how the clinic would operate in smaller facilities, under different staffing arrangements or in other health systems. The findings offer a documented example of a nurse-led outpatient service with defined responsibilities, standardized workflows, follow-up documentation and collaboration with urologists. The authors stated that further research is needed to evaluate the model’s clinical outcomes and economic implications. Accordingly, the registration growth, procedural workload and high proportion of completed follow-up tasks should be interpreted as descriptions of implementation and recorded service delivery, not as evidence of improved survival, fewer complications, lower costs or other patient benefits.

Subject of Research: Operation and service activity of a nurse-led chronic disease management clinic in hospital urology

Article Title: Development and implementation of a nurse-led chronic disease management clinic in the urology department of a tertiary hospital: a descriptive study

Article References: Liu, C., Xia, Y., Jia, X., Wang, R., Li, T., Ma, Y., & Long, H. (2026). Development and implementation of a nurse-led chronic disease management clinic in the urology department of a tertiary hospital: a descriptive study. BMC Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-026-05566-z

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12912-026-05566-z

Keywords: nurse-led care, urology, outpatient nursing, chronic disease management, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, patient follow-up, service implementation, descriptive study, Development, implementation, nurse-led

Longitudinal airflow can sharply suppress the drifting and ablation of the electrical arc formed between a train’s pantograph and overhead contact wire, according to a modeling and experimental study of pantograph–catenary systems under low-pressure conditions. The researchers built a magnetohydrodynamic model that coupled electric, magnetic, thermal, fluid and arc-motion dynamics, then tested the method in a vacuum chamber with copper and carbon electrodes. In experiments conducted at atmospheric pressure, increasing the airflow to 45 metres per second reduced the measured arc drift height from 27.6 millimetres to zero and shortened the arc-root distance from 51.3 to 3.9 millimetres. The same airflow setting also produced progressively less carbon-electrode damage, supporting the proposal as a possible current-collection control method for railways operating at high altitude.

The need for such control arises because the pantograph–catenary system carries the electrical energy used by electric trains, while the stability of its contact strongly affects operating safety and efficiency. Lower atmospheric pressure presents a particularly difficult environment. The study notes that reduced air density and breakdown-field strength can lower the ignition threshold for pantograph–catenary arcs, increase their frequency and duration, and enlarge the region affected by arcing. Repeated arcing can cause irreversible high-temperature ablation and electrical wear on contact wires and pantograph strips. It can also generate broad-band electromagnetic interference that may affect onboard signalling and traction-control systems, with potential consequences including insulator flashover and disruption of the traction network. These background risks motivate efforts to understand and restrain the spatial movement of arcs in plateau environments.

Existing arc models include the Cassie and Mayr black-box approaches, which support analysis of interactions between arcs and traction-network circuits but do not represent an arc’s changing spatial shape. Magnetohydrodynamic models offer a more physical alternative by coupling electromagnetic, flow and thermal fields. Previous work represented crosswind effects on pantograph–catenary arcs and examined how decreasing pressure affects arc-root jumping, in which the root forms at a new location after the elongated column reaches a critical length. Other studies have shown that magnetic fields can stabilize welding and switching arcs. Airflow regulation, however, has been investigated more extensively in welding than in pantograph–catenary systems, whose dissimilar electrodes, high operating speed, open environment, changing electrode gap and constrained vehicle installation space make their arc dynamics more complicated.

The new model represents an arc initially 6 millimetres long and 2 millimetres in diameter between a copper anode and a carbon cathode. It includes the surrounding air, both electrodes and a central longitudinal-airflow channel beneath the copper electrode, including a 1.5-millimetre control-airflow inlet. A separate inlet represents train-induced airflow and was set to 40 metres per second. Calculations covered pressures of 101, 80 and 60 kilopascals, longitudinal airflow from zero to 80 metres per second and a total simulation time of 25 milliseconds. Air properties were adjusted with pressure, while the electrodes were assigned distinct densities, resistivities, thermal conductivities and heat capacities. The governing equations represented electrical potential and current, magnetic-vector potential, mass and momentum conservation, energy conservation, viscous dissipation, Joule heating and net volumetric radiation.

The calculations use several explicit simplifications. Arc ignition is omitted, and the plasma is treated as being in local thermodynamic equilibrium. Flow in the air and arc domains is assumed laminar and incompressible, while metal vapour generated by electrode evaporation and phase change is excluded. These assumptions make it possible to examine large-scale arc motion and temperature distribution but prevent the simulation from directly calculating electrode mass loss, crack width or crater area. Copper was assigned the anode and carbon the cathode; a Gaussian distribution represented current entering through the copper electrode, and the bottom of the carbon electrode was grounded. The air boundary was treated as magnetically insulated, and the initial temperatures were set to 300 kelvin for the air and electrodes and 5,000 kelvin for the arc domain. The experimental apparatus was separate from the numerical model and provided direct physical measurements of damage.

Without longitudinal airflow, the simulated arc passed through two stages. During the first 10 milliseconds, its column elongated continuously, bent under airflow influence, and developed greater drift height and arc-root distance. From 10 to 25 milliseconds, the column and root distance fluctuated through repeated shortening and elongation. The authors associate this behaviour with the electrical and mechanical limits of the arc: once a column reaches a critical length, the voltage and energy available between the electrodes may no longer sustain continuous burning, and a shorter path of lower resistance may form on the electrode surface. The resulting root “jump” shortened the column before airflow stretched it again. Arc development became faster and both drift height and root distance increased as pressure fell. Temperature briefly exceeded 10,000 kelvin and reached a maximum within roughly two to three milliseconds before fluctuating, while arc voltage rose as the column lengthened and resistance increased.

Longitudinal airflow changed these trajectories in the simulations. As speed increased, drift height, root distance and temperature all declined, with the greatest reductions occurring at lower airflow speeds before the curves began to level off. At 101 kilopascals, the calculated drift height fell from 37.5 millimetres without control airflow to zero at 45 metres per second, while root distance decreased from 57.3 to 3.7 millimetres and temperature dropped from 12,900 to 8,650 kelvin. The airflow needed to eliminate drift was 45, 40 and 35 metres per second at pressures of 101, 80 and 60 kilopascals, respectively; speeds required to bring root distance below 5 millimetres were 45, 40 and 30 metres per second. The authors attribute the stronger response at lower pressure to reduced plasma density, which weakens the arc’s inherent rigidity, Lorentz force and thermal buoyancy, allowing airflow load to become a more dominant influence on its motion.

The temperature response also revealed a practical plateau. The researchers defined the optimal airflow speed as the point after which increasing speed by 5 metres per second changes arc temperature by less than 3 per cent. At atmospheric pressure this occurred at 40 metres per second, compared with 30 metres per second at 60 kilopascals. The reported temperature reduction was 33.8 per cent at 101 kilopascals and 38.1 per cent at 60 kilopascals. Airflow strengthened convective heat removal, which lowered plasma temperature and, in turn, increased deionization and reduced Joule heating. Once thermal exchange approached saturation and the minimum temperature required for self-sustaining arc combustion was approached, further increases in speed produced little additional cooling. The model therefore indicates that the airflow speeds required for control decline as ambient pressure falls.

Laboratory testing used a vacuum chamber capable of controlling pressure with an accuracy of plus or minus 100 pascals, a constant-current supply rated from zero to 150 amperes, an arc igniter, a fan with continuously adjustable airflow from zero to 60 metres per second, a high-speed camera and an oscilloscope. Airflow at the electrode outlet was measured with an anemometer accurate to plus or minus 0.5 metres per second. The camera operated at 6,400 frames per second with an exposure of five microseconds, while each two-second arc test was repeated five times and the mean was reported. Tests at 101 kilopascals used airflow speeds of zero, 20, 30 and 45 metres per second. Without control airflow, high-speed images showed increasing arc drift. At 45 metres per second, drift was virtually absent during the final development phase and root distance was substantially shortened, with observed morphologies broadly consistent with the numerical results.

The experiments also found reductions in carbon-electrode ablation that increased with airflow speed. Microscopy showed shorter ablation areas, smaller craters and narrower crack propagation as the controlled airflow rose. The maximum crack width was 66.7 micrometres without airflow and decreased at higher speeds, while analytical weighing showed progressively less mass loss from the carbon electrode. The proposed mechanism is that stronger airflow promotes arc-root slippage, shortening the time the root remains at one point, while convective cooling lowers temperature and local energy density. These are experimental observations rather than direct outputs of the simulation: because the model omits electrode evaporation and metal-vapour transport, it cannot quantitatively predict ablation rates or near-electrode energy balances. The study therefore demonstrates reduced damage under its controlled laboratory conditions, not a complete first-principles calculation of all processes responsible for electrode wear or a proven field performance level in operating plateau railways.

Subject of Research: Experimental and numerical evaluation of airflow control of pantograph–catenary arcs at low pressure.

Article Title: Research on regulation method for suppression of pantograph-catenary arc by airflow in low-pressure environment

Article References: Xu, Z., Wang, S., Dong, K., & Gao, G. (2026). Research on regulation method for suppression of pantograph-catenary arc by airflow in low-pressure environment. iScience, 29(11), Article 117951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117951

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117951

Keywords: pantograph–catenary systems, railway electrification, electric arcs, low-pressure environments, longitudinal airflow, magnetohydrodynamic modelling, electrode ablation, high-speed rail, plateau railways, arc suppression, Research, regulation

A retrospective study of 1,307 patients undergoing elective percutaneous vertebroplasty for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures found that 136, or 10.4%, had a puncture-site wound event within two weeks of surgery. The composite outcome included erythema or swelling, bleeding or exudate, subcutaneous hematoma, and infection. After adjustment for patient and procedural factors, suture closure was associated with more than twice the risk of the composite outcome, while diabetes, mildly elevated international normalized ratio, and multilevel treatment were also associated with higher risk.

The findings come from consecutive patients treated at Ningde Municipal Hospital in China between January 2022 and June 2026. Patients were excluded if they underwent surgery for a new fracture, had uncontrolled coagulation disorders, received concomitant open spinal surgery, required an intraoperative incision at the puncture site, had malignant tumors or abnormal immune status, or lacked key clinical or follow-up information. The analysis therefore describes elective vertebroplasty performed within one hospital system, rather than all fracture patients or all puncture wounds treated after other forms of spine surgery.

Researchers extracted information from electronic medical records, operative and anesthesia records, laboratory reports, dressing-change notes, wound-clinic assessments, and documented telephone follow-up. All puncture sites were covered with waterproof dressings and assessed within two weeks through inpatient observation, clinical review, or telephone follow-up. A wound event was counted only when explicitly documented in the records. Erythema, swelling, bleeding, exudate, hematoma, and infection were combined into one patient-level outcome, counted once even if a patient experienced several types of event, while individual components were also summarized separately.

Closure was not assigned through a randomized comparison. The operating physician selected nonsuture or suture closure according to intraoperative bleeding, exudation, skin condition, wound tension, and routine practice. Sutured wounds were typically closed with one 3-0 Vicryl Rapide stitch. Among the 1,307 patients, 774 received nonsuture closure and 533 received sutures. An early event was recorded in 53 nonsuture cases, or 6.8%, and in 83 sutured cases, or 15.6%. The crude risk ratio for any event was 2.27, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.64 to 3.15 and a P value below 0.001.

After the researchers adjusted for closure method, diabetes, INR above 1.2, age, sex, body mass index, and multilevel treatment, the association with suturing remained. The adjusted risk ratio was 2.24, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.59 to 3.16 and P below 0.001. Diabetes was associated with an adjusted risk ratio of 1.57, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.11 to 2.21 and P equal to 0.010. An INR above 1.2, defined using the hospital laboratory’s upper reference limit, was associated with an adjusted risk ratio of 1.66, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.08 to 2.57 and P equal to 0.022. Multilevel treatment had an adjusted risk ratio of 1.73, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.03 to 2.89 and P equal to 0.038.

The component findings were concentrated in relatively common superficial manifestations rather than infection. Erythema or swelling occurred in 4.1% of patients with nonsuture closure and 10.9% of those with sutures, producing a crude risk ratio of 2.63, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.73 to 3.99. Bleeding or exudate occurred in 2.7% and 5.8% of the respective groups, with a crude risk ratio of 2.14 and a 95% confidence interval of 1.25 to 3.69. Subcutaneous hematoma was uncommon, affecting two nonsuture cases and three sutured cases, and its wide confidence interval included no difference. Infection was documented in one nonsuture case and no sutured cases, too few events to model infection separately.

Age, sex, and body mass index were not independently associated with the composite outcome in the primary adjusted model. Each additional decade of age had an adjusted risk ratio of 1.15, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.94 to 1.41 and P equal to 0.186. Female sex had an adjusted risk ratio of 0.96, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.66 to 1.39 and P equal to 0.829, while each 1 kg/m² increase in body mass index had an adjusted risk ratio of 1.07, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.99 to 1.17 and P equal to 0.091. These estimates mean that the study did not find clear independent associations for those demographic and anthropometric measures, not that they have no relationship to wound events in every clinical setting.

The suture result is particularly notable because the design cannot establish that suturing caused the additional events. The authors excluded several conditions that could make closure decisions unusual, including uncontrolled coagulation disorders, concomitant open surgery, and wounds requiring an intraoperative incision. Even so, surgeons may have selected sutures for locally difficult wounds, bleeding, exudation, poor skin condition, or excessive tension. Those unrecorded features could confound the comparison, while the fact that sutured patients may have had more wound checks or suture-removal visits could also increase the likelihood that mild redness or exudate was noticed and recorded. The finding should therefore be interpreted as an adjusted observational association rather than proof that sutures themselves produce wound inflammation or other complications.

Several other constraints limit what the study can establish. Follow-up was retrospective and varied among inpatient observation, wound-clinic examination, and telephone reporting, so assessment intensity and recording thresholds were not standardized. Very mild redness or transient bleeding may have been missed, and the records did not consistently capture event duration, patient discomfort, additional care, revisits, or hospitalization. The composite endpoint improved capture of local findings but combined conditions with different causes and severities. Only one infection occurred within two weeks, preventing meaningful analysis of surgical-site infection or later infections. The single-center design and the selected elective population also limit generalizability to open spine surgery, malignant disease, immunosuppression, or puncture sites requiring remedial closure.

Overall, the study identifies four factors associated with the short-term local wound status after elective vertebroplasty: suture closure, diabetes, elevated INR, and multilevel treatment. Its practical signal is that early observation may be especially relevant for patients with these characteristics, although the findings do not establish a clinical rule or a preferred closure technique. Because closure was clinician-selected, follow-up was not standardized, and the endpoint combined mild events with rare infection, the results point to priorities for further prospective research rather than definitive guidance. Within those limits, the observed 15.6% event rate after suturing compared with 6.8% after nonsuture closure provides the clearest signal in the cohort, while the observational design makes the mechanism unresolved.

Subject of Research: Factors associated with early puncture-site wound events after percutaneous vertebroplasty for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures

Article Title: Factors associated with early puncture-site wound events after percutaneous vertebroplasty for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures: a retrospective cohort study

Article References: He, X., Huang, C., Zheng, B., Wu, X., Huang, C., Lu, S., Huang, Y., Chen, J., Huang, J., & Li, B. (2026). Factors associated with early puncture-site wound events after percutaneous vertebroplasty for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures: a retrospective cohort study. Frontiers in Medicine, 13, Article 1988843. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2026.1988843

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2026.1988843

Keywords: Percutaneous vertebroplasty, Osteoporotic fractures, Puncture-site wounds, Suture closure, Diabetes, Coagulation, Multilevel treatment, Retrospective cohort, Postoperative care, Factors, associated, early

A survey-based study of 246 village-level social welfare data operators found that business architecture, cross-organizational collaboration and technological readiness were positively and statistically significantly associated with perceived e-government integration impact in two Indonesian regencies. The research, focused on Gunung Kidul and Bangkalan, examined organizational, institutional, relational and technological capabilities associated with social welfare data integration. Governance and leadership and information policy did not show statistically significant direct relationships with perceived integration impact in the pooled sample.

The authors analyzed the survey with partial least squares structural equation modeling. In their framework, e-government integration impact, or EGII, represents perceived improvements in information, system and service quality, responsiveness and public trust. E-government integration scope, or EGIS, describes the breadth of integration across data, applications, electronic communication and knowledge-sharing processes.

EGII was strongly associated with EGIS, meaning that operators reporting more favorable perceived integration outcomes also tended to report broader integration. Because this was an observational analysis of survey responses, the results establish statistical relationships rather than causal effects. The findings identify three capabilities with significant direct relationships to EGII in the pooled model: business architecture, cross-organizational collaboration and technological readiness.

The evidence does not provide operational definitions for these constructs, but the results show that their measured levels were associated with respondents’ assessments of e-government integration outcomes. By contrast, governance and leadership and information policy had no statistically significant direct relationships with EGII in that analysis. This absence of a detected direct relationship does not establish that the two factors are unimportant or that they operate only through indirect pathways, because the supplied findings do not report such indirect effects.

A regency-based robustness analysis found that some relationships were sensitive to local implementation conditions. Significant differences between Gunung Kidul and Bangkan were reported for the technological-readiness-to-EGII relationship and the EGII-to-EGIS relationship. The geographic comparison therefore cautions against assuming that the same capability relationships apply uniformly across the two regencies, although it does not identify the specific local practices responsible for those differences.

Its direct contribution is to show which measured interoperability capabilities were associated with perceived integration impact in the surveyed population, alongside evidence that some relationships varied between the two regencies.

Subject of Research: Survey-based analysis of interoperability capabilities for social welfare data integration in two Indonesian regencies

Article Title: Determinants of E-government interoperability capabilities for social welfare data integration in Gunung Kidul and Bangkalan Regencies, Indonesia

Article References: Fikri, R., Purnomo, E. P., Pribadi, U., Mohamed, A. M., & Mohammad, N. B. (2026). Determinants of E-government interoperability capabilities for social welfare data integration in Gunung Kidul and Bangkalan Regencies, Indonesia. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04608-5

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04608-5

Keywords: social welfare data, e-government, interoperability, Indonesia, PLS-SEM, technological readiness, cross-organizational collaboration, business architecture, digital governance, public services, Determinants, capabilities

The penalty, one of the largest levied against the tech giant, stemmed from a lawsuit by New Mexico claiming the social media company had misled users about their data privacy.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted US aerospace and defense company BETA Technologies a first-of-its-kind authorization to conduct flights with prospective customers aboard its electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, marking a significant step toward commercial operations.

The approval, granted under a Special Airworthiness Certificate for market surveys, allows the aerospace and defence company to demonstrate its ALIA A250 aircraft to prospective operators and other participants. It also expands the geographic scope of the company’s flight operations.

The authorization comes after a safety review by FAA experts and represents a step toward commercial deployment, although the aircraft has not yet received full type certification for routine commercial service.

BETA completed its first flight under the new authorization on October 20, traveling 34 nautical miles (39 miles) in 20 minutes.

First authorized demonstration flight

The ALIA A250 departed Plattsburgh International Airport in New York, taking off vertically before transitioning to conventional wing-borne flight. It then landed vertically at Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport in Vermont.

Designed to operate with or without runway access, the aircraft can potentially support passenger transportation, cargo delivery, medical services and defense operations. It features dual pilot controls and is designed to carry up to five passengers or more than 1,200 pounds of cargo.

According to BETA, the A250 shares several major systems with its conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft, including electric propulsion, flight control computers, batteries and charging infrastructure.

The common architecture allows the company to apply operational experience and technical improvements across both aircraft.

BETA said its CTOL and VTOL aircraft have accumulated more than 250,000 nautical miles of combined flight experience.

The company previously received FAA market-survey authorization for its CTOL aircraft and completed its first crewed electric VTOL transition flight in 2024.

“This authorization brings vertical flight closer to the people and places that will put it to work, building on BETA’s track record of industry firsts,” said Kyle Clark, BETA’s founder and CEO.

The latest certificate permits market-survey flights rather than unrestricted commercial passenger services. BETA must still complete the FAA’s full certification process before beginning routine commercial operations.

Expanding electric aviation operations

The US government is working to accelerate the testing and integration of advanced air mobility aircraft into national airspace.

In March, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), which supports testing of next-generation aircraft in real-world operating environments.

The program includes eight selected projects spanning 28 states, involving aircraft manufacturers, operators and government partners.

The projects cover urban air taxis, regional passenger transportation, cargo networks, emergency medical response, autonomous flight and offshore transportation.

The FAA said BETA’s authorization would allow the company to demonstrate its aircraft across a broader range of operating conditions, subject to applicable restrictions.

“The FAA is committed to working with American innovators to safely integrate these new aircraft into our national airspace, while maintaining the rigorous safety standards that have made the United States a global leader in aviation,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.

BETA is continuing flight testing and working toward full type certification as it prepares its electric aircraft for potential commercial applications.