First detection of an ultra-high-energy neutrino

CNRS

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

An extraordinary event consistent with a neutrino with an estimated energy of about 220 PeV (220 x 1015 electron volts or 220 million billion electron volts), was detected on February 13, 2023, by the ARCA detector of the kilometre cubic neutrino telescope (KM3NeT) in the deep sea. This event, named KM3-230213A, is the most energetic neutrino ever observed and provides the first evidence that neutrinos of such high energies are produced in the Universe. After long and meticulous work to analyse and interpret the experimental data, today, February 12, 2025, the international scientific collaboration of KM3NeT reports the details of this amazing discovery in an article published in Nature.

The detected event was identified as a single muon which crossed the entire detector, inducing signals in more than one third of the active sensors. The inclination of its trajectory combined with its enormous energy provides compelling evidence that the muon originated from a cosmic neutrino interacting in the vicinity of the detector.

“KM3NeT has begun to probe a range of energy and sensitivity where detected neutrinos may originate from extreme astrophysical phenomena. This first ever detection of a neutrino of hundreds of PeV opens a new chapter in neutrino astronomy and a new observational window on the Universe”, comments Paschal Coyle, KM3NeT Spokesperson at the time of the detection, and researcher at CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, France.

The high-energy universe is the realm of cataclysmic events such as accreting supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies, supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, all as yet not fully understood. These powerful cosmic accelerators, generate streams of particles called cosmic rays. Some cosmic rays may interact with matter or photons around the source, to produce neutrinos and photons. During the travel of the most energetic cosmic rays across the Universe, some may also interact with photons of the cosmic microwave background radiation, to produce extremely energetic “cosmogenic” neutrinos.

“Neutrinos are one of the most mysterious of elementary particles. They have no electric charge, almost no mass and interact only weakly with matter. They are special cosmic messengers, bringing us unique information on the mechanisms involved in the most energetic phenomena and allowing us to explore the farthest reaches of the Universe”, explains Rosa Coniglione, KM3NeT Deputy-Spokesperson at the time of the detection, researcher at the INFN National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Italy.

Although neutrinos are the second most abundant particle in the Universe after photons, their weak interaction with matter makes them very hard to detect and requires enormous detectors. The KM3NeT neutrino telescope, currently under construction, is a giant deep-sea infrastructure distributed across two detectors ARCA and ORCA. In its final configuration, KM3NeT will occupy a volume of more than one cubic kilometre. KM3NeT uses sea water as the interaction medium for neutrinos. Its high-tech optical modules detect the Cherenkov light, a bluish glow that is generated during the propagation through the water of the ultra-relativistic particles produced in neutrino interactions.

“To determine the direction and energy of this neutrino required a precise calibration of the telescope and sophisticated track reconstruction algorithms. Furthermore, this remarkable detection was achieved with only one tenth of the final configuration of the detector, demonstrating the great potential of our experiment for the study of neutrinos and for neutrino astronomy”, comments Aart Heijboer, KM3NeT Physics and Software Manager at the time of the detection, and researcher at Nikhef National Institute for Subatomic Physics, The Netherlands.

The KM3NeT/ARCA (Astroparticle Research with Cosmics in the Abyss) detector is mainly dedicated to the study of the highest energy neutrinos and their sources in the Universe. It is located at 3450 m depth, about 80 km from the coast of Portopalo di Capo Passero, Sicily. Its 700 m high detection units (DUs) are anchored to the seabed and positioned about 100 m apart. Every DU is equipped with 18 Digital Optical Modules (DOM) each containing 31 photomultipliers (PMTs). In its final configuration, ARCA will comprise 230 DUs. The data collected are transmitted via a submarine cable to the shore station at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud.

The KM3NeT/ORCA (Oscillation Research with Cosmics in the Abyss) detector is optimised to study the fundamental properties of the neutrino itself. It is located at a depth of 2450 m, about 40 km from the coast of Toulon, France. It will comprise 115 DUs, each 200 m high and spaced by 20 m. The data collected by ORCA are sent to the shore station at La Seyne Sur Mer.

"The scale of KM3NeT, eventually encompassing a volume of about one cubic kilometre with a total of about 200 000 photomultipliers, along with its extreme location in the abyss of the Mediterranean Sea, demonstrates the extraordinary efforts required to advance neutrino astronomy and particle physics. The detection of this event is the result of a tremendous collaborative effort between many international teams of engineers, technicians and scientists”, comments Miles Lindsey Clark, KM3NeT Technical Project Manager at the time of the detection, and research engineer at the CNRS – Astroparticle and Cosmology laboratory, France.

This ultra-high energy neutrino may originate directly from a powerful cosmic accelerator. Alternatively, it could be the first detection of a cosmogenic neutrino. However, based on this single neutrino it is difficult to conclude on its origin. Future observations will focus on detecting more such events to build a clearer picture. The ongoing expansion of KM3NeT with additional detection units and the acquisition of additional data will improve its sensitivity and enhance its ability to pinpoint cosmic neutrino sources, making it a leading contributor to multi-messenger astronomy.

The KM3NeT Collaboration brings together more than 360 scientists, engineers, technicians and students of 68 institutions from 21 countries all over the world.

KM3NeT is included in the roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, which recognises KM3NeT as a priority research infrastructure for Europe. In addition to the funding provided by research agencies in several countries, KM3NeT has benefitted from various fundings through the European research and innovation programmes as well as the European Regional Development Fund.

---

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-024-08543-1 

Article Title

Observation of an Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Neutrino with KM3NeT

Article Publication Date

12-Feb-2025

 

Ozempic shows promise in reducing cravings for alcohol, heavy drinking

Randomized, placebo-controlled trial confirms side effect seen by many doctors and patients

University of Southern California

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

The blockbuster drug semaglutide, better known as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for obesity, could also help people cut down on their alcohol intake, according to new USC research.

The findings, published in JAMA Psychiatry, showed that the weekly medication, compared with a placebo, reduced alcohol craving, drinking quantity and the frequency of heavy drinking days.

The discovery could help address an important treatment gap: An estimated 178,000 U.S. deaths per year can be attributed to alcohol, which is linked to liver disease, cardiovascular disease and is a known cause of cancer, as noted recently by the U.S. Surgeon General. Nearly a third of American adults have met criteria for problem drinking at some point in their lives — yet very few seek or receive treatment.

The study affirms a common observation by many patients and doctors since Ozempic and drugs like it exploded in popularity: people begin weekly injections of semaglutide for obesity or diabetes — and suddenly lose their desire for alcohol.

This is the first randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of semaglutide designed to study the phenomenon, said Christian Hendershot, first author of the study and director of clinical research at USC’s Institute for Addiction Science.

The drugs currently approved to treat alcohol use disorder aren’t widely used. The popularity of semaglutide and other GLP-1 receptor agonists increases the chances of broad adoption of these treatments for alcohol use disorder, if approved for this indication, said Hendershot, who is a professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

These results justify larger studies of GLP-1 receptor agonists for alcohol use disorder, Hendershot added.

The experiment

For the trial, researchers recruited 48 adults with alcohol use disorder who weren’t actively seeking treatment. Alcohol use disorder is defined by a range of possible symptoms, including the inability to stop or control one's drinking despite negative consequences.

Participants had a past-month drinking history of more than seven (for women) or more than 14 (for men) standard drinks in a week as well as two or more heavy drinking episodes (4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more for men).

One week prior to the first injection, researchers invited participants to drink their preferred alcoholic beverages over a two-hour period in a comfortable, lab setting, with instructions to delay drinking if they wished. Researchers documented delays and drinks consumed.

Participants were then randomly assigned to receive weekly, low-dose injections of Ozempic or a placebo for nine weeks, during which time their weekly drinking patterns were also measured. Afterwards, participants and researchers returned to the drinking lab to repeat the process and see what changed.

What changed?

Results, measured by grams of alcohol consumed and breath alcohol concentration, indicated that semaglutide injections reduced weekly alcohol craving, reduced average drinks on drinking days, and led to greater reductions in heavy drinking days, relative to the placebo. A key finding was that the magnitude of semaglutide’s effects on several drinking outcomes was relatively greater than is often seen with existing medications to reduce alcohol cravings, even though semaglutide was only administered at the lowest clinical doses.

In the last month of treatment, those in the semaglutide group significantly reduced their number of heavy drinking days. Also, nearly 40% of people in the semaglutide group reported no heavy drinking days in the last month of treatment, compared to 20% in the placebo group.

Among a small subgroup of participants who smoked cigarettes at baseline, those treated with semaglutide had significantly greater reductions in average cigarettes per day compared to those in the placebo group.

“These data suggest the potential of semaglutide and similar drugs to fill an unmet need for the treatment of alcohol use disorder,” said senior author Klara Klein of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “Larger and longer studies in broader populations are needed to fully understand the safety and efficacy in people with alcohol use disorder, but these initial findings are promising.”

About this study

In addition to Hendershot and Klein, other authors of the study are Michael Bremmer, Michael Paladino, Georgios Kostantinis, Thomas Gilmore, Neil Sullivan, Amanda Tow, Robyn Jordan, all of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;  Sarah S. Dermody Toronto Metropolitan University; Mark Prince of Keck School of Medicine of USC; Sherry A. McKee of Yale School of Medicine; Paul J. Fletcher of University of Toronto; and Eric D. Claus of Pennsylvania State University.

This research was supported by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grant R21AA026931.

# # #

 

 

 

---

Journal

JAMA Psychiatry

DOI

10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.4789 

Method of Research

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults With Alcohol Use Disorder A Randomized Clinical Trial

Article Publication Date

12-Feb-2025

Long drives & high costs stand between Americans and safe surgery – especially in rural areas

Nearly 1 in 3 Americans lack access to high-quality surgical care at an affordable cost within an hour’s drive, and 44% of rural adults drive an hour or more for any operation, U-M studies find

Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

When they need surgery, nearly one in three Americans may find themselves in a precarious position: They live more than an hour’s drive from a high-quality hospital, and their insurance plan may leave them paying more than they can afford out of their own pockets.

The situation is worse for Americans living in rural areas, according to a pair of new studies from a University of Michigan team led by a surgeon who grew up in rural West Virginia.

And that means more time away from home and work for patients and their caregivers, more expense, or potentially less-safe operations with a higher risk of complications.

The studies, published in the Annals of Surgery and JAMA, document a troubling situation. But they also set out a framework for researchers and policymakers to study and improve Americans’ access to high-quality and affordable surgical care within a reasonable drive time, and for hospitals to understand and support the needs of patients who live far away.

Key findings

The Annals study reveals that 99 million Americans lacked access to timely, high-quality and affordable surgical care in 2020, up from 98 million in 2015. Residents of rural areas had the largest increase in lack of this kind of access, but non-rural residents experienced an increase too.

The researchers define such access as living within an hour’s drive of a hospital that offers surgical care and earned at least three stars from the Medicare quality rating system, and being able to afford the out-of-pocket costs of that operation after any insurance coverage.

The JAMA study focuses on adults living in rural areas who underwent any one of 16 different operations in 2010 and 2020, both low-risk and high-risk surgical procedures.

It finds that 44% of rural adults across the U.S. drove 60 minutes or more to get to the operating room in 2020, up from 37% in 2010.

The median drive time, which discounts the impact of extremely long drives such as ones that patients make from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to the U-M medical campus in Ann Arbor, was 55 minutes. Patients living in rural areas experienced a greater increase in median travel time than non-rural patients.

Factors driving the change

“One of the big factors creating this situation is hospitals closing in rural areas, with more than 150 lost in the last 14 years, but we can also see indications of other factors related to the health policy environment,” said Cody Mullens, M.D., M.P.H., lead author of both studies. Mullens is a resident in the Department of Surgery at Michigan Medicine, U-M’s academic medical center, and a National Clinician Scholar at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.

“The number who lacked access due to not having insurance shrunk a lot, likely due to the Affordable Care Act, but the number who are underinsured, likely due to the growth in high-deductible health insurance plans and other factors, grew. So did the number who had to drive further to reach any hospital, especially a three-star or higher hospital.”  

Mullens and his colleagues, including associate professor of surgery Andrew Ibrahim, M.D., M.Sc., and former U-M surgeon John W. Scott, M.D., M.P.H., now at the University of Washington, married data from multiple sources to develop their index of surgical access and measure drive times. Their approach goes beyond previous studies that examined specific aspects of barriers to surgical care, by combining data about those factors.  

“When we can look at these factors in concert, we can have a better understanding of the net effect of our complex policy environment on patients, who may delay getting surgery and see their condition worsen and become more complex,” said Mullens. He notes that while the surgical patient data they used came from Medicare, the findings apply to any adult needing surgery.

Rural hospitals and patients most at risk

Mullens and colleagues previously published an overview of findings about the impacts of rural hospital closures, and a JAMA Viewpoint on how to monitor the impacts of a 2023 policy change for rural hospitals. It allowed them to get additional Medicare funding that could keep them open, in exchange for becoming Rural Emergency Hospitals that don’t offer inpatient care or any surgery that requires an overnight hospital stay.

The new findings also reflect a trend toward centralization of more complicated operations to certain hospitals – driven by a need to increase quality and safety, and reduce complications.

But the new JAMA paper looks at eight operations that are not usually viewed in this light, such as those to remove an inflamed appendix or gallbladder, repair a hernia, or replace arthritic knees and hips.

“It’s not acceptable for that large a proportion of patients to drive that far for low-risk surgery that can be performed safely and with high quality at smaller hospitals,” said Mullens. When deciding which cases to take, or whether to offer telehealth options for pre-operative and post-operative appointments, surgeons may want to consider patients’ travel times.

As for underinsurance for surgical costs, Mullens and colleagues note that helping surgical candidates choose insurance plans based on total potential out-of-pocket cost, rather than just monthly premium cost, could improve affordability.

When someone knows that surgery may be in their future, choosing a Medicare, ACA Marketplace or employer-sponsored plan that does not have a high deductible, starting and adding funds to a tax-free health savings account or flexible spending account, and checking on which hospitals are considered in-network for surgery, can be very important.

The studies were funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R01-HS028606-03) and the National Institutes of Health, and by U-M’s support for the National Clinician Scholars Program.

In addition to Mullens and Scott, the authors of the Annals of Surgery paper are Nina Clark, MD; Nicholas Kunnath, MS; Joseph Dieleman, PhD; and U-M Surgery chair Justin Dimick, MD, MPH. 

In addition to Mullens and Ibrahim, the authors of the JAMA research letter are Reagan A. Collins, BA, Kunnath, and Janice C. Probst, PhD. 

Trends in Timely Access to High-quality and Affordable Surgical Care in the United States, Annals of Surgery 281(2):p 265-272, February 2025. | DOI: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000006586 https://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurgery/abstract/2025/02000/trends_in_timely_access_to_high_quality_and.17.aspx

Trends in Travel Time to Obtain Surgical Care for Rural Patients, JAMA. DOI:10.1001/jama.2025.0447 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2025.0447?guestAccessKey=b2febfde-cdf0-4172-b81a-6007b6ec18e4&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=021225

 

 

---

Journal

JAMA

DOI

10.1001/jama.2025.0447 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Trends in Travel Time to Obtain Surgical Care for Rural Patients

Article Publication Date

12-Feb-2025

 

Trends in travel time to obtain surgical care for rural patients

JAMA Network

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

About The Study:

 The percentage of rural patients traveling more than 60 minutes to obtain surgical care significantly increased between 2010 and 2020 for both low- and high-risk operations. Additionally, increases in median travel time for rural patients outpaced changes for nonrural patients. These findings suggest a persistent and growing disparity in travel for rural patients undergoing surgical procedures. Contributing factors likely include ongoing rural hospital closures, workforce shortages, and rural patients bypassing local facilities to obtain care elsewhere. 

Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Cody Lendon Mullens, MD, MPH, email codymu@med.umich.edu.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jama.2025.0447)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

#  #  #

Embed this link to provide your readers free access to the full-text article This link will be live at the embargo time 

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2025.0447?guestAccessKey=b2febfde-cdf0-4172-b81a-6007b6ec18e4&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=021225

---

Journal

JAMA

 BREAKTHROUGH

The next-generation solar cell is fully recyclable

Linköping University

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Researchers at Linköping University have developed a method to recycle all parts of a perovskite solar cell repeatedly without environmentally hazardous solvents.

view more 

Credit: Thor Balkhed

In a study published in Nature, researchers at Linköping University have developed a method to recycle all parts of a solar cell repeatedly without environmentally hazardous solvents. The recycled solar cell has the same efficiency as the original one. The solar cell is made of perovskite and the main solvent is water. 

Electricity use is expected to increase drastically in the coming years with the development of AI and the transition to electrified transport, among other things. In order for the change to not drive climate change, different sustainable energy sources need to work together. 

Solar energy has long been considered to have great potential and solar panels based on silicon have been on the market for over 30 years. But first-generation silicon solar panels are at the end of their life cycle, which has created an unexpected problem.

“There is currently no efficient technology to deal with the waste of silicon panels. That’s why old solar panels end up in the landfill. Huge mountains of electronic waste that you can’t do anything with,” says Xun Xiao, postdoc at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM) at Linköping University (LiU).

Feng Gao, professor of optoelectronics at the same department, adds:

“We need to take recycling into consideration when developing emerging solar cell technologies. If we don’t know how to recycle them, maybe we shouldn’t put them on the market at all.” 

One of the most promising technologies for next-generation solar cells involves perovskite. They are not only relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture but also lightweight, flexible and transparent. Thanks to these properties, perovskite solar cells can be placed on many different surfaces, even on windows. Also, they can convert up to 25 per cent of the solar energy into electricity, which can be comparable to today’s silicon solar cells.

“There are many companies that want to get perovskite solar cells on the market right now, but we’d like to avoid another landfill. In this project, we’ve developed a method where all parts can be reused in a new perovskite solar cell without compromising performance in the new one,” says Niansheng Xu, postdoc at LiU.

However, given that perovskite solar cells currently have a shorter life span than silicon solar cells it is important that perovskite solar cell recycling is efficient and environmentally friendly. Perovskite solar cells also contain a small amount of lead that is necessary for high efficiency, but this also places great demands on a functioning recycling process. 

In addition, there are also legal requirements in large parts of the world for producers to collect and recycle end-of-life solar cells in a sustainable way.

There are already methods for dismantling perovskite solar cells. This mostly involves using a substance called dimethylformamide, a common ingredient in paint solvents. It is toxic, environmentally hazardous and potentially carcinogenic. What the Linköping researchers have now done is to instead develop a technology where water can be used as a solvent in dismantling the degraded perovskites. And more importantly, high-quality perovskites can be recycled from the water solution.

“We can recycle everything – covering glasses, electrodes, perovskite layers and also the charge transport layer.” says Xun Xiao.

The next step for the researchers is to develop the method for larger scale use in an industrial process. In the long term, they believe that perovskite solar cells can play an important role in providing the energy when surrounding infrastructure and supply chains are in place. 

Researchers at Linköping University have developed a method to recycle all parts of a perovskite solar cell repeatedly without environmentally hazardous solvents.

Credit

Thor Balkhed

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-024-08408-7 

Article Title

Aqueous based recycling of perovskite photovoltaics

Article Publication Date

12-Feb-2025

COI Statement

Researchers Xun Xiao, Niansheng Xu and Feng Gao have applied for patents on the technology described.