KICT gives a century-old physics idea new meaning

Tetrode’s 1913 idea provides a physical basis for cubic equations of state

National Research Council of Science & Technology

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Predictive accuracy across 6 cubic equations of state. Mean error in saturated-liquid volume over 76 fluids (fully predictive mode); the new model gives the lowest deviation, 4.0%.

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Credit: Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology

 

Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT, President Park, Sun-Kyu) has developed a new cubic equation of state (EOS) that provides a physical justification for a mathematical structure that the chemical and petroleum industries have relied on for more than half a century without a first-principles explanation.

 Equations of state are essential tools for designing distillation columns, refrigeration cycles, natural-gas processing, and countless other operations: as they predict how fluid volume changes with temperature and pressure. Since the 1970s, widely used cubic equations such as Soave–Redlich–Kwong (SRK), Peng–Robinson (PR), and Patel–Teja (PT)—have improved accuracy by adopting a specific quadratic form for the mathematical form for reshaping the attractive-force term. However, this mathematical structure was largely developed through trial and error, and why it works so well has remained an open question.

 To address this issue, Dr. Lee, Jai-Yeop of Department of Environmental Research Division, traced the origin of the structure to a little-known 1913 idea proposed by Dutch physicist Hugo Tetrode, who described fluids as collections of vibrating oscillators rather than freely moving particles. By incorporating Tetrode’s vibrational correction through a new parameter, d, the study shows that the familiar quadratic structure is not arbitrary. Rather, it is the minimal form that simultaneously satisfies three basic physical and mathematical requirements: correctly reducing to the ideal-gas law at low density, remaining solvable as a cubic equation, and retaining sufficient flexibility to reproduce each substance’s critical compressibility.

 The equation was validated against high-accuracy reference data (NIST REFPROP) for 76 different fluids, ranging from simple gases such as argon and methane to strongly interacting substances such as water and ammonia. In fully predictive mode, using only each substance’s basic critical properties and no adjustable “volume-translation” correction, the new model achieved the lowest average error in saturated-liquid volume at 4.0%, compared with 4.6% for VPT, 5.5% for PT, 7.2% for PR, and 13.7% for SRK (Figure 1).

 The new parameter d also demonstrated clear physical significance. Its values showed a strong correlation (R² ≈ 0.93) with an empirical constant used in vapor-pressure equations whose theoretical basis had previously been unclear, while also grouping the 76 fluids into four distinct chemical families. As shown in Figure 2, the magnitude of the new correction term d, scaled by molecular size, rises steadily from weakly interacting argon to strongly hydrogen-bonded water, indicating that the parameter reflects the strength of molecular interactions in each fluid.

 “Modern cubic equations of state are extraordinarily useful, but part of their success has rested on empirical mathematical structure rather than physical understanding,” said Dr. Lee.

 Because the new model predicts both liquid and vapor behavior directly from a substance’s critical properties, without the additional empirical corrections required by comparable methods, it provides a more transparent foundation for process and equipment design calculations across the chemical, petroleum, and refrigeration industries. Its validation spans fluids such as hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and ammonia, and also suggests potential applications in chemical-process modeling for the low-carbon era, including hydrogen energy, carbon capture and utilization, and clean-ammonia fuels.

  

The parameter d tracks interaction strength. The size-scaled magnitude of d increases from weakly interacting argon to strongly hydrogen-bonded water.

Credit

Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology

Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, a government-funded research institute with 43 years of extensive research experience, is at the forefront of solving national issues that are directly related to the quality of the people’s life.

Dr. Lee, Jai-Yeop’s work was published in Chemical Engineering Science, a leading journal in the field.

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Journal

Chemical Engineering Science

DOI

10.1016/j.ces.2026.124562 

Article Title

A theoretically grounded cubic equation of state: justifying quadratic attractive terms via Tetrode’s vibrational correction

 

Cognition and consciousness arise from analog computations, says new theory

The brain's ability to generate quick, nimble volitional thought—and a unified awareness of thought and experience—arises from analog computations carried out by electrical waves, MIT neuroscientists argue in a new review

Picower Institute at MIT

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A figure from the paper depicts how a traveling beta frequency wave (gray-blue) can implement "spatiotemporal computing." On the left, outside the wave area, a neural ensemble can form to encode sensory information about an object. As the wave rotates, a neural ensemble in a newly freed-up area can assemble to store the object in working memory.

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Credit: Miller Lab/MIT PIcower Institute

A new theory, published in The Journal of Neuroscience by three scientists in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, offers an explanation of how the brain produces cognition and consciousness: It uses traveling waves of rhythmic neural activity to coordinate nimble neural networks with analog computations. 

The metaphor that the brain operates with “circuits” is incomplete, said Picower Professor Earl K. Miller, the paper’s senior author. Indubitably, the brain’s physically connected circuits provide the infrastructure to store our memories and represent our ongoing needs and goals. But when we need to make improvised use of that knowledge in the rapid-fire, anything goes sensory context the world constantly throws our way, we can’t just depend on the relatively slow chemical process of rewiring those circuit connections called “synapses,” he said. Instead, the brain needs a control system that can coordinate millions of neurons to process information in a fraction of a second. Brain waves, long understood to be the synchronized rhythmic fluctuations of large groups of neurons, turn out to be performing that crucial service, Miller and his colleagues argue, citing years of experimental evidence from his lab and many others.

“Circuits and synapses are important and fundamental, that’s the start. But there is more going on,” said Miller, a member of MIT’s Brain and Cognitive Sciences faculty. “The brain generates waves, and wave dynamics are a highly efficient way to coordinate and perform computation”

While digital circuits make calculations one step at a time through sequential switches and gates, analog computation, which can be performed via the interference of waves, processes multiple calculations in parallel. That’s not only more efficient, but also locally focused traveling waves happen to be a ubiquitous feature of the brain, the scientists note.

“The brain exploits its own physics,” wrote Miller and co-authors Scott L. Brincat and Jefferson E. Roy, who are research scientists in Miller’s lab.

The new theory is important not only because it provides an explanation of cognition and consciousness, but also because it asserts the potential importance of considering waves in clinical treatment. Conveniently, waves can be manipulated non-invasively.

“Developing treatments based on brain wave dynamics is not just an opportunity but also an obligation,” said Miller, whose lab is part of a collaboration studying brain waves in autism.

Building the analog argument

To make the case that the brain uses waves to coordinate neurons to produce cognition and consciousness, the scientists begin with the now well-established observation that many neurons don’t just do one job. Instead, they respond to multiple cues and contexts, essentially participating in multiple functional networks at once, a property called “mixed selectivity.” Miller and colleagues have argued for years that this gives the brain immense computational horsepower, but it also initially raised the question of how the brain organizes these multiple overlapping networks with such speed and flexibility to produce the nimble thought we all depend on.

After numerous studies, the answer that has emerged for Miller and many other neuroscientists is that brain waves organize neural ensembles to process information. Miller has shown that brain waves of different frequencies govern cognitive processes such as working memory and predictive coding. Relatively slow “alpha” and “beta” frequency waves, representing memories and goals, regulate faster frequency “gamma” waves, which represent and report incoming sensory information.

The new theory posits that these alpha/beta control waves emerge from the coordinated spiking of neurons in circuits (connected at junctions called “synapses”) that encode stored memories and goals. 

“Synapses store representations, while wave dynamics help determine which representations are active at any given time,” the authors wrote.

In some of the Miller lab’s newer research, the team has found evidence that even as waves emerge from neural spiking, the waves can rapidly grow to directly influence and coordinate spiking via an electric field-mediated process called ephaptic coupling. Importantly, electric fields can exert this coordinating influence very rapidly.

Another essential component of the theory, which Miller’s lab has also shown experimentally, is that alpha/beta waves are capable of exerting their control spatially, by affecting local areas of the cortex, and temporally, by traveling along the cortex. Essentially, the beta waves act as mobile stencils that govern where and when gamma waves can process sensory information and which ensembles of neurons will participate. Taken together, this suggests that the brain engages in “spatiotemporal computing,” the authors write. And where the waves intersect, they can add and subtract, enabling analog computations.

Miller acknowledges that his lab’s next step should be to provide direct evidence that the analog computations are taking place.

“This is a theory. We aim to test it by looking for signatures of analog computation in brain wave patterns,” Miller said. 

Connection to consciousness

The article asserts that consciousness “emerges when these dynamic wave patterns bring the cortex in an organized, globally integrated state, one that naturally links and influences widespread activity.”

Some of the most compelling evidence linking wave dynamics to consciousness, comes from studies of general anesthesia that Miller has conducted with Picower Institute colleague Emery N. Brown, who is an Institute Professor at MIT, an anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Professor in Harvard Medical School. Their labs have shown that three different drugs, each with different molecular mechanisms of action, all similarly disrupt brain wave dynamics to produce unconsciousness.

“Consciousness depends less on specific receptors or cell types and more on the integrity of large-scale wave organization,” the authors write in the review.

In other words, much like cognition, consciousness depends on how the brain efficiently organizes itself with brain waves.

“Electric field dynamics offer a low-overhead substrate for organizing and coordinating information across cortical networks,” they conclude. “Given strong evolutionary pressure to maximize computation per unit energy, it would be surprising if evolution did not exploit such a built-in analog computing substrate.”

The Freedom Together Foundation, The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, the Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, A MURI grant, The National Institutes of Health, and The Simons Center for the Social Brain supported the research.

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Journal

JNeurosci

DOI

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0711-26.2026 

Method of Research

Literature review

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Analog Cognition and Consciousness

Article Publication Date

19-Aug-2026

Roadmap of animal biodiversity: Largest-ever comparison of chromosome-scale genomes

Comparison of 4,454 animal species reveals how chromosomes travelled on "evolutionary Highways" over past 600 million years

University of Vienna

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Each point is one of 5,821 chromosome-scale animal genomes, placed by its chromosome structure.

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Credit: Darrin Schultz

A human, an octopus, and a coral could hardly look more different — yet deep inside their cells, their chromosomes still carry recognizable pieces of a genome inherited from an animal ancestor that lived more than 600 million years ago. A study published today in Science Advances by researchers at the University of Vienna maps how those pieces have been reshuffled across the world of animals and reveals that animal genomes evolve along a limited set of irreversible "evolutionary highways". The latest findings provide an important basis for the conservation of animal biodiversity. 

All living animals share a common ancestor from over 600 million years ago. Since then, their chromosomes have fused, split, and rearranged countless times. Today thousands of animal genomes have been sequenced. For the first time in this study an international team led by scientists from the University of Vienna set about comparing them all at once. So far it has been a major challenge to make sense of how their genomes changed over such vast timescales. "Understanding these rules of evolution doesn't just tell us about the past," said Oleg Simakov, a professor at the University of Vienna who co-led the study. "It also lets us ask where genome evolution might go next and enables us to identify key measures for the conservation of animal biodiversity."

Most sequenced genomes are "drafts" that show which genes an animal has but not how they are arranged. Chromosome-scale assemblies instead place every gene in order along complete chromosomes – they are much harder to produce, and only recently have enough animals been sequenced this way to allow a comparison across the world of animals.

Largest comparison across the animal tree of life to date 

The team analyzed more than 5,800 publicly available chromosome-scale genomes spanning 4,454 species across 19 animal phyla — the largest such comparison across the animal tree of life to date. They developed a new framework, called evolutionary genome topology, that projects this enormous diversity onto a single map. The approach revealed that genomes do not change at random: instead, they travel along "evolutionary highways," a path revealed by hundreds of present-day species whose genomes have evidence of traveling on or "getting off" of the highway at different times and rates. 

"For the first time, we can see thousands of genomes on a single map and trace the unique paths along which animals’ DNA evolved. Viewing the map as a whole gives us a picture of the patterns by which animal genomes have changed over time," said Darrin Schultz, who led the work as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna and is now an Assistant Professor at Lehigh University and Lehigh Oceans. "And if we fold the map up in a different way, we can compare how different groups of animals took different paths from each other after splitting onto different evolutionary paths."

At the heart of these patterns is a process the team named "fusion-with-mixing" in an earlier study: when two chromosomes fuse, their genes intermingle in a way that cannot be undone, leaving a permanent record of the event. Because these changes run only one way, they serve as reliable markers of shared ancestry, evidence already used to reveal the sibling group to all other animals.

The researchers found that differences in chromosome number across animal groups arise either from the combination of ancestral chromosomes or from their separation, and that in both cases, fusion-with-mixing leads lineages along very different evolutionary paths.

Over time major animal groups get placed in distinct regions of "genome-architecture"

Because this process cannot be reversed, once such a detour ("fusion with mixing") occurred, it places major animal groups in distinct regions of "genome-architecture space". Over time, this progressive, one-way mixing shapes the diverging paths of animal genome evolution and leaves a lasting imprint on a broad range of genes, including key genes that control development.

Because evolutionary genome topology compares genome architecture rather than only DNA sequence, it gives researchers a way to turn the growing flood of chromosome-scale animal genomes into a shared coordinate system. That could help prioritize unusual lineages for deeper study and test whether chromosome changes are linked to shifts in gene regulation, development, or biodiversity.

The framework's relevance reaches beyond evolutionary biology. Because some clades occupy unique, isolated regions of the map — lineages whose genome architecture has no close parallel like mosquitos, glass sponges, or earthworms— the approach could help flag evolutionarily distinctive groups. It can also be used to simulate possible future directions of genome evolution, offering a way to explore how animal biodiversity may continue to change.

Summary: 

• Researchers built the first single "map" of how animal genomes are organized, comparing more than 5,800 chromosome-scale genomes from 4,454 species across 19 major animal groups — the largest such comparison to date.
• Animals' genomes travel along a limited set of "evolutionary highways," driven by chromosome mergers and splits whose effects can never be reversed — genomes can't go back where they came from.
• The map shows which animal lineages are the most genomically unusual—and even lets researchers simulate where animal genomes might go next.
• The new system could help prioritize unusual lineages for deeper study and test whether chromosome changes are linked to shifts in gene regulation, development, or biodiversity.
• Furthermore, the latest findings provide an important basis for the conservation of animal biodiversity.

Funding for this research was provided by the European Research Council (Horizon 2020 / European Union Research and Innovation Programme, grant No. 945026), the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, grant P32190), and the Rupert Riedl Prize of the Vienna Haus des Meeres Verein.

About the University of Vienna:

At the University of Vienna, curiosity has been the core principle of academic life for more than 650 years. For over 650 years the University of Vienna has stood for education, research and innovation. Today, it is ranked among the top 100 and thus the top four per cent of all universities worldwide and is globally connected. With degree programmes covering over 180 disciplines, and more than 10,000 employees we are one of the largest academic institutions in Europe. Here, people from a broad spectrum of disciplines come together to carry out research at the highest level and develop solutions for current and future challenges. Its students and graduates develop reflected and sustainable solutions to complex challenges using innovative spirit and curiosity.

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adz5561 

Article Title

Topological mixing and irreversibility in animal chromosome evolution

Article Publication Date

19-Aug-2026

 

Kyoto's gardens provide habitats for local amphibians

Culturally managed temple and shrine waterscapes also have a biodiversity function

Kyoto University

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The researchers were able to identify seven species of frog and one species of newt inhabiting Kyoto's gardens.

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Credit: Kanon Tanaka

Kyoto, Japan -- Where they could once hop and amble freely, urbanization is diminishing the habitats of amphibians. Yet, small-scale water bodies managed by people -- such as those found in the gardens of Japan's temples, shrines, and schools -- remain within urban areas, providing oases for our moist neighbors.

Though the ponds and streams found in the gardens of Kyoto's temples and shrines are maintained as cultural landscapes, their function as habitats for urban amphibians has not been fully explored. This inspired a Kyoto University-led research team to examine the habitat capacity of these gardens. The team saw their potential as biocultural aquatic landscapes, where culture and biodiversity intersect.

The researchers utilized both visual and DNA analyses in their search for local amphibians, as some species are difficult to observe directly while others are hard to detect at certain times of the year. They conducted visual surveys at 80 water bodies located within 31 temples, shrines, and associated facilities in Kyoto's Higashiyama area, which helped them identify adults, eggs, and larvae, while an auditory element helped them identify calls. The team also performed environmental DNA analyses at 43 of these water bodies, in addition to recording the type of water body, water source and flow, distance from forest, riparian structure, and the presence or absence of carp in order to analyze the relationship between species and environmental conditions.

Ultimately the scientists were able to identify seven species of frog -- six native and one non-native -- and one species of newt inhabiting Kyoto's gardens. They also observed that each species' relationship with its environmental conditions varied. Furthermore, the team's use of both visual and DNA analyses proved to be complementary: while they identified the species Rana tagoi solely based on environmental DNA, direct observation of the frogs' eggs and tadpoles was essential for confirming reproduction.

"We observed amphibians at considerably more waterbodies than we had expected, and this made us realize just how rich in wildlife the local watersides -- including those around temples and shrines -- truly are," says first author Kae Okoshi.

These findings provide an opportunity to reconsider these cultural water features as habitats for biodiversity, and have the potential to influence the management of school and park ponds, as well as the assessment of sites promoting coexistence with nature.

"We intend to expand our work to include those who own and manage gardens to jointly develop approaches to waterside management that value both cultural heritage and biodiversity," says Okoshi.

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The paper "Anurans in culturally managed temple and shrine waterscapes in Kyoto: integrated visual, acoustic, and environmental DNA surveys" appeared on 18 August 2026 in Urban Ecosystems, with doi: 10.1007/s11252-026-02090-5

About Kyoto University

Kyoto University is one of Japan and Asia's premier research institutions, founded in 1897 and responsible for producing numerous Nobel laureates and winners of other prestigious international prizes. A broad curriculum across the arts and sciences at undergraduate and graduate levels complements several research centers, facilities, and offices around Japan and the world. For more information, please see: http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en

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Journal

Urban Ecosystems

DOI

10.1007/s11252-026-02090-5 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Anurans in culturally managed temple and shrine waterscapes in Kyoto: integrated visual, acoustic, and environmental DNA surveys

Article Publication Date

18-Aug-2026

 

The gardens of Nanzen-in temple in Kyoto

Credit

Photo by Kae Okoshi Used with permission of Nanzenji Temple

 

Dainei-ken garden at Nanzenji temple in Kyoto

Credit

Photo by Kae Okoshi, used with permission of Nanzenji Temple

 

A fossil of a small dinosaur from Fukushima prefecture reveals greater diversity in Japan's ancient coastal ecosystem

University of Tsukuba

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Reconstruction of the iguanodontian (styracosternan) from Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture. The red bone is the right sternal.

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Credit: Masato Hattori

Tsukuba, Japan—Iguanodontians are a diverse group of herbivorous dinosaurs that lived from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous and had a worldwide distribution. Intercontinental dispersal events between Asia, North America, and Europe played a key role in their diversification across Laurasia. Fossils discovered in Japan provide valuable insights into the evolution and biogeography of iguanodontians. Recent fossil discoveries in Japan have added to the evidence suggesting that these dinosaurs inhabited coastal environments along the eastern margin of Asia. However, while a nearly complete skeleton of a large iguanodontian (approximately 8 meters in length) has been reported, most iguanodontian fossils recovered from Japan are fragmentary, consisting of isolated teeth and other remains, leaving many aspects of their diversity and ecology poorly understood.

In 1999, an isolated bone fossil was discovered on the premises of the Iwaki City Ammonite Center in Fukushima Prefecture. The center is situated within the Obisagawa Member of the Ashizawa Formation (formed approximately 90-88 million years ago), specifically the lower part of the Upper Cretaceous Futaba Group, which represents a shallow-marine depositional environment. The specimen, tentatively identified as the sternal plate of a hadrosauroid dinosaur, remained unstudied for more than two decades.

This study provides a detailed morphological description of the specimen, identifying it as the right sternal plate of an indeterminate styracosternan (a derived iguanodontians that includes hadrosauroids). Comparison with related species estimates the animal's body length to be approximately 3 meters, which is significantly smaller than that of other iguanodontian fossils previously unearthed from the same formation. Because larger iguanodontians, including hadrosauroids, are known to have existed in Japan during the Late Cretaceous, the discovery suggests that iguanodontians of varying body sizes inhabited the coastal environments of East Asia. This finding provides new insights that further corroborate the diversity of ancient coastal ecosystems.

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This study was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant (RGPIN-04697).

 

Original Paper

Title of original paper:
An iguanodontian sternal plate from the Upper Cretaceous Ashizawa Formation (Futaba Group) of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

Journal:
Paleontological Research

DOI:
10.2517/prpsj.250042

Correspondence

Associate Professor TANAKA, Kohei
Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba

KONDO, Masami
Graduate School of Science and Technology, University of Tsukuba

Curator YOSHIDA, Junki
Fukushima Museum, Japan

Related Link

Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences

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Journal

Paleontological Research

DOI

10.2517/prpsj.250042 

Article Title

An iguanodontian sternal plate from the Upper Cretaceous Ashizawa Formation (Futaba Group) of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan