Science & Technology

Photo courtesy of StatePoint

Ancient civilizations had hieroglyphics, we have QR codes: the patterned graphic boxes prompting you to access restaurant menus, pay for parking, find out information about a package and more.

Generally, quick response (QR) codes are safe, but they can be used to redirect you to malicious websites, so caution is important. Here’s how it works.

• You get prompted to use your device’s camera.

• You scan the code and a link pops up.

• You click the link, exposing you to threat actors.

• You’re directed to apps, websites, locations using your maps and much more.

Bad actors understand people are in a rush, so this is an appealing form of attack. It’s a cost-efficient scam because these codes are easy to generate and distribute. And they are creative in finding new ways to make them appear legitimate. In public places, criminals can cover an official code with a sticker or printout showing a fraudulent code. Some of the more prevalent and convincing scams include:

• Parking Ticket Scams. Criminals place fake parking tickets with QR codes on windshields, causing unsuspecting victims to scan the code and click the link to learn of their offense and digitally pay the alleged fine.

• Brushing Scams. A criminal will ship goods you never ordered, then require you to scan the QR code and click the link to see who sent you the gift.

• Payment Scams. Criminals cover a legitimate QR code with a sticker that has a fraudulent code that directs to a malicious site. This can happen at gas pumps, bank windows, parking lots, etc.

• Crypto Scams. Crypto transactions are often made through QR codes associated with crypto accounts, making this an appealing target for fraudsters, especially since once crypto payments are made, it’s unlikely those funds will be recovered.

To stay safe when using QR codes:

• Check the URL: Once you scan and the link pops up, stop! Examine it for unusual domain names or shortened URLs before clicking.

• Verify the source: Only scan QR codes from trusted sources, like official websites or apps. Codes from unfamiliar sources are more likely to be malicious.

• Check for tampering: Look for signs of tampering, like altered graphics, design flaws or stickers placed atop original codes.

• Be suspicious: Treat sites asking for a password or login information as a red flag.

• Be wary of promotions: Be cautious of offers that seem too good to be true.

• Use a secure connection: Look for a secure connection (HTTPS) or padlock.

• Confirm validity of request: Before taking action, like making a payment or entering personal information, confirm a request to scan with the company. If you receive a QR code from someone you know, reach out to them through a known number or email to verify they sent it.

• Protect your device: Use antivirus and antimalware software.

• Report. If you identify a suspicious QR code or fall victim to a QR code scam, notify your bank and report it to law enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission.

If you scan a fake QR code, your bank account, email and identity could all be at risk. For actions to take, consult PNC Bank’s Reporting Fraud page on pnc.com.

Cyber criminals are always finding new ways to defraud their victims, and QR codes are no exception. With a little caution however, you can better protect yourself. (StatePoint)

Photo courtesy of Optimum

Optimum, a provider of fiber internet, mobile, TV, and phone services, recently announced the winners of the sixth annual Optimum Innovator Awards, which recognizes FIRST Robotics Competition teams for their innovation and efforts in areas such as community engagement, technology, inspiration, diversity, and sustainability. This year, Optimum is distributing over $25,000 worth of grants to five winners, five runners-up, and 18 honorable mentions to support their continued growth, creativity, and innovation.

With the 2025 season of FIRST competitions completed, the Optimum Innovator Awards recognizes the drive and hard work that teams have displayed throughout the year – from donating Braille STEM kits to launching a “Protect the Pollinators” project that aims to spread the word about pollinators. As FIRST students prepare for the next competition season, the Optimum Innovator Awards further supports their efforts to find new and innovative ways to design and engineer their robots as well as inspires them to create a positive change in the world.

As a long-time supporter of FIRST, an organization that provides students with mentor-based programs to build science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills, Optimum is committed to deepening its community presence as well as championing local programs that help inspire and educate future innovators. Optimum’s continued partnership with FIRST is a concrete example of the company’s dedication to celebrating what makes each of its local communities unique and making a positive impact for the residents, businesses, and organizations that call these places home.

This year, Optimum demonstrated its unwavering commitment to FIRST by sponsoring over 70 teams and six regional competitions within its footprint. These efforts helped provide essential resources and tools for FIRST teams to build and program their robots. Furthermore, Optimum employees actively participated by volunteering at regional competitions and mentoring FIRST students. The company also awarded $1,000 grants to 18 of their sponsored teams that qualified to compete in the prestigious FIRST Championship, a four-day international event that marks the culmination of the robotics competition season.

Optimum Innovator Award winners will receive grants of $2,000; runners-up will receive $1,500; and honorable mentions will receive $500. To continue celebrating the winners’ accomplishments, Optimum will host recognition events with local officials and key community partners joining to show their support.

2025 Optimum Innovator Award Winners

Inclusion Award 

  • Winner: Delta Overload Robotics (Indianola, MS)
  • Runner-up: Rebel Robotics (Great Neck, NY)

Excellence in Technology Award 

  • Winner: Horsepower (Kingwood, TX)
  • Runner-up: Ossining O-Bots (Ossining, NY)

Community Impact Award

  • Winner: POBots (Plainview, NY)
  • Runner-up: Bionic Bulldogs (Kingman, AZ)

Inspiration Award 

  • Winner: The Soaring Colts (Dix Hills, NY)
  • Runner-up: Regal Eagles (Bethpage, NY)

Sustainability Award

  • Winner: Putnam Area Robotics Team (Winfield, WV)
  • Runner-up: Bionic Panthers (Liberty Hill, TX)

Honorable Mentions

  • Brooklyn Blacksmiths (Brooklyn, NY)
  • MEGALODONS (Brooklyn, NY)
  • FeMaidens (Bronx, NY)
  • 8 Bit RAMs (Clarkstown, NY)
  • Tech Devils (Denville, NJ)
  • Warhawks (Edison, NJ)
  • Hauppauge Robotics Eagles (Hauppauge, NY)
  • Hicksville J-Birds (Hicksville, NY)
  • SWLA Tech Pirates (Lake Charles, LA)
  • Westerner Robotics (Lubbock, TX)
  • Longwood RoboLions (Middle Island, NY)
  • Bomb Squad (Mountain Home, AR)
  • Knightronz (Nanuet, NY)
  • Cybercats (Old Westbury, NY)
  • Full Metal Jackets (Rockwall, TX)
  • The Mechanical Bulls (Smithtown, NY)
  • SMART (Sylva, NC)
  • uNReal (Thiells, NY)

Click here to learn more about Optimum’s long-standing partnership with FIRST and the Optimum Innovator Awards.

Stony Brook, NY; Stony Brook University: Science on Stage member Heather Lynch

The League of Women Voters of Brookhaven will welcome renowned Stony Brook University scientist Heather Lynch to speak at their monthly meeting at Comsewogue Public Library, 170 Terryville Road, Port Jefferson Station on Friday, May 16 at 1 p.m.

Many of the medicines and products that we rely on have been created by scientists working on research grants from the federal or state government.

Lynch, a quantitative ecologist and a professor at Stony Brook University, will speak on “The role of grants to universities: How are they selected and monitored?” and “How will current changes to grant funding impact our scientific competitiveness?”

Dr. Lynch is the Institute for Advanced Computational Sciences Endowed Chair for Ecology and Evolution and leads the Collaborative for the Earth, which facilitates university-wide research, education, and public policy engagement around global environmental crises. Her research is dedicated to the population dynamics of Antarctic wildlife, with a particular focus on penguins and other seabirds.

Dr. Lynch’s research in Antarctica has been funded by a range of federal and non-governmental organizations, including through a National Science Foundation Career award—the most prestigious NSF award that supports early career faculty. Dr. Lynch was the first ecologist ever to win the Blavatnik National Medal for Life Sciences, the world’s largest unrestricted prize for young scientists.

All are welcome to attend this event. No reservations necessary. For more information, call 631-928-1212.

Professor Jennifer Cano. John Griffin/Stony Brook University

Stony Brook University Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy Jennifer Cano was named a Chancellor’s Horizon Award for Faculty Research and Scholarship. This inaugural award from the State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor John B. King, honors early career tenured and tenure track faculty whose scholarly or creative activities have already achieved significant recognition and crucially, hold strong promise for field-defining impact in the future. This award was given to 10 professors throughout the SUNY system.

Professor Cano is a theoretical physicist whose research focuses on the emergent properties of quantum materials; specifically, topological phases of matter. This includes study of the fundamental principles such as classification, as well as predicting new material platforms to realize exotic quantum phases. Professor Cano developed the theory of topological quantum chemistry, which combines group theory, topology and chemistry, to predict new topological materials.

“I am so pleased to see Professor Cano and her work recognized as one of the top early-career researchers in the SUNY system,” said Carl W. Lejuez, executive vice president and provost. “Professor Cano’s ongoing research is a critical part to building a quantum future, and I am proud to say that many of our Stony Brook faculty, across disciplines, are part of this significant ongoing effort to uncover the secrets and possibilities of quantum technologies.”

“While I am exceptionally delighted that Jen is recognized by the SUNY Chancellor’s Horizon Award for her outstanding work in condensed matter physics, I am not surprised by the recognition,” said Chang Kee Jung, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. “Jen’s brilliance is so evident that I fully expected she would receive this award. Her work is already shaping and leading her research field and I have no doubt that it will continue doing so. Jen also excels in teaching, mentoring and her presentation at the Stony Brook  Discovery Prize competition was one of the best academic presentations I have ever seen. It is truly a pleasure to have Jen as a colleague and she is an inspiration for all.”

Candidates’ portfolios were reviewed by Distinguished Academy faculty who made recommendations to the SUNY Provost. Going forward, up to 10 awards will be conferred each year.

Professor Cano was also the winner of the Stony Brook University’s Discovery Prize 2025 for her research proposal, “Theoretical Framework for the Discovery of Topological Moiré Materials.” The Discovery Prize is an early-career faculty prize given to those at Stony Brook pursuing innovative and potentially groundbreaking scientific research. It was established and is funded by the Stony Brook Foundation.

The East Setauket resident earned her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2015. She subsequently was a postdoctoral fellow at the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science. She came to Stony Brook in 2018 as an assistant professor and holds a visiting scholar appointment at the Flatiron Institute.

 

Paul O'Connor. Photo by Roger Stoutenburgh/ BNL

By Daniel Dunaief

The Earth is way too noisy.

The far side of the moon, however, can act like enormous noise cancellation headphones, serving as a barrier to the kinds of signals from sources including Earth’s ionosphere, which carries electromagnetic noises from lightning, solar flares, radio signals, among others to look or, perhaps more appropriately, listen deep into the past.

On Wednesday, May 7, at Napper Tandy’s in Smithtown, three Brookhaven National Laboratory scientists will speak with the public about an unnamed mission expected to take off next year. The free event is part of BNL’s PubSci science café series (www.bnl.gov/pubsci/).

Paul O’Connor. Photo by Roger Stoutenburgh/ BNL

Senior Scientist Paul O’Connor, Mechanical Engineer Connie-Rose Deane and Physicist Anže Slosar will discuss a project called LuSEE-Night, which, like so many other efforts at BNL, is an acronym. LuSEE stands for Lunar Surface Electromagnetic Experiment-Night.

The Department of Energy project manager is Sven Hermann at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Slosar is the science lead, while O’Connor coordinated technical and systems aspects of the instrument development.

The scientists collaborated with researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Energy and included scientists at the University of Minnesota and at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Space Science Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley is leading the project. BNL is a collaborating member responsible for delivering hardware components of the payload.

LuSEE-Night, which is a radio telescope, is designed to gather information about the Dark Ages of the universe. This time period, from about 380,000 to 400 million years ago after the Big Bang, occurred before the first luminous stars and galaxies. 

Connie-Rose Deane. Photo by David Rahner/ BNL

As the only signals measurable from the Dark Ages, radio waves, recorded through LuSEE-Night provide a chance to learn how the first non-luminous matter evolved into stars and galaxies.

Over the last several years, scientists at the Department of Energy and NASA have shared their excitement about seeing something they had never seen before.

David Rapetti, Senior Researcher with Universities Space Research Association (USRA) at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, suggested the instrument was a “trailblazer for subsequent potential single telescope experiments for the global signal, also including the Cosmic Down signal at a somewhat higher frequency range.”

Rapetti, who has been with the project since its inception, suggested that this instrument could help with plenty of other science.

“In addition to studies of the sun, planets and exoplanets, the roadmap ahead for low frequency observations from the lunar surface represents a crucial resource to further our understanding of the evolution, content and first luminous objects of the early Universe,” Rapetti explained.

A potential measurement of the global Dark Ages signal could in principle reveal “undiscovered new physics or indeed further validate the current standard model of cosmology,” Rapetti added.

Challenging conditions

When looking for a landing site, the team searched for a flat, level surface that was free of large rocks and craters and that had an unobstructed view of the sky in all directions.

Anže Slosar. Photo by Roger Stoutenburgh/ BNL

They chose the Schrodinger Basin, which is about 250 miles south of the lunar equator at a point “almost exactly opposite the Earth-facing direction,” O’Connor explained. This will keep the telescope as “free as possible from electromagnetic interference from Earth,” he added.

Sending the telescope to the far side of the moon created particular challenges. For starters, the telescope had to endure the forces experienced during launch and landing. Once it was on the moon, it had to tolerate the harsh temperature that could drop as low as minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit, and radiation environment, while staying within the mass and power budgets. The instrument mass is less than 282 pounds.

While the landing site is ideal for minimizing electromagnetic noise, it’s difficult to send the information back to Earth with the moon blocking the communication.

Indeed, the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, which was led by Commander James Lovell and that orbited the moon without landing, was out of communication for about 25 minutes while it was on the far side of the moon.

To gather data from the telescope, the group is sending a satellite that will orbit the moon, enabling communication that has a 1.3 second time delay in each direction as the signal travels to the moon.

The signal processing chain required a state-of-the-art digital chip that could crunch the data as it comes through small antennas and produces a reduced data set small enough to send back to Earth, explained O’Connor, who worked with a core BNL team of six senior scientists and engineers and about a dozen other engineers, technicians and project staff on a final design that took about 16 months to complete

Additionally, the telescope will only generate solar energy during 14 Earth days a month. During another 14 days, the instrument needs to run without recharging its battery.

To protect the telescope against the harsh, cold environment of the moon, the scientists are wrapping the instrument in many layers of an insulating blanket. The heat from its operation should provide enough energy to prevent damage from the cold.

When the radio telescope launches, the four antennas are coiled into a compact spool the size of a soda can. After landing, the latch is released, allowing the antenna to deploy into self-supporting booms three meters long using their own spring force. At this point, several research and development missions are underway to learn more about the moon in preparation for the Artemis 3 manned mission currently planned for the middle of 2027.

LSST/ Rubin Observatory

O’Connor has also been involved for over two decades with the development of a project called the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope that is now called the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Cerro Pachón, Chile.

Rubin was an astronomer who provided the first evidence of the existence of dark matter.

The much anticipated activation of this observatory, which will allow researchers to look into billions of galaxies, asteroids and even dark matter, will start producing data in July.

O’Connor, who helped with the film part of the observatory’s camera, suggested that the BNL science team is “most interested in what LSST/ Rubin will tell us about the nature of dark energy and dark matter. This will come from analyzing the camera’s images which, paradoxically, reveal the location of dark matter as it ‘bends’ the light traveling towards us from distant regions in the universe.”

More information about the event on May 7 can be found here.

Nobel Laureate Mario Capecchi being interviewed by Ludmila Pollock.

By Daniel Dunaief

Ludmila “Mila” Pollock isn’t a scientist, but she has made significant contributions to the field over more than a quarter of a century. In fact, the Executive Director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Library & Archives has contributed so meaningfully to sharing scientific information and celebrating scientists and their history that she was recently elected a fellow of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“It’s just a privilege to be among all the other fellows,” said Pollock, who calls herself a “keeper and promoter of knowledge and scientific legacies related to molecular biology and genetics.”

Pollock, who has been at CSHL since 1999, founded the lab’s History of Science Meetings in 2008 and created an oral history project in 2000 in which she has interviewed over 170 pioneers in molecular biology, genetics and technology.

People who have worked with Pollock praised her work, passion and dedication, suggesting that her energy and focus inspired them and will likely encourage future generations of scientists.

“The resources [Pollock] has brought to life offer a trove of educational material that can help inspire young students to explore and hopefully pursue an education and eventually a career in biomedical research,” said Kevin Davies, Editorial Director of Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News and author of Cracking the Genome and Editing Humanity. “She is a treasure!”

Davies and Pollock helped compile the Annotated Scholarly Guide to the Human Genome Project.

Davies suggested that Pollock “conceived and drove” the guide to completion and that it “simply would not exist without her energy and commitment.”

While Pollock appreciated the recognition, she suggested that the work she has done at CSHL has been a product of numerous collaborations.

At the History of Science meetings, most of the speakers are prominent researchers. One or two speakers can include a historian. Attendees are typically researchers, students, historians, journalists and others.

Pollock is delighted to share the historical scientific narrative and, in some cases, to have these gatherings become a part of the ongoing story.

Indeed, when Katalin Karikó won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2023 for work that laid the foundation for effective mRNA vaccines against Covid-19, she told the Nobel Prize committee she had just returned from a meeting at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which celebrated 50 years of recombinant DNA technology.

“That was a very good promotion for us,” said Pollock.

As for the oral histories, Pollock spoke with four Nobel Prize-winning female scientists last year, including Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, who won the prize for creating the gene-editing tool CRISPR.

Scientists appreciate the opportunity to hear directly from the scientists through the oral history project. By cross referencing replies from researchers, viewers can compare what scientists said in response to the same question.

“The result is a much richer source of history than any one interview could provide,” Bruce Alberts, a biochemist who was president of the National Academy of Sciences from 1993 to 2005, explained in an interview.

A girl in a library

Pollock grew up in Vitebsk, Russia, a geographic origin now in Belarus that she shares with artist Marc Chagall.

When she was four and went to an adult library with her father, she was disappointed that only librarians could go behind the desk to browse through all the books. She told her parents she would become a librarian so she could browse through the books at any library.

As a librarian and archivist, she has been an advocate for open access. She sees many similarities between the hard work Nobel Prize winners and other scientists who haven’t received some of the top honors in their fields yet do.

Pollock appreciates the connections she has made with scientists. “Everyone I have spoken with is truly remarkable,” she said.

The scientists feel the same way about her.

Alberts recalled attending a tribute to the scientist Sydney Brenner in 2022, where Alberts was a speaker. Alberts had left his walking stick in a taxi on the way to the meeting. Pollock gave him a cane that he took back to San Francisco.

Pollock has “an outgoing, warm personality that makes every encounter with her a memorable event for me,” Alberts said.

Nancy Hopkins, the Amgen, Inc., Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, suggested the oral history project represents a “huge amount of work” from the archives.

“Imagine the excitement of a student who falls in love with the field and then discovers that they can listen to — almost talk with — key figures who shaped the science that is their passion!” Hopkins said. “I think this is a gift that will grow in value beyond what we can imagine today.”

Pollock has enjoyed many of the conversations she’s had with scientists over the years. The scientists have revealed a great deal about themselves and their lives. In particular, she found an interaction with former director John Cairns, who was discussing Nobel Prize winner Barbara McClintock, enlightening.

While many scientists shared their admiration for McClintock’s work on jumping genes and appreciation for her work, Cairns shared a different side of her.

“She was [an] immensely difficult person who specialized in being difficult,” Cairns recalled in the oral history. She specialized in being difficult with the director of the lab.

“She would always tell me how marvelous [Millislav] Demerec [the namesake of a building on campus today] was, and how awful I was, and one day, I got very fed up with this so I went to [the director of the Department of Genetics] Al Hershey.”

Hershey told Cairns that McClintock “hated him” and that he did not want to talk to her because he thought speaking with her would give him a stroke. 

‘Force of nature’

Collaborators and supporters inside and outside of CSHL recognized and appreciated Pollock’s contribution and the energy and passion she brings to her work.

Davies and CSHL CEO Bruce Stillman both described Pollock as a “force of nature.” Stillman nominated Pollock as an AAAS fellow.

“She absolutely deserves this recognition,” Stillman said. Pollock has advanced the CSHL archives to become one of the most valuable archives in genetics and molecular biology,” which includes archives of numerous Nobel Laureates. Stillman and former CEO James Watson hired her as a librarian in 1999.

The current CSHL CEO described the meetings Pollock coordinates and runs as “some of the most important discoveries in the history of the life and medical sciences.”

As far as the oral histories, Stillman suggested the scientists share their views on people and ideas in a way they would not if they had to write answers.

Indeed, the meetings and oral histories not only serve as valuable parts of the public record, but also provide material for college educators.

Dr. Stephen Buratowski, Hamilton Kuhn Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School, emailed Pollock to let her know that one of the video links on the website wasn’t working.

He indicated that he often used these videos for teaching PhD students “as the stories told breathe life into the papers we are reading,” he wrote. “These talks are a treasured historical resource.”

Sir Richard Roberts, a Nobel Prize winner and Chief Scientific Officer at New England Biolabs, believed the history of science meetings provide a “very good view of how science evolves from a small starting point into a major field. This can give ideas of both how to do things and sometimes how not to do things to young people just getting started.”

These meetings can also inspire would-be authors to write books and ensure a permanent record with expert comment, Roberts added.

“Best of all, they are great fun to attend,” Roberts wrote.

James Wishart at the Laser Electron Accelerator Facility. Photo by Roger Stoutenburgh/Brookhaven National Laboratory

By Daniel Dunaief

Leave a bicycle out in the rain for a few weeks and the metal gears and chain will develop rust that reduces the value and usefulness of that once shiny vehicle.

Now, imagine what the inside of a nuclear reactor looks like after high temperatures and ionizing radiation collide with everything they hit.

Chemists at Brookhaven National Laboratory, working with their partners at Idaho National Laboratory, recently showed how reactors cooled by molten salts had less corrosion in the reactor metals.

Molten salt cooled reactors are “intrinsically safe,” said James Wishart, Distinguished Chemist at BNL and director of the Molten Salts in Extreme Environments Energy Frontier Research Center. “They are already molten so they can’t melt down.”

The advantages of molten salt reactors are evident in their safety and their economics. These reactors are also better for the environment and for non proliferation of nuclear material. 

That is in contrast to what happened in 2011 after a tsunami hit the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, which had a meltdown at three of the plant’s reactors.

Fukushima lost the ability to cool the reactors because the tsunami knocked out the generators. A water reactor type meltdown can’t occur with a molten salt reactor because the fuel is already liquid and the reactor materials contain it in that state.

Chromium studies

In recent research published in the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Wishart and his collaborators described the radiation-induced reactors of two ions of chromium, chromium 2+ and chromium 3+.

“Chromium is frequently the easiest metal to corrode from an alloy,” Wishart explained.

When chromium has a positive charge of three, it could be particularly problematic for the structural integrity and performance of the reactor. Chromium with a positive charge of two, on the other hand, may not be as problematic or corrosive to the nuclear reactor materials. Molten salts, which have negative ions of chlorine, can reduce chromium to the less reactive version.

By using the Laser Electron Accelerator Facility (LEAF) and the two-million electron volt Van de Graaff accelerator, Wishart tested the rate and temperature dependencies of reactions of the two chromium ions with reactive species generated by radiation in molten salt.

The solvated electrons and dichloride radicals, both of which have a negative charge, change the oxidation state of chromium to the less corrosive Cr 2+.

Commercial applications

Molten salt reactor research started in the late 1940’s.

In 1972, the Atomic Energy Commission expressed reservations about some technology issues and suggested that the engineering development of large components, a better understanding of the behavior of fission products and adequate remote inspection and maintenance techniques would be needed before molten salt reactors would be suitable for development.

The molten salt reactors were also not high enough on the development priority ranking of the government to have assurance of the required sustained resource allocation, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency Report on the Status of Molten Salt Reactor Technology.

Currently, however, at least a dozen companies are working on generators cooled by molten salts, with some involving chloride and others using fluoride.

Texas Abilene Christian University is building one such reactor, which would be the first university-based molten salt research reactor. The interest in these types of reactors has been growing around the world.

“We are providing information to help [people working in applied areas] understand the chemical transformations that molten salt fuel will undergo due to radiation inside the reactor,” said Wishart.

Several companies, including Thorcon Power and Seaborg Technologies, are also working on designs that can be built into modular forms and shipped by barge wherever power is needed.

In addition to reducing the threat from a melt down, these molten salt reactors also operate at relatively low vapor pressures, which is a “huge benefit in safety and in engineering,” Wishart added.

Molten salts have much lower vapor pressures than water because they are held together by very strong Coulombic forces, which come from the attraction of oppositely-charged ions.

Next studies

While the molten salt reactors favor the creation of a less problematic ionization state of chromium, they also produce other side reactions.

“With time and the large amount of radiation within the reactor, side reactions can lead to permanent products,” Wishart explained.

Studies of molten salt corrosion show a correlation between the presence and quantity of air and water and the rate of corrosion. Salts with low water and air contamination show little corrosion.

Wishart is now looking at more complex salt mixtures than the first series of experiments. Different cations, or positively charged ions, affect the reactivity of solvated electrons. He is investigating how that might divert the electron into side reactions that lead to the accumulation of permanent products.

Ground floor

Wishart was responsible for the construction of LEAF and for its operation for most of its 26-year history. When he and his colleagues were building the facility, he was eager to test out the facility’s ability to follow reactions on fast time scales, at about 10 picoseconds. A picosecond is such a small unit of time that an eye blink, which lasts about 0.1 seconds, is about 100 million picoseconds, so it records reactions rapid reactions.

Wishart was pleasantly surprised by all the scientific questions LEAF could address.

“I only started working on ionic liquids three years after LEAF was completed, so we could not anticipate how LEAF would enable that science to grow and then see it translate into molten salts,” he explained.

Wishart has published 76 papers on the radiation chemistry and/or physical chemistry since he started working on them in 2001.

Originally from the Detroit area, he returns periodically to spend time with family.

Wishart’s interest in chemistry began when he was a photographer for the high school yearbook, which, at the time, was printed in black and white. He made prints using traditional silver-based emulsions and was interested in the chemistry that caused the images to form under development.

When he was a PhD student at Stanford, Wishart mainly studied the chemistry of ruthenium, which is a second-row transition metal in the same family as iron. He found ruthenium satisfying to work with because scientists can watch the colors change to indicate when a reaction is done.

Jeremy Borniger with Cecilia Pazzi, a student from the cancer neuroscience course. Photo courtesy of CSHL

By Daniel Dunaief

People battling cancer can sometimes live long after they and their doctors first start treating the disease. Even if and when their types of cancer don’t continue to threaten their lives in the same way, they can struggle with symptoms such as chronic fatigue, pain, and difficulty sleeping.

These ongoing symptoms, however, could be a remnant of the way the nervous system and cancer interact, as well as a byproduct of the treatment.

Cancer neuroscience uses “tools from both neuroscience and cancer to fundamentally understand how cancer influences the functioning on the nervous system” and how the nervous system can be used to affect cancer, explained Jeremy Borniger, Assistant Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Indeed, the field of cancer neuroscience, which extends beyond the study and treatment of brain cancer, has been growing over the last six years, after researchers made important discoveries that suggest the possible role and target for treatment of neurons.

A group of student during one of the lab sessions. Photo courtesy of CSHL

To encourage cancer scientists to learn more about the principles and techniques of neuroscience and to bring neuroscientists up to speed with cancer research, Borniger and three other scientists coordinated the first two-week Methods in Cancer Neuroscience course at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory last month.

Attended by 14 researchers from domestic and international institutions, the days often started early in the morning and lasted past 10 p.m. The course included lectures about the basic science as well as considerable lab work.

Course attendees, most of whom had a background in cancer biology but little background in neuroscience, appreciated the opportunity to learn from the lecturers and to build their networks.

“We were introduced to a wide variety of techniques from the leading experts in the field and got to listen to insightful lectures from the invited speakers,” said Irem Uppman, a graduate student at Uppsala University in Sweden.

Uppman was grateful for the opportunity to meet her fellow students and hopes to stay in touch throughout their careers.

“It was also very exciting to meet all the instructors and lecturers,” Uppman said. “The small size of the course allowed us to interact more intimately which is something we often can’t do in the setting of big conferences.”

Uppman, who has been a PhD candidate for three years and hopes to graduate in the next two years, is a tumor biologist by background and hopes to incorporate more cancer neuroscience in her future work.

Course origins

During another conference, Borniger recalled how a group of cancer neuroscientists were discussing the field. One of the speakers suggested the need for a workshop where students could learn techniques from both of these disciplines.

“I raised my hand and said, “Cold Spring Harbor does this all the time,” Borniger said.

The leadership at the lab, including CEO Bruce Stillman, were excited about the possibility and encouraged Borniger to help coordinate the course. After the lab publicized the conference, 67 prospective students submitted applications. The organizers had several marathon zoom sessions to review the applicants.

“We wanted a good spread of earlier career and later career students,” said Borniger.

It would have been possible to fill the course with students conducting research on brain cancer exclusively, but the organizers wanted a broader scientific representation.

Neurons and cancer

As electrically active tissue, neurons play important roles in healthy biology as well as with cancer.

“It’s not just another cell type in the tumor environment,” Borniger explained, adding that nerve cells connect tumors with the central nervous system, which governs all conscious and unconscious systems.

Historically, cancer neuroscience has had two major moments that helped push the field into the mainstream of scientific research.

In a couple of papers between 2010 to 2013, before anyone started using the term “cancer neuroscience,” scientists showed that getting rid of localized sympathetic nerves, which include the kinds of nerves that control the heart rate and blood pressure, can cause breast cancer and prostate cancers to stop growing. 

“Everyone assumed the nerves don’t really do anything,” Borniger said. They are “little tiny projections in the tumor. A lot of cancer biologists ignored it” in part because of a paper in the 1960’s that suggested tumor cells were not electrically coupled together. Scientists believed, prematurely and inaccurately, that electrochemical signaling didn’t play a role in cancer. 

Then, in 2019, three papers came out around the same time that demonstrated that tumors in the brain can form connections with neurons like normal neurons do. These cancerous cells can integrate with circuits and communicate with each other.

“The level of integration that these cancer cells have with your brain dictates how bad the cancer is,” Borniger said. “If you disconnect the cancer cells from the neurons in your brain, you can make cancer much easier to treat.”

Researchers and pharmaceutical companies are looking for ways to use drugs to slow or stop the cancers.

Some research efforts are trying to block the gap junctions which dramatically reduces the number of cancer cells that receive input.

In breast to brain cancer, scientists are looking to target NMDA receptors, while in brain cancer, they’re targeting AMPA receptors.

Researchers are hoping to repurpose drugs approved for other conditions, such as bipolar disorder or epilepsy.

Origin story

When Borniger was in graduate school at Ohio State University, he was interested in sleep and how sleep works. He had the opportunity to attend several lectures and talks to gather information and pursue research that interested him.

In one meeting, which he said he might have attended to get free food, oncology nurses were talking about the subjective experience of cancer patients. At the end of the talk, they shared a summary slide of the top complaints, which included fatigue, pain, sleep disruption, cognitive impairment and changes in appetite.

Borniger thought these were all neuroscience problems.

He immediately looked online to see if anyone had seen how a tumor influences these neurological processes.

When he tested to see if breast cancer could influence brain activity and lead to sleep disruption, what he found convinced him it was a research field worth pursuing.

“The signal that comes from the tumor can reprogram your brain,” he said. “How does that work? That got me into the field.”

When he got the job at CSHL in 2019, Borniger attended a Banbury conference where the top people in the developing field gathered. He’s also interested in the opportunity to contribute to a new field.

“There’s not 30 years of dogma that we’re going to have to break down,” Borniger said. “We’re inventing the foundation as we go.”

Borniger is hoping to continue to expand the field to newer people, including those who work in neurodevelopment, bioinformatics and behavioral science. 

The tide is turning towards cancer neuroscience, Borniger believes. Years ago, cancer biologists would say, “Who cares about sleep? We’re driving to cure the cancer!” Now, with help from patient advocates, Borniger explained, clinicians are starting to realize the subjective health of the patient can have “immense impact” on their prognosis.

Pixabay photo

By Frank Artusa

For as long as there have been nation states, spies have been hard at work trying to gather intelligence for strategic advantage. Historically, the direct victims of such efforts have been government agencies, the military and corporate intellectual property, but recent events have put us all in the crosshairs when it comes to our digital communications.

Though sophisticated methods like collecting radio frequency emanations, tapping above ground and undersea communications cables, and other signals intelligence techniques, have been historically employed by adversary nations, few could have predicted the massive data breach recently perpetrated by an elite hacker group attributed to the People’s Republic of China called Salt Typhoon.

Salt Typhoon, a codename assigned by Microsoft’s cyber threat intelligence team, was first discovered in Fall 2024 to have compromised telecommunications systems and networks belonging to Verizon, T-Mobile, Spectrum and several others. The widespread compromise involved the exposure of data associated with phone calls, voicemails, and text messages impacting millions of Americans. The true extent of this massive breach has yet to be revealed, and it’s unknown whether the affected systems have been fixed.

The idea that any hacker group could obtain access to such critical infrastructure and persist, undetected, for apparently up to a year or more, is difficult to comprehend. The Federal Government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) indicated that Salt Typhoon was able to obtain access due to unpatched network hardware and leveraging entry points designed for use  by law enforcement, or “backdoors”.

Some experts blame the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), a 1994 digital wiretapping law that compels telecommunications companies to assist law enforcement in conducting electronic surveillance with a court order. This tool by the very nature of its existence presents a potential backdoor into the telecom’s network. However, federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities utilize this technique to investigate criminal activity, with probable cause, to uncover evidence of crimes ranging from gang activity, organized crime, public corruption and everything in between. This makes CALEA a double edged sword: supporters laud its criticality to criminal investigations and detractors argue for its potential misuse by hackers or a corrupt government. 

Despite the obstacle described above, in December 2024 the FBI and CISA took the bold step of recommending that individuals utilize communication apps that offer end to end encryption (E2EE). E2EE is an encryption methodology that is used by apps like Whatsapp, Signal, and iMessage (when communicating between apple devices). 

E2EE makes it impossible for an interloper to read data due the advanced encryption utilized to encode data. As an example, it would require thousands, if not millions of years for a supercomputer to break encryption implemented by these applications. Quantum computing, a radical new computer processing technology poses a threat, but this innovation is still years away and governments are aggressively working to develop quantum proof encryption as well.

A clear use of the government’s own utilization of this E2EE technology was recently demonstrated when U.S. national security and defense officials used Signal to communicate tactical war plans in Yemen, albeit with unintended recipients.

Threats posed by advanced nation states capable of funding top tier cyber espionage operations is growing, with dozens of capable groups originating from Russia, Iran and North Korea as well as China. Additionally, this doesn’t include independent cyber criminal groups looking to steal and sell personal data. Considering the wide array of potential threats to digital data, E2EE appears to be one of the few tools guaranteed to stop hackers from eavesdropping on digital communications.

Internet Crime Complaint Center — www.ic3.gov

Frank Artusa, a resident of Smithtown, is a current cybersecurity professional and retired FBI Special Agent.

METRO photo

By Daniel Dunaief

In the typical process of developing cures for medical problems or diseases, researchers explore the processes and causes and then spend years searching for remedies.

Ke Jian Liu. Photo by Jeanne Neville, Stony Brook Medicine

Sometimes, however, the time frame for finding a solution is cut much shorter, particularly when the Food and Drug Administration has already approved a drug treatment for another problem.

This could be the case for hemorrhagic stroke. Caused by a burst blood vessel that leads to bleeding in the brain, hemorrhagic stroke represents 13 percent of stroke cases, but accounts for 50 percent of stroke fatalities.

That’s because no current treatment exists to stop a process that can lead to cognitive dysfunction or death.

A researcher with a background in cancer and stroke, Ke Jian “Jim” Liu, Professor of Pathology and Associate Director or Basic Science at the Stony Brook Cancer Center who joined Stony Brook University in 2022, has found a mechanism that could make a hemorrhagic stroke so damaging.

When a blood vessel in the brain bursts, protoporphyrin, a compound that attaches to iron to form the oxygen carrying heme in the blood, partners up with zinc, a similar metal that’s in the brain and is released from neurons during a stroke. This combination, appropriately called zinc protoporphyrin, or ZnPP, doesn’t do much under normal conditions, but could be “highly toxic” in hypoxic, or low-oxygen conditions.

“We have done some preliminary studies using cellular and animal stroke models,” said Liu. “We have demonstrated on a small scale” that their hypothesis about the impact of ZnPP and the potential use of an inhibitor for the enzyme that creates it ‘is true.’”

These scientists recently received a $2.6 million grant over five years from National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which is a branch of the National Institutes of Health.

Focusing on a key enzyme

After Liu and his colleagues hypothesized that the ZnPP was toxic in a low-oxygen environment, they honed in on ways to reduce its production. Specifically, they targeted ferrochelatase, the enzyme that typically brings iron and protoporphyrin together.

Iron isn’t as available in this compromised condition because it has a positive charge of three, instead of the usual plus two.

Liu discovered the role of zinc in research he published several years ago.

When a hemorrhagic stroke occurs, it creates a “perfect storm,” as the enzyme favors creating a toxic chemical instead of its usual oxygen carrying heme, Liu said. He is still exploring what makes ZnPP toxic.

The group, which includes former colleagues of Liu’s from the University of New Mexico, will continue to explore whether ZnPP and the enzyme ferrochelatase becomes an effective treatment target.

Liu was particularly pleased that currently approved treatments for cancer could be repurposed to protect brain cells during a hemorrhagic stroke. Indeed, with over 80 approved protein kinase inhibitors, which could work to stop the formation of ZnPP during a stroke, Liu and his colleagues have plenty of potential treatment options.

“We’re in a unique position that a clinically available drug that’s FDA approved for cancer treatment” could become a therapeutic solution for a potentially fatal stroke, Liu said.

To be sure, Liu and his colleagues plan to continue to conduct research to confirm that this process works as they suggest and that this possible therapy is also effective.

As with other scientific studies of medical conditions, promising results with animal models or in a lab require further studies and validation before a doctor can offer it to patients.

“This is an animal model, based on a few observations,” said Liu. “Everything needs to be done statistically.”

At this point, Liu is encouraged by these preliminary studies as the subjects that received an inhibitor are “running around,” he said. “You can see the difference with your own eyes. We’re excited to see that.”

Earlier hypotheses for what caused damage during hemorrhagic stroke focused on the release of iron. In research studies, however, using a chelator to bind to iron ions has produced some benefits, but they are small compared to the damage from the stroke. The chelator is “not really making any major difference,” said Liu.

The Stony Brook researcher did an experiment where he compared ZnPP with the damage from other metabolic products.

“ZnPP is several times more toxic than all the other things combined,” which is what makes them believe that ZnPP might be responsible for the damage, he said.

Proof of principle

For the purpose of the grant, Liu said the scientists were focusing on gathering more concrete evidence to support their theory. The researchers are also testing a few of the protein kinase inhibitors to demonstrate that they work.

In their preliminary studies, they chose several inhibitors based on whether the drug penetrates the blood brain barrier and that have a relatively high affinity for ferrochelatase.

“This opens the door for a new phase of the study,” Liu said. “Can we find the best drug that provides the best outcomes? We are not there yet.”

Removing zinc is not an option, as it is a part of 2 percent of the proteome, Liu said. Taking it out would “screw up the entire biological, physiological system,” he added.

Liu speculates that any future drug treatment would involve a relatively small dose at a specific time, although he recognized that any drug could have side effects.

In an uncertain funding climate in which the government is freezing some grants, Liu hopes that the financial support will continue through the duration of the grant.

“Our hope is that at the end of this grant, we can demonstrate” the mechanism of action for ZnPP and can find a reliable inhibitor, he said. “The next step would be to go to a clinical trial with an FDA-approved drug, and that would be fantastic.”