Best of Last Week—giant trees in the UK, removing plastic from water, using gene therapy to treat brain cancer

It was a good week for biological research, as a team of botanists found that giant sequoia trees are thriving in the U.K—the trees were imported to the U.K. starting approximately 160 years ago and now serve as an excellent carbon sink. Also, a team of entomologists and engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology report that cicadas' unique urination process has unlocked a new understanding of fluid dynamics. And a team of climate and food researchers led by a group at Macquarie University studying snakes held in commercial python farms in Southeast Asia found that the snakes can offer a high-protein diet, potentially serving as a major food source for areas in need.

In technology news, a team of engineers at the University of Waterloo developed a new technology to remove microplastic from water sources with 94% efficiency. The process uses thermal decomposition. And a team at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne found that large language models trained in English use the language internally, even for prompts in other languages. Also, a team of engineers at the National Institute for Materials Science, in Japan, developed the world's first N-channel diamond field-effect transistor for CMOS integrated circuits. And a team of roboticists at the University of Michigan demonstrated SKOOTR, a tri-pedal skating robot that can efficiently move in its surroundings without flipping over.

In other news, a team of bio and healing convergence researchers at Konkuk University, in South Korea, found that interactions with dogs can increase the number of brainwaves associated with stress relief and heightened concentration. Also, an astrophysicist at the University of Ottawa challenged basic physics theories, reporting evidence that the universe contains no dark matter—he suggests there is no room for it. And finally, several medical research centers in the Boston area conducted a clinical trial finding dramatic and rapid regression of glioblastoma from a next-generation CAR-T therapy.