In a recent study of Amazonian forests, researchers from the South China Botanical Garden (SCBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Cornell University and several international research institutions, found that the residence time of carbon in Amazonian vegetation will continue to shorten as atmospheric drying intensifies and convective storm activity increases, thereby undermining the forests’ long-term carbon storage capacity.

This groundbreaking integrative taxonomic study reveals that a single described ant species in Australia’s monsoonal tropics actually comprises at least 26 genetically and morphologically distinct species, with estimates suggesting the complex contains over 50 species total, challenging long-held assumptions about global ant diversity hotspots.

This comprehensive study details Nanjing Botanical Garden Mem. Sun Yat-sen’s remarkable achievements in plant germplasm collection, endangered species protection, and industrial resource development, providing valuable insights for China’s emerging national botanical garden system.

Lanthanide ratiometric nanothermometers often deviate from Boltzmann statistics, so calibration and sensitivity become unpredictable. Researchers developed a population dynamics framework that defines the onset temperature and thermal coupling window and yields a practical rule: the nearest lower level must lie beyond twice the interlevel gap. A splitting factor links sensitivity with chemical bonding. Using dual thermally coupled pairs, ultrathin flexible patches achieve real time temperature monitoring with up to 6.17 % K^-1 relative sensitivity.

Optical skyrmions hold promise for robust information carriers, yet existing technologies are limited to narrow-band generation. Scientists in China and Singapore invented an on-chip platform using ferroelectric spherulites. This device breaks the bandwidth limit by generating stable skyrmions across the entire visible spectrum. The technique paves the way for high-capacity optical communications and topological quantum light sources.

A core-shell Pd@CeO₂/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst improves exhaust treatment for stoichiometric natural gas vehicles by promoting lower-temperature CH₄ and NO conversion and strong hydrothermal stability. The design lowers reaction barriers at Pd-CeO₂ interfaces and retains high activity after severe aging. After aging at 800 °C for 16 hours, the catalyst showed only minor losses in CH₄ and NO conversion over a 100-hour test, offering a promising route to cleaner and more durable NGV aftertreatment.

Breaks MOCVD’s bottleneck in high-strain quantum well epitaxy, significantly boosts 1.2 μm VECSEL performance. Atomic-scale characterization clarifies the strain compensation’s indium segregation suppression mechanism. 590 nm second harmonic output: near diffraction limit, brightness >1.65 GW·cm⁻²·sr⁻¹. Paves a new way for ultra-high-brightness yellow lasers, accelerating VECSEL’s lab-to-commercialization transition.

Programmable optical particle transport based on structured light plays a crucial role in microscale manipulation. Scientists in China have developed a multi-prior physics-enhanced neural network (MPPN-RW) that enables high-fidelity generation of arbitrary optical conveyor belts without training data. This technique allows precise and stable transport of microparticles along complex trajectories, offering new opportunities for optical micromanipulation, targeted delivery, and reconfigurable light-field engineering.