Recently, Professor Xu Tian from the College of Economics and Management at China Agricultural University, in collaboration with Mosses Lufuke from the Department of Economics at the University of Dodoma in Tanzania, uncovered the underlying reasons through data analysis. The related article has been published in Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering (DOI: 10.15302/J-FASE-2025645).

A recent study published in National Science Review has estimated the global biological nitrogen fixation from natural terrestrial ecosystems as 78.2–89.8 Tg N yr^-1, revealing an underestimation of this flux up to ~18% in existing Earth System Models (ESMs). The findings suggest many ESMs may overstate the nitrogen limitation or vegetation internal nitrogen recycling efficiency.

The enhancement of energy density in lithium-ion batteries often comes with a decrease in cycle life. Sulfur-based lithium-ion batteries possess theoretical advantages of low cost and high specific energy, but currently, their energy density is limited and cycle life is short. Now, Huang's team has achieved simultaneous improvement in energy density and cycle life of sulfur-based batteries through ultra-low N/P ratio design and anion-mediated electrolyte engineering in the journal of Science Bulletin, unlocking the potential of sulfur-based lithium-ion batteries.

Single-crystal materials, characterized by structural uniformity and exceptional intrinsic properties, are crucial for high-performance device applications. A research team has now developed a universal method to produce large-scale single-crystal metal foils by establishing a fundamental correlation among strain, stored energy, texture, and single-crystal formation. The study reveals that sufficient deformation-stored energy is essential for generating a uniform cubic recrystallization texture, which reliably guides foils toward single-crystal conversion. This approach is compatible with cast, rolled, and electrodeposited precursors, and enables the scalable fabrication of single-crystal copper and nickel foils with both low- and high-index surfaces. These findings present a new paradigm for single-crystal metal manufacturing and lay a critical materials foundation for future industrial applications.

Researchers have confirmed the true ferrielectric state in a single-phase material, (MV)[SbBr₅]. This new polar order exhibits a unique combination of a switchable net polarization, asynchronous dipole switching, and polar-to-polar structural transitions, while enabling unprecedented electric-field control of spin-orbit coupling and circular photogalvanic effects, opening new avenues for next-generation electronics.

Researchers from Shandong University have engineered CYP152 peroxygenases for a green, efficient, and enantioselective one-step synthesis of (R)-mandelic acid derivatives, offering a sustainable solution for producing chiral molecules in pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals.

As the global population grows, producing enough food for everyone has become one of the biggest challenges in agriculture. Wheat, one of the world’s most important crops, must yield more grain from each plant to help meet this demand. A key factor in determining yield is the inflorescence architecture, the way that the plant’s flower head (or spike) is strucrured. This architecture controls how many grains each spike can produce and finally influence the yield of crops. Over the history of wheat breeding, changes in spike shape and structure have played a major role in yield improvements. In a recent study, researchers at Shandong Agricultural University explored a new way to boost wheat yield by re-engineering spike architecture. Through detailed multi-dimentional comparisons of inflorescence development among different cereal crops, the researchers identified promising directions for redesigning wheat spikes to produce more grains, which opens up an exciting path roward breaking burrent yield limits and helping secure global food supplies for the future.

Abstract

Purpose – This paper represents the first attempt to examine investor behaviour for green stocks through the lens of return co-movement, and provides evidence indicating that green investment practices have gained traction after 2012.

Design/methodology/approach – We empirically test the hypotheses that the stock returns of firms with similar carbon dioxide emissions levels move together and, if so, whether this co-movement has increased over time as people become more “carbon-conscious.” Our baseline sample, based on carbon emissions data from public company disclosures, suffers from limited coverage, particularly before 2016, leading to low statistical power and sample selection bias. To address this, we employ machine learning methodologies to forecast the carbon emissions of firms that do not disclose such information, nearly quadrupling the sample size. Our findings indicate that stocks with similar carbon emissions exhibit higher co-movement in stock returns in both the baseline and augmented data samples. Furthermore, this co-movement has increased during the 2012–2020 period compared to the 2004–2011 period, suggesting that green investment has gained traction over time.

Findings – We find that stocks with similar carbon emissions exhibit higher co-movement in stock returns in both the baseline sample and the augmented data sample, and the co-movement has increased in the 2012–2020 period compared to the 2004–2011 years, suggesting that green investment has gained traction over time.

Originality/value – (1) We use machine learning methodology to augment carbon emissions sample which goes back to 2004. Our approach almost quadruples the original data, enabling large-sample testing. (2) We are the first paper to examine how green companies’ stock returns co-move and thus provide complementary results on the research on expected returns and carbon emissions.