A research team led by Professor Yumei Zhang from the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy (AGFEP) at China Agricultural University, in collaboration with Dr. Issa Ouedraogo from the Alliance of Biodiversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), has conducted a study that reveals the structural characteristics and emission reduction potential of agrifood system carbon emissions in China and Africa. The related article has been published in Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering (DOI: 10.15302/J-FASE-2025609).

Investigating structural and hydroxyl group effects in electrooxidation of alcohols to value-added products by solid-acid electrocatalysts is essential for upgrading biomass alcohols. Herein, we report efficient electrocatalytic oxidations of saturated alcohols (C₁-C₆) to selectively form formate using NiCo hydroxide (NiCo–OH) derived NiCo₂O₄ solid-acid electrocatalysts with balanced Lewis acid (LASs) and Brønsted acid sites (BASs). Thermal treatment transforms BASs-rich (89.6%) NiCo–OH into NiCo₂O₄ with nearly equal distribution of LASs (53.1%) and BASs (46.9%) which synergistically promote adsorption and activation of OH⁻ and alcohol molecules for enhanced oxidation activity. In contrast, BASs-enriched NiCo–OH facilitates formation of higher valence metal sites, beneficial for water oxidation. The combined experimental studies and theoretical calculation imply the oxidation ability of C₁-C₆ alcohols increases as increased number of hydroxyl groups and decreased HOMO–LUMO gaps: methanol (C₁) < ethylene glycol (C₂) < glycerol (C₃) < meso-erythritol (C₄) < xylitol (C₅) < sorbitol (C₆), while the formate selectivity shows the opposite trend from 100 to 80%. This study unveils synergistic roles of LASs and BASs, as well as hydroxyl group effect in electro-upgrading of alcohols using solid-acid electrocatalysts.

In a review published in Molecular Biomedicine, a team of Chinese scientists summarizes the pivotal role of N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A)—the most abundant chemical modification in eukaryotic mRNA—in cancer biology. The authors describe how m⁶A regulators (writers, erasers, and readers) influence tumor progression, metastasis, treatment resistance, and the tumor microenvironment. They also discuss emerging therapeutic strategies, including small-molecule inhibitors, RNA-based editing technologies, and combination therapies, highlighting m⁶A's potential as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker and a target for precision oncology.

Lithium–oxygen (Li–O₂) batteries are perceived as a promising breakthrough in sustainable electrochemical energy storage, utilizing ambient air as an energy source, eliminating the need for costly cathode materials, and offering the highest theoretical energy density (~ 3.5 kWh kg^–1) among discussed candidates. Contributing to the poor cycle life of currently reported Li–O₂ cells is singlet oxygen (¹O₂) formation, inducing parasitic reactions, degrading key components, and severely deteriorating cell performance. Here, we harness the chirality-induced spin selectivity effect of chiral cobalt oxide nanosheets (Co₃O₄ NSs) as cathode materials to suppress ¹O₂ in Li–O₂ batteries for the first time. Operando photoluminescence spectroscopy reveals a 3.7-fold and 3.23-fold reduction in ¹O₂ during discharge and charge, respectively, compared to conventional carbon paper-based cells, consistent with differential electrochemical mass spectrometry results, which indicate a near-theoretical charge-to-O₂ ratio (2.04 e⁻/O₂). Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that chirality induces a peak shift near the Fermi level, enhancing Co 3d–O 2p hybridization, stabilizing reaction intermediates, and lowering activation barriers for Li₂O₂ formation and decomposition. These findings establish a new strategy for improving the stability and energy efficiency of sustainable Li–O₂ batteries, abridging the current gap to commercialization.

Recently, a research team led by Gengjie Jia at the Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in collaboration with Yu Li at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Xin Gao at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and Andrey Rzhetsky at The University of Chicago, published an article in Quantitative Biology titled “An effective encoding of human medical conditions in disease space provides a versatile framework for deciphering disease associations.” The study presents an embedding-based approach that encodes medical records into a high-dimensional disease space, providing a versatile framework for uncovering disease associations, facilitating genetic parameter estimation, and enabling data-driven disease classification. The authors also discuss the key challenges and future prospects of this emerging paradigm.

Dr. Kai Wang and his team published a review in Life Medicine to summarize the iPSC modification strategies to reach immune escape and reduce graft versus host disease (GvHD).

Researchers at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics have developed a water-integrated floating droplet electricity generator that uses natural water as both the electrode and the substrate. The device matches the performance of conventional generators while significantly reducing weight and cost, opening pathways to scalable, land-free clean energy applications.

Researchers from Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) and collaborators have built “double molecular bridges” across perovskite interfaces, unlocking ultrafast charge transport and pushing inverted perovskite solar cells to a certified fill factor of 88%, a new world record. The study was published in National Science Review (NSR).

In a comprehensive review published in MedComm - Oncology, a research team sheds new light on the complex biology and therapeutic challenges of breast cancer brain metastasis (BCBrM). The authors detail the multi-step metastatic cascade, from primary tumor invasion to brain colonization, and highlight key signaling pathways such as TGF-β, Wnt/β-catenin, PI3K/AKT, Notch, HER2-HER3, and JAK/STAT. They also explore the dynamic interactions between tumor cells and the brain microenvironment, including astrocytes, microglia, and neurons, which facilitate immune evasion and metabolic adaptation. The review further discusses advances in preclinical models, emerging CNS-penetrant therapies, and innovative clinical trial designs, offering a roadmap for personalized management of BCBrM.