Groundbreaking study led by Dr. Anna Gunina (RUDN University, Russia) and Dr. Zhongzhen Liu (Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China) shows that combining maize straw with biochar slashes CO₂ emissions by half while fostering a more cooperative, and resilient, soil microbiome

Strobilurin farm fungicides are showing up from wheat fields to pregnant womens urine, and a new scientific review warns that these “modern” crop protectants may carry hidden risks for ecosystems and human health.

Researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with collaborators, explored the impact of mountain building and climate cooling over 30 million years across five major mountain systems in the Northern Hemisphere and revealed that these processes are key drivers of the rich plant diversity found in the Earth's alpine biome.

A research team led by Prof. LI Xianfeng from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) eveloped a novel bromine-based two-electron transfer reaction system to overcome key limitations of conventional zinc–bromine flow batteries. By introducing amine compounds as bromine scavengers, the team converts corrosive bromine (Br₂) into brominated amines, reducing Br₂ concentration to ultra-low levels (~7 mM). This enables a two-electron redox process that increases energy density while significantly lowering electrolyte corrosivity.

With human-robot collaboration at the core of Industry 5.0, a research team at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has made significant progress in this field, developing a new generation of “human-machine symbiotic” collaborative manufacturing systems. In addition to perceiving complex environments in real time and accurately interpreting operators’ intentions, the system can achieve skill transfer and self-learning via simple demonstration, while carrying out autonomous process code generation and automatic adjustment for highly accurate task execution. It has been successfully applied to high-end manufacturing tasks such as autonomous drilling on large aircraft and the disassembly of electric vehicle batteries, laying a solid foundation for a new model of human-centric smart manufacturing.

Fungal denitrification play a key role in the regulation of nitrogen cycle. Knowledge of the fungal denitrification of soil microbes and the driving mechanisms will be essential to understand the impact of soil N₂O emissions in the karst region. This study demonstrates that soil fungal nirK-derived N₂O in the karst region are significantly distinct between cropland and forest, soil NO₃^‒-N and sand are important drivers of the soil N₂O emissions variation, especially after vegetation restoration. The researchers’ finding appeared September 9, 2025 in Soil Ecology Letters.

The ecosystem of tropical coral islands is relatively isolated, characterized by harsh environmental conditions. It is frequently subjected to climatic stressors such as high temperatures, intense solar radiation, high salinity, and seasonal drought.

Soil microbial communities play a crucial role in maintaining multiple soil functions in terrestrial ecosystems. However, evidence linking soil microbial communities to soil multifunctionality under warming and precipitation changes remains limited. This study shows that the combined effects of warming and increased precipitation can markedly weaken soil multifunctionality in semi-arid grasslands, primarily by intensifying competition between bacteria and fungi. The researchers’ finding appeared October 28, 2025 in Soil Ecology Letters.Soil microbial communities play a crucial role in maintaining multiple soil functions in terrestrial ecosystems. However, evidence linking soil microbial communities to soil multifunctionality under warming and precipitation changes remains limited. This study shows that the combined effects of warming and increased precipitation can markedly weaken soil multifunctionality in semi-arid grasslands, primarily by intensifying competition between bacteria and fungi. The researchers’ finding appeared October 28, 2025 in Soil Ecology Letters.

In the critical habitat of the giant panda, livestock grazing is reshaping the invisible yet vital world of soil microbes in an unexpected way. A new study reveals that while grazing alters soil properties, it paradoxically leads to an increase in soil bacterial diversity. Meanwhile, grazing disrupts the competitive hierarchy of the fungal kingdom, triggering a community shift from the singular dominance of Basidiomycota to a co-dominance structure with Ascomycota.