Mutations in the ASPM gene are the most common cause of primary hereditary microcephaly in humans, a condition characterized by a severely reduced brain size. While ASPM has been studied in rodents and ferrets, these models only partially recapitulate the human condition due to significant differences in brain structure and complexity, particularly the lack of a folded cerebral cortex (gyrification). To better model human brain development, this study investigated the consequences of ASPM knockout in a non-human primate, the cynomolgus monkey.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is an aggressive malignancy with limited therapeutic options. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) have shown remarkable efficacy, especially in BRCA-mutant patients, and are approved as maintenance therapy to prevent recurrence after initial response to chemotherapy.

CTCF is widely recognized for its essential role in mediating chromatin loops to regulate gene expression, particularly by modulating enhancer-promoter (EP) interactions. However, acute depletion of CTCF has minimal impact on these interactions and gene expression, leaving much of its regulatory mechanism still unclear.

Research groups of Professors Weiqi Zhang, Haiyan Xu and Lin Wang from the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, reported a positively-charged dextran nano-photosensitizer (p-Dex PS) facilitates tumor-associated macrophage (TAM)-mediated delivery and sublethal light-induced metabolic reprogramming, which boosts the TAM polarization and subsequently the anticancer immune effects.

A research paper by scientists at the Beijing Institute of Technology proposed a brain–machine hybrid intelligent system for sound target detection (STD), featuring a neuroanatomy-informed EEG decoding network and an adaptive confidence-based fusion strategy to address poor robustness and limited generalization of existing methods under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions or with unseen target classes.

The new research paper, publishede journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, presented the development, validation, and optimization of the hybrid system, demonstrating that integrating neuroanatomical priors into EEG decoding and fusing brain-machine decisions can significantly enhance STD performance in complex acoustic environments.

Extracellular vesicles serve as essential mediators of communication between immune cells and tumor cells, and the recent advances in artificial induction strategies offer an adaptable and efficient platform for engineering extracellular vesicles, enabling their application as next-generation strategies in cancer immunotherapy.

Heterojunction structures are favored for constructing photoelectrochemical ultraviolet photodetectors (PEC UV PDs), whereas lattice mismatches impede their optoelectronic performance. This work presents a novel homojunction consisting of two-dimensional (2D) In₂O₃ nanosheets (NS) and three-dimensional (3D) In₂O₃ microcubes (MC) with a suitable energy band alignment. 2D In₂O₃ NS not only shows an enlarged bandgap due to the quantum confinement effect but also effectively upshifts the conductive band and Fermi level stemming from the oxygen vacancy demonstrated by the theoretical simulation and experimental results. The photogenerated carrier dynamic of In₂O₃ photoanodes is boosted by the 2D-3D homojunction with a built-in electric field and more electrochemically active sites, leading to higher photogenerated carrier separation efficiency, faster interfacial charge transfer, and better self-powered capability. The In₂O₃ 2D-3D homojunction PEC UV PDs exhibit outstanding self-powered deep-UV photoresponse at 0 V, with an ultrahigh responsivity of 316.5 mA/W for 254 nm light, a fast response speed of 15/15 ms, high detectivity of 1.12 × 10¹² Jones, and an outstanding UV-vis rejection ratio of 1507, surpassing most recorded PEC UV PDs. This work demonstrates the pivotal role of morphology-controlled homojunction in modulating photogenerated carrier dynamics and offers a new strategy for designing high-performance PEC devices.

The lithium-ion battery is a new energy storage device widely employed in various fields such as mobile power, electric vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and spacecrafts due to its high energy, high efficiency, lightweight, and environmental friendliness. Understanding the internal mechanism of the battery is of utmost importance. The electrochemical model provides detailed insights into the internal mechanism of lithium batteries and encompasses the single-particle model and the P2D model, as well as enhancements such as thermal coupling, mechanical stress coupling, and electric double-layer capacitive coupling. However, the dispersion effect of capacitors in solid electrolyte interface (SEI) film capacitors and porous electrodes has been basically ignored, which is essential for analyzing the internal mechanism and managing energy conversion in lithium batteries experiencing short-term effects. Furthermore, the determination of the dominant order of the Faraday process and non-Faraday process within a short time period is essential for accurately predicting the lifespan of lithium batteries subjected to high-frequency periodic excitation and assessing performance degradation. While the frequency range of these two processes can be roughly delineated through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), the precise transition time of their dominant positions remains uncertain.

A recently published article in Nature Communications by Dr. Qiang Su and colleagues reports a novel molecular pathway that intensifies myocardial injury following coronary microembolization (CME).