Researchers from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, have demonstrated that Rheum nobile, a flagship alpine plant in the Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains long treated as a single species, actually comprises four distinct species. The finding, based on integrative analyses of morphology, multi-locus genomic data, and Bayesian species delimitation, underscores the role of "sky island" geography in driving plant speciation and suggests that biodiversity across the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau may be substantially underestimated.

Researchers have developed Fe-doped carbon composite catalysts that significantly enhance the thermal decomposition and combustion performance of the energetic molecular perovskite DAP-4. By tailoring the loading of iron oxide nanoparticles on carbon substrates, the study demonstrates accelerated decomposition kinetics, reduced ignition barriers, and intensified combustion, providing a promising catalytic strategy for improving the energy-release efficiency of next-generation molecular perovskite energetic materials.

A new review highlights how microneedle technologies are evolving from a promising concept into a next-generation platform for precision monitoring and rehabilitation. The authors summarize recent advances in materials, sensing, drug delivery, and intelligent integration, while also identifying challenges such as manufacturability, validation, safety, and technological accessibility that must be addressed to make microneedle systems more inclusive and widely usable.

This collection features articles on Additive Manufacturing published in Smart Materials in Manufacturing. All articles are free to read and download.

This review summarizes recent advances in wearable uric acid sensors, covering electrochemical and optical detection mechanisms, performance-enhancement strategies, device integration, and emerging applications. It highlights progress in sensitivity, selectivity, anti-fouling performance, self-calibration, and user comfort, while identifying persistent challenges in long-term stability, interference resistance, multimodal monitoring, clinical validation, data security, and commercialization. Future directions emphasize intelligent, sustainable, and personalized sensing platforms.

Researchers have developed LorMe, an R-based framework that integrates complex microbiome workflows into a unified, standardized, and reproducible analytical framework. The framework enables researchers to perform community profiling, differential tax identification, and microbial network analyses through a streamlined workflow, supporting more consistent and reproducible microbiome studies.

This study develops an ultrasound-responsive chitosan microsphere (UCC-rhBMP-2) for on-demand release of bioengineered rhBMP-2. The system demonstrates exceptional stability (>80% retention for 21 days) and rapid triggered release (>80% within 15 min) via cavitation-induced pore modulation. In a rat calvarial defect model, combined ultrasound and UCC-rhBMP-2 achieved 50.3% reduction in bone void volume and 1.9-fold increase in new bone area at 4 weeks, significantly outperforming controls.

Researchers from Jiangsu University have identified Pm72, a new powdery mildew resistance gene from the Iraqi wild einkorn wheat accession PI 427741. Genetic analysis showed that the accession carries two dominant resistance genes, including PmNCA6 previously identified on chromosome arm 7AL. Pm72, located on chromosome arm 6AL, provided resistance against all ten powdery mildew isolates tested and remained effective after being transferred into hexaploid wheat through interspecific hybridization. The findings establish Pm72 as a promising resource for breeding wheat varieties with broad and effective resistance to powdery mildew.