This critical review evaluates pharmaceutical pollution in soil‑air environments—where prevalent contaminants are antibiotics, analgesics, NSAIDs, antidepressants and anticancer agents—that threatens terrestrial and microbial communities, and highlights an urgent need for interdisciplinary research to protect ecosystem health.

Recently, a research team led by Associate Professor Jian Chen at China Agricultural University developed two novel Type I-C CRISPR systems, Aca I-C and Cja I-C, that enable efficient genome editing in maize. The study establishes Type I-C CRISPR systems as additional platforms for plant genome engineering and highlights the potential of microbial genome mining for discovering editing tools. These technologies may contribute to future crop improvement by providing alternative strategies for targeted genome modification.

The study delineates the complete pathway of calcium action: from macroscopically improving stem structure, to microscopically remodeling cell wall components, and to molecularly regulating gene networks—ultimately strengthening the stem from the inside out to achieve superior traits.

A study of OsSTP26 reveals that both gene knockout and overexpression can enhance productive tiller formation through distinct carbon-signaling routes.

An analysis of 500 S&P 500 companies revealed that traditional sector labels only partially explain firms’ financial structures. Machine-learning models predicted sectors from accounting ratios, achieving a maximum validation accuracy of 49.3%. However, an unsupervised analysis identified nine financially interpretable groups that crossed sector boundaries. This suggests that, when comparing profitability, leverage, liquidity, and cash-generation patterns, accounting-based peer groups can complement sectors.

By regulating coordination angles of two carbazole-pyridine ligands (L1, L2) and building blocks (E1(OTf)₂, E2(OTf)₂), successfully obtained four architectures: a molecular-tweezer-like compound, a snowflake-shaped fold assembly, an 8₁₈ knot, and a closed three-link chain. SC-XRD validated the structures and showed that the ligand angle determines whether the assembly is interlocked or folded. NMR and ESI-TOF-MS verified solution-phase formation and purity. Furthermore, the closed three-link chain exhibits high photothermal conversion performance. Its efficiency is directly influenced by π–π stacking interactions, and EPR experiments further confirm that the radical character of the building blocks also contributes to the photothermal properties.

A research team led by Professor Kaicun Wang at Peking University has released a homogenized gridded climate dataset for China (HCD01), providing daily, 0.1-degree climate data for 1961-2022. The dataset corrects non-climatic signals in long-term observations and merges homogenized station records with ERA5-Land reanalysis, offering a high-quality data basis for studying climate change and its impacts across China.