Spinal cord injury is often seen as damage to the nervous system, but a new review argues that paralysis is only the visible tip of a much larger iceberg. The authors map how spinal cord trauma can disrupt autonomic control, immunity and metabolism, triggering complications across distant organs and reshaping long-term recovery.

This study reviews ecological operation practices in China's Tarim and Irtysh River Basins, focusing on innovations such as multiscale reservoir ecological operations, ecological infiltration irrigation, and ecological water conveyance strategies. These approaches have effectively restored riparian vegetation, enhanced groundwater recharge, and improved biodiversity while balancing socioeconomic demands. The paper also discusses persisting challenges like climate variability and competing water demands. Lastly, the paper proposes an integrated framework combining reservoir regulation, ecological flow reconstruction, and targeted water delivery technologies to enhance sustainable water management in arid regions.

A team led by Professor Yanhao Yu at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) designed a high‑barrier viscoplastic encapsulation interlayer composed of polyisobutylene (PIB) and maleic anhydride‑grafted polypropylene (MAPP). Leveraging chain slippage and permanent disentanglement mechanisms, the interlayer achieves intimate conformal adhesion and hermetic encapsulation for various non‑planar electrodes (e.g., microwires, micropillars, and serpentine electrodes). It extends the in vivo signal fidelity of stretchable bioelectronic devices to 45 weeks.

A recent study published in National Science Review reveals that the spring Southern Annular Mode (SAM) underwent a marked spatial shift around 1998. Since then, its wave-like features have strengthened, enhancing its delayed impact on Antarctic summer sea ice. The 2022 and 2023 record-low events both followed strong spring positive SAM anomalies. The study further suggests that ENSO, through more frequent positive SAM-La Niña co-occurrence, may amplify SAM’s influence on Antarctic sea ice.

A team led by the Beijing Institute of Technology presents a unified framework in National Science Review for personalized healthcare termed self-powered intelligence. It describes how on-device AI, flexible electronics, and body-based energy harvesting can be co-designed into wearable patches and implantable sensors, enabling them to analyze physiological signals in real time, predict health risks, for continuous and personalized healthcare.

Topological phase transition is attracting great attention in condensed matter physics, and its gate-voltage-reversible control is essential for electrically driven topological devices. Recently, Professor Jinxiong Wu’s team at Nankai University achieved the first gate-voltage-reversible topological phase transition in β-Ag₂Te nanodevices, evidenced by a π Berry phase transition. Theoretical attributes this to the Stark effect modulating band structure. Based on this, they built a prototype topological phase transition transistor with on-off ratio exceeding 10⁴, opening a new route for electrically controlled topological devices.