Lithium–oxygen batteries have great potential as next-generation energy storage devices; however, sluggish oxygen reactions have long hindered their commercial adoption. Researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology developed a heterostructured lanthanum cobalt oxide-cobalt oxide composite that accelerates these reactions, achieving outstanding bifunctional catalytic performance with a record-low potential gap of just 1.14 V. The platinum-free catalyst could allow longer-range electric vehicles and extended-endurance drones, offering a cost-effective and sustainable path toward next-generation energy storage.

The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Link’s concrete structures are engineered to achieve a design service life of 120 years, necessitating a robust, science-based framework for long-term durability management. This paper systematically reviews data-driven and physics-informed modeling approaches; establishes a smart, self-cleaning, and self-predictive durability database; integrates validated, application-oriented durability models; develops a life-cycle cost-optimized planning methodology; and proposes performance-aligned maintenance strategies—thereby identifying critical technical and managerial challenges in sustaining structural durability over the whole service life.

Chemistry isn’t always known for its sustainable methodologies and simple execution, though the possibilities for finding more direct and efficient ways to synthesize products are limitless. Conventional methods for modifying drug intermediates with the addition of a carboxyl group (a functional group consisting of a carbon double-bonded to an oxygen molecule, with a single bond to a hydroxyl group, or -OH) using carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a process called carboxylation often are expensive, have poor stability and high activation energy costs. Alternatively, this study focuses on newer advances in the carboxylation of heteroaromatic compounds, which are organic molecules arranged in a ring format, making them very stable and necessary building blocks for many organic compounds. The advancements shown here use CO₂ as a raw material to develop a greener, highly selective and efficient way to add CO₂  to heteroaromatic compounds under mild conditions.

In a newly published research article in Space: Science & Technology, an international team of researchers from the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences; the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN); the China Academy of Space Technology; the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences; the Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences; and the China University of Geosciences jointly presents a detailed account of the successful deployment of the INRRI laser retroreflector on the lunar farside by the Chang’e-6 mission.

The escalating advancements in wireless communication and electronic devices have intensified electromagnetic pollution, driving an urgent demand for high-performance microwave absorption materials (MAMs). The core challenge in designing high-performance MAMs is the simultaneous achievement of excellent impedance matching and a strong attenuation capability. Early research primarily focused on conventional materials such as carbon-based structures and ferrites. Although carbon materials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes offer strong dielectric loss, their high conductivity often leads to poor impedance matching and surface reflection. Furthermore, although ferrites provide magnetic loss, their low Snoek's limit restricts their application at high frequencies.