Weight loss is common in Parkinson’s disease, but its biological basis has been unclear. Researchers at Fujita Health University show that this loss reflects reduced body fat, not muscle, along with a shift in energy metabolism. Patients exhibited impaired carbohydrate metabolism, mitochondrial dysfunction, and increased fat breakdown with ketone body production. These changes were most pronounced in thinner patients and those with more advanced disease, revealing a hidden energy crisis in Parkinson’s disease.

Understanding the thermodynamic basis of ligand recognition by G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), especially in terms of enthalpy-entropy compensation, is crucial for drug design and development. However, such thermodynamic parameters for GPCRs have been largely unexplored. To address this gap, researchers investigated the binding enthalpy and entropy characteristics of the histamine H₁ receptor with doxepin and its individual isomers, revealing new insights for improving drug selectivity and reducing side effects.

On 2 July, 2025, the China-led Einstein Probe (EP) space telescope detected an exceptionally bright X-ray source whose brightness varied rapidly during a routine sky survey. Its unusual signal immediately set it apart from ordinary cosmic sources, triggering rapid follow-up observations by telescopes worldwide.

This research was coordinated by the EP Science Center of the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), with participation from multiple research institutions in China and abroad. Astrophysicists from the Department of Physics at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), who are integral members of the EP scientific team, worked together with the broader collaboration to interpret the event, proposing that it may mark the moment when an intermediate-mass black hole tears apart and consumes a white dwarf star. If confirmed, this would be the first observational evidence of such an extreme black hole “feeding” process. The findings have been published as a cover article in Science Bulletin.

Inspired by the human visual system, scientists in China have developed a bioinspired phototransistor with tunable sensitivity that significantly enhances the detection of low-contrast targets. By embedding a reverse-biased photodiode into the gate structure, the device achieves dynamic voltage redistribution and light-dependent conductance tuning, boosting sensitivity by more than 1000 times. The technology offers a powerful new strategy for intelligent machine vision under complex illumination.