This study provides structural insights that inform the design and development of next-gen antidiabetic drug.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a team of researchers investigated a fine-scale lightning forecasting approach based on weather foundation models (WFMs) and proposed a dual-source data-driven forecasting framework that integrates the strengths of both WFMs and recent lightning observations to enhance predictive performance. Furthermore, a gated spatiotemporal fusion network (gSTFNet) is designed to address the challenges of cross-temporal and cross-modal fusion inherent in dual-source data integration. Experimental results demonstrate that the dual-source framework significantly improves forecasting performance compared to models trained solely on WFMs and outperforms both the ECMWF HRES lightning product and other deep-learning spatiotemporal forecasting models.

New study reveals leafy crops accumulate more resistance genes than fruiting plants, offering insight into safer agricultural practices.

Two unique hallmarks in non-Hermitian systems, namely exceptional points (EPs) and the non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE), have attracted considerable attention, particularly regarding their interplay. Recently, researchers in China demonstrated that coupling two non-Hermitian systems, each exhibiting independent NHSE, can induce multiple pairs of EPs. This further realizes the manipulation of wave-function localization, which is experimentally characterized on integrated photonic platforms. This work may inspire new designs for photonic integrated devices based on non-Hermitian physics.

Based on a symmetry-guided synthesis strategy, the research group of Professor Yefeng Tang at Tsinghua University recently achieved the efficient construction of the tricyclic core skeleton of polycyclic aromatic tetralin-type lignans by using as key steps the chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed photoasymmetric [2+2] cycloaddition and ring strain-driven oxidative ring expansion reactions. They also achieved the efficient enantioselective total synthesis of multiple aromatic tetralin-type lignan natural products through subsequent biomimetic cyclization and local desymmetrization reactions. These results were published as an open access article in CCS Chemistry, the flagship journal of the Chinese Chemical Society.

Soil pollution from pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and industrial chemicals is a growing threat to global food security and public health. With nearly 80 percent of agricultural soils containing traces of organic contaminants, researchers are looking for sustainable ways to restore damaged land. A new study in Biochar highlights an emerging solution that pairs plant-microbe partnerships with biochar, an engineered carbon-rich material—to detoxify polluted soils while supporting plant growth and economic resilience.

Some industrial processes used to create useful chemicals require heat, but heating methods are often inefficient, partly because they heat a greater volume of space than they really need to. Researchers including those from the University of Tokyo devised a way to limit heating to the specific areas required in such situations. Their technique uses microwaves, not unlike those used in home microwave ovens, to excite specific elements dispersed in the materials to be heated. Their system proved to be around 4.5 times more efficient than current methods.