There is an increasing demand for novel materials with high-temperature oxidation resistance in harsh environments. Now, a joint research team from Jeonbuk National University and Korea Institute of Materials Science have demonstrated promising alumina-forming ferritic alloys that exhibit high-temperature oxidation resistance even under prolonged steam exposure. They achieve an outstanding balance between steam oxidation resistance, high-temperature strength, and cost- effectiveness, making them lucrative for high-temperature structural applications in extreme environments.

A research team from Peking University has successfully developed a vanadium oxide (VO₂)-based “locally active memristive oscillator” that operates at the edge of chaos. Through simple signal injection, the device exhibits diverse nonlinear dynamic behaviors such as frequency division, stochastic oscillation, and frequency locking. Remarkably, a single device demonstrates powerful frequency-domain feature extraction capability in speech recognition tasks, achieving performance comparable to a two-layer convolutional neural network. This breakthrough opens a new pathway for future energy-efficient and intelligent neuromorphic computing chips.

 In this system, Fc could convert overexpressed H₂O₂ to produce ·OH. Importantly, Cur could form dynamic boronate ester bonds with BA, and be encapsulated in SPSAs-1 through responsive chemical bond to form SPSAs-2. The acidic microenvironment and excessive H₂O₂ within tumor cells cause the dissociation of boronate ester bonds and β-CD/Fc complexes, releasing Cur. As a result, the GSH level could be reduced through the combination of the BA-induced GSH consumption and Cur-induced inhibition of TrxR activation, further enhancing CDT efficacy.

Structural alignment in fibrous tissues like myocardium and tendons is a key biomarker of physiological integrity and pathological remodeling. However, conventional imaging relies on staining. Researchers in Korea developed mid-infrared dichroism-sensitive photoacoustic microscopy, a label-free imaging modality that integrates molecular specificity with polarization sensitivity. It quantitatively maps protein content and extracellular matrix alignment in engineered heart tissues, enabling objective assessment of structural integrity and fibrosis without staining. This technique advances histopathology and regenerative medicine.

There are “costs of life” that mechanical physics cannot calculate. A clear example is the energy required to keep specific biochemical processes active — such as those that make up photosynthesis, although the examples are countless — while preventing alternative processes from occurring. In mechanics, no displacement implies zero work, and, put simply, there is no energetic cost for keeping things from happening. Yet careful stochastic thermodynamic calculations show that these costs do exist — and they are often quite significant.

A new paper published in the Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment (JSTAT) proposes a way to calculate these costs from a thermodynamic perspective and thus to offer a new tool for understanding the selection and evolution of metabolic pathways at the root of life.

Computational fluorescence microscopy (CFM) requires accurate point spread function (PSF) characterization for high-quality imaging. We propose a sample prior–based PSF decoupling method, where regular fluorescent samples act as modulators to computationally optimize the system PSF. This approach avoids modeling errors and low SNR limitations of theoretical or particle-based PSFs. Experiments demonstrate high-contrast, multicolor, and large-depth imaging comparable to confocal microscopy, offering a general strategy for accurate system characterization in advanced CFM.

Scientists have developed a groundbreaking on-chip quantum memory platform using 3D-nanoprinted hollow-core waveguides called "light cages" to store flying photons in cesium vapor. This innovative approach achieves storage times of several hundred nanoseconds while enabling multiple quantum memories on a single chip. The technology marks a major advance in spatially multiplexed quantum memories for use in quantum repeaters and photonic quantum computing platforms.