Researchers have developed a novel “corn-shaped” AgPd@Cu nanowire catalyst that efficiently converts carbon dioxide (CO₂) into ethylene (C₂H₄), a crucial chemical feedstock. This unique structure, synthesized via a confined etching and epitaxial growth strategy, achieves a high Faradaic efficiency of 38.80% for ethylene production, marking a significant step towards sustainable fuel and chemical production from CO₂.

The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS, President Dr. Lee Ho Seong) has developed a toxicity assessment system that automatically measures and analyzes the heart rate of the Daphnia magna. Capable of processing heart rate data from approximately 150 individuals per hour, the system can assess the toxic effects of pollutants at low concentrations more sensitively than conventional methods that rely on average values from a small number of specimens. The technology is expected to help detect early warning signs of hazardous nanomaterials and environmental pollutants before more visible effects appear.

New experimental evidence demonstrates that discrete space-time crystals can be realized in classical soft-matter systems, thereby moving beyond the traditional complexities of quantum mechanics.

Bacterial pneumonia poses a major global public health threat. Among bacterial pneumonias, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pneumonia presents particular clinical challenges due to multidrug resistance and complex pathological mechanisms. Addressing the challenging issue of the vicious cycle of infection inflammation injury in the treatment of MRSA pneumonia. Yan-Jun Hu et al. designed a glycosylated mesoporous polydopamine nanoaerosol (MPDA/B@M), which achieved effective treatment of MRSA infected pneumonia through multi mechanism synergistic effects.

Some insects and microbes develop symbiotic partnerships, which become so interdependent that they can no longer survive without each other.

But how specific are these heritable symbioses? Is it possible for the same species of bacteria to flourish across different species of insect hosts, or are these partnerships more fixed, honed over millions of years of evolution?

Objective: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), particularly coronary artery disease (CAD) and heart failure (HF), are leading causes of global mortality. Small-molecule metabolites serve as promising biomarkers for CAD and HF management, yet their low abundance in complex biological matrices poses significant detection challenges. Laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) is a powerful analytical tool, but conventional organic matrices suffer from strong background interference and poor reproducibility. This review systematically summarizes recent advances in metal-based nanomaterials as alternative LDI-MS matrices for small-molecule biomarker detection in CAD and HF, focusing on composition and structural design strategies.

Methods: The authors reviewed and classified metal-based nanomaterials by composition (single-component systems including noble metals and metal oxides; multi-component systems including noble metal-based, metal oxide-based, and MOF-based composites) and structural design (size/morphology control, porous, core-shell, and other structures). Enhancement mechanisms and analytical performance were analyzed, and clinical applications in CAD (stable CAD, acute coronary syndrome, and myocardial infarction) and HF were reviewed.

Results: Compositional engineering enables synergistic effects including localized surface plasmon resonance, enhanced photothermal conversion, efficient charge transfer, and selective analyte enrichment. Structural design optimizes electromagnetic field distribution and provides abundant active sites. In clinical applications, nanomaterial-assisted LDI-MS combined with machine learning achieves excellent diagnostic performance for CAD and HF, including stable CAD screening, ACS subtyping, MI classification, and HF differentiation.

Conclusions: Metal-based nanomaterials significantly enhance LDI-MS performance for metabolite detection through rational design. The technology shows promise for cardiovascular metabolic profiling, but challenges remain regarding fundamental mechanisms, complex synthesis, and clinical translation. Standardized protocols, multicenter validation, and interdisciplinary collaboration are needed to advance clinical implementation.