Thermal stability and environmental sustainability are paramount to the practical deployment of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), which are designed to harness solar energy through high-efficiency and low-cost photovoltaic technology. Pseudo-halide thiocyanate anions (SCN⁻), employed as a crystallization modulator, have emerged as an ideal candidate for tailoring the formation of high-quality mixed-cation perovskite films, paving the way for a new era of efficient and high-quality PSCs.

Protein-based drugs demonstrate potent therapeutic effects but face rapid clearance from the body. To address this limitation for FGF21—a crucial neuroprotective protein with a short biological half-life—researchers developed an innovative zinc-based nanoformulation. The team successfully created FGF21/Zinc NC by combining FGF21 with zinc and stabilizing the complex with a PVP coating. This novel formulation demonstrated remarkable efficacy in stroke treatment, representing a significant breakthrough in overcoming a key obstacle for clinical development of protein therapeutics.

Researchers at Graz University of Technology are using virtual reality and large language models to support people with autism spectrum disorder in training social skills. The system is intended to make treatment options more widely accessible.

The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS, President Lee Ho-seong) has developed an ultrasonic sensor technology that applies a waveguide to detect defects in all directions without directly attaching sensors to the inspection target. By enabling remote ultrasonic excitation and reception, the technology is expected to help prevent industrial accidents and eliminate inspection blind spots in high-risk industrial facilities where direct sensor installation has been challenging due to heat, toxic gases, or other hazardous environmental conditions.

Formic acid (FA) is a potential biomass resource of syngas with contents of carbon monoxide (CO, 60 wt.%) and hydrogen (H₂, 4.4 wt.%). Among the technologies for FA conversion, the photoreforming of FA has received widespread attention due to its use of green solar energy conversion technology and mild reaction conditions. Herein, a V–W bimetallic solid solution, V_xW_1−xN_1.5 with efficient co-catalytic properties was first and facilely synthesized. When CdS was used as a photocatalyst, the activity performance of the V_0.1W_0.9N_1.5 system was over 60% higher than that of the W₂N₃ system. The computational simulations and experiments showed the V_0.1W_0.9N_1.5 had great metallic features and large work functions, contributing a faster photo-generated carrier transfer and less recombination, finally facilitating a great performance in cocatalyst for syngas production in photoreforming FA. This work provides an approach to synthesizing novel transition metal nitrides for photocatalysis.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pneumonia is a well-recognized cause of bacterial pneumonia, resulting in increased morbidity and mortality worldwide. Traditional antibiotics face challenges such as resistance development and microbiome disruption. Researchers have now developed a promising alternative: chitosan-coated self-assembled celastrol nanoparticles (CSC NPs), derived from a traditional Chinese herbal compound. These CSC NPs, optimized for lung delivery via nebulization, exhibit strong mucoadhesion and acid-responsive drug release at infection sites. By non-competitively inhibiting the virulence factor staphyloxanthin (STX), CSC NPs disrupt bacterial membranes and enhance immune clearance. In mouse models, they achieved remarkable antibacterial rates of 97% against S. aureus and 94% against MRSA, offering a clinically translatable strategy to combat resistant infections.