Particles as different as soap bubbles and ball bearings can be made to arrange themselves in exactly the same way, according to a new study that could unlock the creation of brand new materials — including those with promising biomedical applications.

Motor imagery electroencephalography (MI-EEG) is crucial for brain-computer interfaces, serving as a valuable tool for motor function rehabilitation and fundamental neuroscience research. However, decoding MI-EEG signals is extremely challenging, and traditional methods overlook dependencies between spatiotemporal features and spectral-topological features. Now, researchers have developed a new topology-aware method that effectively captures the deep dependencies across different feature domains of EEG signals, ensuring accurate and robust decoding, paving the way for more brain-responsive technology.

The Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts has released the most comprehensive bibliometric analysis to date of hydrothermal pretreatment—an eco-friendly technique that uses only hot compressed water or steam to fracture the stubborn lignocellulose wall and release fermentable sugars, biogas precursors and carbon-rich hydrochar. Mining 22 years of global data, the study places China at the helm (36.5 % of output), identifies “enzymatic hydrolysis”, “bioethanol” and “hydrothermal carbonization” as the dominant knowledge clusters, and forecasts the next wave of innovation will marry microwave chemistry, anaerobic microbiomes and graphitic biochar for truly circular biorefineries.

Rice researchers and collaborators have developed a way to generate and control radio wave patterns that can identify a signal’s direction about ten times better than existing approaches, paving the way for next-generation wireless systems.