Xiaojun “Lance” Lian, associate professor of biomedical engineering and of biology at Penn State, alongside biomedical engineering doctoral candidate Tahir Haideri contributed to a paper recently published in Matter. The research, led by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), introduced a physical system that squeezes cells, temporarily loosening the DNA inside and making space for gene-editing tools to reach the target genes.

The team said this is an improvement upon previous approaches because it enables a better yield of cell reprogramming, when researchers can coax one cell type to turn into another cell type. Lian and Haideri supported the research by guiding the molecular engineering of reprogramming cells from one type to another, building on their prior work improving how gene-editing tools are delivered to the cell’s genetic material.

Editor’s note: The full article describing this work can be found on the UCLA news site.

Researchers at Sun Yat-sen University have tailored the nitrogen environment around individual platinum atoms to improve the selective hydrogenation of sulfur-containing nitroarenes. The optimized catalyst combines high activity with sulfur tolerance, retaining more than 99% selectivity over five reuse cycles. Experiments and calculations link this performance to efficient hydrogen activation and weaker sulfur binding.

Titanium alloys like Ti-6Al-4V (TC4) feature lightweight, high strength and outstanding corrosion resistance, are widely used in aerospace, shipbuilding and nuclear industries. Combining TC4 with SS316L stainless steel can reduce structural weight and lower costs, yet their significant differences in thermal properties and metallurgical compatibility easily generate brittle Ti-Fe intermetallic compounds, causing severe joint embrittlement and strength loss. Existing Ti-based amorphous brazing fillers still struggle to balance intermetallic suppression and bonding strength, limiting industrial application.

The fabric sunshade that keeps a parked car's cabin up to 17.8 °C cooler draws no power at all. Researchers wove a hierarchical metafabric that reflects 94.3% of sunlight and emits 95.8% of the mid-infrared radiation that carries heat away, while fluorescent particles convert ultraviolet light into visible light with a 16.4% quantum yield instead of letting it become heat. The fabric reached a net cooling power of 130.13 watts per square meter — versus 77.23 without the fluorescent layer — and ran 14.4 °C cooler than a commercial sunshade in vehicle tests. It kept 93.6% of its reflectivity after 100 abrasion cycles and comes off the coater 1.2 meters wide, targeting glass towers and electric-vehicle sunroofs.

A research team at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has found a previously overlooked cause of ageing in perovskite solar cells exposed to light. The team has also developed a solution that effectively extends the cells’ lifetime, an important step towards bringing the technology to market. The study was conducted by Prof. YANG Guang, Assistant Professor of the PolyU Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, together with a team from Zhejiang University, and has been published in the international journal Watt. Prof. Nam-Gyu PARK of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, a pioneer in perovskite photovoltaics, commended the work in a research highlight in the same journal.