A new study warns against oversimplifying the causes of extreme weather. While the Asian monsoon can influence North American climate, researchers found its usual effect is to cool the Pacific Northwest. However, during the 2021 heatwave, a uniquely strong jet stream acted as an "atmospheric waveguide," redirecting the monsoon's energy and amplifying the heat. This shows that a factor's general influence ("can it?") can differ from its role in a specific event ("did it?"), highlighting the need for detailed, case-by-case analysis.

These insects, including pollinators, predators, and crop pests, play a vital role in moving nutrients, energy, and genetic material across ecosystems. Studying them has proven notoriously difficult, as they spend much of their lives high in the atmosphere.

Could a single memristor replace both the driving transistor and storage capacitor in micro-LEDs?

Prof. Tae-Geun Kim and team at Korea University reveal the world’s first capacitor-free active-matrix circuit in the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, showing a single memristor controlling micro-LED pixels.

This leap forward could unlock denser, more energy-efficient displays and transform the way next-generation high-resolution screens are built.

Metastasis remains the deadliest cancer complication, driven by circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that evade immune defenses in the bloodstream. A new review by scientists of China explores how CTCs interact with platelets, immune cells, and molecular pathways to survive, highlighting emerging therapeutic strategies and the evolving role of CTCs in liquid biopsy and metastasis prevention. The findings offer promising directions for advancing cancer diagnostics and anti-metastatic treatments.

Garlic, a vital vegetable and medicinal crop, suffers severe yield losses from persistent viral infections accumulated through clonal propagation. This study presents the first single-cell transcriptomic atlas of garlic cloves during swelling growth, revealing how viruses invade and interact with individual cell types. By analyzing over 19,000 high-quality cells, researchers identified 11 distinct clusters and reconstructed their differentiation trajectory from meristem to mature parenchyma cells. Intriguingly, meristem cells exhibited strong viral resistance, while parenchyma cells became major viral hotspots. Co-expression and metabolomic analyses further uncovered glutathione-related genes and RNA-silencing pathways as key antiviral responses, providing unprecedented insights into garlic’s cellular immunity.

Onions with glossy leaves possess an unexpected advantage: natural resistance to thrips, one of the crop’s most damaging pests. Researchers identified a premature stop codon mutation in the AcCER2 gene, disrupting the formation of epicuticular wax—a layer that normally gives onion leaves their frosty-white look. Multi-omics analyses revealed that the loss of wax alters fatty acid elongation, gene expression, and metabolite accumulation, resulting in higher flavonoid levels and reduced soluble sugars. These changes appear to make the glossy onions less attractive to thrips. The discovery of AcCER2’s regulatory role provides a new genetic target for breeding pest-resistant onion varieties.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University researchers have developed a data-driven method to recognize the coordinated intentions of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms.

By combining a simplified flight motion model with an artificial neural network, the approach can predict swarm behavior early and accurately—advancing aerial surveillance and autonomous defense systems.

The innovation features of this research are: Treating a UAV swarm as a single intelligent entity and combining the Dubins motion model with an artificial neural network to achieve early and highly accurate intention recognition of coordinated swarm behaviors.

Fresh leafy vegetables such as pakchoi rapidly lose quality after harvest due to leaf yellowing and senescence. This study uncovers the molecular mechanism through which the plant hormone 2,4-epibrassinolide (EBR), a brassinosteroid analog, delays leaf senescence in pakchoi. Researchers identified BrWRKY8, a nucleus-localized transcription factor that promotes leaf aging by activating chlorophyll degradation (BrSGR2) and brassinosteroid degradation (BrCHI2) genes. EBR treatment suppresses BrWRKY8 expression, thereby maintaining chlorophyll and hormone balance, leading to extended postharvest freshness. These findings reveal a critical regulatory pathway linking EBR and BrWRKY8 in delaying leaf senescence.

Tomato improvement through genome editing has long been hindered by the difficulty of generating transgenic plants. Researchers have now developed a virus-induced genome editing (VIGE) platform that enables heritable mutations in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) without the need for tissue culture. By engineering a tobacco rattle virus (TRV) system carrying mobile guide RNAs derived from the tomato Flowering Locus T (SlFT) gene, and pairing it with a SlUBI10-driven Cas9 expression line, they successfully produced knockout tomato seeds with up to 100% heritability. This innovative system dramatically reduces time and labor costs for tomato gene editing, opening the door to rapid functional studies and breeding applications.

Trichomes—the tiny hair-like structures covering tomato surfaces—serve as a crucial frontline defense against environmental stress and pest attacks. However, the mechanisms behind their multicellular formation remain poorly understood. A new study identifies two C2H2-type zinc finger proteins, SlH3 and SlH4, as essential regulators promoting multicellular trichome initiation and elongation in tomato. Using CRISPR-Cas9 knockout mutants and molecular assays, researchers showed that SlH3 and SlH4 work cooperatively to enhance the expression of Woolly (Wo), a master transcription factor controlling trichome development. These findings reveal a previously unknown regulatory layer that fine-tunes trichome patterning and strengthen the genetic framework for improving crop resilience through natural plant structures.