A new review brings together research on geopolitical tensions, meteorological disasters, regional environmental degradation, supply chain disruption, systemic financial instability, and technology-mediated societal and institutional risks. It shows how shocks can spread through interconnected political, economic, ecological, technological, and social systems, and outlines a flexible cycle of risk identification, assessment, management, and adaptive monitoring supported by international cooperation.

Medical imaging datasets are essential for training artificial intelligence systems, but sharing brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans can expose patient-specific anatomical patterns. Anonymization must therefore do more than remove identifiers: it must make the overall image harder to link back to a patient while retaining the lesion information needed for segmentation and classification. Existing generative approaches often emphasize global image quality or facial de-identification, leaving lesion-centric utility and re-identification risk insufficiently addressed.

Hederagenin, a plant-derived triterpenoid, reactivates the protective Klotho gene by blocking a key DNA methylation enzyme — revealing a promising epigenetic strategy against diabetic kidney disease.

Ammonia is essential for fertilizers and is emerging as a zero‑carbon energy carrier, but its industrial production via the Haber‑Bosch process is energy‑intensive and emits large amounts of CO₂. Meanwhile, nitrate pollution from agriculture and industry has contaminated groundwater worldwide, threatening ecosystems and human health. Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia (NO₃RR) offers an elegant solution: using renewable electricity to convert nitrate waste into valuable ammonia.

Astragalus polysaccharide reduces brain injury in mice and in human microbiota-transplanted models by restoring gut health, suppressing inflammation, and strengthening the intestinal barrier.

This critical review evaluates pharmaceutical pollution in soil‑air environments—where prevalent contaminants are antibiotics, analgesics, NSAIDs, antidepressants and anticancer agents—that threatens terrestrial and microbial communities, and highlights an urgent need for interdisciplinary research to protect ecosystem health.