In a paper published in National Science Review, Prof. Xu proposes a new term "viral aggregation" to more accurately describe the accumulation of lysis products in the soil environment. In addition, he advocates that incorporating soil viruses into existing MCP and MinCP models, namely virus-MCP and virus-MinCP, can substantially improve our understanding of global carbon cycle.

In a paper published in Polymer Science & Technology, an international team of scientists

explores an effective protocol for toughening vitrimers based on dioxaborolane metathesis through introducing a reversible secondary interaction and revealed the underlying molecular mechanism of this protocol. They copolymerized hexyl methacrylate with hydrogen-bonding n-isopropyl methacrylamide and vitrimeric cross-linkers to prepare dual-cross-linked networks. They found the breakup of the hydrogen bonds during the elongation significantly dissipated the energy, leading to the softening of the materials, thereby facilitating the stretch to high strain. Then the Dobrynin model modified by Konkolewicz and co-workers upon including a strain rate-dependent element was used to capture the softening process. The deviation at a high content of hydrogen bonds was attributed to the coupled motion of the hydrogen bonds where the distance between hydrogen bonds becomes smaller than the Kuhn length. Modification of the model according to this change is considered an interesting future work. This study is led by Shilong Wu and Quan Chen (State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China).

In a paper published in Polymer Science & Technology, an international team of scientists

designed and synthesized tetracoordinate aluminum methyl complexes bearing (amidoalkyl)pyridine−phenolate (AmPyPh) pincers for industrial _L-LA polymerizations. Then they further investigated the electronic and steric effects of the substituents in different positions on catalytic activity with assistance of density functional theory calculation. The results indicated the synthesized AmPyPh-Al catalysts exhibited excellent thermostability as well as good protonic tolerance, which could effectively promote the polymerization of technical grade _L-LA without further purification under industrial-relevant conditions (150−180 °C, in melt and bulk) with catalyst concentrations as low as 0.0005 mol % (monomer/catalyst feed ratio = 200000:1). Meanwhile, these novel Al complexes could suppress the epimerization side reaction under harsh conditions and afforded semicrystalline PLLA. This study is led by Xiaosa Zhang (College of Science, Shenyang University of Chemical Technology, Shenyang 110142, China) and Bin Wang (Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite & Functional Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China).

In a paper published in Earth and Planetary Physics, a team of scientists from China investigate impacts of mesoscale gravity waves on the evolution of sporadic E (E_s) layer in the ionosphere, using a newly developed model with an advanced dynamical core. The results reveal that mesoscale gravity waves affect E_s layers in various aspects, including inducing wave-like structure, dispersing the Es layer thickness, and enhancing the existing Es layers.

The intensity of offshore wind farm operational noise was significantly lower compared to pile driving noise. By employing a sound propagation model and referring to established noise exposure metrics, we estimated an impact zone of 12.8 m for fishes imposed by the pile driving noise. For the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, the permanent (PTS) and temporary threshold shift (TTS) zones were predicted to be 32.4 m and 580.9 m, respectively.

Epigenetic modifiers, enzymes that catalyze covalent modifications on chromatin, play a pivotal role in establishing stable states for gene expression and cellular identity. Mutations in these modifiers have been linked to a variety of human diseases, including developmental disorders and cancers, highlighting the importance of understanding how these mutations impact the functions of epigenetic modifiers in development and disease. Recent findings suggest that some epigenetic modifiers may have noncatalytic functions, independent of their catalytic activities, which raises questions about the determinants of their dependency on catalytic activity and the implications for chromatin modifications. In this context, a comment by Chen et al. provides valuable insights into the catalytic and noncatalytic functions of the histone methyltransferase SETD2, a protein responsible for histone H3 lysine 36 trimethylation (H3K36me3) and frequently mutated in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

This review focuses on the applications of cutting-edge ultrafast nano-spectroscopy and nano-imaging based on diverse tip-based microscopy techniques. These advanced techniques simultaneously achieve sub-diffraction spatial resolution facilitated by a subwavelength tip apex and high temporal resolution enabled by electromagnetic pulses. This spatiotemporally resolved capability enables real-time visualization of light-matter interactions, uncovering phenomena like polaritons, quantum phases, and many-body effects across various materials, including 2D, molecular, and hybrid systems.

In a review buplished in MedComm, the author highlights the critical role of metabolomics in identifying therapeutic targets for drug discovery. Metabolomics can capture phenotypic changes induced by exogenous compounds, offering a valuable approach beyond traditional protein-level focus. The review outlines various metabolomics-based methods, such as dose-response metabolomics and stable isotope-resolved metabolomics, which can identify key enzymes and metabolic pathways affected by drugs. The author emphasizes importance of metabolomics in advancing disease mechanism understanding and accelerating targeted drug development, while acknowledging current challenges in the field.