A research team from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made progress in studying the Shibantan Biota in Yichang, Hubei Province, uncovering the oldest known complex three-dimensional burrow systems to date. Preserved in approximately 550-million-year-old strata, these trace fossils show that complex animal behaviors were modifying the seafloor environment nearly 10 million years earlier than previously thought.

A new study has uncovered alarming evidence that bisphenols (BPs) —plastic-related chemicals known to disrupt hormones—are accumulating and magnifying through Arctic food webs. 

Power systems are among the most complex man-made systems. However, complexity is not inherently an advantage. In fact, complex dynamics are often the underlying cause of complicated stability issues. In the future 100% renewable power system, converter-interfaced generation (CIG) becomes the main form of power generation, the dynamic of which are dominated by control processes and can be reduced with proper control strategies. Following this idea, researchers at Tsinghua University propose a frequency-fixed grid-forming control (FF-GFM) that controls CIGs as constant voltage sources within their capability limitations. FF-GFM can reduce frequency dynamics and synchronization dynamics, greatly enhancing the stability and safety of the system.

Titled “A comparison of integration methods for single‐cell RNA sequencing data and ATAC sequencing data”, this paper provides a timely and in-depth analysis of the rapidly evolving field of single-cell multi-omics integration (Figure 1). As technologies advance to profile multiple molecular layers—such as gene expression and chromatin accessibility—researchers face increasing challenges in harmonizing and interpreting complex datasets.

A research team led by Professor Guorui Huang from the Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases at Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, has developed an optimized protocol that fundamentally changes how circulating microvesicles (MVs) are isolated and characterized. The study reveals that commonly used methods unintentionally capture platelet fragments rather than true MVs, leading to decades of misinterpretation of their biological functions. The team’s newly defined 3000 g centrifugation threshold eliminates platelet contamination and provides a standardized foundation for future diagnostic and mechanistic studies on extracellular vesicles.

Researchers at Zhejiang University invented a new vertical Micro/Nanofiber drawing system, enabling precise creation of complex cascaded fibers for high-efficiency supercontinuum generation spanning 1463–1741 nm.​

elderly. This study aims to assess the prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) burden of cancer among individuals aged 60–94 worldwide from 1990 to 2021. Data on the prevalence, mortality, and DALY for 35 cancer types in the elderly were derived from the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) spanning 1990 to 2021. The analysis was performed at four stratified levels: global, 21 GBD regions, 204 countries, and five sociodemographic index (SDI) categories. Age-standardized rates for prevalence, mortality, and DALYs were computed. In 2021, the global elderly population (60–94 years) reported 691.13 × 10⁵ [627.13 × 10⁵, 773.82 × 10⁵] cancer cases and 71.86 × 10⁵ [65.07 × 10⁵, 77.31 × 10⁵] cancer deaths, with a DALY total of approximately 1394.17 × 10⁵ [1281.20 × 10⁵, 1495.54 × 10⁵]. Trends indicate a gradual increase in cancer cases and mortality over time, with DALY rates escalating with aging. Notably, high-income North America exhibited the highest age-standardized prevalence. High SDI regions faced the most substantial elderly cancer burden. The burden of cancer among the elderly exhibits considerable variability globally, with developed socioeconomic areas experiencing a greater prevalence than those in underdeveloped regions, necessitating urgent attention from health professionals.

Focusing on the methodological challenges in adapting tissue optical clearing technology to large animals, this review systematically examines the key bottlenecks in transitioning from rodents to large animals, summarizes representative applications in neural circuit mapping and sensory organ visualization in large animal, and offers perspectives on future research directions.

A recent study published in Life Metabolism by Wu et al. from Dalian Medical University addresses this knowledge gap. The researchers developed a liver-specific Ghr knockout (LGHRKO) mouse model that faithfully recapitulates key features of human lean MAFLD. Their findings reveal that CD36-mediated lipid uptake and C/EBPβ-driven lipogenesis form a central regulatory hub driving the disease, providing new mechanistic insight and potential therapeutic targets for lean MAFLD.