Plant roots are the hidden engines of crop survival, and enhancing their growth is key to resisting environmental stress. 

A research team has demonstrated how advanced drone-based thermal imaging can be used to more accurately measure canopy temperature (CT) in wheat fields by disentangling experimental signals from environmental and technical noise.

When deprived of sugar, plant cells must rapidly adjust to preserve energy and survive.

A research team has unveiled a non-destructive, highly accurate approach for determining the optimal timing of embryo rescue sampling.

Resource recovery for the preparation of high-value-added products represents a promising strategy for reducing pollution and carbon emissions. High-value-added MOFs can be synthesized by adding organic ligands to stainless steel pickling wastewater, which can solve the discharge of hazardous waste and is undoubtedly an important embodiment of the 3Rs principle (reduce, reuse, recycle). By this method, 88.98% cost and 94.14% of energy consumption can be saved relative to traditional synthesis method. Moreover, the obtained materials achieved excellent removal efficiency of refractory organic pollutants by modification. This work not only provides a new idea for the recycling of industrial wastewater, but also lays the foundation for the low-cost and large-scale production of environmentally functional materials, which realizes the dual goals of pollution control and resource recovery.

As the world transitions to clean energy, hydrogen produced via water electrolysis offers a sustainable solution. However, sluggish reaction kinetics and catalyst instability under alkaline conditions hinder large-scale adoption. A breakthrough by researchers at China University of Petroleum, Beijing, introduces a nitrogen-doped carbon (NC)-enhanced homologous heterojunction (Ni₃S₂-MoS₂/NC) that overcomes these limitations. By optimizing the built-in electric field (BEF) strength, the catalyst achieves record-low overpotentials and long-term stability in alkaline environments. This work demonstrates how strategic electronic engineering can unlock the full potential of heterostructures for green hydrogen production.

A research team introduces Plant-MAE, a self-supervised learning framework designed to automate 3D segmentation of plant organs from point cloud data.

Bioelectrical signals (including EEG, EMG, and ECG signals) have been widely applied in health monitoring, disease treatment, wearable devices, myoelectric exoskeletons, brain-machine interfaces, and other fields. Microneedle electrodes penetrate the stratum corneum, effectively reducing the impedance at the electrode-skin interface without the need for conductive gel, thus meeting the requirements for long-term and high-precision measurements. This review comprehensively summarizes the electrode materials, fabrication methods, performance evaluation, and applications of microneedle electrodes for bioelectrical signal acquisition. It particularly emphasizes the development of materials used to fabricate microneedle electrodes. Furthermore, we discuss the challenges related to material selection and performance testing, and provide insights into the future trends in this field.