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.

A research team from Tsinghua University has developed a novel, metal-free, reusable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing platform using a graphene-MoS₂ heterostructure enhanced by oxygen plasma treatment. This innovative approach overcomes the limitations of traditional SERS sensors, achieving detection limits comparable to costly metal-based sensors.

Aging leads to mitochondrial dysfunction in periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs), significantly impairing their osteogenic capacity—a critical barrier to bone regeneration in elderly populations. Researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Peking University demonstrated that replenishing aged PDLSCs with functional mitochondria from young counterparts restores mitochondrial integrity, reduces oxidative stress, and reactivates osteogenic capacity. This breakthrough, mediated by the AKAP1/cAMP/PKA signaling pathway, highlights mitochondrial replenishment as a promising therapeutic strategy for age-related bone defects and broader regenerative medicine applications.

Low-frequency electromagnetic response in microwave technology exhibits unprecedented demand, benefiting applications such as 5G communications, Wi-Fi, and radar systems. To date, the purest low-frequency response materials are induced by magnetic metals. However, magnetic metals will demagnetize at high temperatures and cannot serve in high-temperature environments. Here, we introduced a SiC/CoSi/CeSi composite co-modified with transition metal Co and rare earth metal Ce, achieving a 14-fold increase in reflection loss (RL) from -4.74 dB to -66.48 dB. The effective absorption bandwidth (EAB, RL≤-10 dB) is 2.46 GHz. With the SiC/CoSi/CeSi composite, the effective absorption frequency is shifted to the low-frequency band (3.65 GHz), and the high-temperature stability (500 °C) is maintained, inheriting 94.5% effective absorption. Radar cross-section (RCS) simulation further confirms the excellent stealth capability of the composite, reducing the target reflection intensity by 22.7 dB m². Mechanism investigation indicates that the excellent EMW absorption performance of the composite is attributed to multiple reflections and scattering, conduction losses, abundant interface polarization, and good magnetic loss. This research supplies critical inspiration for developing efficient SiC-based absorbers with both low-frequency and high-temperature responses.

The geometry of standard multi-well cell culture plates restricts oblique illumination angles, preventing matched illumination condition required for accurate tomographic reconstruction. To overcome this limitation, researchers developed the DF-FPDT technique, which leverages non-matched illumination and harnesses it as an intrinsic mechanism for dark-field-like contrast enhancement. By selectively updating high-frequency components using Phase Transfer Function (PTF) filtering, DF-FPDT effectively addresses low-frequency loss, enabling high-resolution, high-contrast live-cell imaging and dynamic screening, making DF-FPDT a powerful tool for biomedical research under realistic laboratory conditions.

A cross-institutional team in China reports that oxytocin-driven empathy reduces “free-riding” and keeps cooperation stable in rats. Using a fully automated reciprocity paradigm that recapitulates delayed return in nature—only one partner receives water per trial and roles alternate—the study shows elevated oxytocin signals in the orbitofrontal cortex and experience-dependent increases in empathy, while oxytocin-deficient rats free-ride more and fail to gain empathy. The work reveals an intrinsic motivational mechanism for sustaining cooperation.

Researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Southern University of Science and Technology have developed a novel deep learning neural network, Electrode Net. By introducing signed distance fields and three-dimensional convolutional neural networks, this method can significantly accelerate electrode design while maintaining high accuracy. It is widely applicable to fuel cells, water electrolyzers, flow batteries, etc.

A team from Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital has identified a novel mechanism underlying platinum resistance in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC): the circular RNA circSCAP encodes a 129-amino-acid protein (SCAP-129aa) that activates the PI3K/AKT pathway by stabilizing PIK3R2. Silencing circSCAP or combining platinum therapy with the PIK3R2 inhibitor  significantly improved treatment efficacy in preclinical models, highlighting circSCAP and SCAP-129aa as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets.