As the core foundational materials for modern wireless communication systems, microwave dielectric ceramics (MWDCs) directly determine the performance of key components such as antennas, resonators, and filters in 5G/6G mobile communications, satellite communications, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. With the rapid evolution of communication frequencies toward millimeter-wave and even sub-terahertz bands, the materials science community has imposed increasingly stringent requirements on the accurate characterization, property regulation, advanced fabrication, and intelligent development of microwave dielectric ceramics.

To systematically review the scientific progress and technological breakthroughs in this field, 14 institutions jointly published a comprehensive review on microwave dielectric ceramics. Starting from the three core parameters (ε_r, Q×f, and τ_f), this review discusses the latest research advances, prospects, and challenges across five key dimensions: property evaluation, mechanistic understanding, innovative processing, device applications, and data-driven discovery.

A global survey traces six centuries of evolution, revealing how university botanic gardens blend historical roots with modern missions in conservation, education, and public well-being.

A new study projects widespread habitat loss for European snakes under climate change, with cold-adapted species most vulnerable, while the Balkan Peninsula becomes a climate refugium.

The critical role of pathogen effector proteins in mediating microbial infection and pathogenesis has been extensively and thoroughly studied. However, research on effector proteins from endophytic microorganisms has progressed more slowly, and their biological functions and mechanisms of action remain largely unclear. The research group previously isolated an endophytic strain of Fusarium lateritium from the medicinal plant Nothapodytes pittosporoides. This strain exhibits significant growth-promoting and disease-resistant effects on certain solanaceous crops. This study mined fungal-secreted effector proteins using plant apoplast proteomics and transcriptomics, and revealed at the molecular level a novel mechanism by which the pectinase-type effector CREP1 activates plant immunity. These findings provide a new theoretical basis for further elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying the growth-promoting and disease-resistant activities of endophytic fungi, and lay a foundation for the development of endophytic fungi as "plant vaccines."

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs) are key devices for achieving efficient "hydrogen-electricity" conversion. They have attracted significant attention due to their high energy conversion efficiency and zero carbon emissions. However, their core component, oxygen reduction/evolution (ORR/OER) electrocatalysts, still face challenges of activity and stability. Among them, platinum-group catalysts (such as Pt, Ir, Ru) are currently the most effective ORR/OER catalysts, but issues like their scarcity and high cost severely limit their large-scale utilization in PEMFCs/PEMWEs. Single-atom catalysts (SACs) and multi-atom catalysts (MACs), with their nearly 100% metal utilization rate and unique electronic structures, provide a new path for developing low-loading, high-activity, and high-stability platinum-group catalysts.

A phase 2 clinical trial showed burosumab, a targeted antibody therapy, safely restored phosphate balance in children and adults with fibrous dysplasia, a rare bone disorder associated with fractures and deformities. The therapy reduced abnormal bone turnover markers and improved mobility in severely affected children, including independent walking after full-time wheelchair use. The findings suggest that inhibition of fibroblast growth factor-23 may help reduce disability and improve physical function in patients with phosphate-wasting skeletal disease.

Osteosarcoma is an aggressive bone cancer characterized by high rate of recurrence and metastasis. In a new study, researchers show that restoring the RNA-editing enzyme adenosine deaminase acting on RNA 2 (ADAR2) slows tumor growth, reduces invasion, promotes bone-like differentiation, and improves chemotherapy sensitivity in cell and mouse models. The findings identify IGFBP7 RNA editing as a key mechanism underlying these effects, highlighting a potential differentiation-based treatment strategy for pediatric patients with bone cancer.

Achieving in situ dynamic tracking of neurotransmitters in the complex intestinal lumen remains a major technical challenge in gastroenterology and biosensing. The research team developed a general sensing architecture that integrates a one-dimensional nanoconductive network with supramolecular host-guest recognition, and on this basis constructed a stretchable electrochemical sensing platform. This platform offers a systematic solution to three key obstacles in the in situ detection of small molecules in the gut lumen: adaptation to mechanical deformation, suppression of biofouling, and selective recognition of structurally similar molecules. Using this framework, the team revealed for the first time the central role of enterochromaffin cells (ECs) in immune-mechanical signal integration by electrochemical strategy. Under stimulation by microbial mimetics and their metabolites, ECs integrate multiple external signals and reset their response threshold through dual regulation: enhancing neurotransmitter synthesis and storage while increasing sensitivity to mechanical stimulation.

The significance of this study lies not only in validating sensing performance in the intestinal setting, but also in proposing a practical strategy to address a long-standing and widely shared challenge in in vivo electrochemical monitoring. More importantly, by emphasizing the coordinated design of sensing material structure and function, this work moves beyond optimizing a single performance metric in stretchable devices and instead establishes a systematic framework for accurate chemical information acquisition in complex mechanical and biochemical environments. Although the intestinal lumen serves here as a particularly challenging validation scenario, the underlying design principles are expected to be applicable to other in vivo monitoring systems.