A team led by Professors Weidong Zhang (Naval Medical University) and Yu Zhang (Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine) has discovered PamUGT, the first triterpenoid glycosyltransferase ever identified from the medicinal plant Phytolacca americana(American pokeweed). Remarkably, this single enzyme can attach sugar molecules to an unusually broad range of natural products — triterpenes, flavonoids, diterpenes, and even phenols and alkaloids — acting as a “molecular sewing machine” for natural product glycosylation. Published in Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines (2026, 24(8): 999-1005), the finding fills a key gap in pokeweed saponin biosynthesis and offers a versatile, ready-to-use biocatalytic tool for drug modification and synthetic biology.

As high-value orbital regions become increasingly congested, pursuit–evasion confrontations among spacecraft have emerged as a critical issue in the field of space security. Active defense strategies, in which a target spacecraft releases defensive vehicles to implement counter-interception against the pursuer, constitute a three-body engagement scenario involving the target, the pursuer, and the defender. However, in actual engagements, the presence of observation noise, incomplete information, and multi-strategy adversarial conditions arising from uncertain pursuit policies render existing guidance methods—whether based on unilateral optimal control, differential games, or conventional reinforcement learning—incapable of simultaneously addressing the multiple challenges posed by unknown pursuit strategies, information deficiencies, and high-maneuverability confrontations. Consequently, how to achieve cooperative adaptive guidance between the target and the defender under conditions of incomplete observations and variable pursuit policies has become a key technological bottleneck for enhancing spacecraft survivability.

Purple pak choi gets its striking color from anthocyanins—potent antioxidants that boost nutritional value. 

With the rapid advancement of global aerospace technology, human space exploration is progressively extending from near-Earth orbit to the lunar sphere. Large-scale deep-space exploration activities, such as the construction of lunar research stations and lunar bases, are gradually becoming a reality. Major spacefaring entities, including China, the United States, Europe, and Japan, have successively proposed their own lunar exploration and long-term residency programs. Current lunar exploration missions now encompass complex scenarios such as scientific investigation, in-situ resource utilization, lunar construction, and operational maintenance, which impose entirely new demands on lunar robotic technologies. However, existing lunar and Mars exploration missions still predominantly rely on pre-programmed commands and ground-based teleoperation, exhibiting limited intelligence levels. They face significant challenges in addressing five core issues: multi-task high-precision manipulation, autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance, self-learning interactive collaboration, adaptation to extreme environments, and high-reliability long-duration operation. Consequently, the systematic integration of emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence, deep learning, large-scale models, and embodied intelligence—into lunar robotic design, so as to achieve the transition from programmed robots to intelligent robots, has become a critical technological bottleneck for supporting future large-scale lunar exploration and development.

Astragalus mongholicus, a cornerstone of traditional Chinese medicine, produces isoflavonoids—bioactive compounds with anti-inflammatory, immune-boosting, and antiviral properties. 

Antarctic ozone recovery alters austral summer Southern Hemisphere circulation patterns

Walnut breeding begins with a simple question: where can better taste, higher nutritional value, and stronger resilience be found? 

Researchers have demonstrated a direct bridge between vortex electrons and structured electromagnetic radiation. By sending an annular electron beam through an all-metal slow-wave structure, they transferred the electron beam's helical topology into measurable orbital angular momentum and a polarization-skyrmion texture. Multiple optical diagnostics confirmed the mapping, while repeated single-shot measurements showed reproducibility. The proof-of-principle platform could support structured-radiation sources and noninvasive diagnosis of vortex-electron states across future spectral bands and frequencies.

Accurately predicting passenger flows is essential for preventing congestion and delays in subway networks. In a recent study, researchers developed a multi-time-scale model that uses recurring day-to-day and week-to-week travel patterns to predict both passenger destinations and travel times one day ahead. Tested on Shenzhen subway data, the model outperformed several widely used forecasting methods across most stations.

Traditional aging research has centered on life span and health span, yet both fail to capture daily functional movement quality. This paper proposes “movement span” as a distinct third dimension of aging, defined as the duration of confident, adaptive movement capacity. The framework enables earlier health risk identification and informs clinical assessment and public health interventions.