A new study in Energetic Materials Frontiers provides a detailed picture of how aluminum combustion evolves after detonation and how this process contributes to the sustained thermal and blast-wave effects of CL-20-based thermobaric explosives. By combining high-speed infrared thermography, blast-wave measurements and theoretical modeling, the researchers show that thermobaric explosives differ fundamentally from TNT in the spatial organization and temporal evolution of their fireballs. More importantly, the work identifies a key transition around 30 ms after detonation, when the dominant contribution shifts from early oxygen-deficient aluminum combustion to secondary post-combustion involving entrained atmospheric oxygen.

Researchers have developed a dimethyl-substituted energetic molecular perovskite, DAP-DM4, by rationally modifying the A-site cation of the DAP-4 framework. Single-crystal analysis reveals that double methylation induces a structural transformation from the conventional three-dimensional perovskite network to a one-dimensional chain architecture, while simultaneously eliminating labile N–H bonds. This molecular passivation raises the decomposition temperature to 373.5 °C and improves friction insensitivity, providing a new strategy for designing ultra-heat-resistant perovskite energetic materials. 

Ammonia is essential for fertilizers and is emerging as a zero‑carbon energy carrier, but its industrial production via the Haber‑Bosch process is energy‑intensive and emits large amounts of CO₂. Meanwhile, nitrate pollution from agriculture and industry has contaminated groundwater worldwide, threatening ecosystems and human health. Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia (NO₃RR) offers an elegant solution: using renewable electricity to convert nitrate waste into valuable ammonia.

This critical review evaluates pharmaceutical pollution in soil‑air environments—where prevalent contaminants are antibiotics, analgesics, NSAIDs, antidepressants and anticancer agents—that threatens terrestrial and microbial communities, and highlights an urgent need for interdisciplinary research to protect ecosystem health.

Recently, a research team led by Associate Professor Jian Chen at China Agricultural University developed two novel Type I-C CRISPR systems, Aca I-C and Cja I-C, that enable efficient genome editing in maize. The study establishes Type I-C CRISPR systems as additional platforms for plant genome engineering and highlights the potential of microbial genome mining for discovering editing tools. These technologies may contribute to future crop improvement by providing alternative strategies for targeted genome modification.

The study delineates the complete pathway of calcium action: from macroscopically improving stem structure, to microscopically remodeling cell wall components, and to molecularly regulating gene networks—ultimately strengthening the stem from the inside out to achieve superior traits.

A study of OsSTP26 reveals that both gene knockout and overexpression can enhance productive tiller formation through distinct carbon-signaling routes.

An analysis of 500 S&P 500 companies revealed that traditional sector labels only partially explain firms’ financial structures. Machine-learning models predicted sectors from accounting ratios, achieving a maximum validation accuracy of 49.3%. However, an unsupervised analysis identified nine financially interpretable groups that crossed sector boundaries. This suggests that, when comparing profitability, leverage, liquidity, and cash-generation patterns, accounting-based peer groups can complement sectors.