News from Science China Press

Early warning alone cannot stop an outbreak. A new Perspective in Science Bulletin examines why signals from emerging infectious diseases can fail to trigger timely public health action, and proposes a practical pathway linking rapid verification, context-sensitive risk assessment, predefined action triggers and operational readiness.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a severe neuromuscular disease caused by insufficient SMN protein, yet the critical downstream mechanisms underlying its pathogenesis remain unclear. We previously identified that splicing of the conserved minor intron of Pcyt2 (Phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase 2) depends on sufficient SMN protein. Here, we reveal that simply replacing the minor intron of Pcyt2 with a major intron is sufficient to reverse SMA-associated phenotypes. Based on our discovery that Pcyt2 is specifically expressed in certain neuroglial subtypes, we further show that restoring Pcyt2 in these subtypes significantly alleviates SMA-associated phenotypes in both Drosophila and mouse models. These findings identify Pcyt2 minor intron mis-splicing as a key driver of SMA, offering opportunities for new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies.

A joint team from China has published a survey paper in National Science Review. The study reviews recent advances in EEG-based emotion recognition from an interdisciplinary neuroscience and information-science perspective and introduces EEGEmoLib, an open-source Python toolbox that integrates psychological and neuroscientific priors into algorithm design, offering a standardized platform with theoretical grounding and practical usability.

An ultrasound-responsive micronanorobot combines a collagenase-secreting bacterium, bismuth ferrite nanoparticles, the drug DM4 and a targeting ligand to treat nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer. After intravesical delivery, it degrades tumor matrix, enhances drug penetration, and ultrasound triggers reactive oxygen species, achieving 90.8% cell death in vitro and 82.4% tumor inhibition in mice. The system also promotes antitumor immunity, increasing CD8+ T-cell infiltration and shifting macrophages toward the M1 phenotype.

Researchers have developed FINDSPINGROUP, an open-source online platform that places magnetic-moment arrangements and spin-orbit effects in one material-specific symmetry framework. It enables consistent comparison of properties with and without spin-orbit coupling, standardizes crystallographic outputs and supports the screening of unconventional magnets.

Using observations from NASA's Juno spacecraft, an international team led by Shandong University shows that magnetic reconnection in Jupiter's magnetodisk breaks magnetic field lines and deforms the current sheet into a rippling structure that rotates with the planet. The finding reveals a highly structured magnetodisk and offers new insight into how energy and particles are transported in giant-planet magnetospheres.

Can different growth recipes lead to the same structural target? Researchers have developed an AI-assisted inverse-design approach that identifies multiple synthesis routes to carbon nanotube arrays with closely matched height, density and alignment. Experiments across three targets demonstrate that similar array structures can emerge from different processing conditions, while individual nanotubes retain microscopic differences. The findings offer greater flexibility for controlled nanomaterial synthesis.