News from Science China Press

Oscillations are common in biological, physical and engineered systems, but it has remained unclear how structural complexity and delays jointly determine when they emerge. The study has developed a framework showing that network complexity, propagation delays and interaction types together shape transitions from steady to oscillatory states. Cooperative interactions were found to promote oscillations most readily.

Cotton breeders have long faced a trade-off: better fiber quality often comes at the cost of poor seed quality including oil and vigor, and vice versa. Researchers in China identified an antagonistic GhRCD1-GhMYC3 protein module that governs this developmental balance. The module fine tunes reactive oxygen species homeostasis and fatty acid partitioning between developing fibers and ovule derived seeds. The findings offer gene targets for designing new cotton varieties with both premium fiber and high quality seeds for field production.

The size distribution of marine primary organic aerosols, the organic component of sea spray, has been measured for the first time down to 35 nanometres from long-term observations in clean North Atlantic air. It is bimodal, whereas the parameterization in major climate models is unimodal and underestimates particle number threefold. The resulting underestimate in cloud condensation nuclei reaches 16 to 64 per cent at marine supersaturations, assuming 30 per cent lower surface tension.

In a study published in Science China Life Sciences, a team of researchers led by scientists at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, provides new insights into the genetic basis of convergent gliding evolution in mammals. By comparing genomes from three independently evolved gliding mammal lineages, the researchers found that these lineages rarely share the same accelerated regulatory elements, but their candidate regulatory regions may converge on similar genes, regulatory networks, and developmental pathways associated with wing membrane (patagium), appendage and muscle development. The findings suggest that distinct regulatory changes can achieve functional convergence during the repeated evolution of complex adaptive traits.

A new review in National Science Review unveils anti-visual perception as a cross-disciplinary arms race spanning biomimetics, spectral physics, and AI. From snow leopards and dazzle camouflage to UV-to-microwave signature control and adversarial attacks on machine vision, it reveals how every advance in seeing drives new ways of hiding—offering a roadmap for next-generation camouflage, stealth, robust sensing, and trustworthy AI.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a team led by Academician Fahu Chen from Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, reconstructed Holocene precipitation changes across the East Asian monsoon region of eastern China. The study shows that precipitation varied between northern and southern China in an alternating pattern, which may have supported the parallel development of early agricultural societies and later contributed to the rise of the Central Plains and the formation of the pluralistic and integrated Chinese civilization.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a research team conducted a comprehensive analysis of mineralogical and geochemical records, along with carbon consumption fluxes, from sediments at Site CSDP-1 in the South Yellow Sea obtained by the Chinese Continental Shelf Drilling Program. They quantitatively reconstructed the 600,000 year evolutionary history of silicate weathering and its carbon consumption rates in the Yellow River basin-shelf system. The study proposes that the mid-latitude shelf region was an underestimated active silicate weathering carbon sink during glacial periods. It thus provides a novel perspective for understanding the mechanisms of glacial-interglacial climate evolution on Earth.

A paper published in National Science Review brings together evidence on how plastics are produced, released, transported and transformed, and how they affect ecosystems, human health and Earth-system processes. It argues that lasting solutions must address the full plastics life cycle, with upstream prevention and safer design supported by reuse, recycling, pollution control, monitoring, and coordinated global governance.