Using 15.5 million tree records and a forest dynamics model, researchers examined harvesting strategies in China through 2100. Compared with current management, carefully timed and targeted harvesting could increase total forest and wood-product carbon storage by 4.2% and timber production by 38%, while reducing losses from tree mortality. The findings suggest that protecting forest carbon and supplying wood need not always be competing goals.

In a paper published in Science China Earth Science, a group of scientists present a synthesis of observations and interpretations for the structure, composition and dynamics of divergent, convergent and transform plate margins. This synthesis has advanced the plate tectonics theory from the traditionally kinematic model toward a holistic kinematic-dynamic model, providing spatiotemporal insights into the tectonic transition from continental margin to interior.

A new review in Medicine Plus reframes cGAS-STING as a context-sensitive signaling network rather than a simple immune switch. It explains how DNA source, cell type, signal duration and downstream pathway activation can shift the pathway from host defense and tumor surveillance to chronic inflammation, autoimmunity, fibrosis and cancer progression, and surveys emerging oral, CNS-accessible, metal-based and targeted protein-degradation strategies.

Researchers at West China Hospital, Sichuan University, developed DNA nanomachines that use molecular fillers to improve sensing performance and detect trace circulating tumor DNA without amplification. Clinical plasma studies showed good agreement with qPCR for selected lung and thyroid cancer mutations, supporting potential use in rapid mutation analysis. Exploratory findings also suggested potential for disease monitoring, pending further clinical validation.

A new review proposes Functional Food Microecology, an interdisciplinary framework connecting functional foods, gut microbes and host health. It describes how probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics, synbiotics and fermented foods influence gut-organ signaling, and how multi-omics, AI and synthetic biology could enable precision nutrition. The authors argue that microbiome-targeted diets could reduce antibiotic dependence and support sustainable food systems within One Health.

An eight-year multicenter study of 163,714 hospitalized children in China reveals the broad clinical and economic burden of enterovirus infections beyond hand, foot and mouth disease. Infants and toddlers accounted for most admissions, while rare complications such as encephalitis, meningitis and myocarditis were associated with longer hospital stays and higher costs. The findings highlight the need for age-targeted prevention, broader surveillance and early recognition of severe enterovirus-associated disease.

A large UK Biobank study shows that a cumulative score integrating 15 social determinants of health is associated with higher risks of incident chronic kidney disease (CKD), cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality among people with CKD. Exploratory multi-omics analyses suggest that plasma metabolomic and proteomic signatures may partly explain these associations, with the proteomic signature showing the more consistent mediation signal. The score may help identify high-risk groups for earlier monitoring, but it is not a diagnostic tool.