Building functional human muscle in the laboratory has long been a goal of regenerative medicine, but one stubborn obstacle remains: real muscle is not just a mass of cells. Its strength and function depend on exquisitely ordered myofibers, all aligned in precise directions that vary from one muscle to another. Reproducing that internal order has proved far harder than shaping muscle tissue into the right external form.

In the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, a research team from Xi'an Jiaotong University has now found a way to solve both problems at once. By using electric forces during the electrohydrodynamic bioprinting process, they have created living muscle tissues whose cells naturally line up just as they do in the human body, showing how electric forces can be used not just to precisely bioprint tissue, but to quietly instruct cells how to organize themselves.

ETH researchers have developed a novel hydrogel consisting mainly of water and a polymer network.

Using laser light, the researchers can very quickly solidify the hydrogel into a material with microscopically fine structures so that bone-forming cells can colonise it 

This material has the potential to be used as a bone implant in the future, enhancing the healing process of bone fractures.

A study from the Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) has uncovered a theoretical mechanism showing how the electronic band structures of strongly correlated insulators can be reshaped by spin and charge perturbations, opening up new possibilities for electronics with tunable band structures.

A new culprit: While billions of dollars have been spent targeting Amyloid beta (Aβ) in Alzheimer’s patients, a newly reevaluated, shorter peptide known as P3 forms toxic clumps faster than Aβ and may also contribute to the disease.

Explaining stalled progress: The overwhelming focus on Aβ, and the erroneous assumption that P3 is harmless and water-soluble, may explain why current Alzheimer’s treatments show limited success and fail to stop the disease’s progression.

A study in National Science Review reports that periphyton—microbial biofilms at the soil–water interface—captures 6–24% (12% on average) of fertilizer nitrogen in Chinese rice paddies. Combining a 840-field survey with in situ ¹⁵N tracing across climatic zones, this study shows this transient N pool (~0.8 Tg N yr−1) helps close long-standing nitrogen budget gaps in paddy fields.

Researchers have experimentally realized an optical effect predicted over 75 years ago: the Tellegen effect, where electric and magnetic responses intertwine in a nonreciprocal way. Using nanoscale cobalt–silicon structures, the team achieved a Tellegen response 100 times stronger than in any natural material without external magnets. This breakthrough opens new paths toward compact, bias-free nonreciprocal optical devices and laboratory platforms for axion-like physics.

Researchers  led by Prof. ZHANG Xiqi from the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a photocatalytic membrane reactor that dramatically improves the synthesis of imines—a class of compounds essential to the production of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and advanced synthetic materials.