Structural biology relies on advanced crystallographic platforms to obtain high-quality diffraction data from challenging samples. The BL18U1 microcrystallography beamline at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) demonstrates strong capability in beamline optics, microbeam delivery, multi-energy operation, integrated instrumentation, and anomalous diffraction experiments. Supporting protein crystals, small-molecule crystals, and other demanding samples, BL18U1 provides users with an efficient platform for high-quality data collection and has enabled the determination of a large number of high-quality crystal structures.

Scientists from 27 European research institutions warn that the European Commission's proposed pesticide reform would weaken key safeguards protecting biodiversity and human health, and offer recommendations for a safer, more efficient alternative approach.

A team of researchers has developed a new type of imaging sensor that uses both light and sound to create detailed pictures of biological tissues. This marks the first successful use of an array of over 40 microscopic, polymer-based "microrings" to capture these types of images. It can track oxygen levels, blood flow, and how dense blood vessels are. Therefore, it is much more effective at spotting the early signs of cancer.

The gas ethylene causes fruit and vegetables to ripen faster and is responsible for millions of tons of food being lost annually during transport and storage. Now researchers from the University of Copenhagen, among others, have succeeded in getting clay to collect the gas and hope that the material can help reduce food waste in the long term.

Recently, a research team led by Prof. LIU Xiaodi from the Hefei Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and other international partners, has provided new insight into this long-standing question by combining high-pressure experiments with first-principles calculations.

The process of embryo implantation is complex yet highly coordinated, involving differentiation of multiple cell types and dynamic mechanistic or compensatory shifts in metabolic patterns. Metabolic regulation plays a critical role in embryo implantation by modulating embryo competence and endometrial receptivity. Accordingly, metabolites function not only as sources of energy but also as signaling molecules that orchestrate communication between the endometrium and blastocyst. Here, we review the regulatory roles of key metabolites, including carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, and their derivatives in various reproductive processes, such as blastocyst formation and activation, establishment of uterine receptivity, and embryo implantation. Interpretation of metabolic signaling may help to elucidate the intricate process of embryo implantation and provide new insights into potential clinical interventions and improvements in assisted reproductive technology.

Ask a child to draw some poo, and the shape will invariably be the same: a coil, broad at the base and pointy at the top, similar to a spiral swirl of soft-serve ice cream. In fact, the often-used poo emoji has this exact shape, as do most actual mounds of faeces found in nature. Exceptions occur, though: in particular, in the faeces of some worms, that extrude their excrement ‘upside down’ from the ground. As it turns out, there is remarkable physics behind these differences in poo shapes.