This study highlights a practical formulation strategy to enhance the skin penetration of 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10H2DA), a key bioactive compound in royal jelly. By incorporating anionic cross-linked polymers, the authors achieved more than a tenfold increase in 10H2DA permeation compared with royal jelly extract alone. The study further confirmed epidermal penetration using DESI imaging mass spectrometry and demonstrated that higher skin hydration strongly promotes 10H2DA delivery. These findings emphasize that both formulation design and skin condition are critical for improving the dermal delivery of low-molecular-weight amphiphilic compounds.

A study shows how a modified form of biochar can help microbial biofilms break down stubborn dye pollutants in wastewater, offering a promising strategy for cleaner and more stable anaerobic treatment systems.

As the world searches for cleaner ways to store and convert energy, scientists are turning to an unlikely source of high-performance materials: biomass. A review published in Biochar examines how biomass-derived materials, especially biomass-derived carbon materials, are being developed for energy storage devices and electrocatalytic energy conversion systems, including supercapacitors, fuel cells, water electrolysis, and carbon dioxide reduction.

With the development of quantum chips, quantum communication is becoming essential for quantum computing and quantum networks. Flying Qubits, quantum information carried by photons, play a vital role in transferring data between nodes. Prof. Guofeng ZHANG, Professor of Department of Applied Mathematics of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is dedicated to developing precise control methods for flying qubits, aiming to significantly improve the reliability and fidelity of quantum information transfer in future technologies.

Electrochemical oxidation of biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) offers a sustainable route to produce value-added chemicals, yet its efficiency is often limited by sluggish charge transfer and interfacial reaction kinetics. In this work, a CeO₂/β-Ni(OH)₂ heterojunction electrode was constructed via an in situ electrodeposition strategy. The built-in electric field formed at the heterointerface promotes directional charge transfer and accelerates the formation of active NiOOH species, while the introduction of CeO₂ significantly enhances surface hydrophilicity and substrate affinity. The synergistic regulation of interfacial electric field and wettability enables efficient electron–proton transfer, resulting in markedly improved HMF electrooxidation performance. This study highlights an effective interface-engineering strategy for boosting biomass electrocatalysis.

There is a growing demand for high-performance THz shielding and absorbing materials to prevent electromagnetic interference (EMI) or pollution. Inspired by staggered cellular structures, a bioinspired strategy was proposed to fabricate multilayer-MXene (m-Ti₃C₂T_x)/cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) aerogel frameworks with staggered stacking architectures via direct ink writing (DIW) 3D printing technology for enhanced THz shielding and absorption performance. The framework exhibits an excellent maximum reflection loss (RL) of 54.01 dB in the 0.5-3.0 THz range (100% qualified bandwidth) and a high absorption of 99.40%. It realizes a high green shielding index (g_s), the range of g_s > 9 that meets the standard for excellent green EMI shielding up to 2.5 THz. Meanwhile, it demonstrates high shielding effectiveness (SE) exceeding 40 dB across a broad gigahertz (GHz) frequency range from 3.9 to 18 GHz, particularly reaching an excellent 101.84 dB in the Ku band. This bionic strategy of staggered structures achieved via 3D printing technology demonstrates significant potential for fabricating high-design-freedom shielding components with excellent THz shielding and absorption properties.

Antibiotic residues in livestock manure can make waste treatment more difficult and may increase environmental risks linked to antibiotic resistance. Now, researchers have shown that a seaweed-based hydrochar modified with cobalt can help anaerobic digestion systems convert chicken manure containing high levels of sulfadimethazine into more methane while also reducing antibiotic residues and resistance genes.

Agricultural plastics help farmers grow crops more efficiently, but they also create a difficult waste problem when they become tangled with plant residues after harvest. A study published in Biochar suggests that one promising solution may be to convert plastic-contaminated crop waste into biochar, a carbon-rich material that can improve soil quality and help reduce heavy metal risks in contaminated farmland.