The taste of kokumi works outside the five basic tastes of sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami to enhance the perceived texture and flavor complexity of food. Researchers recently wrote a review article summarizing advances in the field of kokumi research, limitations of current kokumi peptides, proposed mechanisms of action and future directions.

Magnetic skyrmions are nanoscale spin textures that can behave like particles and move and diffuse in real space. This makes them promising information carriers for future memory and computing technologies. A new computational study in npj Spintronics shows how geometry and topology can guide asymmetric thermal diffusion of magnetic skyrmions, offering insights for unlocking unconventional computing paradigms, including future stochastic and neuromorphic computing devices for more efficient artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Wearable sweat sensors represent a revolutionary shift in ICU monitoring, transitioning from invasive, intermittent blood tests to non-invasive, continuous real-time biochemical tracking. By analyzing electrolytes, metabolites, and hormones, these sensors provide high-resolution physiological data crucial for early sepsis warning and precise metabolic management. Despite challenges like biofouling and complex blood-sweat correlations, integration with digital health systems and AI-driven predictive models promises a future of highly personalized, proactive, and automated critical care.

Ground settlement can threaten the safety of critical public infrastructure, including subway systems, necessitating continuous monitoring. However, current techniques are limited in continuous large-area monitoring. In a new study, researchers have developed a new multi-scale remote sensing framework that combines three different technologies for reliable, continuous wide-area monitoring, site-specific validation, and near-surface condition assessment along an urban subway corridor. The approach will help detect and mitigate settlement anomalies.

A team led by Professor Jianping Jia from Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University published significant findings in the Chinese Medical Journal. They developed a novel blood test using ultrasonic protein misfolding cyclic amplification technology. By detecting plasma amyloid beta aggregation seeding activity, this method accurately diagnoses Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment. Achieving over 90 percent diagnostic accuracy, it provides an important minimally invasive tool for early and differential diagnosis of the disease.

Research teams from The University of Hong Kong, led by Professor Chunyi Zhi, have provided a focused review of aqueous Zn-based flow batteries for long-duration energy storage. The review identifies Zn anode reversibility loss and active-species crossover/shuttle as two coupled bottlenecks, and summarizes design strategies that integrate electrolyte regulation, interfacial engineering, electrode architecture, species chemistry, and membrane design.

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has completed a month-long flight-test campaign in Germany with Singapore’s first indigenously designed, engineered and built electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The prototypes, comprising 8-metre and 3-metre wingspan variants, are research technology demonstrators, currently not designed to carry passengers. Working with flight-test experts from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the NTU team flew the larger 8-metre wingspan demonstrator to heights above 90 metres, while the 3-metre wingspan demonstrator reached speeds of more than 120 km/h. The flights generated critical data on the aircraft’s performance. The flights mark a historic first for Singapore, demonstrating the country’s ability to design, engineer, build, integrate and fly a complete electric aircraft. The milestone adds a new capability to Singapore’s established aerospace sector and lays the groundwork for further research into electric aviation.