Recently, the iGaN Laboratory led by Professor Haiding Sun at the School of Microelectronics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS), together with a global collaborative team from Wuhan University, Zhejiang University and University of Cambridge, has successfully developed the first miniaturized ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer and realized on-chip spectral imaging. Based on a novel gallium nitride (GaN) cascaded photodiode architecture and integrated with deep neural network (DNN) algorithms, the device achieves high-precision spectral detection and high-resolution multispectral imaging. With a response speed on the nanosecond scale, it sets a new world record for the fastest reported miniaturized spectrometer. The work was published online in Nature Photonics on September 26, 2025.

Researchers at University of Tsukuba have developed DeMemSeg, an AI-powered analysis pipeline that addresses a long-standing challenge in microscopy: precisely segmenting and measuring individual cell membranes that overlap in two-dimensional (2D) projection images. This innovation is expected to accelerate research on cellular mechanisms and related diseases.

For the nearly 3 million patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), what typically starts as shortness of  breath can rapidly worsen into a suffocating inability to breathe, often leading to a dangerous elevation in pulmonary artery pressure, related heart attacks or fatal respiratory failure within three to five years of diagnosis. USC physician-scientists Denis Evseenko and Toby Maher hope to offer these patients a better prognosis by developing a regenerative drug to block the cells that promote fibrosis, or scarring, in the lungs, with support from a five-year $3.2 million grant from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Evseenko has already developed two drug-like molecules designed to stop immune cells and small blood vessels from initiating the cellular stress response that triggers inflammation and fibrosis. By blocking inflammation and fibrosis, these drug-like molecules promote a healthier environment conducive to regeneration. To develop these drug candidates for IPF, Evseenko is teaming up with Maher, who is a professor of clinical medicine and director of interstitial lung Disease at the Keck School of Medicine. An experienced pulmonologist recently recruited to the USC Hastings Center for Pulmonary Research, Maher has a biorepository of patient lung specimens and has been involved in more than 100 clinical trials for IPF and other fibrotic lung diseases. Through their collaboration, the team will test the safety and therapeutic potential of the two drug-like molecules in animals and human cells, and develop the most effective one into an oral pill—ideally ready for human clinical trials by the time the grant concludes in five years.

Picture this: You’re on a Zoom call, Slack is buzzing, three spreadsheets are open and your inbox pings. In that moment of divided attention, you miss the tiny red flag in an email. That’s how phishing sneaks through, and with 3.4 billion malicious emails sent daily, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Researchers have uncovered how dissolved biochar—tiny carbon particles derived from burning plant material—affects soil nematodes, shedding light on both benefits and risks to these important ecosystem players. The study focused on the common laboratory worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, revealing that the impact of dissolved biochar strongly depends on the amount present in the environment.