Human biological evolution typically unfolds over millennia, while artificial intelligence can undergo major advances within years. This growing disparity in rates of change raises a fundamental question: How should humanity respond as technological change increasingly outpaces biological adaptation?

Addressing this question, a team led by Professor Tian-Ling Ren of Tsinghua University has published a Position Paper titled “Transcending Natural Evolution in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” in SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences. The paper describes this disparity as an “evolutionary tempo mismatch” and examines how artificial intelligence could extend from the digital realm into physical environments, the human body, and neural tissue. It also introduces two related concepts, the “embodiment threshold” and “transcending natural evolution”, and outlines how flexible bioelectronics and brain-computer interfaces could support human-machine integration. The paper further considers the risk of “biological-technological stratification” under constraints in compute capacity, energy, materials, and technological access, and proposes a phased, trigger-based framework for adaptive governance.

Factors such as erosion, dehydration and compaction of the soil are jeopardizing food supplies for broad swathes of the world’s population according to a recent study by the University of Bonn, the University of Minnesota, the University of Basel and Hamburg University of Technology. If human-made soil degradation were to be reversed by 10 percent, the Earth’s arable land could feed an extra 70 million or so people in purely mathematical terms. The findings have now been published in the journal “Nature Food.” Embargo: Do not publish before 22 July 2026, 11 am CEST!

Liquid propulsion on overheated surfaces plays an important role in numerous engineering applications. Recently, Scientist in China designed a dual heterogeneous structure on an aluminum substrate via femtosecond laser direct writing and found that the heated surface could unidirectionally propel liquid droplets in the Leidenfrost state. In particular, the droplets consistently move opposite the laser processing direction, providing an ingenious strategy for the deliberate design of the motion direction and trajectory of Leidenfrost droplets.

A study published in Science Bulletin reports the real-time rotational growth of single- and few-wall high-crystallinity carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and tracks the dynamics of the CNT-catalyst interface using atmospheric environmental transmission electron microscopy. The researchers identified two non-periodic growth modes: free rotation and restricted rotation, which are distinct from previously reported periodic-rotation models. Free rotation originates from weak CNT-catalyst interfacial interactions and enables straight, high-crystallinity CNT growth. Additional constraints, such as CNT-substrate contact, restrict this rotation, induce structural distortions, decelerate growth rate, and can even cause growth termination. This study establishes rotational freedom as a key interfacial parameter that linking CNT-catalyst interactions and the quality and growth dynamics of CNTs. It also provides guidance for designing catalysts and interfaces to achieve efficient synthesis of defect-free, high crystalline CNTs.

Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that a research team led by Professor Joo Hwan Oh of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, in collaboration with Dr. Myung Hwan Bae of the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), has developed a new elastic metamaterial platform that enables the free design of how externally applied forces and vibrations propagate.