Nanoplastics can cross biological barriers and may pose risks to the central nervous system, but how deeply they penetrate brain-like tissues and where they induce oxidative stress have remained unclear. Researchers from Wuhan University and Nanjing Medical University developed a flexible electrochemical sensor based on platinum nanoparticle-modified carbon nanotube fiber to monitor hydrogen peroxide, a key oxidative stress marker, within human cortical organoids. The sensor revealed that nanoplastic-induced oxidative stress increased over time but remained mainly localized within the approximately 100-μm-deep region where most particles accumulated.

A Pediatric Investigation study finds that early autism identification can fail after screening, with gaps in referral, diagnosis, service capacity, and support. Reviewing evidence across children aged 0–5 years, researchers show that screening can accelerate diagnosis for some children but cannot replace repeated surveillance or clinical concern. The findings support faster, more coordinated and equitable pathways that help families reach assessment and needs-based support sooner, even before diagnostic certainty is complete.

Segmentation tools help doctors identify and delineate tumors, lesions, and other abnormalities in medical images. However, noise, redundant information, and blurred boundaries can make automated segmentation difficult. Researchers from Tongji University in China and the University of Toyama in Japan developed V-UNet, a new model designed to capture global context and fine local details. Tests on four public datasets demonstrated competitive segmentation performance with relatively low computational requirements.

Traditional MIC-based antibiotic susceptibility testing often misses sub-resistant bacteria, including persistent, tolerant, and heteroresistant populations, which may contribute to treatment failure and resistance evolution. Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology have developed DP-AST, a deep learning-based microfluidic rapid phenotypic AST platform inspired by the Dujiangyan irrigation system. DP-AST measures MIC, bacterial growth activity, and concentration-effect curves to identify hidden sub-resistant bacteria. The study also identified gadE as a key regulator of amikacin sub-resistance in E. coli, offering new insights for resistance mechanism studies and future clinical diagnostics.Traditional MIC-based antibiotic susceptibility testing often misses sub-resistant bacteria, including persistent, tolerant, and heteroresistant populations, which may contribute to treatment failure and resistance evolution. Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology have developed DP-AST, a deep learning-based microfluidic rapid phenotypic AST platform inspired by the Dujiangyan irrigation system. DP-AST measures MIC, bacterial growth activity, and concentration-effect curves to identify hidden sub-resistant bacteria. The study also identified gadE as a key regulator of amikacin sub-resistance in E. coli, offering new insights for resistance mechanism studies and future clinical diagnostics.Traditional MIC-based antibiotic susceptibility testing often misses sub-resistant bacteria, including persistent, tolerant, and heteroresistant populations, which may contribute to treatment failure and resistance evolution. Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology have developed DP-AST, a deep learning-based microfluidic rapid phenotypic AST platform inspired by the Dujiangyan irrigation system. DP-AST measures MIC, bacterial growth activity, and concentration-effect curves to identify hidden sub-resistant bacteria. The study also identified gadE as a key regulator of amikacin sub-resistance in E. coli, offering new insights for resistance mechanism studies and future clinical diagnostics.

Birefringence provides a powerful optical window into hidden anisotropic features, stress states, and microscopic structures in transparent media. In a new review in Light: Advanced Manufacturing, scientists in China systematically summarize polarization optical metrology for linear birefringence, covering physical mechanisms, measurement models, polarimetric modulation, interferometric techniques, and key applications in stress analysis, advanced materials, biomedicine, and optical device characterization.

This article pioneers a new endoscope architecture, reducing the size of ultrathin endoscopes to improve the access to thin luminal organs in endoscopic interventions. Using monolithic micro-3D-printing, a team of researchers integrate a ring-illumination module around a miniaturised multi-lens microscope at the tip of an imaging fiber bundle, with a total device diameter of only ~500 micrometres. The researchers demonstrate the feasibility in lab-scale experiments, and outline the potential of this new endoscopic architecture to produce thinner endoscopes for less invasive future diagnostics.

With the development of next-generation energy storage systems focusing on green, safe, and sustainable devices, aqueous magnesium (Mg)–air batteries have emerged as promising candidates owing to the intrinsic merits of the Mg metal anode, including low cost, large volumetric capacity, a highly negative electrode potential, and excellent safety. However, the high self-discharge rate and formed discharge products substantially impair the practical discharge performance of Mg anodes with poor anode utilization efficiency and low cell voltage. While anode alloying and electrolyte additive strategies can help mitigate this issue, designing highly efficient electrolyte additives that are compatible with the established anode remains a challenge. This review summarizes recent progress toward understanding the role of electrolyte additives for aqueous Mg batteries, provides insights into the discharge mechanism of Mg-based anode materials in different types of additive-containing electrolytes, and offers strategies for designing high-efficiency mixtures of electrolyte additives. Moreover, a highly promising direction of AI-supported and robotic workflows for the future fast design of advanced electrolyte additives for aqueous Mg batteries is discussed.

A research team led by Ji-Min Yang from the College of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, reported a novel class of monophosphine ligands based on the norbornene skeleton. This work introduces the design concept of "three-dimensional (3D) isosteric benzene rings" from medicinal chemistry into phosphine ligand development, using rigid norbornene to simulate the benzene ring core in traditional biarylphosphines. While maintaining key geometric features, this approach endows the ligand with superior stereo and electronic properties. The catalytic system based on this ligand achieves highly efficient C–N coupling with extremely low palladium loadings (down to 2 ppm), achieving a maximum conversion number (TON) of 490,000, the highest reported to date for this type of reaction. The article was published as an open access Research Article in CCS Chemistry, the flagship journal of the Chinese Chemical Society.