In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a team of researchers conducted a comprehensive study of wildfires during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) in the Nanyang and Fushun Basins. The study indicates that a “low wildfire activity” prevailed during the main body of the PETM in most regions in the Northern Hemisphere, resulting from extreme warming, high precipitation, and the resultant changes in vegetation types. During the PETM recovery phase, it gradually evolved into a “high wildfire state”, and the resulting black carbon burial might have significantly contributed to the sequestration of massive light carbon. It provides a novel perspective to address current wildfire threats and to predict wildfire activities and their driving mechanisms in the context of future global warming.

Kidney fibrosis, a common endpoint of chronic kidney disease (CKD), is strongly linked to aging, with cellular senescence emerging as a key driver in its pathogenesis. This overview synthesizes current knowledge on how senescent cells contribute to renal fibrosis, focusing on their mechanisms, identification, and potential therapeutic interventions.

Human healthy aging and longevity are complex phenomena influenced by a dynamic interplay of genetic, epigenetic, metabolic, immune, and environmental factors. Long-lived individuals (LLIs), particularly centenarians, serve as valuable models for understanding these mechanisms due to their ability to delay or avoid age-related diseases. This overview synthesizes current insights into the multifaceted determinants of exceptional longevity, highlighting key findings from studies on LLIs across diverse populations.

Research team introduced Soft-GNN, a framework to train robust GNNs under noisy conditions. Soft-GNN mitigates label noise impact through dynamic data selection, achieving better performance and higher efficiency in node classification tasks.

Research team from Nanjing University introduced ORCBench and HeteC for open and real-world human-AI coordination. HeteC for ORC has been proved to enhance partner diversity and incorporates communication ,thereby improving coordination in heterogeneous environments.

In the latest issue of the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, Professor Jiankang He and his team from Xi'an Jiaotong University introduce new frontiers for the regeneration and functionality enhancement of excitable tissues by integrating bioelectronics with bioengineered constructs.

Their work not only deepens our understanding of the role of electrical microenvironments in tissue development but also sets forth critical design principles for creating bioelectronic-tissue construct hybrids. These advancements hold transformative potential for repairing and restoring damaged excitable tissues such as cardiac, neural, and muscle tissues.

How are nanogenerators transforming the capabilities of intelligent robotics?

Reasearchers from Tsinghua University showcase how triboelectric and piezoelectric nanogenerators support robot autonomy and operational efficiency by converting mechanical energy into electrical energy.

Their work contributes to the integration of self-powered sensing with AI and IoT, with potential applications in healthcare, smart homes, and industrial automation.