Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) can turn rapidly from intestinal inflammation into a life-threatening surgical emergency in premature infants, yet choosing when and how to operate remains difficult. 

X-band phased-array radar data assimilation sharpens high-resolution simulation of a westerly weak tornado

Optical computing is attracting strong interest because light can carry and process information at extremely high speed while consuming less energy than many electronic approaches. In principle, optical systems can accelerate demanding tasks such as artificial intelligence inference, image processing, scientific simulation, and high-bandwidth signal processing. However, most proposed optical processors still depend on electronic memory to hold intermediate data. Each time information is converted between light and electronics, the system pays a penalty in speed, energy, and complexity.

Bone healing, an intricate process involving multiple cell populations, relies not only on existing bone-forming cells but also on dormant progenitor cells outside the skeleton. A study published in Bone Research reveals that fibroadipogenic progenitors (FAPs) in skeletal muscle become bone-forming cells after injury, contributing to fracture repair and abnormal bone growth. The findings identify these cells as promising therapeutic targets for enhancing fracture healing while preventing unwanted bone formation.  

Microplastics and per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) are increasingly found together in agricultural soils, raising concern over how combined pollution may affect food safety. 

_{Preclinical studies have shown that volatile anaesthetics, particularly sevoflurane, can disrupt neurodevelopment by inducing neuronal apoptosis, neuroinflammation and altered synaptic plasticity during critical periods of brain maturation. Whether these mechanisms translate into long-term neurobehavioral risk in children remains uncertain.}

Soft electronics are an emerging class of mechanically compliant platforms that enable conformal, skin-interfaced sensing and actuation on curvilinear and dynamic surfaces. These systems combine deformation-tolerant electrical functionality with soft contact mechanics, but their in-use performance is strongly influenced by time-varying interfaces, motion-induced artifacts, and the system burden associated with dense multimodal integration. Advances in soft electronics are now converging with artificial intelligence, which supports reliable information extraction from high-dimensional signals and enables on-device inference that tolerates variability across users and day-to-day conditions. Here, progress in this convergence from materials to intelligent systems is summarized. Material and interface foundations are introduced first, focusing on deformation-tolerant conductors, low-impedance biointerfaces, and breathable substrate strategies that support extended wear. Manufacturing and integration approaches are then discussed, highlighting scalable fabrication, multilayer interconnects, and energy-autonomous wireless operation that enable higher channel counts and multifunctional architectures. Learning-based pipelines are subsequently reviewed with emphasis on artifact suppression, nonideality compensation, multimodal inference, and efficient edge deployment. Finally, emerging directions including neuromorphic computing and in-sensor computing are discussed, together with current challenges and future opportunities toward deployable intelligent soft systems that operate continuously and reliably in everyday settings.

Blood tests measuring plasma p-tau217 offer a promising, non-invasive alternative for Alzheimer's disease diagnosis. In a multicenter head-to-head evaluation, researchers compared nine commercial p-tau217 assays. While seven assays demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy for detecting amyloid pathology, two showed substantially lower performance. The findings emphasize that these tests are not interchangeable and require tailored calibration for clinical use.

A research team has generated tomato germplasm with improved tolerance to drought and salinity by disrupting SlERF.J2, a gene encoding an ethylene response factor.