AlphaFold 3 (AF3), the latest AI model from Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs, can predict the structures and interactions of nearly all biomolecules with unprecedented accuracy, opening new avenues for drug design, vaccine development, and precision medicine.

Recently, a research team led by Professor Wenfeng Cong from China Agricultural University, in collaboration with Dr. Wopke van der Werf from Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, revealed the changing trends of dietary zinc intake among Chinese adults and the underlying reasons by analyzing data from China Health and Nutrition Surveys conducted between 2004 and 2011. The study covered 21,266 adults aged 18–50 from 9 provinces and 3 municipalities directly under the central government in China. The results showed that from 2004 to 2011, the average daily zinc intake of Chinese adults decreased from 11.1 to 9.89 mg, and the proportion of people with insufficient intake increased from 23% to 37%, a growth of more than 60%. Notably, this trend was prevalent across different income groups—although the zinc intake of high-income groups was consistently higher than that of low-income groups, zinc intake in all income strata showed a downward trend. The related paper has been published in Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering (DOI: 10.15302/J-FASE-2024584).

Relative weights analyses showed the neglect/interference/punishment domain contributed most significantly (28.78%) to behavior problems in preschool children with developmental disabilities.

Thermal superinsulation, arising from nanoporous aerogels with pore sizes < 70 nm, involves ultralow heat conduction with a thermal conductivity lower than that of stationary air (24 mW·m⁻¹·K⁻¹). Ultra-flexibility, on the basis of nanofibrous aerogels, demonstrates remarkable flexibility with a compressive strain of approximately 90%, fracture strain of approximately 10% and bending angel of approximately 100%. In Science Bulletin, researchers from Harbin Institute of Technology now fabricate a ceramic aerogel with a unitary core–sheath fiber architecture based on microstructural design, which achieves superior thermal insulation (21.96 mW·m⁻¹·K⁻¹) while retaining nanofiber flexibility (compressive strain of 80% and a bending angle of 100%).

Host neurocognitive function is influenced by the gut microbiome, but existing studies have primarily focused on changes in abundance at the genus or species level. The role of higher-resolution microbial genetic variations in shaping host neurobehavior remains unexplored. Now, Professor Lianmin Chen and colleagues from Nanjing Medical University and Jiangsu Provincial People's Hospital published their findings in Science China Life Sciences entitled "Gut microbial genetic variations are associated with exploratory behavior via SNV-driven metabolic regulation in a sheep model." The study systematically revealed that gut microbial genetic variations at the single-nucleotide resolution influence host cognitive exploratory behavior by regulating metabolites. The study further highlighted that microbial single nucleotide variations can affect host neural behavior by modulating related metabolites, which provides a theoretical basis for targeting gut microbiota to regulate neurometabolic diseases.

A research team from Peking University Yangtze Delta Institute of Optoelectronics has achieved the device-level implementation of a silica microsphere probe, demonstrating exceptional capabilities in high-sensitivity ultrasonic detection and ultrahigh-frequency vibrational spectroscopy. This advancement facilitates the transition of microsphere resonator technology from controlled laboratory environments to practical instrumentation, showing significant potential for applications in photoacoustic imaging, endoscopic sensing, and non-destructive evaluation.

Through the systematic optimization of metabolic network, engineered Escherichia coli efficiently synthesized inosinic acid using glucose, providing an industrial production route for a low-cost umami-enhancing substance.

Using genomic analysis, researchers discovered novel nitrogen-responsive promoters in Bacillus licheniformis, achieving the high-level secretory expression of glutamine transaminase in B. licheniformis for the first time.