Polar winter remains the most under-observed season at Earth's high latitudes—and that blind spot, scientists warn, is constraining the accuracy of daily weather forecasts and longer-time environment and climate predictions and projections. In a new Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (AAS) perspective, 23 Earth scientists from 14 nations call for urgent action to fill these long-standing data and research gaps. Extreme cold, polar night, and prohibitive costs have long hindered winter observations, leaving Earth system models incomplete. The team identifies three research priorities and advocates for a sustained, multi-platform observing network, stressing that international collaboration is essential to meet this challenge.

A cutting-edge mini-review published in the inaugural issue of Targetome elaborates on the value of proteome-wide dose-response measurements as a powerful strategy to unravel drug mechanisms of action (MoA). This work was jointly completed by a research team led by Prof. Bernhard Kuster from the Technical University of Munich and collaborating scholars from multiple German institutions. The paper constructs a systematic framework for system-level dose-response profiling, addresses key analytical challenges in large-scale omics research, sorts out mainstream experimental workflows, and demonstrates how dose-resolved proteomics can bridge the gap between cellular phenotypes and underlying molecular events. This work advocates replacing conventional single-concentration assays with full dose-response experiments to deliver more actionable insights for modern drug discovery and pharmacological research..

A classic Chinese herbal formula has been found to be significantly effective in treating myeloproliferative neoplasms, and its mechanism of action has been shown to involve promoting aging and inhibiting inflammation.

This review systematically examines the pharmacological activity, mechanism of action, and clinical progress of opaganib, offering a novel therapeutic framework for major diseases such as cancer, viral infections, inflammation, and radiation-induced injury.

Researchers have proposed a new rehabilitation design that uses brain signals not to control movement directly, but to decide when and how strongly simple haptic cues should be delivered. Combined with wearable devices based on McKibben artificial muscles, this approach may provide intuitive, low-burden guidance that supports motor learning while reducing overreliance on visual and verbal instructions.

Researchers from Donghua University (Shanghai, China) have developed a novel heterogeneous catalyst, diimine-Ni@PCN-701, by immobilizing diimine-nickel complexes into a zirconium-based metal-organic framework (MOF). This catalyst exhibits exceptional activity for propylene dimerization, achieving a turnover frequency (TOF) of up to 56900 h⁻¹ under mild conditions. It selectively converts propylene into C6 dimers, predominantly 4-methyl-2-pentene (4M2P), with 100% selectivity toward dimers. The enhanced performance arises from the electron-withdrawing effect of the Zr₆O₄(OH)₄ clusters and the steric confinement of the MOF pores, offering a general strategy for designing high-performance heterogeneous olefin oligomerization catalysts.

Researchers from Donghua University (Shanghai, China) have made a theoretical development in relational database normalization by investigating the computational complexity of prime attributes and keys specifically for relation schemes in second normal form (2NF). The study demonstrates that even when a relation scheme is known to be in 2NF, the prime attribute problem remains NP-complete, and the number of all keys can grow exponentially with the number of attributes and functional dependencies. The team also proposes a novel algorithm to find all keys in a 2NF relation scheme, deepening the theoretical understanding of 2NF normalization and providing practical references for database schema design.

Researchers from Donghua University (Shanghai, China) have developed a high-performance and sustainable food packaging film based on deacidified chitin nanofibers (ChNFs) and tannic acid (TA), termed as CTF. The novel CTF film exhibits outstanding mechanical properties (tensile strength of 145.1 MPa), excellent antioxidant activity (>95% free-radical scavenging rate), significant antibacterial effects, and effective UV shielding. In strawberry preservation tests, the CTF film kept fruits intact and mold-free for 7 days, outperforming commercial polyethylene (PE) films and demonstrating great potential as an eco-friendly alternative to petroleum-based packaging materials.