This review provides a critical assessment of the ongoing debate surrounding altermagnetism in ruthenium dioxide (RuO₂), synthesizes a decade of experimental and theoretical efforts, offering a clear roadmap of the studies conducted on RuO₂.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is marked by insulin resistance together with the progressive failure of pancreatic β-cells. Increasing evidence suggests that this failure is shaped not only by β-cells themselves, but also by the local islet immune microenvironment, where resident and recruited macrophages can influence inflammation, islet architecture, and insulin secretion. Exercise is a cornerstone of diabetes management, yet how it acts within this islet microenvironment has remained unclear.

While optical computing systems (OCS) with high bandwidth, low latency, and inherent parallelism are promising accelerators for artificial intelligence, the existing OCS implementations require direct participation of physical hardware, tightly coupling development workflows to device access and limiting offline design. Now, researchers have developed a Digital Twin OCS, a system-level, measurement-driven digital surrogate that enables a hardware-decoupled and fully offline development paradigm for OCS.

Researchers from Zhejiang Normal University and collaborating institutions in China have revealed how crown architecture mediate neighborhood interactions and growth strategies across a shade tolerance gradient. By analyzing nearly 3,600 trees in a subtropical forest, they show that light-demanding species compete mainly through crown trait dissimilarity among neighbors, while shade-tolerant species are more influenced by neighbor density, offering new insights for forest dynamics models.

 A new study in the Journal of International Ceramic Studies reconstructs Queen Elisabeth Farnese's renowned collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelain in Bourbon Spain. Drawing on the 1746 and 1766 palace inventories, it traces how around 3,000 objects shaped chinoiserie interiors at La Granja de San Ildefonso, and how wars, political upheavals and the 1918 fire reduced what survives today. The article highlights Blanc-de-Chine figures from Dehua, as well as monumental 'soldier vases' and enameled baluster jars from Jingdezhen, which are now preserved at La Granja and Madrid's Royal Collections Museum.

Hydrogen is widely seen as a key player in the net-zero energy transition, but its large-scale use faces a hidden barrier: underdeveloped insurance. New article in Engineering points out unique risks of hydrogen systems—from flammability and embrittlement to supply chain delays—that insurers struggle to quantify. With few tailored policies available, projects risk higher costs and limited funding. Closer cross-sector cooperation and innovative insurance tools could help unlock hydrogen’s full potential.