A new review in BMC Medicine explores how large language models (LLMs) can enhance the design and conduct of clinical trials, from protocol design and informed consent to patient recruitment, data management, safety monitoring, and outcome prediction. The authors highlight LLMs’ advantages over traditional natural language processing, including contextual understanding, few-shot learning, and multitask capability. While applications such as data mapping and real-time adverse event monitoring show early promise, challenges in data privacy, model transparency, and regulatory alignment must be addressed to ensure safe, effective integration into clinical research.

In International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, a review summarizes the latest advances in high-quality testing methods for 2D materials and highlights the fundamental mechanisms behind their unique mechanical behaviors.

By outlining current challenges and future directions, this work provides valuable guidance for applying 2D materials in aerospace, flexible electronics, precision sensing, and integrated circuits.

Researchers from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have now revealed the complete three-dimensional (3D) ultrastructure of xylem vessel pits in rice and identified a critical regulatory module, MYB61-PS1, that shapes the 3D structure of pits in rice. 

In International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, researchers at Trinity College Dublin have unveiled a novel inkless printing method that could transform the way functional materials and devices are manufactured. The technique, called Laser Ablation Dry Aerosol Printing (LADAP), generates nanoparticles directly from solid targets using pulsed laser ablation, and then focuses them aerodynamically to print metals and oxides without the need for solvent-based inks.

Imagine using one laser beam to 'write' instructions into a material and another to 'bend' it into a complex, functional shape—all on the spot, without moving a thing. Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) have turned this concept into reality, developing a novel dual-laser method that creates adaptive, shape-locking devices in situ.

In the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, A novel conductive hydrogel, termed AirCell Hydrogel and developed by Tianjin University researchers, exhibits an ultra-high sensitivity of 18.9. Its smooth surface enables conformal adhesion that effectively suppresses motion artifacts, while its porous interior structure lowers the Young's modulus during deformation tracking.

A new review in International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing highlights the rapid progress in turning metallic materials into flexible electrodes (FEs) and, ultimately, soft epidermal electrodes (SEEs). Unlike the rigid metal pads traditionally used in medical monitoring, SEEs are engineered to mimic the softness and stretchability of skin itself. They conform like a second layer of tissue, remaining comfortable even during long wear and delivering stable, high-quality signals.

In International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, researchers used a carefully tuned femtosecond laser under water immersion to etch nanogratings just 46 nanometers apart with groove widths near 13 nanometers onto highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). It addresses a long-standing challenge: fabricating uniform structures smaller than 100 nanometers.

Ce-MOFs based solid frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) were designed via a competitive coordination strategy using single-carboxylate ligands. Functional groups (–NH₂, –OH, –Br, –NO₂) modulate the Ce–CUS/Ce–OH acid–base sites, enhancing H₂ heterolytic cleavage through a “push-pull” effect. The optimized MOF-808-NH₂ achieves complete conversion of styrene and dicyclopentadiene at 100 °C and 2 MPa, providing an efficient pathway for green olefin hydrogenation catalysis.

Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts reports a 1 000-L process that converts 20 % solids corn stover into 10.6 g L⁻¹ Rhodosporidium toruloides lipids. After 80-day 6 % NaOH ambient storage, one-hour steam and cloth-squeeze detox, the fed-batch fermentation achieves 93.6 % total reducing-sugar recovery and a palm-oil-like fatty-acid profile without centrifuges, demonstrating scalable, low-energy microbial oil production from agricultural waste.