Researchers have developed a fast, non-intrusive diagnostic approach for resolving the electron-density evolution of plasma generated by microscale explosive detonation. By combining microwave Rayleigh scattering with high-speed imaging, optical emission spectroscopy, thermodynamic calculations, and finite-element simulations, the study quantitatively determines the time-resolved electron density of HMX detonation plasma. The electron density reaches the order of 10²⁵ m⁻³, persists for approximately 1.91 μs, and exhibits a pronounced multi-peak evolution associated with the pulsation of detonation products.

Now, writing (DOI: 10.1016/j.esci.2025.100520) in the journal  eScience (Volume 6, Issue 4, July 2026), researchers from Jeju National University in South Korea, Queensland University of Technology in Australia, and Shivaji University in India report a humidity-sensitive memristive device built on a Au/Ni₂P₂O₇/fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) architecture. The device achieves analog resistive switching with tunable resistance states under varying relative humidity (RH) levels, and demonstrates non-contact synaptic responses using moisture from a human finger.

A team led by researchers at East China Normal University, in collaboration with The University of Queensland, Fuzhou University, and Shanghai University, reports a Janus conductive metal-organic framework-on-conductive-metal-organic framework heterostructure that enables simultaneous production of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and active chlorine by seawater electrolysis. The study, published (DOI: 10.1016/j.esci.2026.100581) on 1 September 2026 in eScience (Volume 6, Issue 5, Article 100581), demonstrates a bifunctional electrocatalyst that achieves high production rates and Faradaic efficiencies for both products.

Now, a team of researchers from the University of Macau's Department of Electromechanical Engineering and Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics has published (DOI: 10.1016/j.esci.2026.100549) a comprehensive perspective on this very question. In the journal eScience (Volume 6, Issue 4, July 2026), the team lays out a roadmap for achieving embodied intelligence in insect‑scale robots—charting a course from laboratory prototypes to practical, intelligent systems.

A new study published in Journal of Systematics and Evolution provides genomic clues to this question. Researchers from Southwest University, Dali University, and Arizona State University compared genomes from 15 spider species with different web-building strategies and identified evolutionary changes potentially associated with funnel-web construction.

Researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and their collaborators revealed that plant community turnover and nematode body width play fundamental roles in shaping soil nematode diversity across different spatial scales. Their findings highlight that protecting the variety of plant species is essential for preserving nematode diversity and that a nematode's body width largely determines how it spreads across the environment.

Microplastics and nanoplastics are increasingly found throughout aquatic environments, raising concern about whether these tiny particles can move from exposed parents into their offspring. But a new critical review warns that harm observed in the next generation should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that plastic particles were directly transferred from mother to offspring.

Lactic acid is a key building block for biodegradable plastics, but producing it efficiently from renewable biomass remains challenging. Researchers have now developed a defect-engineered metal-organic framework catalyst that converts glucose into lactic acid with substantially improved efficiency, while also showing activity toward raw biomass feedstocks.

Oak silkworm eggs may appear defenceless as they sit exposed on plant surfaces, but new research has uncovered a hidden form of protection, a natural chemical scent that helps keep parasitic wasps away.

Apophis will make an extremely close flyby of Earth on April 13, 2029, at a distance of approximately 31,029 km—an event unprecedented for an asteroid of this size—providing a valuable natural experiment for studying tidal interactions, spin-state variations, and surface material migration between the asteroid and Earth. A large number of ground-based observations and space missions are expected to participate, but most observations will be concentrated from Earth's perspective, leaving observational blind spots as Apophis rapidly recedes from Earth's view after the flyby. LUMIO (Lunar Meteoroid Impacts Observer) is a 12U CubeSat of the European Space Agency, planned to be deployed in a quasi-halo orbit around the Earth–Moon L2 point; its primary mission is to observe meteoroid impact flashes on the lunar farside, with a launch expected in 2028. However, three critical questions remain unanswered: whether LUMIO-Cam—a camera designed for observing impact flashes—can detect Apophis as a sub-pixel target, whether it can resolve fluctuations in its light curve, and whether it can observe for a sufficiently long duration to obtain complete spin-period information.