The global freshwater crisis has become one of the most urgent environmental challenges. Solar interfacial evaporation technology demonstrates significant potential for seawater desalination. However, conventional evaporators struggle with a persistent trade-off between stable evaporation and salt accumulation, as crystallized salt obstructs water transport and reduces efficiency. Recently, a research team from Shandong First Medical University published a groundbreaking study in Science Bulletin, introducing a novel approach to desalinate high-salinity brine. Inspired by the natural salt secretion and brine transport mechanisms of mangroves, the team designed a bio-inspired solar evaporator featuring an external photothermal layer and internal water supply channels. This innovative design effectively overcomes the long-standing trade-off between stable evaporation and salt accumulation, achieving highly efficient and stable desalination alongside continuous salt collection under high-salinity brine conditions.

In a paper published in National Science Review, a Chinese team of scientists highlights the discovery of well-preserved blue-stain fungal hyphae within a Jurassic fossil wood from northeastern China, which pushes back the earliest known fossil record of this fungal group by approximately 80 million years. The new finding provides crucial fossil evidence for studying the origin and early evolution of blue-stain fungi and offers fresh insights into understanding the ecological relationships between the blue-stain fungi, plants, and insects during the Jurassic period.

Field and pot fertilization experiments on foxtail millet and common millet further suggest that the millet grain δ¹⁵N values can serve as reliable indicators of manuring practices, and the relationship between manuring levels and the δ¹⁵N values of archaeological millet remains was proposed. The δ¹⁵N values of ancient millet grains suggest widespread and intensive manuring practices in prehistoric North China.

Introducing an external photo field would effectively enhance electrocatalysis such as electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR), but suffering from the limited utilization efficiency of the photo-generated carriers. To address this challenge, a research team led by Professor Yuan-Biao Huang at the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Science, has successfully encapsulated metal halide perovskite quantum dots (e.g. CsPbBr₃) with high light-absorption coefficients, into a cobalt-porphyrin-based covalent–organic frameworks (COFs) host (COF-366-Co). The synthesized perovskite-COF composite material, effectively improve the performance of the photocoupled electrochemical CO₂RR.

Dysregulation of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) promotes pancreatic cancer growth, metastasis, treatment resistance, and cancer stemness. To shed light on the mechanisms behind their dysregulation, researchers from China, conducted a scientific review that summarizes how ncRNAs are involved in pancreatic cancer progression. Their study highlights that ncRNAs can act as scaffolds, promoting protein-protein/nucleotide interactions, as protein sponges that limit protein interactions, and by translocating proteins to various subcellular compartments.

Abstract

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the relationship between climate policy uncertainty (CPU) and corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. We attempt to uncover the underlying rationale of how CPU influences corporate ESG performance and provides empirical evidence for companies’ strategic enhancement of ESG performance with risk reduction objectives.

Design/methodology/approach –We conduct a regression analysis using panel data from 4,490 Chinese listed companies spanning the period from 2011 to 2022. In addition, we use propensity score matching analysis (PSM), two-stage least squares (2SLS), system generalized method of moments (sys-GMM) and difference-indifferences (DID) methods to analyze the enterprise systematic risk.

Findings – The empirical findings reveal a positive correlation between CPU and corporate ESG performance, with a stronger effect observed in non-state-owned enterprises, heavy-polluting industries and those facing fierce market competition and strict environmental regulation. Mechanism analysis suggests that as CPU increases, companies with higher systemic risk tend to improve ESG performance more significantly, highlighting risk mitigation as a primary motive. Robustness tests further validate the consistency of our conclusions. Additionally, we find that enhancing ESG performance helps mitigate the risks and improve total factor productivity arising from the increased CPU.

Originality/value – This study examines the impact of CPU on the ESG performance of Chinese listed companies and its underlying logic. The conclusions of this paper provide important policy references for coordinated development and security, as well as for effectively mitigating the adverse impact of CPU. We hope to offer insights for companies to identify potential risk factors, thereby enhancing their level of sustainable development and sense of environmental responsibility.