What if we told you that the plastic shopping bag from last week’s grocery run could one day help detect toxic metals in drinking water? Sounds like science fiction? Think again. A dazzling new breakthrough led by Dr. Indriana Kartini from the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, is doing exactly that—turning plastic waste into glowing nanomaterials that can sense pollution in water. And yes, it’s as cool as it sounds.

In machine learning tasks for applications as diverse as facial recognition and movie recommendations, neural networks have been used extensively. To address the complexities of neural networks and issues such as overfitting, loss of generalization power, and excessive hardware cost, Qing et al. developed a general compression scheme based on automatically differentiable tensor networks that considerably reduces the number variational parameters needed while maintaining or improving the network’s performance. Their work was published on May 15, 2025, in an article titled “Compressing Neural Networks Using Tensor Networks with Exponentially Fewer Variational Parameters” in Intelligent Computing, a Science Partner Journal.

As global climate change exacerbates water scarcity, understanding how grapevines respond to water deficit stress is vital for ensuring the sustainability of vineyards. 

In a recent study, researchers identified key genetic factors that enhance tea plant resistance to Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, the pathogen responsible for anthracnose, a devastating disease in tea cultivation. 

Molten calcium–magnesium–alumina–silicate (CMAS) is easy to wet and penetrate into thermal barrier coatings (TBCs), causing the coating corrosion and premature failure. Applying a protective layer on the TBC surface is considered a useful method to alleviate CMAS attack. In this study, a bilayer-structured apatite layer was constructed by pre-reacting GdPO₄ with CMAS powders. It consists of an acicular upper layer and a compact lower layer, which remained microstructure integrity after heat treatment at 1250 °C for 50 h, and did not crack after 100 thermal cycles. At 1250 °C for 30 min, the CMAS contact angle on the bilayer-structured apatite layer was 17.4 °, exhibiting excellent low-wettability to CMAS. In addition, the layer provides outstanding resistance to the penetration of molten CMAS. Hence, the bilayer-structured apatite layer can be used as a protective layer for TBCs to fundamentally address the CMAS corrosion issue.

China’s BGI Genomics has marked its 26th anniversary with the launch of a newly developed AI-powered health management platform for the strategic commitment to global healthcare transformation. The platform enhances diagnostic efficiency and enables proactive disease prevention, creating a new standard in precision medicine.

As Saudi Arabia commemorates its 95th National Day and advances its Vision 2030 agenda, health innovation are driving a nationwide shift toward data-driven, precision-based healthcare. BGI Genomics, with its growing presence in the Kingdom and expertise in genomics and multi-omics technologies, is helping bring these goals closer to reality.

Researchers from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have identified a previously underexplored population of hypothalamic neurons that plays a pivotal role in regulating energy expenditure.

Marine vessels significantly impact global economy and air quality. Quantifying their emissions is crucial. Existing imaging methods lack accuracy and spatiotemporal resolution. Scientists in China developed a fast-hyperspectral imaging technique for precise NO₂ and SO₂ quantification from ships. This innovation aids in pollution control, offering a new path for improving marine atmospheric environment and supporting carbon reduction efforts.

External quality assessment (EQA) is a cornerstone of laboratory quality management, ensuring the accuracy, comparability, and reliability of test results across institutions. In the Republic of Korea, the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service (KAEQAS) has played a leading role since its inception in 1976, expanding from a small-scale clinical chemistry program to over 90 nationwide schemes across all disciplines. This article reviews the historical evolution, operational framework, and scope of KAEQAS, highlighting its contribution to standardization and accreditation. Current challenges include nonmandatory participation, persistent standardization gaps, the need for more category 1 accuracy-based programs, modernization of data analysis and reporting systems, and the establishment of a specimen bank. Future prospects emphasize policy reform, global harmonization, and technological innovation, positioning KAEQAS to further strengthen laboratory quality both nationally and internationally.