News from Science China Press

A recent study published in National Science Review reveals that the spring Southern Annular Mode (SAM) underwent a marked spatial shift around 1998. Since then, its wave-like features have strengthened, enhancing its delayed impact on Antarctic summer sea ice. The 2022 and 2023 record-low events both followed strong spring positive SAM anomalies. The study further suggests that ENSO, through more frequent positive SAM-La Niña co-occurrence, may amplify SAM’s influence on Antarctic sea ice.

A team led by the Beijing Institute of Technology presents a unified framework in National Science Review for personalized healthcare termed self-powered intelligence. It describes how on-device AI, flexible electronics, and body-based energy harvesting can be co-designed into wearable patches and implantable sensors, enabling them to analyze physiological signals in real time, predict health risks, for continuous and personalized healthcare.

Topological phase transition is attracting great attention in condensed matter physics, and its gate-voltage-reversible control is essential for electrically driven topological devices. Recently, Professor Jinxiong Wu’s team at Nankai University achieved the first gate-voltage-reversible topological phase transition in β-Ag₂Te nanodevices, evidenced by a π Berry phase transition. Theoretical attributes this to the Stark effect modulating band structure. Based on this, they built a prototype topological phase transition transistor with on-off ratio exceeding 10⁴, opening a new route for electrically controlled topological devices.

A research paper just published in Science China Life Sciences reports single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) as a powerful technology that, for the first time at single-cell resolution, reveals the spatiotemporal pattern of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) signaling in Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis) leaves, which mediates precise control of the intracellular transcriptional reprogramming and drought tolerance mechanisms.

Thermal diffusion—a fundamental physical process pervasive in applications ranging from electronics to industrial systems—is inherently irreversible under the second law of thermodynamics. As temperature gradients spontaneously smooth out over time, crucial information regarding the initial thermal state is permanently lost due to entropy increase. This fundamental information loss leads to a severe ill-posedness in inverse thermal problems, where infinitesimal errors in the final observation can cause enormous uncertainties in the reconstructed initial state.

Recently, the team led by Qiyi Zhao, Yusheng Jie, and Yutian Chong from the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University published their latest research titled “Transfer RNA-derived small RNA-Gly activates the ACPH/GRHL1 axis to facilitate liver cell regeneration in acute-on chronic liver failure” in SCIENCE CHINA Life Sciences. This study uncovered the critical role of transfer RNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) in mediating liver regeneration. It reveals a novel molecular mechanism by which tsRNA-Gly promotes hepatocyte regeneration in acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) by activating the ACPH/GRHL1 signaling axis, providing a potential new therapeutic target for liver failure.

A propensity score-matched cohort study compared kidney-sparing surgery with radical nephroureterectomy in patients with ureteral urothelial carcinoma. After matching, radical nephroureterectomy was associated with better overall and cancer-specific survival, especially in selected subgroups. The findings support refined risk stratification and careful patient selection