Hepatocytes, the primary functional cells of the liver, release soluble Tim-3 protein during drug-induced injury, and this protein acts as a protective feedback signal to limit excessive immune cell infiltration in the liver. A new study reveals that hepatocyte-derived sTim-3 could bind to Galectin-3 and Galectin-9 to suppress monocyte and macrophage recruitment, thereby reducing tissue necrosis and preserving liver function. The findings identify sTim-3 as a potential therapeutic target for drug-induced liver injury.

Human biological evolution typically unfolds over millennia, while artificial intelligence can undergo major advances within years. This growing disparity in rates of change raises a fundamental question: How should humanity respond as technological change increasingly outpaces biological adaptation?

Addressing this question, a team led by Professor Tian-Ling Ren of Tsinghua University has published a Position Paper titled “Transcending Natural Evolution in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” in SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences. The paper describes this disparity as an “evolutionary tempo mismatch” and examines how artificial intelligence could extend from the digital realm into physical environments, the human body, and neural tissue. It also introduces two related concepts, the “embodiment threshold” and “transcending natural evolution”, and outlines how flexible bioelectronics and brain-computer interfaces could support human-machine integration. The paper further considers the risk of “biological-technological stratification” under constraints in compute capacity, energy, materials, and technological access, and proposes a phased, trigger-based framework for adaptive governance.

An international research team led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen and the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) investigated how the shape of black corals influences the functions of their cilia. By combining an unusually comprehensive suite of imaging and microsensor techniques, the researchers were able to visualize both, water flow and oxygen transport, from individual cilia to entire coral fragments. They found that the cilia allow corals to create and direct the flow of water around and within them, thus optimising oxygen supply, feeding and internal transport. The study was recently published in Communications Biology.

Spikelet production efficiency (SPE) – the number of spikelets produced per unit of vegetative organ dry weight at the spikelet differentiation stage – can boost rice grain yield and harvest index without compromising grain filling or grain weight, particularly under high-yielding population conditions.

Zhonghua 11 and Taichung 65 exhibit distinct physiological and molecular responses to brassinosteroids despite their close japonica relationship.

A near-isogenic line, d61-zh11, was developed to transfer the classical brassinosteroid (BR)-insensitive mutation into a modern functional genomics background.

d61-zh11 provides a standardized reference mutant for the reproducible and system-level dissection of BR signaling in rice.

The brain continuously produces metabolic waste that must be removed to maintain healthy function. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) plays a central role in this process by carrying away proteins such as amyloid-β, phosphorylated tau, and α-synuclein, which are linked to Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders when they accumulate abnormally.

Scientists have long known that much of this waste ultimately leaves the brain through lymphatic vessels and drains into lymph nodes in the neck. Yet one fundamental question has remained unanswered: How does cerebrospinal fluid cross the arachnoid membrane, a protective barrier separating the brain from the surrounding lymphatic system?

A research team led by Director KOH Gou Young at the Center for Vascular Research within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), together with collaborators in Korea, Finland, and the United States, has now identified the missing anatomical gateway. The researchers discovered microscopic openings in the arachnoid membrane, which they named “arachnoid fenestrations”, that allow cerebrospinal fluid to pass directly into meningeal lymphatic vessels. The findings reveal the most detailed pathway yet for brain waste clearance and identify a drainage route that progressively deteriorates during aging but can be functionally restored in aged mice.