Could a simple blood test reveal how well someone is aging? A team of researchers led by Wolfram Weckwerth from the University of Vienna, Austria, and Nankai University, China, has combined advanced metabolomics with cutting-edge machine learning and a novel network modeling tool to uncover the key molecular processes underlying active aging. Their study, published in the Nature Journal npj Systems Biology and Applications, identifies aspartate as a dominant biomarker of physical fitness and maps the dynamic interactions that support healthier aging.

For decades, it was thought that while the brain orchestrated male sexual behaviour – arousal, courtship, and copulation – the spinal cord merely executed the final act: ejaculation. But a study from the Champalimaud Foundation (CF) challenges that tidy division. It reveals that a key spinal circuit is not only involved in ejaculation but also in arousal and shaping the choreography of sex, adding a surprising new dimension to our understanding of sexual behaviour in mammals.

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.

Research uncovers how a poet transformed the story of the first “test-tube baby” into a moving tale that helped highlight the women involved.

Interface modification has been demonstrated as an effective means to enhance the performance of perovskite solar cells. However, the effect depends on the anchoring mode and strength of the interfacial molecules, which determines whether long-term robust interface for carrier viaduct can be achieved under operational light illumination. Herein, we select squaric acid (SA) as the interfacial molecule between the perovskite and SnO₂ layer and propose a self-regulated bilateral anchoring strategy. The unique four-membered ring conjugated structure and dicarboxylic acid groups facilitate stable hydrogen bonds and coordination bonds at both SnO₂/SA and SA/PbI₂ interfaces. The self-transforming property of SA enables the dynamic bilateral anchoring at the buried interface, ultimately releasing residual stress and constructing a stable interfacial molecular bridge. The results show that SA molecular bridge not only can effectively inhibit the generation of diverse charged defects but also serves as an effective electron transport pathway, resulting in improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 23.19 to 25.50% and excellent stability at the maximum power point. Additionally, the PCEs of the flexible and large-area (1 cm²) devices were increased to 24.92% and 24.01%, respectively, demonstrating the universal applicability of the bilateral anchoring to PSCs based on different substrates and larger area.