Multiphoton microscopy (MPM), with its excellent optical sectioning capability and deep tissue penetration, has become an important tool for neuroscience and biomedical imaging. However, efficient axial information acquisition remains a major challenge for high-speed volumetric imaging of dynamic biological processes. Recent advances in optical devices, light-field control, information encoding, and intelligent computing have expanded the approaches to axial imaging, ranging from single-point scanning and multifocal parallel imaging to continuous-beam coverage. This review summarizes these developments from the perspective of axial information acquisition, and further discusses light-field control for improving 3D imaging performance, providing an overview of the field and its future directions toward faster, deeper, and higher-quality volumetric MPM. Meanwhile, the focal control, temporal encoding, structured light fields, and computational reconstruction methods discussed in this review are highly transferable and can be extended to other laser-scanning microscopy modalities, such as coherent Raman and photoacoustic microscopy.

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led research team investigated the prevalence and characteristics of mcr-positive Enterobacteriaceae in retail meat in Thailand following the national ban on prophylactic colistin use in food producing animals.

A team led by the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, including researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, has reported the first experimental investigation of a nuclear physics reaction essential to explain how the element strontium is formed in stars. The study, published Communications Physics, reports that the team used indirect experimental techniques to extract previously inaccessible information about how an isotope of a separate element — krypton — absorbs, or captures, neutrons.

A research team has found that celastrol, a bioactive compound derived from the traditional medicinal plant Tripterygium wilfordii, alleviates cholestatic liver injury and fibrosis by reshaping the liver's immune environment. 

Cognitive impairment, including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease, is a growing challenge in ageing societies. Early detection is crucial, as timely intervention can improve care planning, monitoring and quality of life. Yet cognitive decline is often identified only after symptoms have become more pronounced, limiting opportunities for support.