Flowering in woody bamboos has long been considered one of botany's great mysteries, due to its rarity, unpredictability, and the eventual death of clumps after blooming. 

Salk Institute scientists developed an improved workflow for characterizing capsids (genome-containing protein cones) in HIV-1 (the most common form of HIV). This novel workflow incorporates advanced technology that will allow scientists to better understand how capsid morphology changes in response to distinct pressures and to pinpoint new, more effective ways to target capsids and treat HIV-1. Importantly, the workflow can also be used to study structural changes in other, non-HIV viruses.

Genes born “from scratch,” known as de novo genes, can transform previously noncoding DNA into functional units that drive evolutionary novelty.

Flower shape is a defining trait of ornamental plants, influencing their aesthetic value and commercial appeal. 

Researchers from Hebei University of Technology have developed an innovative approach to lithium-ion battery management that could significantly improve the safety and performance of electric vehicles. The new method, which estimates a battery's state of charge (SOC) based on its internal core temperature rather than surface temperature, addresses a critical flaw in current battery management systems while requiring less computational resources. SOC estimation—essentially determining how much "fuel" remains in an electric vehicle's battery—is crucial for safe and efficient battery operation. However, current methods typically rely on surface temperature measurements that can be misleading for the accuracy of SOC estimation.

Rheumatoid arthritis has traditionally been framed as a self-contained autoimmune disease confined to joints, yet mounting clinical and molecular evidence now argues that it functions as a hub within an expansive web of interacting disorders. Drawing on 392,423 Finnish residents—12,555 of whom carry an RA diagnosis—disease-wide association scanning traces 1,289 distinct medical events before and after the first rheumatology clinic visit. By coupling survival modelling to systematic nosology, clusters of pre-RA liabilities and post-RA sequelae emerge that dissolve the boundary between “the index disease” and apparently unrelated organ pathology.

To study the effects of preconceptional thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels on antral follicle count (AFC) and pregnancy outcomes in a first in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycle.

Cisplatin (CIS), as a common chemotherapy drug, induces detrimental effects on the testis. Besides, exosomes represent various beneficial effects, such as anti-inflammation and proliferation. In this experimental study, the authors aimed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of circulating blood serum–derived exosomes on orchitis caused by CIS exposure.

Recently, the team of Academician Xiaojun Peng from Dalian University of Technology, Associate Professor Haidong Li, and the team of Professor Juyoung Yoon from Ewha Womans University, South Korea cooperated to develop a series of near-infrared (NIR) dyes with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics, based on an electron-acceptor engineering strategy to regulate the excited-state dynamic processes of dyes. By introducing diphenylamine into the xanthene structural unit, due to the increase in freely rotatable single bonds and asymmetric structures, the dyes exhibited enhanced AIE characteristics as well as potential for photodynamic therapy (PDT), photothermal therapy (PTT), and photoacoustic imaging (PAI). Variation in the number of cyano groups within the dyes could regulate their excitation wavelength, PDT efficacy, and PTT capability. Experimental results showed that Hcy-ON displayed high ROS production and heat-generating capacity under 760 nm laser irradiation. Molecular theoretical calculations indicated that Hcy-ON exhibited a significant spin–orbit coupling matrix element (SOCME) value <S₁|SOC|T₃>, with the minimum energy gap between S₁ and T₁ energy levels being 0.678 eV, which is related to its strongest ROS generation capability. In addition, analyses of the singlet–triplet (S–T) energy gap, electron transition mechanism, root-mean-square displacement (RMSD) value, and Huang–Rhys factor confirmed the excellent photothermal performance of Hcy-ON. This strategy provides a new paradigm for constructing multimodal light-driven tumor therapies. This research work was published in CCS Chemistry.