Global climate change is reshaping agricultural ecosystems. As warmer winters become more prevalent, snow droughts caused by insufficient snowfall are becoming more frequent. This leaves winter wheat, which relies on snow cover for insulation and water supply, vulnerable to low-temperature frost damage and water stress, posing a major threat to global food security. A research team from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has utilised innovative explainable machine learning to uncover the persistent and significant negative impact of snow droughts on winter wheat yields, highlighting that global food security is facing unprecedented challenges. This breakthrough study provides key scientific evidence for building climate-resilient agriculture, ensuring food security and promoting sustainable development.

A research team at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, has introduced a downstream analytical framework for STAMP (Single-cell Transcriptomics Analysis and Multimodal Profiling), an emerging technology that preserves cell morphology alongside gene and protein expression. In a perspective published in EXO – Beyond the Cell, the team demonstrates how STAMP data can be analyzed using standard Python-based single-cell tools to link molecular profiles directly with image-derived phenotypes—such as cell area, shape, and marker localization.

A new study uses 3D tumor spheroid models to screen 365 human cytokines, finding TGFB1 inhibits pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) growth specifically in 3D cultures. Researchers also identify PADI2 as a critical survival factor induced by TGFB1 in 3D, offering potential therapeutic targets for this lethal cancer.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is transforming biodiversity monitoring by allowing scientists to identify fish species from diverse aquatic ecosystems. To assess reliability of the method, researchers from South Korea analyzed 59 mock community datasets from 30 independent studies, comparing the performance of universal fish primers and reference databases. They found that eDNA metabarcoding is highly effective for detecting fish diversity, but quantitative estimates of fish biomass remain challenging due to methodological biases and database limitations.

Brake-by-wire systems are becoming a core technology for intelligent electric vehicles, but their performance depends heavily on a compact, reliable and responsive booster motor. A study in Green Energy and Intelligent Transportation presents a structured design method for the booster motor used in brake-by-wire systems, combining motor selection, electrical and mechanical design, simulation optimization and prototype verification.

Researchers have developed a lightweight fault-diagnosis framework for high-speed train bogies that is designed for edge deployment while still maintaining strong cross-domain diagnostic performance. The study addresses a persistent challenge in railway intelligence: how to run deep learning models close to the train or infrastructure, where computing resources are limited, without losing accuracy when operating conditions change.

Dyes are used to colour papers, leather products, garments, and are also employed in the rubber and cosmetic industries. But what happens after these dyes have served their purpose? Billions of tons of dye-containing wastewater enter water systems every year, eventually rendering them unfit for human and animal use. They can also lead to serious health issues such as breathing problems, jaundice, and cancer. As an effort to tackle this issue, researchers have developed advanced materials, which act like microscopic sponges, as a promising solution to industrial wastewater treatment. 

Researchers have developed a real-time vehicle-tracking framework that can follow traffic across large roadside sensor networks with low latency and meter-level accuracy, a step that could help support safer and more responsive vehicle-road-cloud integration systems.