What does it mean to weigh a $170 billion gold mine against a way of life? Researchers at Kyushu University and Oita University found that for Alaska Native communities, the answer cannot be reduced to simple ‘support’ or ‘opposition.’ Many community members occupy multiple, often conflicting roles, and must balance economic opportunity, cultural survival, and environmental stewardship. The findings call for governance structures that center Indigenous worldviews and their own definitions of well-being.

An international research team led by Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT Italian Institute of Technology) in Rovereto (Trento, Italy) and the Child Mind Institute in New York (USA), and in collaboration with researchers from the University of Trento, has shown that it is possible to identify at least two distinct subtypes of autism, defined by their patterns of brain connectivity. In the “hyperconnectivity” subtype, brain areas communicate more than usual; in the “hypoconnectivity” subtype, communication between brain areas is reduced. The study aims to develop tools for precise, personalized autism care and support. The research paper was published in the international journal Nature Neuroscience.

JMIR Publications released a News and Perspectives expert analysis on consumer wearable platforms’ forays into the clinical health care space.

A research team led by Associate Professor Noriyuki Kurita from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Toyohashi University of Technology and by Associate Professor Pornpan Pungpo from Ubon Ratchathani University in Thailand has proposed a novel therapeutic agent for tuberculosis, using high-precision molecular simulation techniques. The proposed drug is anticipated to bind strongly to the drug-metabolizing enzyme cytochrome P450 (CYP), thereby inhibiting excessive CYP-mediated metabolism and preventing the degradation of co-administered drugs. Additionally, because this agent targets enzymes released by the tuberculosis bacterium rather than the bacterium itself, the likelihood of bacterial mutation and resistance development is reduced, suggesting sustained therapeutic efficacy over an extended period.

Blue perovskite QLEDs are core devices for next-generation full-color displays and energy-saving solid lighting. Although their external quantum efficiency (EQE) has made great progress, the long-standing imbalance between power efficiency and luminescence performance severely restricts practical application. Researchers from Zhengzhou University adopted PVDF ordered dipole engineering to synergistically optimize carrier injection balance and suppress trap non-radiative loss. The fabricated blue perovskite QLEDs achieved record power efficiency (PE) of 43.9 lm W⁻¹ and EQE of 28.7%, together with low turn-on voltage and outstanding luminescent stability. This work breaks the efficiency bottleneck of blue perovskite luminescent devices, and provides a universal scheme for developing low-energy-consumption perovskite optoelectronic products.

Fully stretchable hydrogel-based moisture-electric generators (FSHMEGs) are promising power sources for wearable and implantable electronics. Current FSHMEGs are constrained by low electrical output and mechanical fragility, mainly due to weak interfacial adhesiveness within multilayered archi- tectures. Here, we introduce an intrinsically adhesive hydrogel that forms robust hydrogel-electrode interfaces, enabling efficient transfer of both electrical charges and mechanical loads during deformation. As a result, the device delivers an open-circuit voltage of 0.94 V and a current density of 141 µA cm⁻² at 85% relative humidity, and maintains stable output for more than 220 h. The reinforced interface also imparts exceptional mechanical durability, exhibiting only negligible performance degradation after 8000 folding cycles and 1000 stretching cycles at 80% strain. Benefiting from rapid humidity responsiveness and continuous power delivery, the device enables non-invasive

respiration monitoring and can directly power wearable electronics (e.g., electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors). This interfacial-engineering holds promise for advancing the development of next-generation fully stretchable and flexible energy systems.