A research team led by Prof. SUN Jianwei, Chair Professor of the Department of Chemistry and Director of the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Centre for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), has achieved a groundbreaking advance in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry. The team has developed an air-stable chiral phosphine-catalyzed enantioselective approach to synthesize enantioenriched S(IV)-stereogenic vinyl sulfinamides—an under-explored class of organosulfur compounds with promising antiviral activity.

Release Summary Text: In atomically thin semiconductors, enhancing the frequency-doubled light signal has come at the cost of losing polarization information tied to the valley degree of freedom. Researchers now show that silicon nanospheres can break this dilemma, providing design guidelines for next-generation valley photonic devices.

This research marks a pivotal step toward multifunctional integration in programmable metasurfaces. For the first time, dynamic beamforming communication and broadband self-stealth coexist on a single low-profile platform, resolving performance/power/integration trade-offs.

Discover a groundbreaking wastewater treatment method that uses electro-filtration to remove harmful pollutants with remarkable efficiency. Learn how scientists have developed a novel membrane technology that simultaneously tackles nitrogen and carbon contaminants, offering a sustainable solution for cleaner water.

Discover how cutting-edge vision-language models are transforming mobile robot navigation in smart manufacturing. Learn about a new system that enables robots to understand natural human language and navigate complex, unstructured environments with unprecedented accuracy and adaptability.

Ever wondered how ancient life forms developed the ability to modify proteins through glycosylation? A groundbreaking study published in Engineering reveals the surprising evolutionary origins of this crucial biological process, uncovering links between early cellular life and modern human biology. Dive in to explore the fascinating journey of glycosylation through time!

Feeding the global population currently requires clearing vast forests for soy plantations or heavily depleting the oceans for fish meal. What if the agricultural industry could bypass the farm and the sea entirely, opting instead to brew high-quality food from a problematic greenhouse gas? A rigorous new life-cycle assessment demonstrates that cultivating methane-consuming microbes is far more than an experimental concept—it is a highly lucrative, environmentally superior reality.

Driving this evaluation are corresponding authors Yanping Liu and Ziyi Yang from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology. Their latest work, appearing in the journal Carbon Research, stacks microbial protein directly against conventional agricultural staples. The verdict leans heavily in favor of the bioreactor over traditional harvesting.

The research team modeled three distinct supply chains: soybean meal, fish meal, and protein derived from methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB). The legacy methods carried expectedly heavy environmental baggage. Soy production was dominated by massive land footprints and agricultural chemical inputs. Meanwhile, the fish meal industry demanded extensive fuel consumption and inflicted severe stress on marine ecosystems.