Researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden have developed a new framework integrating stable trait analysis, herbarium re-examination, and computational modeling to accurately identify species within complex polyploid groups. The new framework reveals that up to 50% of historical herbarium specimens may have been misidentified, offering critical insights that could reshape conservation strategies for polyploid plants.

Scientists from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and their collaborators have uncovered the earliest fossil evidence of annelids (ringed worms) in Cambrian microfossils dating back approximately 535 million years ago. This discovery offers fresh insights into the origin and early evolution of the annelids, a group of animals that includes bristle worms, earthworms, leeches, and peanut worms.

In a collaborative study, researchers from the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported that agricultural management intensity plays a key role in regulating the soil priming effect and, in turn, long-term soil carbon dynamics.

A esearch team led by Prof. LI Xiaofeng from the Institute of Oceanology has investigated the role of ocean salinity using observational data and an interpretable artificial intelligence framework (STPNet). Their results revealed an important missing piece: sea surface salinity (SSS)—a factor that has long been overlooked but is now proving critical under a changing climate.

A team led by Prof. ZHANG Zhirong from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a high-performance laser-based three-dimensional methane gas cloud imaging telemetry system, which enables visualizing micro-leakages, accurately locating leakage sources, and quantitatively retrieving emission rates.

A research team led by Prof. WANG Junfeng and Assoc. Prof. ZHU Lei from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences uncovered the structural basis by which the affibody Aff6 specifically recognizes different photoexcitation states of the photosensitive protein DrBphP in the red/far-red optogenetic system MagRed.

A research team led by Prof. ZHANG Jinglei from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that the trilayer nickelate La₄Ni₃O_10-δ exhibited a nearly isotropic upper critical field under high pressure, providing insights into the superconducting mechanism of nickel-based materials.

Inspied by microscopic sorting, researchers from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology designed artificial nanochannels modeled after voltage-gated calcium channels in biological cells.

Researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden and the Kunming Institute of Botany have successfully assembled a high-quality genome of Aglaia odorata, commonly known as the Chinese perfume tree. Their findings reveal unexpected evolutionary mechanisms behind the plant’s exceptional terpene production, including a lineage-specific whole-genome triplication event. The study shows how transcriptional upregulation can compensate for gene loss, ultimately driving chemical diversity.

A research team led by Prof. LI Hong from Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health (SINH) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences identified consensus spatial niches across pan-cancer, and dissected their molecular characteristics and clinical implications.

A research team led by Prof. WANG Hongzhi from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences found a novel role of prostaglandin E synthase 3 (PTGES3) in liver cancer, and revealed how it drives both tumor growth and immune suppression.

A study led by DU Xuemin from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed multifunctional ferroelectric bioelectronic interfaces (FBI) that integrates self- rolling, interfacial adhesion, and bioelectrical signals, enabling long-term biosafe vagus nerve modulation.

Researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the University of Science and Technology of China of CAS, and the University of Macau, developed a coordination-unsaturated copper single-atom nanozyme.

A new study led by researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden reports that a plant species lost for nearly nine decades has been rediscovered in southwestern China. This discovery provides new evidence of the species' survival and gives scientists the first complete record of its morphology.

A research team from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) developed a multi-dimensional Copula-based framework to capture the nonlinear dependence among drought variables. Based on this framework, the researchers constructed a Standardized Compound Drought Severity (SCDS) index for the probabilistic quantification of compound drought intensity.

A long-term observational study on the δ Scuti variable star KIC 8712760 conducted by the Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory (XAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed a significant evolution of the star's pulsation amplitude over time. This study provides new observational evidence for understanding energy transfer, mode competition, and nonlinear pulsation mechanisms in low-amplitude δ Scuti variable stars.

A research team led by Prof. SONG Chunqiao from the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, found in a recent study that climate change and human activities are driving divergent salinity trends in salt lakes around the globe. The findings underscore the profound vulnerability of salt lake ecosystems to climate change and local human interventions, emphasizing the need to move beyond mere monitoring toward predictive modeling of future salinity changes.

Prof. HE Zuhua's team from the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with collaborators, cloned the broad-spectrum BB resistance gene Xa48. They elucidated a new model for broad-spectrum, durable BB resistance involving an NLR immune receptor and its cognate effector, and revealed the molecular mechanism by which XA48 coordinates growth and immunity during crop domestication.