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Chu, Chung et al. quantify the clinical utility of genome sequencing (GS) using the Clinician-reported Genetic testing Utility InDEx (C-GUIDE) in a diverse cohort from the Hong Kong Genome Project. Findings reveal the highest utility in psychosocial benefits, highlighting that the value of GS is driven more by test results than by patient characteristics.

Li et al. report a spatially decoupled heavy atom antenna strategy by integrating alkyl bromides into a hybridized local and charge-transfer scaffold, originated from benzothiadiazole acceptors, to create an organic scintillator with a short radiative lifetime of 3.42 ns and spatial resolution around 50 lp mm^-1.

Non-Abelian topological insulators have been realized on transmission lines and acoustic systems, whereas their implementation at optical frequencies remains elusive. Here, the authors propose a minimal model for non-Abelian topological insulators and experimentally demonstrate a six-band system in a photonic waveguide array, at around 800 nm.

Surface plasmon-mediated steady-state and on-demand electronic spin modulation effectively activates light-driven plasmonic catalysis, facilitating polarization reactant activation and preferential reaction pathway modulation.

Atomic catalytic pairs enable multistep transformations, yet the roles of spatial arrangement and coordination symmetry in homonuclear pairs remain unclear. Here, the authors construct atomically dispersed homonuclear Pt₁–Pt₁ pairs with asymmetric Pt₁C₃–Pt₁O₁C₃ coordination on reduced graphene oxide, enabling efficient transfer hydrogenation of azobenzene.

Aqueous Zn | |I2 batteries, involving I-/I0/I+ redox, are promising yet usually facing low I2 utilization dominated by I0/I+ redox, especially under high loadings. Here, authors report a carbon-halogen bond substitution with a noncorrosive organohalide additive (2-bromoacetamide, BrAce) for a more thermodynamically favourable I0/I + , improving battery cycling under high loading and current conditions.

In a large multinational cohort study, maternal, gestational or pregestational diabetes was associated with only a small-to-moderate risk of ADHD in offspring, contrary to previous estimates that showed stronger effect sizes, attributing the differences in findings to confounding by shared genetic and familial factors.

Rising electricity and freshwater needs limit conventional hydrogen production. Here, the authors report a self-sufficient, electricity-free system that harvests atmospheric moisture to produce green hydrogen, offering a scalable and sustainable path to alleviate global green-hydrogen scarcity.

Hong Kong experienced a large wave of COVID-19 in early 2022 driven by Omicron BA.2. Here, the authors describe the epidemiological dynamics of this wave and show discordant inferences based on genomic and epidemiological data that underscore the need to improve near real-time epidemic growth estimates.

Researchers study the transition from bound states in the continuum (BICs) to quasi-BIC caused by out-of-plane asymmetry and illustrate how quality factors of BIC resonances are valuable tools for precise chip patterning accuracy.

As an important class of open-shell molecules characterized by triangular nanographenic structures and interesting magnetic properties with high-spin ground states, triangulenes are attractive targets. Here, the authors report a highly stable aza-derivative of [4]triangulene triradical with a quartet ground state.

Hong Kong experienced a severe wave of SARS-CoV-2 in early 2022. Here, the authors use genomic and serosurveillance data and show that this wave was dominated by the Omicron BA.2 sublineage, and that low protective immunity, particularly in older age groups, contributed to its severity.

Hong Kong has used an elimination strategy to control SARS-CoV-2 with stringent measures including traveller quarantine. Here, the authors show that the majority of community-acquired cases until January 2021 resulted from three importations, and that increased transmission followed prolonged periods of restrictions, likely due to adherence fatigue.

Rhombohedral-stacked structures formed by 2D semiconductors are characterized by emerging physical properties, but their bottom-up growth remains challenging. Here, the authors report a chemical vapour deposition method to grow cm-scale rhombohedral-stacked WS₂/MoS₂ crystals with ferroelectric properties.

Wavefront control is inherently incompatible with thermal incoherence in general. To address this challenge, the authors propose a meta-emitter architecture featuring two tailored grooves interconnected by a waveguide tunnel enabling the conversion of thermal photons into coherent surface waves, thereby experimentally demonstrating feasible thermal wavefront manipulation— including thermal self-focusing and holography.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

A platinum(II) azido complex (complex 1) that releases platinonitrene upon X-ray exposure induces DNA damage and enhances immune checkpoint blockade outcomes via the abscopal effect.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

A 3D soft electronic mesh allows high-resolution electrical recording and stimulation across the full surface of neural organoids, enabling long-term studies, drug testing and optogenetic control without compromising their viability owing to its porous design.

Planetary science is a rapidly growing research field in China. In March 2025, many hundreds of early-career planetary scientists gathered in Huangshan, China, to exchange the latest findings on this topic.

Rechargeable zinc batteries are promising for grid energy storage but can suffer from short circuits and side reactions. Here, the authors design low-surface-tension electrolytes that enable dense, dendrite-free zinc deposition, achieving long-lasting batteries even under harsh operating conditions.

White adipose tissue (WAT) dysfunction leads to ageing-related metabolic disorders. Here, the authors show that the FMO3-TMAO axis in adipocytes induces senescence and inflammation in WAT microenvironment via NLRP3 inflammasome, leading to systemic glucose, lipid, and energy dysregulation in ageing

Human visual system relies on temporal attention to detect moving objects before high-level processing with large computational overheads. Wang et al. emulate this function in a neuromorphic hardware, showing a 400% speedup compared to algorithm-based visual perception and surpassing human capabilities.

An analysis of sera samples collected between January and July of 2022 in Hong Kong shows that the effectiveness of both the BNT162b2 and CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 variant infection waned rapidly after the third and fourth doses.

Prolonged antithrombotic use raises bleeding risk, posing a major clinical challenge. This study introduces a silk fibroin coated mesoporous silica platform for high drug loading and controlled heparin release, improving efficacy while minimizing hemorrhage.

Wan, Li, Cao and colleagues report a feedback crosstalk between THY1⁺ cancer stem cells and neutrophils via migrasome-mediated release of mitochondria, which induces a pseudohypoxic state and promotes metastasis.

The authors consider the changing sensitivity of the leaf-onset date to temperature (S_T) for boreal deciduous broadleaf forests. S_T increased between 1982–1996 and 1998–2012—potentially linked to enhanced chilling accumulation—but this increase is underestimated in phenology models.

Increasing evidence suggests that activation of oncogenic pathways contributes to an unfavorable tumor microenvironment. Here, the authors show that wild-type KRAS plays a key role in immune evasion in hepatocellular carcinoma by impairing interferon-mediated immunity and promoting resistance to immunotherapy via the EGFR/MEK/ERK pathway.

Identifying jets originating from heavy quarks plays a fundamental role in hadronic collider experiments. In this work, the ATLAS Collaboration describes and tests a transformer-based neural network architecture for jet flavour tagging based on low-level input and physics-inspired constraints.

A metasurface-based spatial light modulator brings the pixel size down to the submicrometre scale while demonstrating real-time complex-amplitude holography, three-dimensional focusing and beam steering over a ±20.6° field of view in the visible.

This study reports a post-assembly, reversible crosslinking strategy that enhances lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-mediated mRNA delivery while preserving efficient intracellular release. The resulting crosslinked LNPs enable improved endosomal escape, sustained in vivo expression and robust immune and antitumor responses across multiple clinically relevant LNP platforms.

Here, the authors perform plaque reduction neutralization (PRNT) assays quantitating SARS-CoV-2 specific neutralizing antibodies from 195 patients in different disease states and find that patients with severe disease exhibit higher peaks of neutralizing antibody titres than patients with mild or asymptomatic infections and that serum neutralizing antibody persists for over 6 months in most people.

A probe with month-long molecular afterglow luminescence targeting a downregulated cancer biomarker detects small liver tumours for image-guided resection in mice and rabbits.

The integration of high-κ dielectrics with low equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) is crucial for the development of 2D transistors. Here, the authors report the low-temperature fabrication of wafer-scale HfO₂ dielectric films with sub-5-Å EOT and their application for the realization of high-performance 2D MoS₂ transistors and circuits.

The development of sustainable water oxidation catalysts is crucial for hydrogen production, yet cobalt-based materials often suffer from instability. Here, the authors report that co-doping LiCoO₂ with nickel, iron, and palladium yields a durable electrode with stability of over 2,000 hours.

The anomalous in-plane Hall effect is predicted to arise in topological magnetic materials when an external magnetic field is applied within the sample plane. Here, the authors observe the anomalous in-plane Hall effect at room temperature in Fe₃Sn.

This research identifies two neural factors linked to externalizing and internalizing symptoms through a longitudinal imaging-genetic cohort. Distinct neural configurations and cognitive-behavioral relevance highlight the need for tailored therapeutic strategies addressing psychiatric comorbidity across developmental stages.

Indian dwarf wheat (Triticum sphaerococcum) is thermotolerant, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. Here, the authors report the cloning of the heat tolerance gene encoding a STKc_GSK3 kinase and its variation affects phosphorylation level of downstream TaPIF4 in determining thermotolerance.

Native crystallographic defects are often introduced during synthesis of battery materials, but has been overlooked. Here, using in situ synchrotron X-ray probes and electron microscopy, the authors have revealed their adverse effect during battery operation.

A combination of scanning probe microscopy and quantum sensing is used to investigate changes in water structure under confinement. A liquid–solid phase transition is observed in thin films of water below a confinement size of 2 nm at ambient temperature.

The molecular basis for differences in immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in children and adults is still unclear. Here, the authors show that antibodies are of high binding and functional quality in children with mild or asymptomatic infection, but antibody response is delayed as compared to adults.

Leveraging electron-phonon coupling allows for modulating self-trapped exciton formation for broadband white-light emission. Using transient spectroscopy and DFT calculations, Zhang et al. correlate the structural distortion with self-trapped exciton formation in 2D halide perovskites.

The authors create a room-temperature super relaxor critical state in a lead-free ceramic, delivering dual-high recoverable energy density and efficiency by residing at a crossover between dynamic and static/frozen polar states.

AI models consume growing amounts of energy. Here, the authors introduce a brain-inspired way to prune connections in randomly weighted resistive-memory chips, boosting accuracy while avoiding costly analog tuning to improve general efficiency and reduce power use.

Liu et al. report Chinese normative lifespan brain charts showing later neurodevelopmental milestones than those detected in Western cohorts. Individual deviations from these norms are valuable in assessing clinical risk and outcomes.