Hearing loss is a common cause of disability worldwide, with anywhere between 30-60% of cases being caused by genetic factors. LOXHD1 is a gene integral to essential protein interactions responsible for maintaining normal hair cell function. Certain variants in this gene can cause progressive or non-progressive congenital hearing impairments, called “pathogenic variants” in individuals. Researchers went deeper into this gene to learn more about the genetic causes of hearing loss in the Chinese population, and they uncovered novel variants within this gene to further explore these causes, in addition to what early intervention and potential medicinal therapies might look like for those who are predisposed to hearing loss.

Carbide- and boride-based UHTCs are promising for high-speed vehicles but suffer from oxidation and high density. Guided by the Ellingham diagram, a lightweight HfO₂-SiBOC ceramic was designed with an amorphous SiBOC matrix and nano-HfO₂ reinforcement. The thermodynamic oxidation sequence (Hf→Si→B→C) enables preferential Hf oxidation to form a stable HfO₂ barrier, while Si and B generate viscous oxides for defect healing. A novel amber SiHfBOC precursor was synthesized via sol-gel and solvothermal methods. Hot-pressed bulk ceramics exhibited near-nonablative behavior under 2000°C oxyacetylene flame ablation for 300 s, offering a new strategy for lightweight polymer-derived ceramics in ultra-high temperature applications.

Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are indispensable for the thermal protection system of the hypersonic vehicles. However, the intrinsic brittleness of ceramic matrix limits atom motion, restricting their mechanical stability and ablation resistance. Phase transformation toughening offers an effective solution to overcome such brittleness. Recently, organic-inorganic hybrid infiltration strategy is proposed to construct ZrC nanoparticle reinforced C/C-ZrC-SiC composites. The introduced nanoparticles trigger 3C→6H-SiC polytypic transformation and ZrO₂ martensitic transformation, which synergistically realize matrix strengthening and toughening, and anti-ablation performance. The optimized composite achieves a flexural strength of 207.5 MPa, fracture toughness of 7.12 MPa·m^1/2 and low linear ablation rate of 0.15 μm·s⁻¹ at ultrahigh temperature.

Traditional Ti₃C₂T_x MXene rich in -F terminals suffers from poor hydrogen evolution activity. Researchers from Northwestern Polytechnical University and collaborators developed a n-butyllithium-induced strategy to realize controllable conversion from -F to -O terminals and revealed the working mechanism of different terminals. The optimized Pt/Ti₃C₂T_x and MoS₂/Ti₃C₂T_x catalysts achieve greatly enhanced HER performance. This facile terminal regulation method paves the way for low-cost, high-efficiency MXene-based catalysts toward large-scale green hydrogen production.

Luminescence saturation and severe thermal accumulation remain major challenges for high-brightness laser lighting. To address these issues, a novel PiGF@ZS color converter with a ZrO₂ microsphere-embedded reflector was developed to recycle unabsorbed blue light and enhance heat dissipation simultaneously. Benefiting from the synergistic opto-thermal design, the optimized converter achieved a high luminous efficacy of 240.5 lm/W and a maximum luminous flux of 3782 lm under 25 W laser excitation. Moreover, the surface temperature was reduced to 54.6 ℃ under 3 W excitation with a 5 mm spot diameter. This work provides a low-cost and high-efficiency strategy for next-generation laser lighting, projection displays, and high-power illumination applications.