Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen of humans. It causes a variety of infections ranging from superficial mucocutaneous conditions to severe systemic diseases that result in substantial morbidity and mortality. This pathogen frequently forms biofilms resistant to antifungal drugs and the host immune system, leading to treatment failures. Recent research has demonstrated the potential of nanorobots to penetrate biological barriers and disrupt fungal biofilms. In this perspective paper, we provide a brief overview of recent breakthroughs in nanorobots for candidiasis treatment and discuss current challenges and prospects.

Can a robotic gripper only operate when attached to a robotic arm? The application space of the traditional gripper is limited by the robotic arm. Giving robot grippers the ability to move will expand their range of applications. Inspired by rich behavioral repertoire observed in octopus, we implement an integrated multifunctional soft robotic gripper with 6 independently controlled Arms. It can execute 8 different gripping actions for different objects, such as irregular rigid/soft objects, elongated objects with arbitrary orientation, and plane/curved objects with larger sizes than the grippers. Moreover, the soft gripper can realize omnidirectional crawling and swimming by itself. The soft gripper can perform highly integrated tasks of releasing, crawling, swimming, grasping, and retrieving objects in a confined underwater environment. Experimental results demonstrate that the integrated capabilities of multimodal adaptive grasping and omnidirectional motions enable dexterous manipulations that traditional robotic arms cannot achieve. The soft gripper may apply to highly integrated and labor-intensive tasks in unstructured underwater environments, including ocean litter collecting, capture fishery, and archeological exploration.

Metal wear particles generated by the movement of joint prostheses inevitably lead to aseptic osteolytic damage and ultimately prosthesis loosening, which are aggravated by various types of regulated cell death of bone. Nevertheless, the exact cellular nature and regulatory network underlying osteoferroptosis are poorly understood. Here, we report that titanium particles (TP) induced severe peri-implant osteolysis and ferroptotic changes with concomitant transcriptional repression of a key anti-ferroptosis factor, GPX4, in a mouse model of calvarial osteolysis. GPX4 repression was accompanied by an increase in DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) 1/3a/3b and hypermethylation of the Gpx4 promoter, which were partly mediated by the transcriptional regulator/co-repressor KLF5 and NCoR. Conversely, treatment with SGI-1027, a DNMT-specific inhibitor, resulted in marked reversal of Gpx4 promoter hypermethylation and GPX4 repression, as well as improvement in ferroptotic osteolysis to a similar extent as with a ferroptosis inhibitor, liproxstatin-1. This suggests that epigenetic GPX4 repression and ferroptosis caused by the increase of DNMT1/3a/3b have a causal influence on TP-induced osteolysis. In cultured primary osteoblasts and osteoclasts, GPX4 repression and ferroptotic changes were observed primarily in osteoblasts that were alleviated by SGI-1027 in a GPX4 inactivation-sensitive manner. Furthermore, we developed a mouse strain with Gpx4 haplodeficiency in osteoblasts (Gpx4^Ob+/−) that exhibited worsened ferroptotic osteolysis in control and TP-treated calvaria and largely abolished the anti-ferroptosis and osteoprotective effects of SGI-1027. Taken together, our results demonstrate that DNMT1/3a/3b elevation, resulting GPX4 repression, and osteoblastic ferroptosis form a critical epigenetic pathway that significantly contributes to TP-induced osteolysis, and that targeting DNMT aberration and the associated osteoferroptosis could be a potential strategy to prevent or slow down prosthesis-related osteolytic complications.

Removing trace amounts of acetylene (C₂H₂) from ethylene (C₂H₄)-rich gas mixtures is vital for the supply of high-purity C₂H₄ to the chemical industry and plastics sector. However, selective removal of C₂H₂ is challenging due to the similar physical and chemical properties of C₂H₂ and C₂H₄. Here, we report a “single-molecule trap” strategy that utilizes electrostatic interactions between the one-dimensional (1D) channel of a covalent organic framework (denoted as COF-1) and C₂H₂ molecules to massively enhance the adsorption selectivity toward C₂H₂ over C₂H₄. C₂H₂ molecules are immobilized via interactions with the O atom of C=O groups, the N atom of C≡N groups, and the H atom of phenyl groups in 1D channels of COF-1. Due to its exceptionally high affinity for C₂H₂, COF-1 delivered a remarkable C₂H₂ uptake of 7.97 cm³/g at 298 K and 0.01 bar, surpassing all reported COFs and many other state-of-the-art adsorbents under similar conditions. Further, COF-1 demonstrated outstanding performance for the separation of C₂H₂ and C₂H₄ in breakthrough experiments under dynamic conditions. COF-1 adsorbed C₂H₂ at a capacity of 0.17 cm³/g at 2,000 s/g when exposed to 0.5 ml/min C₂H₄-rich gas mixture (99% C₂H₄) at 298 K, directly producing high-purity C₂H₄ gas at a rate of 3.95 cm³/g. Computational simulations showed that the strong affinity between C₂H₂ and the single-molecule traps of COF-1 were responsible for the excellent separation performance. COF-1 is also robust, providing a promising new strategy for the efficient removal of trace amounts of C₂H₂ in practical C₂H₄ purification.

To meet the demands of the global energy transition, photothermal phase change energy storage materials have emerged as an innovative solution. These materials, utilizing various photothermal conversion carriers, can passively store energy and respond to changes in light exposure, thereby enhancing the efficiency of energy systems. Photothermal phase change energy storage materials show immense potential in the fields of solar energy and thermal management, particularly in addressing the intermittency issues of solar power. Their multifunctionality and efficiency offer broad application prospects in new energy technologies, construction, aviation, personal thermal management, and electronics.

Seawater batteries are attracting continuous attention because seawater as an electrolyte is inexhaustible, eco-friendly, and free of charge. However, the rechargeable seawater batteries developed nowadays show poor reversibility and short cycle life, due to the very limited electrode materials and complicated yet inappropriate working mechanism. Here, we propose a rechargeable seawater battery that works through a rocking-chair mechanism encountered in commercial lithium ion batteries, enabled by intercalation-type inorganic electrode materials of open-framework-type cathode and Na-ion conducting membrane-type anode. The rechargeable seawater battery achieves a high specific energy of 80.0 Wh/kg at 1,226.9 W/kg and a high specific power of 7,495.0 W/kg at 23.7 Wh/kg. Additionally, it exhibits excellent cycling stability, retaining 66.3% of its capacity over 1,000 cycles. This work represents a promising avenue for developing sustainable aqueous batteries with low costs.

Auxetic materials have been extensively studied for their design, fabrication and mechanical properties. These material systems exhibit unique mechanical characteristics such as high impact resistance, shear strength, and energy absorption capacity. Most existing auxetic materials are two-dimensional (2D) and demonstrate half-auxetic behavior, characterized by a negative Poisson’s ratio when subjected to either tensile or compressive forces. Here, we present novel three-dimensional (3D) auxetic mechanical metamaterials, termed coupling chiral cuboids, capable of achieving negative Poisson’s ratio under both tension and compression. We perform experiments, theoretical analysis, and numerical simulations to validate the wholly auxetic response of the proposed coupling chiral cuboids. Parametric studies are carried out to investigate the effects of structural parameters on the elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the coupling chiral cuboids. The results imply that the Poisson’s ratio sign-switching from negative to positive can be implemented by manipulating the thickness of Z-shaped ligaments. Finally, the potential application of the coupling chiral cuboids as inner cores for impact-resistant sandwich panels is envisioned and validated. Test results demonstrate a remarkable 49.3% enhancement in energy absorption compared to conventional solid materials.

Although microgravity has been implicated in osteoporosis, the precise molecular mechanism remains elusive. Here, we found that microgravity might induce mitochondrial protein buildup in skeletal muscle, alongside reduced levels of LONP1 protein. We revealed that disruptions in mitochondrial proteolysis, induced by the targeted skeletal muscle-specific deletion of the essential mitochondrial protease LONP1 or by the acute inducible deletion of muscle LONP1 in adult mice, cause reduced bone mass and compromised mechanical function. Moreover, the bone loss and weakness phenotypes were recapitulated in skeletal muscle-specific overexpressing ΔOTC mice, a known protein degraded by LONP1. Mechanistically, mitochondrial proteostasis imbalance triggered the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR^mt) in muscle, leading to an up-regulation of multiple myokines, including FGF21, which acts as a pro-osteoclastogenic factor. Surprisingly, this mitochondrial proteostasis stress influenced muscle–bone crosstalk independently of ATF4 in skeletal muscle. Furthermore, we established a marked association between serum FGF21 levels and bone health in humans. These findings emphasize the pivotal role of skeletal muscle mitochondrial proteostasis in responding to alterations in loading conditions and in coordinating UPR^mt to modulate bone metabolism.

“Boundarics in Biomedicine” is a cutting-edge interdisciplinary discipline, which is of great significance for understanding the origin of life, the interaction between internal and external environments, and the mechanism of disease occurrence and evolution. Here, the definition of Boundarics in Biomedicine is first described, including its connotation, research object, research method, challenges, and future perspectives.

“Boundarics in Biomedicine” is a cutting-edge interdisciplinary discipline involving multiple fields (e.g., bioscience, medicine, chemistry, materials science, and information science) dedicated to investigating and solving key scientific questions in the formation, identification, and evolution of living organism boundaries. Specifically, it encompasses 3 levels: (a) the boundary between the living organism and the external environment, (b) internal boundary within living organism, and (c) the boundary related to disease in living organism. The advancement of research in Boundarics in Biomedicine is of great scientific significance for understanding the origin of life, the interaction between internal and external environments, and the mechanism of disease occurrence and evolution, thus providing novel principles, technologies, and methods for early diagnosis and prevention of major diseases, personalized drug development, and prognosis assessment (Fig. 1).

Hyperthermia therapy is considered an effective anticancer strategy. However, high temperature can trigger an excessive inflammatory response, leading to tumor self-protection, immunosuppression, metastasis, and recurrence. To address this issue, we reported a multifunctional photothermal nanoplatform to achieve mild hyperthermia photothermal therapy (mild PTT) based on cisplatin (DDP) and a ferrocene metal-organic framework (MOF-Fc) nanocomposite, which can specifically enhance ferroptosis-triggered oxidative stress levels and synchronously amplify mild hyperthermia PTT-mediated anticancer responses. Both in vitro and in vivo antineoplastic results verify the superiority of mild PTT with DDP/MOF-Fc@HA. The combination of DDP and MOF-Fc exhibits Fenton catalytic activity and glutathione depletion capacity, magnifying mild hyperthermia effects via the radical oxygen species (ROS)-adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-HSP silencing pathway, with important implications for clinical hyperthermia therapy.