Central nervous system (CNS) therapeutics remain a defining challenge for nanomedicine because successful delivery requires nanocarriers to navigate a route-dependent cascade of biological barriers, including systemic clearance, peripheral organ sequestration, blood–brain barrier (BBB) interaction or bypass, CNS tissue penetration, target-cell internalization, and functional payload availability. This Perspective critically compares lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and exosome-based systems as two leading non-viral nanocarrier platforms for CNS therapeutics. Rather than seeking a universal winner, we frame them as complementary delivery philosophies: engineering-led controllability for LNPs and biology-led functionality for exosome-based systems. We argue that CNS nanocarrier success must be defined by functional delivery rather than mere brain accumulation. LNPs offer scalable manufacturing, efficient nucleic acid encapsulation, tunable lipid chemistry, and clinical validation, but remain limited by peripheral clearance, restricted BBB penetration, and inefficient endosomal escape. Exosome-based systems offer endogenous communication pathways, membrane recognition, and biological interface functions, but their translation is hindered by source heterogeneity, difficult isolation and drug loading, batch inconsistency, endogenous cargo concerns, and regulatory ambiguity. Parkinson’s disease is used as a representative stress-test indication to illustrate how disease stage, target cell, therapeutic cargo, and route of administration should dictate platform choice. The field must move beyond universal platform ranking toward mechanism-matched selection and matched functional benchmarking. Future progress may depend on convergent designs that address defined delivery bottlenecks and combine LNP manufacturing rigor and payload control with exosome-inspired biological interface functions. Such precision hybrid nanocarriers should be tailored to specific CNS disease biology, delivery routes, and clinical realities.

We investigate the sedimentation of spherical particles in a periodic cubic domain filled with nematic liquid crystals. Direct numerical simulations were performed over a range of particle volume fractions (0.09 % ≤ ϕ ≤ 31.6 %) to examine the influence of the elastic constant (K), the rotational diffusion constant (Γ) and surface anchoring conditions on settling dynamics. Under weak inertial conditions, the mean settling velocity exhibits a non-monotonic dependence on volume fraction, in contrast to the monotonic decrease observed in Newtonian fluids. At intermediate volume fractions (0.45 % < ϕ ≤ 9.0 %), director distortions induced by surface anchoring generate long-range elastic interactions that promote particle aggregation. Voronoi analysis confirms that clustering enhances settling through both accelerated aggregates and the entrainment of neighbouring particles. In contrast, at low volume fractions (ϕ ≤ 0.45 %), elastic interactions are insufficient to sustain aggregation, and settling is not enhanced. At high volume fractions (ϕ> 9.0 %), defect networks merge and occupy the interparticle voids, restricting motion and reducing the settling velocity. Anchoring conditions strongly affect aggregation: planar anchoring favours short chains or side-by-side structures via boojum defects, while homeotropic anchoring stabilises larger aggregates through Saturn-ring connections, yielding higher settling rates. Reducing the rotational diffusion constant promotes long-chain aggregation and accelerates settling, whereas moderate variations in the elastic constant have little effect on this process. These results demonstrate that defect-mediated interactions play a decisive role in the collective sedimentation dynamics of particles in nematic liquid-crystal fluids.

The modulation of drag through dispersed phases in wall turbulence has been a longstanding focus. This study examines the effects of particle Stokes number ($\textit{St}$) and Froude number ($\textit{Fr}$) on drag modulation in turbulent Taylor–Couette (TC) flow, using a two-way coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian approach with Reynolds number ${\textit{Re}}_i = r_i \omega _i d/\nu$ fixed at 3500. Here, $\textit{St}$ characterises particle inertia relative to the flow time scale, while $\textit{Fr}$ describes the balance between gravitational settling and inertial forces in the flow. For light particles (small $\textit{St}$), drag reduction is observed in the TC system, exhibiting a non-monotonic dependence on $\textit{Fr}$. Specifically, drag reduction initially increases and then decreases with stronger influence of gravitational settling (characterised by inverse of $\textit{Fr}$), indicating the presence of an optimal $\textit{Fr}$ for maximum drag reduction. For heavy particles, a similar non-monotonic trend can also be observed, but significant drag enhancement results at large $\textit{Fr}^{-1}$. We further elucidate the role of settling particles in modulating the flow structure in TC flow by decomposing the advective flux into contributions from coherent Taylor vortices and background turbulent fluctuations. At moderate effects of particle inertia and gravitational settling, particles suppress the coherence of Taylor vortices which markedly reduces angular velocity transport and thus leads to drag reduction. However, with increasing influence of particle inertia and gravitational settling, the flow undergoes abrupt change. Rapidly settling particles disrupt the Taylor vortices, shifting the bulk flow from a vortex-dominated regime to one characterised by particle-induced turbulence. With the dominance of particle-induced turbulence, velocity plumes – initially transported by small-scale Görtler vortices near the cylinder wall and large-scale Taylor vortices in the bulk region – are instead carried into the bulk by turbulent fluctuations driven by the settling particles. As a result, angular velocity transport is enhanced, leading to enhanced drag. These findings offer new insights for tailoring drag in industrial applications involving dispersed phases in wall-bounded turbulent flows.

Cuprodongchuanite (IMA2021-065), Pb4CuZn2(PO4)2(PO4)2(OH)2, is a new mineral from Sanguozhuang Village, Yunnan Province, China. It occurs as striking apple green crust-like radial or spherical aggregates of microscopic blade-like crystals on hemimorphite. Cuprodongchuanite is brittle with an irregular fracture, a Mohs hardness of 2½–3, and perfect cleavage on {011}. The calculated density is 6.10 g/cm3. The empirical chemical formula is (Pb4.06Ca0.02)Σ4.08(Cu1.07Cd0.01)Σ1.08Zn2.03[(P0.74As0.20S0.01Si0.01)Σ0.96O4]2(PO4)2(OH)2 based on 18 O atoms per formula unit. Cuprodongchuanite is triclinic, space group P$\bar 1$(#2), with unit-cell parameters. a = 4.7405(3) Å, b = 8.5023(5) Å, c = 10.2897(6) Å, α = 97.206(5)°, β = 101.877(5)°, γ = 91.786(5)°, V = 401.95(4) Å3 and Z = 1. Cuprodongchuanite’s name combines the prefix ‘cupro’ (for copper) with the root ‘dongchuanite’. As a member of the dongchuanite group, cuprodongchuanite features a dongchuanite-type structure with the general formula A4VIBIVB2(X1O4)2(X2O4)2(OH)2. In addition to providing a detailed characterisation of cuprodongchuanite, this study delves deeper into exploring the Jahn-Teller effect of Cu2+ ions at the VIB site, an important factor in the mineral’s crystallography. Employing the Δoct parameter, the study quantitatively links the degree of octahedral distortion to the Cu-Zn ratio. This method provides a refined understanding of the dongchuanite-type structure and offers an example for assessing similar mineral compositions where cations exhibit closely related properties.

Arsenoveszelyite, Cu2Zn(AsO4)(OH)3·2H2O, is a new supergene mineral from the Dongchuan copper ore field, Yunnan Province, China. It is the arsenic analogue of veszelyite and has been approved by the IMA CNMNC (IMA2021-076a). Arsenoveszelyite occurs as radiating aggregates or as individual lamellar crystals. Its colour ranges from cyan to emerald green, and it is closely associated with azurite and hemimorphite in the intensely weathered zones of the locality. Arsenoveszelyite has a Mohs hardness of 3–4 and a mean Vickers hardness of 265.0 kg/mm2. It shows good cleavage on {001} and {110}, is brittle with irregular fracture, and has a calculated density of 3.61 g/cm3. Optically, it is biaxial (+) with refractive indices nα = 1.655(10), nβ = 1.665(5), and nγ = 1.690(10); the optical orientation is defined as Y = b, and the measured 2V angle is 40°. The mineral is monoclinic, space group P21/c, with unit-cell parameters a = 7.5852(4), b = 10.3877(5), c = 9.8714(5) Å, β = 102.984(5)°, and V = 757.91(7) Å3. The crystal structure of arsenoveszelyite is characterized by the regular alternation of octahedral and tetrahedral sheets parallel to the (001) plane. The octahedral sheets comprise two distinct types of Cu-centred octahedra, while the tetrahedral sheets are formed by a combination of Zn- and As-centred tetrahedra. The empirical formula of arsenoveszelyite is (Cu1.69Zn0.30)Σ1.99Zn[(As0.81P0.20)Σ1.01O4](OH)3.03·2H2O. Arsenoveszelyite is the fourth new mineral identified in the Dongchuan copper ore field with arsenic as the dominant occupant of a crystallographic site, providing new insights into the mechanisms by which arsenic is immobilized in crystal structures during weathering in this area.

A dual-beam platform is developed for all-optical Thomson/Compton scattering, with versatile parameter tuning capabilities including electron energy, radiation energy, radiation polarization, etc. By integrating this platform with a 200 TW Ti:sapphire laser system, we demonstrate the generation of inverse Compton scattering X-/gamma-rays with tunable energies ranging from tens of keV to MeV. The polarization of X-/gamma-rays is manipulated by adjusting the polarization of the scattering laser. In the near future, by combining this platform with multi-PW laser facilities, our goal is to explore the transition from nonlinear Thomson scattering to nonlinear Compton scattering, ultimately verifying theories related to strong-field quantum electrodynamics effects induced by extreme scattering.

Flow over bluff bodies encounters instability at supercritical Reynolds numbers, exhibiting the periodic vortex shedding that leads to structural vibrations and acoustic noise. In this paper, a new aerodynamic shape optimisation strategy based on resolvent analysis is proposed to passively control the vortex shedding over two-dimensional cylinders. Firstly, we show that when the flow satisfies the rank-1 approximation, minimizing the maximal resolvent gain enhances flow stability. Secondly, we formulate the geometry-constrained resolvent-based optimisation problem that can be solved by the nonlinear conjugate gradient algorithm. Compared with conventional stability-based optimisation, the proposed approach is more effective as it avoids the cumbersome eigendecomposition of the high-dimensional Jacobian matrix. The efficacy of the proposed resolvent-based optimisation is validated through improving the stability of the one-dimensional Ginzburg–Landau equation. Thirdly, this approach is applied to suppress the vortex shedding of bluff bodies, initialised by a circular cylinder. Although the optimisation is performed at a subcritical state $Re = 40$, reduced vortex shedding and drag forces can be achieved at supercritical Reynolds numbers, while the critical Reynolds number is extended from $47$ to $60$. Dynamic mode decomposition is then performed to reveal that the optimised system becomes more stable and satisfies the rank-1 approximation. Finally, we demonstrate that the combined effects of the flattened surface and the Coanda effect delay flow separation, keeping the separation point nearly unchanged at supercritical Reynolds numbers (e.g. between 80 and 140) for the optimised geometry. This results in a substantial reduction in the strength of vortex shedding, which in turn leads to decreased drag forces. The optimised shape still achieves drag reduction in turbulent flows at a relatively high Reynolds number.

Time-domain characterization of ultrashort pulses is essential for studying interactions between light and matter. Here, we propose and demonstrate an all-optical pulse sampling technique based on reflected four-wave mixing with perturbation on a solid surface. In this method, a weak perturbation pulse perturbs the four-wave mixing signal generated by a strong fundamental pulse. The modulation signal of the four-wave mixing, which is detected in the reflection geometry to ensure a perfect phase-matching condition, directly reflects the temporal profile of the perturbation pulse. We successfully characterized multi-cycle and few-cycle pulses using this method. The reliability of our approach was verified by comparing it to the widely employed frequency-resolved optical gating method. This technique provides a simple and robust method for characterizing ultrashort laser pulses.

In large-scale galaxy surveys, particularly deep ground-based photometric studies, galaxy blending was inevitable. Such blending posed a potential primary systematic uncertainty for upcoming surveys. Current deblenders predominantly depended on analytical modelling of galaxy profiles, facing limitations due to inflexible and imprecise models. We presented a novel approach, using a U-net structured transformer-based network for deblending astronomical images, which we term the CAT-deblender. It was trained using both RGB and the grz-band images, spanning two distinct data formats present in the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS) database, including galaxies with diverse morphologies in the training dataset. Our method necessitated only the approximate central coordinates of each target galaxy, sourced from galaxy detection, bypassing assumptions on neighbouring source counts. Post-deblending, our RGB images retained a high signal-to-noise peak, consistently showing superior structural similarity against ground truth. For multi-band images, the ellipticity of central galaxies and median reconstruction error for r-band consistently lie within $\pm$0.025 to $\pm$0.25, revealing minimal pixel residuals. In our comparison of deblending capabilities focused on flux recovery, our model showed a mere 1% error in magnitude recovery for quadruply blended galaxies, significantly outperforming SExtractor’s higher error rate of 4.8%. Furthermore, by cross-matching with the publicly accessible overlapping galaxy catalogs from the DECaLS database, we successfully deblended 433 overlapping galaxies. Moreover, we have demonstrated effective deblending of 63 733 blended galaxy images, randomly chosen from the DECaLS database.

A novel wideband nonuniform metasurface antenna with stable gain is demonstrated. The nonuniform metasurface is composed of square patches and rings and is excited by a slot antenna. Based on characteristic mode analysis, two characteristic modes with same current direction are selected to achieve stable radiation performance in a wide frequency range. The wideband operation is achieved by assembling the resonant modes of the metasurface and slot antenna. The measured results show that the −10 dB impedance bandwidth of the proposed antenna is from 4.3 to 8.4 GHz (64.57%), and the 2 dB gain bandwidth is from 4.3 to 6.2 GHz (36.2%) with a peak gain value of 9.42 dBi. Moreover, broadside radiation performance is achieved.

Dongchuanite, ideally Pb4VIZnIVZn2(PO4)2(PO4)2(OH)2, is a new phosphate mineral with a new type of structure. It was found at the Dongchuan copper mine, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China. Dongchuanite generally occurs as spherical aggregates with microscopic lamellar crystals, characterised by a turquoise–greenish blue colour. It is transparent, with a colourless streak and has a vitreous lustre without fluorescence. It is brittle with a Mohs hardness of 2–2½, and has good parallel cleavage to {011}, with insignificant parting and even fracture. According to the empirical formula and cell volume, it has a calculated density of 6.06 g/cm3. It easily dissolves in acid without gas being emitted. The mineral is biaxial (–), calculated n = 1.90 and maximum birefringence: δ = 0.010 and 2V=70°. Dispersion of the optical axes r < v is very weak. The mineral is pale blue to light blue and very weakly pleochroic in transmitted light. Dongchuanite crystallises in the triclinic space group P$\bar{1}$, with unit-cell parameters a = 4.7620(10) Å, b = 8.5070(20) Å, c = 10.3641(19) Å, α = 97.110(17)°, β = 101.465(17)°, γ = 92.273(18)°, V = 407.44(15) Å3 and Z = 1. The eight strongest reflections in the powder X-ray diffraction pattern [dobs, Å (I/I0) (hkl)] are: 3.442 (100) ($\bar{1}$12), 3.035 (50) (120), 4.652 (45) (100), 2.923 (40) ($\bar{1}\bar{1}$3), 2.384 (35) ($\bar{2}$01), 3.130 (30) ($\bar{1}$21), 2.811 (30) (030) and 2.316 (18) (032). The crystal structure (solved and refined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data, R1 = 0.07) is a new layered structure consisting of corner-sharing tetrahedrons and octahedrons, where [PO4] tetrahedra and [ZnO4] tetrahedra share corners to form a double chain, and the another [PO4] tetrahedra is connected by corner-sharing with a [ZnO4(OH)2] octahedra to form a tetrahedral–octahedral chain, extending along the a-axis direction. The two types of chains are connected by corner-sharing between [ZnO4] and [PO4] tetrahedra forming a wrinkled layer parallel to (011). The Pb atoms occupy two independent sites between the wrinkled layers, both of which have typical lopsided coordination of Pb2+ with stereoactive 6s2 lone-pair electrons.

Low molecular weight glutenin subunits (LWM-GSs) play a crucial role in determining wheat flour processing quality. In this work, 35 novel LMW-GS genes (32 active and three pseudogenes) from three Aegilops umbellulata (2n = 2x = 14, UU) accessions were amplified by allelic-specific PCR. We found that all LMW-GS genes had the same primary structure shared by other known LMW-GSs. Thirty-two active genes encode 31 typical LMW-m-type subunits. The MZ424050 possessed nine cysteine residues with an extra cysteine residue located in the last amino acid residue of the conserved C-terminal III, which could benefit the formation of larger glutenin polymers, and therefore may have positive effects on dough properties. We have found extensive variations which were mainly resulted from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions and deletions (InDels) among the LMW-GS genes in Ae. umbellulata. Our results demonstrated that Ae. umbellulata is an important source of LMW-GS variants and the potential value of the novel LMW-GS alleles for wheat quality improvement.

The optimization of laser pulse shapes is of great importance and a major challenge for laser direct-drive implosions. In this paper, we propose an efficient intelligent method to perform laser pulse optimization via hydrodynamic simulations guided by the genetic algorithm and random forest algorithm. Compared to manual optimizations, the machine-learning guided method is able to efficiently improve the areal density by a factor of 63% and reduce the in-flight-aspect ratio by a factor of 30% at the same time. A relationship between the maximum areal density and ion temperature is also achieved by the analysis of the big simulation dataset. This design method has been successfully demonstrated by the 2021 summer double-cone ignition experiments conducted at the SG-II upgrade laser facility and has great prospects for the design of other inertial fusion experiments.

We investigate the dynamics of a self-rewetting drop placed on a substrate with a constant temperature gradient via three-dimensional numerical simulations using a conservative level-set approach to track the interface of the drop. The surface tension of a so-called self-rewetting fluid exhibits a parabolic dependence on temperature with a well-defined minimum. Two distinct drop behaviours, namely deformation and elongation, are observed when it is placed at the location of the minimum surface tension. The drop spreads slightly and reaches a pseudo-steady state in the deformation regime, while it continuously spreads until breakup in the elongation regime. Theoretical models based on the forces exerted on the drop have been developed to predict the critical condition at which the drop undergoes the transition between the two regimes, and the predictions are in good agreement with the numerical results. We also investigate the effect of the initial position of the drop with respect to the location of the minimum surface tension on the spreading and migration dynamics. It is found that, at early times, the migration of the drop obeys an exponential function with time, but it diverges at the later stage due to an increase in the drop deformation.