Higher Education Press

The spectral degeneracies emerging as a consequence of parity-time (PT) symmetry exhibit a profound divergence from their conventional counterparts. They possess non-Hermitian nature and are designated as exceptional points (EPs), marking instances where the real and corresponding imaginary portions of specific eigenvalues align perfectly, alongside a coalescence of their associated eigenvectors.

Understanding the global distribution and drivers of the human microbiome is crucial for public health and environmental management. Previous studies have focused mainly on regional gut microbiomes, leaving a gap in our understanding of how socioeconomic factors shape these communities on a global scale. A recent study addresses that gap, offering valuable insights into the interplay between economic conditions,…

Pro-environmental behavior (PEB) can help facilitate sustainable development, and PEB intervention strategies are developed to guarantee PEB effects. However, in most cases PEB intervention is given less importance than environmental education.

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin nixed a proposed $3.5 billion Ford electric vehicle battery factory over ties to China.

Around the beginning of the 21st century, the world economy entered a new development cycle, and the demand for oil and natural gas resources around the world has skyrocketed. In the face of this huge energy demand, people are beginning to pay more attention to unconventional oil and natural gas resources. Coalbed methane (CBM) is a gas resource associated and symbiotic with coal. CBM is mainly hydrocarbon gas…

Industrial processes often generate a large amount of alkaline waste solutions. The existing alkali treatment processes require high investment, and are complicated and have a low rate of efficiency. Membrane technology has the advantages of high efficiency and energy savings. However, current polymeric membrane materials are not strong enough in harsh alkaline environments. To solve this problem, Prof. Li Pei from…

Water resource availability is the major limiting factor for sustainable development in drylands. The drylands of northern China contain only 19% of the country's total water resources but house one-third of the national population, and are therefore under considerable water stress. In particular, Inner Mongolia, which is a typical dryland province, plays an important role in maintaining ecological security in…

Optical tweezers use light to immobilize microscopic particles as small as a single atom in 3D space. The basic principle behind optical tweezers is the momentum transfer between light and the object being held. Analogous to the water pushing on a dam that blocks the stream, light pushes onto and attracts objects that make the light bend. This so-called optical force can be designed to point to a certain point in…

Researchers led by Prof. Xiaoyong Hu at Peking University, China, are interested in topological photonics. They have proposed an interdisciplinary approach to study the topological systems through information entropy (IE) in real space.

In developing countries, a large number of retired industrial parks require economical and effective risk assessment and remediation. Assessing the comprehensive risk of large retired industrial parks remains a considerable challenge due to the complexity of pollution sources and migration properties.

Against the backdrop of global climate change, extreme heat events are becoming hotter, longer, and more frequent. Such sustained extreme heat has severely impacted people's health all over the world.

Given that previous studies have neglected the potential mechanism of the difference in aluminum content affecting the activated sludge system, a research team from Wuhan University of Technology has investigated the morphology distributions of residual aluminum salts (RAS) and their effects on the removal efficiency of activated sludge (AS) under different PAC concentrations, and revealed the internal mechanisms…

Due to the unclear distribution characteristics and causes of fluoride in groundwater of Mihe-Weihe River Basin (China), there is a higher risk for the future development and utilization of groundwater. Based on the systematic sampling and analysis, a team of researchers from Shandong University of Science and Technology studied the distribution features and enrichment mechanism for fluoride in groundwater by the…

China has scored consecutive good harvests for years running, but there has been a problem of agricultural production that emphasizes weight rather than quality. The main manifestation is the long-term and high-intensity use of land resources and the massive application of mineral fertilizers and pesticides to meet the demand for increased production.

On February 3, 2023, a train derailed in the United States near East Palestine, Ohio, leading to the combustion of vinyl chloride. Following that accident, an international team of researchers undertook an in-depth analysis of the environmental consequences of the accident.

Manganese oxides are natural reactive minerals and widely spread in aquatic and terrestrial environments, affecting the fate of metals (such as As3+ and Cd2+) and organic pollutants (such as phenols and diclofenac) through adsorption and oxidation in sewage treatment. Usually, the manganese (III/IV) oxides in the environment are thought to be formed by the oxidation of dissolved Mn(II) through abiotic or biotic…

Membrane separation technology has become one of the most effective methods for water treatment, owing to its advantages of high separation efficiency, convenient operation and low-energy consumption. The membranes prepared from graphene oxide (GO) have received extensive attention for their high water permeability which is attributable to rapid water transport in the atomically smooth sp2 regions (non-oxidized…

Ford to build U.S. battery plant with Chinese technology as political tensions rise

Food waste is a major social problem that contributes to the overutilization of natural resources, affecting economic progress and environment protection. Food waste occurs at all stages of the food supply chain, including production, transportation processing and consumption. Reducing food waste in the consumption stage has been an important goal attracting global concerns.

As global climate warming becomes increasingly severe, scientists are delving deeper into greenhouse gas emissions across various industries. Recently, a study from Duke Kunshan University and Yangzhou University on the changes in China's agricultural carbon emissions during the COVID-19 pandemic has garnered widespread attention.