Direct foaming from solids is the most efficient method to fabricate porous materials. However, the ideal foaming fails to prepare aerogel of nanoparticles because the plasticity of their solids is denied by the overwhelming interface interactions. Here, we invent a hydroplastic foaming method to directly convert graphene oxide solids into aerogel bulks and microarrays, replacing the prevalent freezing method. The water intercalation plasticizes graphene oxide solids and enables direct foaming instead of catastrophic fragmentation. The bubble formation follows a general crystallization rule and allows nanometer-precision control of cellular wall thickness down to 8 nm. Bubble clustering generates hyperboloid structures with seamless basal connection and renders graphene aerogels with ultrarobust mechanical stability against extreme deformations. We exploit graphene aerogel to fabricate tactile microarray sensors with ultrasensitivity and ultrastability, achieving a high accuracy (80%) in artificially intelligent touch identification that outperforms human fingers (30%).

How the plasma membrane senses external heat-stress signals to communicate with chloroplasts to orchestrate thermotolerance remains elusive. We identified a quantitative trait locus, Thermo-tolerance 3 ( TT3 ), consisting of two genes, TT3.1 and TT3.2 , that interact together to enhance rice thermotolerance and reduce grain-yield losses caused by heat stress. Upon heat stress, plasma membrane–localized E3 ligase TT3.1 translocates to the endosomes, on which TT3.1 ubiquitinates chloroplast precursor protein TT3.2 for vacuolar degradation, implying that TT3.1 might serve as a potential thermosensor. Lesser accumulated, mature TT3.2 proteins in chloroplasts are essential for protecting thylakoids from heat stress. Our findings not only reveal a TT3.1-TT3.2 genetic module at one locus that transduces heat signals from plasma membrane to chloroplasts but also provide the strategy for breeding highly thermotolerant crops.

A polymer solution with a transient network structure due to the entanglement of long chain molecules exhibits a viscoelastic behavior when it flows through a tortuous and diverging/converging channel in porous media. A constitutive equation is first developed to represent the viscoelastic behavior of polymer solutions in this article. Then a 3D viscoelastic polymer flooding model is established to examine the effect of elasticity of polymers on EOR (enhanced oil recovery). The model is validated in comparison with laboratorial coring data. The simulated results show that the oil recovery of viscoelastic polymer flooding can be enhanced by larger displacement efficiency due to its microscopic roles. In the meanwhile, the injection pressure required increases correspondingly if the elastic effect is significant. Relaxation time as a major characteristic parameter of viscoelastic polymer plays a decisive role, and therefore the HPAM (partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide) with evident elastic property is recommended in chemical flooding.