Flexible tactile neuromorphic devices are becoming important as the impetus for the development of human-machine collaboration. However, accomplishing and further transcending human intelligence with artificial intelligence still confront many barriers. Here, we present a self-powered stretchable three-dimensional remote tactile device (3D-RTD) that performs the depth-of-field (DOF) sensation of external mechanical motions through a conductive-dielectric heterogeneous structure. The device can build a logic relationship precisely between DOF motions of an external active object and sensory potential signals of bipolar sign, frequency, amplitude, etc. The sensory mechanism is revealed on the basis of the electrostatic theory and multiphysics modeling, and the performance is verified via an artificial-biological hybrid system with micro/macroscale interaction. The feasibility of the 3D-RTD as an obstacle-avoidance patch for the blind is systematically demonstrated with a rat. This work paves the way for multimodal neuromorphic device that transcends the function of a biological one toward a new modality for brain-like intelligence.

The relative contribution of roots versus shoots to soil organic carbon (SOC) is a long‐debated topic related to soil carbon formation and dynamics. However, the variation of root‐ and shoot‐derived carbon in natural soils remains poorly constrained due to limited tools to separate them. Here we overcome the difficulty by analyzing biomarkers for root (suberin) and shoot (cutin) in grassland soils spanning >7,000 km on the Qinghai‐Tibetan and Mongolian Plateaus. Coupled with a comprehensive list of climatic, edaphic, and vegetation variables, we assess their inputs, distribution, and preservation patterns. We find that while suberin was a root‐specific tracer, cutin biomarkers that occurred only in trace amount in roots also had a minor but nonnegligible contribution from belowground sources due to the massive root mass in the alpine grasslands. Both components had higher SOC‐normalized concentrations in the alpine than temperate grasslands, along with a higher preservation percentage against net primary productivity and a lower degradation parameter, suggesting a better preservation of these plant‐derived lipid components in the alpine region. Moreover, while cutin and suberin abundances were affected by plant inputs and other SOC constituents, the root mass normalized incorporation efficiency of suberin was only positively correlated to SOC in both regions with a steeper slope in the alpine grasslands and also negatively correlated to root mass in the alpine soils. These results imply that root carbon incorporation is sensitive to environmental variations in the cold region, suggesting potentially more dynamic alterations to root carbon sequestration with environmental changes.

In the design of prosthetic hand fingers, achieving human-like movement while meeting anthropomorphic demands such as appearance, size, and lightweight is quite challenging. Human finger movement involves two distinct motion characters during natural reach-and-grasp tasks: consistency in the reaching stage and adaptability in the grasping stage. The former one enhances grasp stability and reduces control complexity; the latter one promotes the adaptability of finger to various objects. However, conventional tendon-driven prosthetic finger designs typically incorporate bulky actuation modules or complex tendon routes to reconcile the consistency and adaptability. In contrast, we propose a novel friction clutch consisting of a single tendon and slider, which is simple and compact enough to be configurated within the metacarpal bone. Through tactfully exploiting the friction force to balance the gravity effect on each phalanx during finger motion, this design effectively combines both consistency and adaptability. As a result, the prosthetic finger can maintain consistent motion unaffected by any spatial posture during reaching, execute adaptive motion during grasping, and automatically switch between them, resulting in human-like reach-and-grasp movements. Additionally, the proposed finger achieves a highly anthropomorphic design, weighing only 18.9 g and possessing the same size as an adult’s middle finger. Finally, a series of experiments validate the theoretical effectiveness and motion performance of the proposed design. Remarkably, the mechanical principle of the proposed friction clutch is beneficial to achieve highly anthropomorphic design, providing not only a new strategy to prosthetic hand design but also great potential in hand rehabilitation.

Wool has a long history of use in textiles throughout human civilization. Many smart functions such as reversible shape changes to various stimuli have been demonstrated in the last few years. However, the force-related characteristics are still imperfectly recognized, although they are expected to be used as actuators due to their biological origins and broad applications. Herein, we investigated the feasibility of wools in performing actuating ability through its intrinsic structures and fabrication methods. The diverse modes of contractive forces were obtained in wool materials including platform-like, double-peak, and slope-like shapes, where a molecular model was also presented to trace the origins of stress evolution. After that, a polymeric blend was created to modify the wool materials and a dissimilar performance of stress production was achieved, a square stress mode with stable manner and maintenance, for broad applications in a more efficient way. It is believed that these actuating properties extracted from natural hairs have a large potential in current smart applications and lay down new inspiration in designing actuators.

Ion-conductive hydrogels possess great potential in the field of flexible sensing due to their unique mechanical characteristics and internal ionic conduction. However, one of the primary challenges lies in the difficulty of balancing both superior mechanical strength and conductivity, which hampers their broader use in practical applications. In this study, we present a PVA/PAANa ion-conductive composite hydrogel with dual improvement in both properties, featuring a macroscopic honeycomb-like pore structure and a microscopic triple network (TN) configuration. Specifically, hydrogen bond-enriched networks are initially formed within the PVA and PAANa chains through a process involving thermal polymerization and a combined freeze–thaw approach. Subsequently, the conductive percolation network is incorporated through the addition of silver nanowires, to further boost the overall conductivity. Then, Na⁺ ions are introduced through a salting-out effect, enhancing electrostatic interactions with COO⁻ groups in the hydrogel and creating an additional electrostatic network, which improves both the mechanical properties and ion retention capability. When implemented as a pressure-sensitive tactile sensor, the composite hydrogel exhibited a pressure sensitivity of 0.189 kPa⁻¹ (pressure range: 0.797–2.171 kPa) with a response time of 143 ms, and an exceptional fatigue resistance over 1500 compression cycles. Lastly, a 3 × 3 tactile sensor array based on P/P/A-NaCl hydrogels was designed for multidimensional sensing and pressure distribution mapping, showcasing its potential in applications such as health monitoring, sports tracking, and interactive 3D soft robotics.