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Our understanding of chromosome organization and dynamics in spherical bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, remains limited. Here, the authors show that chromosome replication and cell division cycles are not synchronized in S. aureus, with cells exhibiting two segregated origins of replication at the start of the cell cycle.

Holliday junctions maintain chromosome synapsis to enable crossover assurance in budding yeast.

Ionescu, Ankol et al. show that, in ALS mouse and iPSC models, TDP-43 aggregation at NMJs stems from aberrant axonal translation, normally repressed by muscle EV-derived miR126. Loss of miR126 in ALS increases TDP-43 buildup, impairs local synthesis and triggers degeneration.

Analysis of soundscape data from 139 globally distributed sites reveals that sounds of biological origin exhibit predictable rhythms depending on location and season, whereas sounds of anthropogenic origin are less predictable. Comparisons between paired urban–rural sites show that urban green spaces are noisier and dominated by sounds of technological origin.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

The social exposome—lifelong social and economic adversity—can shape brain health and dementia risk. Here, the authors show that an adverse social exposome is linked to poorer clinical, cognitive, and brain changes in Latin American older adults.

Green hydrogen is critical for hard-to-electrify sectors, but faces economic headwinds. Odenweller and Ueckerdt quantify green hydrogen ambition and implementation gaps, showing that meeting expectations will remain challenging and costly.

Simultaneous recordings were made of hundreds of neurons in the rat frontal cortex and striatum, showing that decision commitment involves a rapid, coordinated transition in dynamical regime and neural mode.

Genomic analyses of DNA from modern individuals show that, about 800 years ago, pre-European contact occurred between Polynesian individuals and Native American individuals from near present-day Colombia, while remote Pacific islands were still being settled.

Neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy against NSCLC has been tested in clinical trials. Here, the authors follow up longer-term survival and measure immune cell phenotype changes in a single-arm phase II clinical trial of neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy, indicating association of intratumoural TCR diversity and CD8 T cell positioning.

Understanding who is being left behind, where and how is crucial to advancing the United Nations’ commitment to ‘leaving no one behind’. This study maps urban slums and wealth distribution across 32 sub-Saharan African countries, revealing a decreasing proportion of the population living in slums, yet a concerning rise in wealth inequality.

ChReef is an optogenetic actuator for sustained optogenetic control of excitable cells in a variety of preclinical applications.

Ultrack leverages candidate segmentations from multiple algorithms and temporal consistency across time points for robust, long-term 3D segmentation in challenging samples such as densely packed zebrafish, fruit fly and nematode embryos.

The Perseverance rover detected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons preserved within sulfates in the fan and floor of Jezero crater on Mars, offering new insights into past habitability and the preservation of organic matter on Mars.

Borna disease virus 1 replicates and transcribes its negative sense RNA genome in the nucleus of infected cells. Here, the authors present the cryoEM structures of the large polymerase protein in complex with the tetrameric phosphoprotein, revealing the structural features that govern its activity.

Here the authors map mesothelial cells across organs, revealing conserved disease-driven states. They identify key genes controlling the shift toward fibrosis and shows that blocking this reprogramming protects lungs, opening new anti-fibrosis strategies.

A large fraction of aquatic bacteria remains uncultured. Here, the authors cultivated 627 strains of abundant freshwater bacteria from 14 European lakes, thus generating a collection that includes many previously uncultured, oligotrophic bacteria that may serve as model organisms.

The enzyme ABHD18 is shown to have a key role in cardiolipin metabolism in mitochondria, offering a potential route for a small-molecule treatment of the rare genetic disease Barth syndrome.

Scaling up green hydrogen will be difficult if future projects solely depend on expensive subsidies to overcome competitiveness barriers. Policy makers need to implement supportive policies grounded in realistic expectations, focusing on hydrogen-specific support in sectors where electrification isn’t feasible, while also gradually introducing technology-neutral market mechanisms such as carbon pricing.

Measurements of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine in the caudate of conscious humans reveal a neurochemical boundary between patients with essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease based on serotonin release evoked by monetary offers.

A free-living trial in people with overweight or obesity found that minimally processed diets led to greater weight loss and cardiometabolic improvements than ultraprocessed diets following UK healthy eating guidelines at 8 weeks.

The authors introduce the Neurolipid Atlas, a dynamic resource for the community to gain insight into lipid alterations in neurodegenerative disease, and they leverage the platform to show how cholesterol alterations in astrocytes can dysregulate neuroinflammatory pathways in Alzheimer disease.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

Structural elucidation of the RNA aptamer 'Spinach' reveals that a new G-quadruplex structure forms the fluorophore-binding site that confers the ability of the RNA to function as a GFP mimic.

2023 CX1 is the only L-chondrite-like asteroid analysed from space to ground. It catastrophically fragmented in the atmosphere, depositing 98% of its energy in one burst—an unusual, high-risk fragmentation mode with implications for planetary defence.

Upon encounter of abasic lesions, a highly-prevalent DNA damage, RNA polymerase I experiences a two-step pausing-stalling mechanism that is described here through cryo-EM analysis. The structures uncover the nucleotide entry mechanism and provide insights into intrinsic RNA cleavage.

Why are some species widespread while others are found only in small, isolated areas? This study shows that species with narrow ranges, and thus higher extinction risk, are often island-restricted, poor dispersers, and have evolved relatively recently.

Isolates and metagenome-assembled genomes from a global survey show quasi-endemic and cosmopolitan lineages of SAR11-IIIb, with patterns driven by temperature and latitude.

Birds have evolved a unique sex chromosome dosage compensation mechanism involving the male-biased microRNA (miR-2954), which is essential for male survival by regulating the expression of dosage-sensitive Z-linked genes.

Microbial communities, exposed to early Earth-like conditions in a modern microbialite reef, change cyclically due to seasonal environmental variations, implying evolved metabolic processes in microbialites over time, based on multiple chemical, physical, and biological analyses.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.

Literature produced inconsistent findings regarding the links between extreme weather events and climate policy support across regions, populations and events. This global study offers a holistic assessment of these relationships and highlights the role of subjective attribution.

Sulfur isotope excursions in skeletal collagen samples from Eurasia suggest rapidly changing biogeochemical processes across the region from about 30,000 to 15,000 years ago, potentially related to changing permafrost conditions.

Green hydrogen is a crucial part of plans to achieve climate targets, yet how quickly supply will scale is unclear. Using a technology diffusion model, Odenweller et al. suggest that even if electrolysis capacity grows as quickly as wind and solar power, green hydrogen supply will suffer from short-term scarcity and long-term uncertainty.

Green ammonia production could contribute to decarbonization and the decentralization of fertilizer production, but it brings critical challenges and risks. Assessing and addressing these challenges in real time will help advance technology and avoid unintended consequences.

By individually replacing 16 yeast genes encoding ABC transporters by GFP, mating and selecting for strains with accumulated mutations the authors create a Green Monster, a strain with deletions in all 16 genes.

Phytochrome photoreceptors are master regulators of plant development. This paper describes 3D structures of soybean phytochrome A in both Pr (inactive) and Pfr (signalling) states, revealing changes that might transmit the light signal to the cell.

Bird wings resemble the digits on the hands of dinosaurs, but which digit positions gave rise to those seen in modern birds is still unclear. In this work, long-term fate maps of the chick wing polarizing region are presented, supporting fossil data that birds descended from theropods that had digits 1, 2 and 3.

A study reports whole-genome sequences for 490,640 participants from the UK Biobank and combines these data with phenotypic data to provide new insights into the relationship between human variation and sequence variation.

The role of autoantibodies in bullous pemphigoid (BP) and their impact on keratinocytes and the response to BP pathology remains underexplored. By leveraging transcriptomics analysis and large-scale protein assays, here the authors identify keratinocyte MyD88 as a regulator of the pro-inflammatory response in BP, uncovering the role of keratinocytes in this disease pathology.

Du and Haith show that behaviour can become habitual in two different ways, involving response initiation and response preparation.

Drug resistance remains a major challenge in cancer treatment. Here, the authors identify Connexin43 as target that enhances BRAF/MEKi efficacy by interfering with DNA repair pathways, overcoming drug resistance. They develop an mRNA therapy that improves efficacy and sensitizes resistant cells.

Allelic losses occurring in cancer cells have been suggested as potential targets for therapy. Here, the authors show how recurring loss of heterozygosity of a drug metabolic gene in colorectal cancers can be exploited using a low molecular weight compound.