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A machine learning approach using long-term observations of eddy covariance finds that the increase in plant intrinsic water-use efficiency under higher CO₂ levels, across diverse ecosystems, is driven primarily by reduction in canopy conductance, rather than by stimulation of gross primary productivity.

Vegetation in arid regions benefits from higher leaf-scale assimilation rates and expanded leaf area, boosting carbon uptake, while productive forests and croplands experience declines due to increased shading and climate stress, based on remote sensing data and multiple process-based models.

The terrestrial biosphere absorbs a large fraction of emitted CO₂, and thus, plays a critical role in climate change projections. Here, the authors use satellite leaf area and in-situ CO₂ measurements to show that most Earth system models largely underestimate photosynthetic carbon fixation in high latitudes.

Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

Genotype and exome sequencing of 150,000 participants and whole-genome sequencing of 9,950 selected individuals recruited into the Mexico City Prospective Study constitute a valuable, publicly available resource of non-European sequencing data.

The photosynthetic capacity of forest ecosystems is an important variable in the global carbon cycle. Here, it is shown that older, more diverse forests have less fluctuation between years in photosynthetic capacity.

The validation of inhibitors targeting PurF, a novel drug target for tuberculosis drug discovery, is described.

AlphaGenome, a deep learning model that inputs 1-Mb DNA sequence to predict functional genomic tracks at single-base resolution across diverse modalities, outperforms existing models in variant effect prediction and enables comprehensive genomic analysis.

Wood density is an important plant trait. Data from 1.1 million forest inventory plots and 10,703 tree species show a latitudinal gradient in wood density, with temperature and soil moisture explaining variation at the global scale and disturbance also having a role at the local level.

The authors use a mechanistic microclimate model to model the below-canopy conditions for 300,000 tropical forest locations across 30 years. They show that small temperature increases have already resulted in novel temperature regimes across most sites, and highlight areas that may act as refugia.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

Three key axes of variation of ecosystem functional changes and their underlying causes are identified from a dataset of surface gas exchange measurements across major terrestrial biomes and climate zones.

Spatial transcriptomic analysis of cells in intestinal fistulae of patients with Crohn’s disease reveals the existence of specialized fistula-associated cell states with distinct signalling profiles and extracellular matrix architecture.

Genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders identifies five underlying genomic factors that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders.

Mapping of the neutrophil compartment using single-cell transcriptional data from multiple physiological and patological states reveals its organizational architecture and how cell state dynamics and trajectories vary during health, inflammation and cancer.

The CMS Collaboration reports the measurement of the spin, parity, and charge conjugation properties of all-charm tetraquarks, exotic fleeting particles formed in proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider.

An analysis of the Drosophila connectome yields all cell types intrinsic to the optic lobe, and their rules of connectivity.

CRISPR activators are powerful tools for controlling gene expression, but they suffer from inconsistent efficacy and high toxicity. Here, authors develop a high-throughput method to test thousands of CRISPR activators, revealing distinct principles of activator biology and delivering improved tools.

Efficient acidic CO₂ reduction to HCOOH at high current density faces challenges of high overpotential, low Faraday efficiency, and poor stability. This study optimizes these three key metrics by modulating soft acid strength through interstitial atoms.

Ground truthed thermal data from a new NASA satellite combined with experimental warming data from three continents in an empirical model suggests that tropical forests are closer to a high temperature threshold than previously thought.

A connectome of the right optic lobe from a male fruitfly is presented together with an extensive collection of genetic drivers matched to a comprehensive neuron-type catalogue.

Climate change is expected to impact moisture supply, which is critical for production of food and carbon uptake by terrestrial ecosystems. A shift from ecosystem energy to water limitation is predicted between 1980 and 2100, with implications for ecosystem function under climate change.

The pathogenic bacterium Legionella pneumophila infects lung macrophages and environmental amoebae. Here, Personnic et al. show that the pathogen reversibly forms virulent, antibiotic-tolerant subpopulations during infection of macrophages and amoebae, in a process regulated by the Lqs quorum-sensing system.

Genomic studies often lack representation from diverse populations, limiting equitable insights. Here, the authors show that the BIG Initiative captures extensive genetic diversity and reveals ancestry-linked health disparities in a community-based Mid-South cohort.

Mitochondrial DNA heteroplasmy associates with context-specific nuclear CpG methylation, supported by a cell model. Heteroplasmy–CpG scores relate to mortality and cardiovascular risk, though direction and mechanisms remain unclear.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common mental health problem. Here, the authors report a GWAS from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium in which they identify two risk loci in European ancestry and one locus in African ancestry individuals and find that PTSD is genetically correlated with several other psychiatric traits.

Integrated multi-omic analyses using samples from the TRACERx study highlight cross-talk between DNA hypermethylation and genomic lesions in non-small cell lung cancer.

Boron is known to form a wide variety of molecular structures. Here, the authors observe the highly symmetric cobalt-centered boron drum-like structure of CoB₁₆⁻, characterized by photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations, in which the cobalt atom is sixteen-coordinate.

Restoration of abandoned farmlands has the potential to improve ecosystem functions and benefits. Using a multidisciplinary approach, Knoke et al. show that ecological and economic indicators favour either afforestation or intense pasturing of these abandoned areas in the tropical Andes.

A study of several longitudinal birth cohorts and cross-sectional cohorts finds only moderate overlap in genetic variants between autism that is diagnosed earlier and that diagnosed later, so they may represent aetiologically different conditions.

Genome-wide association analyses identify new risk loci for heart failure and its subtypes, extending understanding of the underlying biological pathways and disease mechanisms.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

A combined theoretical and experimental approach has been used to investigate the structure and bonding of an all-boron cluster (B₁₉⁻). Calculations suggest that the minimum energy structure is a near-planar one — in which a pentagonal B₆ unit is encircled by a larger B₁₃ ring — possessing two concentric aromatic π systems.

Sparse testing early in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic hinders estimation of the dates and origins of initial case importations. Here, the authors show that the main source of cases imported from China shifted from Wuhan to other Chinese cities by mid-February, especially for African locations.

The quark structure of the f₀(980) hadron is still unknown after 50 years of its discovery. Here, the CMS Collaboration reports a measurement of the elliptic flow of the f₀(980) state in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV, providing strong evidence that the state is an ordinary meson.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

There’s an emerging body of evidence to show how biological sex impacts cancer incidence, treatment and underlying biology. Here, using a large pan-cancer dataset, the authors further highlight how sex differences shape the cancer genome.

Genomic analysis of Plasmodium DNA from 36 ancient individuals provides insight into the global distribution and spread of malaria-causing species during around 5,500 years of human history.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

In somatic cells the mechanisms maintaining the chromosome ends are normally inactivated; however, cancer cells can re-activate these pathways to support continuous growth. Here, the authors characterize the telomeric landscapes across tumour types and identify genomic alterations associated with different telomere maintenance mechanisms.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

Whole-genome sequencing data from more than 2,500 cancers of 38 tumour types reveal 16 signatures that can be used to classify somatic structural variants, highlighting the diversity of genomic rearrangements in cancer.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

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.

An analysis of 2,954 genomes from 38 cancer subtypes identified 19,166 retrotransposition events in 35% of samples. Aberrant LINE-1 retrotranspositions can lead to the deletion of tumor-suppressor genes as well as the amplification of oncogenes.