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Decision-making in multi-agent systems often involves control goals that break reciprocity. Here, authors derive a field theory for such interactions, revealing nonreciprocal couplings that generate diverse collective behaviors through simple manipulations.

HippoMaps provides an open-source resource for studying the human hippocampus at different scales and with different modalities such as histology, fMRI, structural MRI and EEG.

Tests of the predictions of the renormalization group in biological experiments have not yet been decisive. Now, a study on the collective dynamics of insect swarms provides a long-sought match between experiment and theory.

A new method for detecting axion-like particles through stacked spectra of active galactic nucleus–galaxy-cluster pairs probes previously inaccessible regions of their parameter space.

A modularized open-source pipeline for invasive brain signal decoding bridges the gap between closed-loop neuromodulation and clinical brain–computer interface approaches in a large patient cohort.

Observations of a fast X-ray transient reveal that it is a gamma-ray-burst explosion from a very distant galaxy that emits light with the wavelength necessary to drive cosmic reionization, the last major phase change in the history of the Universe.

Using a reconfigurable integrated photonic platform, the authors reveal the appearance of non-Hermitian topology and the existence of edge modes emerging exclusively from optical loss modulation.

A better-ventilated North Pacific could have reduced the carbon of water upwelled in the Southern Ocean, reducing outgassing and revealing a remote influence on Southern Ocean biogeochemistry in glacial times.

The development of a universal protein coarse-grained model has been a long-standing challenge. A coarse-grained model with chemical transferability has now been developed by combining deep-learning methods with a large and diverse training set of all-atom protein simulations. The model can be used for extrapolative molecular dynamics on new sequences.

The number of individuals in a given space influences animal interactions and network dynamics. Here the authors identify general rules underlying density dependence in animal networks and reveal some fundamental differences between spatial and social dynamics.

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.

Despite exhibiting ferroelectric features, SrTiO₃ fails to display long-range polar order at low temperatures due to quantum fluctuations. An ultrafast X-ray diffraction experiment now probes polar dynamics of this material at the nanometre scale.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy has demonstrated clinical benefit in patients with solid tumors. Here the authors propose a protocol for isolating and enriching TILs from cavitron ultrasonic aspirator emulsions of patients with glioma, showing the successful expansion of functional tumor-reactive TILs for personalized cell therapy.

Qudits, higher-dimensional analogues of qubits, expand quantum state space for information processing using fewer physical units. Here the authors demonstrate control over a 16-dimensional Hilbert space, equivalent to four qubits, using combined electron-nuclear states of a single Sb donor atom in Si.

Tumor-associated neutrophils exhibit heterogeneity in breast cancer. Here, the authors identify a distinct precursor population (PreNeu) in estrogen receptor-positive tumors. PreNeu suppress homologous recombination in cancer cells, promoting error-prone DNA repair and enhancing sensitivity to PARP inhibitors.

The authors introduce a machine-learning framework that predicts how materials respond to electric fields with quantum-level accuracy, capturing vibrational, dielectric, and ferroelectric behaviors up to the million-atom scale.

Spatial transcriptomic approaches often lack single-cell resolution and read coverage. Here, we introduce spatial ISOform sequencing (Spl-ISO-Seq) which optimizes the capture of long, exonic molecules. This technology reveals developmentally-regulated cell-type and region-specific splicing patterns.

The measles virus relies on the intrinsically disordered domain of its nucleoprotein, N_TAIL, to bind the polymerase complex responsible for viral transcription and replication, but the role played by disordered regions away from the binding site is not clearly understood. Here, through a combination of experiments and simulations, the authors show that transient and non-local interactions between disordered regions distant in sequence influence the conformational preferences of the binding sites and the folding and availability of its molecular recognition element, affecting viral replication kinetics.

The addition of molecules on a magnetic film has been known to alter the magnetic properties of the film. Here, through a combination of density function theory calculations, and magnetic force microscopy measurements, Benini and coauthors show the critical importance of long range correlations in the resulting properties of the molecule-decorated magnetic film.

The role of brain interactions in encoding goal-directed learning signals remains unclear. Here, the authors show that information gain is encoded through synergistic and higher-order interactions and is broadcast to the prefrontal reward circuitry.

Proximity effects in molecule/metal heterostructures offer a promising route to control magnetic properties. Here, the authors report a light-controlled proximity effect at a Co/C₆₀ interface, where laser-induced excitons in C₆₀ alter interfacial interactions, leading to a 60% quenching of the ferromagnetic resonance frequency of Co.

A hybrid quantum network combining entangled light with an atomic spin ensemble engineered to act as a negative-mass oscillator enables frequency-dependent quantum noise reduction for measurements in the acoustic noise frequency range relevant for gravitational-wave detection.

Introducing spin–orbit coupling by substrate proximity effect leads to an enhancement of superconducting phases in rhombohedral trilayer graphene.

Graphene systems exhibit flavor order transitions driven by tuning parameters. Here, the authors demonstrate an optical technique for detecting flavor textures in graphene via the exciton response of a proximal transition metal dichalcogenide layer.

In the layered magnetic semiconductor CrSBr, emergent light–matter hybrids (polaritons) increase the spectral bandwidth of correlations between the magnetic, electronic and optical properties, enabling largely tunable optical responses to applied magnetic fields and magnons.

Modelling cardiomyocyte geometry reveals that mitochondrial–sarcoplasmic architecture enhances respiration by facilitating ion and lipid transfer for efficient cardiac metabolism.

This Primer offers a practical and rational introduction to macromolecular crystallography, whether to engage directly with or to critically assess results, with a focus on understanding the diffraction data, solving the phase problem, building and refining the atomic model, and interpreting the resulting atomic structure.

Anodic pulsing during electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction has been shown to enhance activity and selectivity towards hydrocarbons and alcohols on copper yet the nature of the active sites remains unclear. Here, correlated spectro-microscopy in a quasi in situ experimental set-up provides information on the formation of specific facets and oxidation states under reactive conditions.

Graphene possesses a nonlinear optical response arising from its electronic dispersion. Here, the authors measure the response of graphene to an ultrafast optical field and provide an explanation of the quantum dynamics of Dirac carriers mediating the material’s nonlinear response.

The engineering of localized fields is at the base of ultra-compact plasmonic devices. The authors demonstrate that localized plasmon skyrmions provide a unique way to build arbitrarily shaped skyrmionic textures promising high flexibility and robustness for real applications like information processing.

A critical factor in the theoretical modelling of nanoscale metal halide perovskites is the system size. Here the authors demonstrate the effect on the band gap of FAPbI₃ via octahedra tilting and dipole moments using large-scale ab initio simulations.

This work introduces a pedigree-derived benchmark for single-nucleotide variants, indels, structural variants and tandem repeats, offering a variant map to validate sequencing workflows or to support the development and evaluation of new variant callers.

Here the authors show that the dipole-active phonon resonance of semiconducting nanocrystals can be hybridized by a strongly concentrated terahertz vacuum field of a plasmonic nanocavity, thus achieving strong plasmon–phonon coupling even in the absence of direct terahertz illumination.

ConSTRain is a short tandem repeat caller allowing for the investigation of tumour heterogeneity and clonal lineage tracing in cancer, even in closely related samples.

The authors combine the strong confinement of hyperbolic polaritons with leaky nano-waveguides to demonstrate directional in-plane emission of fast phonon polaritons and their acceleration and deceleration by tailoring waveguide dispersion.

Here, by realising nonlinear optical spectroscopy at the atomic length scale, the authors capture complex energy-dependent dynamics of hot carriers in a single molecule. The hot carrier and the nonlinear-wave mixing signals are enhanced at the regions of high local density of states in the molecule.

Two regions of superconductivity are observed in the phase diagram of Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene. Spin–orbit coupling induced by the substrate and orbital moments are shown to be important in describing their properties.

The authors highlight inconsistencies and divergencies in the literature reporting data on indirect calorimetry for studies on whole-body energy homeostasis, and propose harmonization of standards to facilitate data comparison and interpretation across different datasets.

Using pump-power-dependent exciton absorption spectroscopy, the authors reveal magnon-mediated exciton–exciton interactions and a consequent nonlinear optical response in CrSBr, an antiferromagnetic semiconductor.

Perturbing medial and left inferior frontal cortices with TMS differentiates semantic from domain-general executive control, with compensatory interactions revealing a flexible, interconnected cognitive control network.

Topological order for sound remains largely unexplored. Here, Khanikaevet al. introduce the concept of topological order in classical acoustics, realizing robust topological protection and one-way edge propagation of sound in a suitably designed resonator lattice, thus expanding the ability to tailor acoustic waves.

The presence of a scalar charge around a small compact object during its final inspiral into a supermassive black hole could be detected by LISA, providing a way to test deviations from general relativity and the existence of new fields in nature.

Every spring, Bogong moths use the starry night sky as a compass to navigate up to 1,000 km towards their alpine migratory goal.

Gradients of cell recognition molecules wire a sensorimotor interface in Drosophila.

A nanoscale superconducting sensor used to map the magnetic fringe fields in twisted bilayers of MoTe₂ shows the formation of fractional Chern insulator states at zero magnetic field.

The field of cellular agriculture has relied on 3D bioprinting for the generation of sophisticated products. Here, the authors employ chaotic bioprinting to create plant and animal cell-based hybrid noodles, thereby opening avenues to produce complex culinary designs and to explore diverse nutritional alternatives.

The authors introduce a new spectroscopic technique for studying Higgs modes in superconductors and apply it to a cuprate superconductor. The method involves a soft quench of the Mexican-Hat potential, populating Higgs modes of different symmetries, which are then probed by non equilibrium anti-Stokes Raman scattering.