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Chronic brain infection and IL-1 exposure impair spatial memory by triggering DNA double-strand break signaling in hippocampal neurons. Blocking this pathway prevents memory deficits, suggesting new therapeutic prospects for various brain diseases.

Malnutrition during pregnancy has lasting effects on maternal and offspring health. Its adverse impacts are modified by the maternal microbiome and attenuated by gestational treatment with select microbial metabolites.

Caloric restriction improves Alzheimer’s Disease outcomes in mice, but this diet not only reduces calories, but imposes a prolonged fast between meals. Here, the authors show this fast is essential to improve Alzheimer’s pathology and cognition.

Across species, how aging leads to progressive spatial memory decline is not fully understood. This study reports dysfunctional spatial coding by aged entorhinal grid cells and networks related to impaired spatial memory and identifies implicated neuronal gene expression changes.

Heterochromatin loss has been linked to aging and neurodegeneration. Here, the authors show that combined loss of HP1β and HP1γ in neurons results in de-repressesion of endogenous retroviruses, inflammation in glia including accumulation of complement C3, dendritic loss, and cognitive decline in mice.

In a randomized, placebo-controlled, stepwise dose-escalation phase 1 trial evaluating a conjugate vaccine against both typhoid and invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella infections, the vaccine was found to be safe and immunogenic in healthy adults.

Microglia play a critical role in Alzheimer’s disease progression. Here, the authors show that knockout of microglial Cx43 or inhibition of Cx43 hemichannels by nanoparticle-delivered peptide mitigates cognitive deficits and neuropathology in APP/PS1 mice by inducing microglia into a neuroprotective state.

A sampling-based manifold learning method is proposed to study the cluster structure of high-dimensional data. Its applicability and scalability have been verified in single-cell data analysis and anomaly detection in electrocardiogram signals.

A geological, petrographic and geochemical survey of distinctive mudstone and conglomerate outcrops of the Bright Angel formation on Mars reveals textures, chemical and mineral characteristics, and organic signatures that warrant consideration as potential biosignatures.

X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is crucial for gene regulation, yet the role of small non coding RNAs in this process was unclear. Here, the authors identify miR106a as a key XCI regulator and show its inhibition improves Rett syndrome symptoms in a mouse model.

Osugo et al show in healthy humans that sustained dopamine D2/D3 receptor antagonism impairs motivated behaviour, hedonic experience, and emotional expression, and that this is related to blunted striatal reward response following D2/D3 antagonism.

Using single-cell metabolomics techniques, Chen and colleagues reveal that an aldehyde-dehydrogenase-2-dependent γ-aminobutyric acid synthesis pathway in hippocampal pyramidal neurons suppresses their excitability during long-term potentiation and learning, linking neuronal metabolism to synaptic plasticity and behavioral adaptability.

UCHL5 is a deubiquitinating enzyme that cleaves Lys-48-linked polyubiquitin chains. Here, the authors discover through in-vivo CRISPR-Cas9 screens that Uchl5 is involved in immune evasion and modulation of extracellular matrix deposition in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

The role of TREM1 in neurodegenerative diseases is unclear. Here the authors show that TREM1 promotes cognitive decline in aging and in the context of amyloid pathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer disease.

Cancer evolutionary dynamics are quantitatively inferred using a method, EVOFLUx, applied to fluctuating DNA methylation.

Glucose uptake in astrocytes is thought to rely on GLUT1. Here, the authors show that adult mice tolerate astrocyte-specific GLUT1 deletion, which increases astrocytic glucose metabolism and confers neuroprotection in a model of stroke.

Feeding-relevant vagal signaling occurs between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain, but it is unclear if this pathway influences cognitive processes. This study shows that endogenous gastrointestinal derived vagal sensory signaling promotes hippocampal-dependent memory function via a multi-order brainstem–septal pathway.

Malaria chemoprevention is used for young children, but resistance mutations raise concerns on efficacy. In this analysis of trials across Africa, the authors show that prevention treatment protects >42 days against susceptible parasites but <12 days against highly resistant strains highlighting the importance of genomic surveillance for chemoprevention strategies.

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.

The protein SLITRK2 plays an important role in synaptic communication. This study identifies X-linked SLITRK2 variants that underlie neurodevelopmental disorders by impairing excitatory synapses.

Bennu comprises components of intra- and extra-Solar System origins. The parent bodies of Bennu, Ryugu and CI chondrites likely formed from a shared but heterogeneous reservoir in the outer parts of the solar protoplanetary disk.

Managing power exhaust in fusion reactors is a key challenge, especially in compact designs for cost-effective commercial energy. This study shows how alternative divertor configurations improve exhaust control, enhance stability, absorb transients and enable independent plasma regulation.

Samples returned from asteroid Bennu largely comprise hydrated sheet silicates with sulfides, magnetite and carbonate that indicate alteration by a fluid that evolved from neutral to alkaline, according to a micro- and nanoscale mineralogical study.

The study by Williams et al shows targeting the aberrant histone modifying enzyme Smyd3 rescues NMDAR and cognitive deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. It highlights the potential of epigenetic treatment in neurodegenerative diseases.

The inner nuclear membrane contains lipid microdomains rich in sphingomyelin and cholesterol, which are the site of transcriptional machinery and contain nuclear miRNAs in high concentrations.

Previous work showed that the caspase 1 inhibitor VX-765 rescued cognitive deficits in the J20 mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, and this may occur via reduced inflammation. Here the authors show that administration of the drug prior to onset of cognitive deficits and pathology in mice delays the onset of deficits.

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.

Over the past decade, funding for cancer research by the US government—and others—has stagnated, while the demand for investment has grown because of the increasing cancer incidence worldwide. We discuss how National Cancer Institute funding efforts have developed during this period, and the contemporary and future impact of these measures on cancer research in the USA.

In this study the authors identify a possible link between the gene FAM222A and brain atrophy. The protein it encodes is found to accumulate in plaques seen in Alzheimer’s disease, and functional analysis suggests it interacts with amyloid-beta.

Analysis of rare coding variants in the UK Biobank identifies eight genes associated with adult cognitive function, including KDM5B. Rare and common variant signals overlap and contribute additively to the phenotype.

Partial loss of psychiatric risk gene Mir137 in mice causes repetitive behavior and impairs sociability and learning via increased Pde10a.

The detrimental effects of aged blood on cognition and nervous system function in mice can be combatted by targeting brain endothelial cell dysfunction via inhibition of aberrant VCAM1 signaling at the blood–brain barrier.