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Coexistence of a spin-glass phase with antiferromagnetism in an intercalated crystal produces a large exchange bias effect. This is due to the interplay of disorder and frustration.

The transition from a glassy to a liquid phase is normally assumed to take place cooperatively across the whole material. But now, experiments show that, under certain conditions, isolated regions of liquid can form in the glassy matrix first.

Adult stem cells often reside in specialized niches that they exit upon injury. Here they show that in Drosophila, after damage the gut-associated trachea produces the PDGF-VEGF-related ligand Pvf1, which acts as a guidance cue directing ISC migration toward injury sites.

Experiments and modelling unravel mechanisms of nitrous oxide production from nitrate, the primary nitrous oxide production pathway in oxygen minimum zones. Results highlight the critical role of microbial interactions in regulating this pathway.

Structural and functional characterization of the β-barrel assembly machinery complex in Bacteroidota reveals a distinct, seven-component complex with a large extracellular domain that may enable β-barrel–surface lipoprotein complex assembly.

CRISPR-based diagnostics are often limited by complex workflows and poor validation. Here the authors develop and validate a one-pot asymmetric CRISPR assay, which permits rapid and sensitive diagnosis of tuberculosis in a format which is suitable for resource-limited settings.

Using a zebrafish-based screen, Civiletto and colleagues identify the herb-derived metabolites thymol and carvacrol as activators of autophagy and mitophagy, demonstrating their therapeutic potential in C. elegans and mouse models.

Proteome allocation to anabolic and catabolic functions is significantly regulated by growth rate in the model bacterium Escherichia coli. By contrast, this article shows that proteome allocation is only partially controlled by growth rate, and metabolic rates are primarily controlled post-translationally, in the thermophilic acetogen Thermoanaerobacter kivui.

The Lindemann criterion states that crystals melt when thermal vibrations overcome binding forces. It is now found that this picture does not hold for glasses, and that there is a universal relationship between glass temperature and thermal expansion.

How the brain combines sensory with non-sensory information is unknown. Here, the authors find that sensory input from the thalamus to the apical dendrites of the main cortical output neurons enables the first stage of this combination process.

Visualizing dynamical changes in glassy systems is challenging because of the time and length scales involved. Now, atomic force microscopy is shown to be a viable method for obtaining a spatio-temporal description of the relaxation of a glass.

The SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid (N) protein serves multiple roles in the viral lifecycle. Phosphorylation toggles N between these roles by altering N’s conformation, its material properties when phase separated with RNA, and its membrane interactions.

In situ Raman spectroscopic experiments reveal the real-time aqueous corrosion process of silicate glasses, providing insights into dynamics and mechanisms of glass dissolution reaction.

G protein-coupled receptor di/oligomers can diversify signaling and play roles in disease. Here authors stabilized D2 dopamine receptor di/oligomers that may selectively favor complexes with the adaptor protein β-arrestin2 to bias receptor activity.

Two impact-melt fragments in Chang’e-6 lunar soils reveal that the Apollo basin was formed at ~4.16 Ga, implying a non-cataclysmic late heavy bombardment on the Moon between 3.8 and 4.0 Ga.

Sperm–egg adhesion is crucial for mammalian reproduction. Here, authors report the human Izumo1:Juno complex, a key regulator of sperm-egg adhesion, forms an unusually strong bond through a secondary binding site, which is impaired in an infertility-associated Juno mutant.

Understanding the structural origin of the anomalous properties of SiO₂ liquid and glass at high pressures is fundamental in wide range of scientific fields. Here, the authors find experimental evidence of a bimodal behavior in the translational order of silicon’s second shell and breaking of local tetrahedral symmetry in SiO₂ glass under pressure.

Current photoproximity labelling methods often require metal-based catalysts to map protein interactomes but, owing to their toxicity, they have limited intracellular applicability. A deazaflavin cofactor has now been developed as a biocompatible alternative for diazirine activation inside living cells, offering accurate mapping of protein interactors and dynamics with excellent spatio-temporal control.

Net-zero bioplastics are possible when combined with high recycling rates. This study presents a mixed polyester recycling process integrated with monomer separation and purification for both fossil- and bio-based plastics. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses confirm its environmental and commercial advantages, advancing the path toward circular, low-emission polyester plastics.

Peritumoural pancreatitis and lobular injury are commonly seen in pancreatic cancer. Here, the authors reveal interactions between invading tumour cells and inflammation-related lobular cells, linked to switching from a basal to classical tumor cell phenotype.

The high-contrast dielectric boundary between a gold–air hybrid structure and its sharp spatial features are exploited to provide the momentum required for the excitation of higher-order hyperbolic phonon polaritons.

The ground states of amorphous solids are predicted to exhibit a complex energy landscape, which cannot be explained by the theories developed for crystals. Jin and Yoshino propose a simple rheological protocol to probe these states, with a demonstration by extensive molecular dynamics simulations.

Materials that can generate physical unclonable functions (PUF) are needed for anti-counterfeiting applications. Here, self-assembly of liquid crystals with ionic liquids in a gelatin matrix is used to generate biodegradable optical PUF tags.

A data-driven approach integrates data mining, experimentation and machine learning to design high-performance adhesive hydrogels from scratch, tailored for demanding underwater environments.

Understanding of the atomic-scale mechanisms of rejuvenation of bulk metallic glass still remains unclear. Here, using configurational entropy derived from X-ray experiments, authors show a clear picture of the relaxation process during annealing of a metallic glass.

Quantifying the complexity of glass formation is difficult because it usually requires cooling at enormous speeds. Here, the authors use fast differential scanning calorimetry to classify metallic glasses into two types, one with quenched-in nuclei and one without.

Surface wear is a major hindrance in the solid/solid interface of triboelectric nanogenerators, severely affecting output performance and stability. Here, authors show metallic glass as one triboelectric interface can enhance the triboelectrification efficiency and endow the device with humidity- and wear-resistance.

The SLC45A4 gene encodes a neuronal polyamine transporter and is linked to pain response in humans and mice.

Dual cyclin A/B RxL inhibitors selectively kill small cell lung cancer cells and other cancer cells with high E2F activity.

Cells often navigate through confined spaces. Now it is shown that cells retain a mechanical memory of previous confinement events, which makes them more efficient at migrating through narrow microenvironments.

Tau aggregation, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, disrupts neuron structure. Aging weakens chaperone defenses like Hsp90. This study designs β-Hsp90, a small peptide mimicking Hsp90, to prevent Tau aggregation, offering promise for new amyloid disease drugs.

The broadband nature of most organic semiconductors limits the performance of narrowband photodetectors for near-infrared detection. Here, authors fabricate devices with a back-to-back stacked charge collection narrowing/photodiode-type double bulk heterojunction structure for self aligned imaging.

Higher-order interactions shape complex neural dynamics but are hard to model. Here, authors use a generalization of the maximum entropy principle to introduce a family of curved neural networks, revealing explosive phase transitions and enhanced memory via a self-regulating retrieval mechanism.

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 disordering of the vortex lattice in a type-II superconductor is widely perceived to underpin unusual peaks in the temperature and field dependence of critical current. By contrast, here Toft-Petersen et al. find an order-disorder transition in a superconducting vanadium sample that is unconnected with peaks observed in critical current.

The influence that actin network density has on protein penetration and dynamics is unclear. The authors show that the density of actin networks determines how actin-binding proteins interact with and deform the network, and how specific protein functions are regulated by actin density.

Spin models appear in several fields of physics and beyond, but solving many of them is a task for which no general efficient classical algorithm is known to exist. Here the authors demonstrate how a variety of spin glass models can be implemented and solved, via quantum simulation, in a system of trapped ions.

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.

Creating the motion of nanosized or microsized objects is essential for building robots at small scales. Here, Uchida et al.move photoresponsive organic crystals on a glass substrate using two lamps, which crystallize and melt the crystal front and the rear, respectively, to generate the moving force.

Bacteria and fungi provide plants with enhanced access to mineral nutrients and water, but have also served as a source of genes to succeed on land. This study shows multiple independent transfers of a key gene for metal ion transport (NAS) to various plant lineages, highlighting a complex and dynamic history of gene exchange.