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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.

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.

The Peruvian Amazon is facing the highest known input of mercury pollution of any ecosystem globally. Intact forests located near artisanal gold mining are particularly at risk from this toxin.

A Middle Triassic diapsid is presented that has a distinctive crest consisting of integumentary appendages that are structurally distinct from avemetatarsalian feathers.

Here the authors identify TNIP1 as a risk factor for a fatal neurodegenerative disorder and discover specific genetic loci associated with the three main subtypes of this disorder. The findings highlight distinct disease mechanisms, emphasizing the roles of immunity and the notch signaling pathway.

Clarke, Hawkinson and colleagues study the contribution of glycogen accumulation in the onset and progression of lung cancer.

The interaction between the polyelectrolytic IDP ProTα and a highly charged folded protein domain is investigated by integrating NMR, single-molecule FRET and MD simulations. Net charge and charge distribution are implicated in binding and selectivity.

Two side-by-side papers report that the transcription elongation factor ELOF1 drives transcription-coupled repair and prevents replication stress.

Pecan is an important specialty crop that has experienced extensive interspecific hybridization and nearly-obligate outcrossing. Here, the authors assemble diploid genomes of four outbred genotypes, identify interspecific introgressions through comparative genomics analyses, and map QTLs associated with pest resistance.

Tracheal tuft cells have been shown to facilitate the recruitment of immune cells during infection of the airways. Here the authors show that P. aeruginosa lung infection in mice activates tuft cells to release ATP which subsequently activates DC and promotes IL-17A secreting T cells.

The authors investigate out-of-equilibrium crystallization of a binary mixture of sphere-like nanoparticles in small droplets. They observe the spontaneous formation of an icosahedral structure with stable MgCu₂ phases, which are promising for photonic applications.

Antiferromagnets exhibit high frequency magnons, in the THz regime, a point potentially useful for applications, however, it has meant that detecting spin-fluctuations in antiferromagnets is typically too fast for current experimental approaches. Here Weiss et al use femtosecond noise correlation spectroscopy to observe magnon fluctuations in Sm0.7Er0.3FeO3.

Superheavy nuclei are synthesized in the laboratory through the fusion of lighter nuclei. Here the authors study multinucleon transfer and interactions during the early stages of nuclear fusion in the collision of ⁴⁰Ca and ²⁰⁸Pb nuclei showing early onset of complexity.

A panel of seven conditional Ly6e knockout mice are used to show that Ly6e expression protects the respiratory tract from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and mouse hepatitis virus infection.

Antibody based biologics are a rapidly growing class of therapeutics with interest to enhance their performance, distribution, longevity and effectivity. Here, authors report the engineering of human IgG Fc to enhance plasma half-life, mucosal distribution and killing of cancer cells and bacteria.

Polyamine metabolism is frequently dysregulated in cancers. Here, the authors show that a polyamine biosynthetic enzyme, spermine synthase, is overexpressed in colorectal cancers and cooperates with MYC to prevent cancer cell apoptosis by repression of proapoptotic protein, Bim.

DNA damage inhibits elongating RNA polymerase II, but also initiates genome-wide transcriptional responses. Here the authors reveal that particularly promoter-bound Pol II is degraded upon DNA damage in a GSK3 signaling-mediated response.

This study on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) reveals global genomic gaps. Using INFORM-RSV data, it uncovers selection’s impact on RSVA and RSVB diversity. Analysing full genomes, it highlights non-neutral epidemic processes. The research emphasises air travel’s influence on global spread, underscoring the need for comprehensive RSV genomic surveillance.

Kuhm et al. reveal how human guanylate-binding protein 1 (GBP1) dimers self-associate to coat bacterial pathogens and uncover a guanosine triphosphate hydrolase-dependent membrane-remodeling activity of GBP1 that is crucial for intracellular immunity

Lagerpetids, bipedal archosaurs that are thought to be related to dinosaurs, are instead a sister group to pterosaurs, and although they have no obvious flight adaptations they share numerous synapomorphies with pterosaurs across the entire skeleton.

Cryo-EM structure and dynamics analysis provides a conformational mechanism for tuning of selectivity between calcitonin and amylin receptors through targeted lipid modification of residues 19–22 within the ‘bypass’ motif of amylin peptides.

Although paclitaxel is widely used as a chemotherapy, it suffers from poor solubility and toxicity issues. Here, the authors develop thermostable RNA nanoparticles and report the RNA-paclitaxel complex to display improved stability, drug loading capacity and solubility for improved targeted cancer therapy and reduced immune responses.

The size and shape of the inner ear, or bony labyrinth, is thought to be related to ecological adaptations in vertebrates. Here, the authors examine this relationship in turtles across 230 million years of evolution, unexpectedly finding large labyrinth size and no association with ecology.

The functional morphology of the fluid-filled semicircular ducts of the inner ear is adapted to body temperature and behavioural activity and can be used to investigate the evolution of endothermy.

Efficient use of high-energy, or “hot”, carriers could increase the efficiency of solar cells, provided efficient extraction of electrons at a specific energy. Here, the authors show the presence of hot-electron transfer between two quantum dot species, allowing facile optimization of the extraction energy.

The damage caused by the asteroid 17–20 metres in diameter that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on 15 February 2013 is estimated here to have an energy equivalent to about 500 kilotons of TNT.

Snail1 is a key factor controlling epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and cancer metastasis. While the E3 ligases responsible for Snail1 ubiquitination and degradation have been defined, the deubiquitinating enzyme is unknown. Here Zhou and colleagues show that Dub3 stabilizes Snail1 by removing ubiquitin, thus impacting breast cancer cell metastasis.

The authors show that lipid nanodiscs of different scaffold type and size alter the structure of the pentameric ligand-gated ion channel, ELIC. The results suggest that nanodisc selection is an important consideration for structural studies of membrane proteins.

In order to find a general treatment for cancer, this study found that MTH1 activity is essential for the survival of transformed cells, and isolated two small-molecule inhibitors of MTH1, TH287 and TH588 — in the presence of these inhibitors, damaged nucleotides are incorporated into DNA only in cancer cells, causing cytotoxicity and eliciting a beneficial response in patient-derived mouse xenograft models.

The molecular mechanism underlying the resistance of AKT inhibitors in breast cancer is still elusive. Here, the authors demonstrate that BRD4/FOXO3a axis upregulates CDK6 promoter activity to promote resistance to AKT inhibition in breast cancer cells and that blocking the action of CDK6 re-sensitizes resistant cancer cells to growth inhibition.

Rabi dynamics between the ground state and an excited state in helium atoms are generated using femtosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulses from a seeded free-electron laser, which may allow ultrafast manipulation of coherent processes at short wavelengths.