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Natural disasters induce power outages with unequal impacts on poverty and non-poverty counties in China. Climate change will further exacerbate this disparity.

The authors develop a low carbon cement-based material which exhibits hierarchical structure with low density (0.75 g cm⁻³), high specific compressive strength (344 (kN m⁻²)/(kg m⁻³)) and fracture toughness (4865 kJ m⁻³).

Monolayer amorphous carbon (a-C) has attracted attention due to its structural and electronic properties, but its synthesis has so far required the use of metal substrates. Here, the authors report the Te-assisted growth of large-scale 2D a-C patterns on various insulating substrates, confirming their insulating properties in quantum tunnelling devices.

This study uses brain recordings, self-reports, and facial analysis to decode acute pain in epilepsy patients. Machine learning reveals stable neural markers in mesolimbic, striatal, and cortical regions, plus facial cues, enabling reliable pain detection in naturalistic settings.

Over 20 species of geographically and phylogenetically diverse bird species produce convergent whining vocalizations towards their respective brood parasites. Model presentation and playback experiments across multiple continents suggest that these learned calls provoke an innate response even among allopatric species.

Planning for the Colorado River is critical to secure water and hydropower for the western US under climate change. This study highlights how different policies may reduce but not eliminate the risk of losing water and energy supply altogether.

An inherently explainable AI trained on 1,015 expert-annotated prostate tissue images achieved strong Gleason pattern segmentation while providing interpretable outputs and addressing interobserver variability in pathology.

Near-infrared mechanoluminescence can be used in biostress imaging, but is subject to limitations in terms of the pre-irradiation process and low intensity. Here, the authors have circumvented these limitations by constructing an MgO/MgF₂:Cr³⁺ heterojunction piezo-photonics system.

A proteotoxic stress response specific to exhausted T cells, governed by AKT signaling and accompanied by increased protein translation, represents a mechanistic vulnerability and a new therapeutic target to improve cancer immunotherapies.

Renewable-fuelled plant factories (RFPFs) offer great promise for resilient food production. This study presents a multidimensional geospatial analysis to devise RFPF deployment schemes that aim to meet the population’s dietary vegetable demand in China’s 369 city-level regions.

Spherical polar topological structures are of interest as they could enable high-density memory applications; however, such texture formation requires superlattices with delicately balanced boundary conditions to form. Here it is found that these textures can form in free-standing CuInP₂S₆, and that mechanical force can generate high-density domains.

Cells struggle to migrate on soft substrates, which don’t provide enough traction. Here, the authors show that rapid, cyclic changes in substrate rigidity allow cells to overcome this limitation and move quickly.

White adipose tissue (WAT) dysfunction leads to ageing-related metabolic disorders. Here, the authors show that the FMO3-TMAO axis in adipocytes induces senescence and inflammation in WAT microenvironment via NLRP3 inflammasome, leading to systemic glucose, lipid, and energy dysregulation in ageing

Wang, He, Gong and colleagues identify an age-related decline in the palmitoyltransferase ZDHHC11 in chondrocytes that leads to senescence and the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis, highlighting the potential of targeted ZDHHC11 delivery as a therapeutic strategy for osteoarthritis.

Achieving high selectivity in CO₂-to-methanol conversion remains challenging. This study uses defect-engineered In₂O₃/ZrO₂ catalysts featuring abundant oxygen vacancies, significantly boosting methanol productivity and selectivity.

Liquid films are essential in semiconductor lithography but microscopic behaviors of photoresist within these films remain unclear. This study uses cryo-electron tomography to reconstruct photoresist structures, achieving 99% defect reduction.

A complementary analysis of DESI DR2 distance measurements along with supernova and CMB data shows consistent, moderate evidence that dark energy changes over time rather than behaving as a simple cosmological constant.

Recently, anti-resonant hollow-core fibers have emerged as an important medium for high-power laser delivery. Here, authors demonstrate a highly efficient, all-fiber delivery of 2 kW laser over 2.45 km, using a self-fabricated AR-HCF with a record low transmission loss of 0.168 dB/km at 1080 nm.

Here the authors perform a trans expression quantitative trait locus meta-analysis study of over 3,700 people and link a USP18 variant to expression of 50 inflammation genes and lupus risk, highlighting how genetic regulation of immune responses drives autoimmune disease and informs new therapies.

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.

DNA damage from chemotherapy can activate cGAS–STING and interferon pathways. Here, the authors show that cGAS–STING signaling is specific to DNA rich in CA repeats, whereas DNA not rich in CA repeats is detected by AIM2, resulting in opposing tumor immune responses.

The experimental demonstration of many-body signal amplification in a solid-state, room-temperature quantum sensor is reported.

An approach that integrates electrochemical CO₂ reduction and biological denitrification provides a new solution for nitrogen removal, where the formate obtained from CO₂ is used directly as the carbon source in the denitrification process in wastewater treatment.

This study introduces WinnowNet, a deep learning-based method incorporating curriculum learning to enhance peptide identification in metaproteomics. WinnowNet consistently outperforms existing tools across diverse datasets, offering improved insights into microbial communities.

High-resolution computed tomography is used to reconstruct and analyse fossils of the herbivorous tritylodontid Polistodon and a newly named morganucodontid species called Camurocondylus, providing key insights into the evolution of the mammalian jaw joint.

Polygenic risk scores can help identify individuals at higher risk of type 2 diabetes. Here, the authors characterise a multi-ancestry score across nearly 900,000 people, showing that its predictive value depends on demographic and clinical context and extends to related traits and complications.

Indonesian cattle are unique due to their history of admixture involving both zebu and banteng. Here, Wang et al. identify ~3.5 million novel introgressed SNP variants and provide a genomic map of banteng introgression within and across many cattle breeds, each with unique introgression histories.

This study reports widespread loss of mountain vegetation worldwide from 2000 to 2020, with ∼89% attributable to human expansion, primarily agriculture. Over half of this loss occurred within protected areas and other biodiversity-rich areas, threatening conservation efforts.

Anti-TSLP biologics have shown promise for the clinical treatment of type 2 respiratory disease. Here the authors present a clinical trial of CM326, a monoclonal antibody against TSLP, and show the clinical effects in patients with eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (ECRSwNP), who present with type 2-dominant inflammation.

High-resolution ALMA observations reveal a gravitationally bound septuple protostar system in NGC 6334IN, formed through disk fragmentation. This discovery sheds light on the formation of extreme high-order multiplicity in massive stellar clusters.

In the randomized phase 3 AMPLITUDE trial, patients with HRR-deficient mCSPC experienced longer progression-free survival when they were treated with niraparib and AAP compared to placebo and AAP.

NatD is an acetyltransferase responsible for N-α-terminal acetylation of the histone H4 and H2A and has been linked to cell growth. Here the authors show that NatD-mediated acetylation of histone H4 serine 1 competes with the phosphorylation by CK2α at the same residue thus leading to the upregulation of Slug and tumor progression.

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.

Covalent polymers with helical conformations offer an adaptive scaffold for smart materials, but polymer-to-monomer deconstruction is inhibited by the covalent backbone. Now it has been shown that poly(disulfide)s can be folded into helices driven by side-chain hydrogen-bonding self-assembly, resulting in a synthetic helical polymer that can be fully recycled.

The pachycephalosaurian Zavacephale rinpoche, from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia, provides crucial insights into the early evolution of dome-headed dinosaurs, including the development of the frontoparietal dome and decoupling of sociosexual and somatic maturity.

Delocalized radical systems are appealing for controlling stereoselectivity in organic synthesis. Here the authors report on a Co(II)-based enantioselective radical system for the dearomative 1,7-conjugate amination of readily available 4-vinylphenols with aryl azides.

Controlling the reactivity of the propagating chain end in polymerization reactions is crucial for achieving well-defined polymers. Here, the authors present a strategy for processive catalytic polymerization by encapsulating catalysts for ring-opening metathesis polymerization into the sub-surface cages of a metal-organic framework.

The authors develop a molecular dopant to avoid the dimerization of the electron-selective material phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester, resulting in enhanced stability and efficiency in inverted perovskite solar cells.

Native crystallographic defects are often introduced during synthesis of battery materials, but has been overlooked. Here, using in situ synchrotron X-ray probes and electron microscopy, the authors have revealed their adverse effect during battery operation.

An optical slab waveguide with highly programmable nonlinear functionality is described, enabling the demonstration of versatile control over broadband second-harmonic generation across the spectral, spatial and spatio-spectral domains.

The authors observe robust ferroelectricity, characterized by a wake-up-free effect and endurance up to 10¹² cycles, in monoclinic Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ single-crystalline films. This ferroelectric behavior originates from a polar monoclinic variant (space group Pc) stabilized by antiphase boundaries.

Distinguishing glioblastoma and primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) remains challenging due to their overlapping pathology features. Here, the authors develop a computational tool, PICTURE, for differentiating similar pathological features enabling improved diagnosis of CNS tumours.

This study presents 3D-SpecDIM, a method capable of concurrently capturing both rapid 3D positional dynamics and physicochemical parameter changing dynamics of the biomolecules, enabling high-speed 3D tracking and spectral analysis in live cells.

Genetic mutations causing hereditary deafness, including autosomal dominant non-syndromic deafness 15 (DFNA15), currently have no effective treatment. Here, authors establish a Pou4f3^WT/Q113* mutant mouse model and engineer and deliver an adenine base editor for near-complete hearing recovery.

Tree cover gains in the moist tropics (1982–2015) were 56% naturally regenerated forests and 27% managed tree systems, with forest type influencing carbon recovery. Effective forest restoration requires robust tracking of forest types established by restoration efforts.

The authors identify two coexisting incommensurate charge density waves whose interplay leads to joint commensuration and a long-period moiré structure.

This study quantitatively identifies contaminant loss as the dominant limitation for silica microcavity Q factors. Through laser polishing and thermal annealing, a record-high Q of 8.28 × 10⁹ is achieved, enabling fully stabilized soliton microcombs with >60.6 dB repetition-rate phase-noise suppression.