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Breeding crops with delayed senescence could plausibly increase grain yield. Here the authors show that variation at the rice SGR locus contributes to differences in senescence between indica and japonica subspecies and show that introgression can increase yield in an elite indica rice variety.

Present Li-ion batteries for portable electronics are based on inorganic electrodes made through non-ecological processes. Sustainable conjugated dicarboxylate organic salt anodes showing advantageous reversible capacities and thermal stability are now reported.

The growth of Li dendrites and the accumulation of dead Li significantly undermine the safety and performance of Li metal batteries. Here, authors introduce the concept of “catalytic” effect for dead Li reconversion, leading to a Li plating/stripping efficiency of 99.89%.

During the Last Glacial Maximum, the deep Northwest Atlantic was only about 2 °C colder than today, suggesting sustained production of relatively warm North Atlantic Deep Water during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Identifying jets originating from heavy quarks plays a fundamental role in hadronic collider experiments. In this work, the ATLAS Collaboration describes and tests a transformer-based neural network architecture for jet flavour tagging based on low-level input and physics-inspired constraints.

The inclusion of a Mg–Bi-based interlayer between the lithium metal and solid electrolyte and a F-rich interlayer on the cathode improves the stability and performance of solid-state lithium-metal batteries.

Single-crystalline layered oxides can reduce capacity decay in nickel-rich cathodes, but controlling both the particle size and cation disorder is challenging. This work reports cation-disorder-free ~10-μm single-crystalline cathodes that deliver high volumetric capacity and cycle stability as well as improved safety.

The STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory demonstrates evidence of spin correlations in \(\Lambda \bar{\Lambda }\) hyperon pairs inherited from virtual spin-correlated strange quark–antiquark pairs during QCD confinement.

Viral ribonucleoprotein–viral protein networks form pre-replication centres that nucleate viral factories and drive respiratory syncytial virus replication.

In solid-state lithium metal batteries, the crystallization of Li-ions deposited at interfaces remains unclear. Here, authors use molecular dynamics simulations to reveal lithium crystallization pathways and energy barriers, guiding improved interfacial engineering and accelerated crystal growth.

This study projects the private costs and monetized climate and health damages of electrifying long-haul heavy-duty diesel trucks. Battery electric trucks yield net positive societal benefits by 2035, contingent on policies that accelerate adoption.

Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

Precise separation of ions with similar valence and size is critical. Here, authors designed a selective membrane that precisely extract Li+ from Na+ and Ca²⁺ interferences. The high selectivity and permeability enable energy-efficient, precise, and chemical-free lithium extraction using the electrodialysis process.

Boosting mitochondrial metabolism in neurons in central memory circuits by enhancing Ca²⁺ retention in the mitochondrial matrix is shown to improve long-term memory formation in flies and mice.

Functional studies of O-GlcNAcylation have often focused on individual modifications. Now, a systems-level approach has identified simultaneous O-GlcNAcylation events that coordinate cellular activities and tissue-specific functions.

Certifying multipartite entanglement can benchmark quantum devices. Here, authors introduce versatile tests that can certify genuine multipartite entanglement and k-inseparability using only few-body measurements, enabling noise-robust benchmarking of large photonic and superconducting graph states.

The authors show that plasma AT(N) biomarkers can distinguish Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration in diverse Latin American populations. Using machine learning and integrating neuroimaging, significant diagnostic accuracy was achieved, enhancing clinical assessments of these conditions in Latin America.

In this work, authors show that O-redox in 4d and 5d transition metal oxides involves the formation of molecular oxygen trapped in the particles. These results are in accord with observations in 3d oxides and show that the greater covalency of the 4d and 5d oxides does not stabilise peroxo-like species.

cellSTAAR advances noncoding rare variant association analysis by integrating single-cell genomics data.

Here, the authors show that 2’-O-methylated RNA fragments from ribosomal RNA naturally block TLR7 and TLR8, helping to avoid avoid harmful self-RNA detection and autoimmunity.

Liu et al. report Chinese normative lifespan brain charts showing later neurodevelopmental milestones than those detected in Western cohorts. Individual deviations from these norms are valuable in assessing clinical risk and outcomes.

Integrating computational analyses of T cell exhaustion and mitochondrial fitness atlases with in vivo CRISPR screens has identified KLHL6 as a dual-negative regulator of both exhaustion differentiation and mitochondrial dysfunction, highlighting its potential as a target to enhance anti-tumour immunity.

The authors achieve a high electrocaloric effect in barium titanate ceramics with a defect dipole engineering strategy. As a result, defect dipole engineering enables BaTiO₃ to achieve an electrocaloric effect over a wide temperature range.

Ferroelectric ordering of moiré excitons and collective photon emission emerge in WSe₂/WS₂ heterobilayers near the Mott state driven by strong dipolar interactions and a transition to symmetry-broken ferroelectric phases.

Producing valuable hydrocarbons electrochemically from carbon monoxide (CO) is an energy-efficient pathway, but reliance on costly pure CO as a feedstock limits its economic viability. This article shows that abundant CO-rich syngas can be directly used to synthesize ethylene.

Hexokinase detachment from the outer mitochondrial membrane is shown to support aerobic glycolysis in cancer cells. Differential localization of the HK1 isoform to the outer mitochondrial membrane, compared to the HK2 isoform, explains the conditional essentiality of HK2 in cancer cells cultured in physiologic media.

This study reports a post-assembly, reversible crosslinking strategy that enhances lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-mediated mRNA delivery while preserving efficient intracellular release. The resulting crosslinked LNPs enable improved endosomal escape, sustained in vivo expression and robust immune and antitumor responses across multiple clinically relevant LNP platforms.

Circadian clock in adipocytes maintains metabolic health by regulating mitochondrial complex I respiration.

An integrated photonics scheme is presented for the manufacture of communication systems supporting the use of fibre and wireless infrastructures simultaneously, addressing the long-standing bandwidth mismatch between the two domains and demonstrating ultrahigh data rates.

Wafer bonding has allowed the synthesis of twisted interfaces which support polar discontinuities in ferroelectric lithium niobate. Two-dimensional sheet conductivity arises but is suppressed when twist angles lead to interfacial lattice aperiodicity.

It is unclear whether the harsh abiotic conditions of drylands hinder biological invasions. This global analysis shows that drylands are vulnerable to non-native plants and are likely to become more so as native plant diversity declines and grazing pressure intensifies.

This research identifies two neural factors linked to externalizing and internalizing symptoms through a longitudinal imaging-genetic cohort. Distinct neural configurations and cognitive-behavioral relevance highlight the need for tailored therapeutic strategies addressing psychiatric comorbidity across developmental stages.

Mechanosensitive PIEZO channels sense and open through membrane tension, but their dynamic gating mechanisms at the molecular level remain unclear. A hybrid all-atom and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation approach and electrophysiology reveal a clockwork mechanism for PIEZO2 involving two open states.

Garnet-type LLZO electrolytes are considered among the most promising solid-state electrolytes for all-solid-state batteries; however, numerous challenges need to be addressed before they are integrated into a cell. By precipitating amorphous zirconium oxide onto grain boundaries, increased ionic conductivity is observed and dendrite growth is suppressed.

In a study of four brain-dead human decedents, extracorporeal liver cross-circulation using genetically modified pig livers provides essential hepatic functions, supporting the feasibility of this approach for temporary liver support as a bridge to organ transplantation.

All-solid-state batteries offer high energy density and safety but face interfacial and mechanical challenges. Here, authors present a dispersed defect toughening strategy for halide electrolytes, improving mechanical robustness without sacrificing conductivity, advancing practical use of all-solid-state batteries.

Newly developed mouse models that enable cell-specific analyses of proteostasis dynamics across the lifespan of the mice reveal key aspects of neuronal proteostasis with ageing.

Si-based all-solid-state batteries face application challenges due to the requirement of high external pressure. Here, authors prepare a double-layered Si-based electrode by cold-pressing and electrochemical sintering that enables all-solid-state batteries operating free from external pressure.

Mouse models demonstrate that vagal sensory neurons transmit signals from lung adenocarcinoma to the brain, increasing sympathetic efferent activity in the tumour microenvironment and thereby creating a immunologically permissive environment for tumour growth.

Lithium metal batteries offer high energy density for electric vehicles but face challenges with fast charging. This study investigates pyran-based electrolytes containing various substituted anions, revealing that weakly Li⁺-associating anions enhance fast-charging performance.

The discovery that an evolutionarily conserved molecule used to make cholesterol also acts as a defence against a cell-death mechanism called ferroptosis might lead to new ways to treat cancer and other clinical conditions.

Operation of lithium–sulphur batteries suffers from uncontrolled lithium polysulphide formation and corrosion at the anode. Huang et al.design an integrated anode structure composed of electrically connected graphite and lithium metal, which alleviates the problems and leads to high battery performance.

Pseudaminic acids (Pse) are a family of carbohydrates found within bacterial lipopolysaccharides, capsular polysaccharides and glycoproteins. Now, monoclonal antibodies have been developed that recognize diverse Pse across several bacterial species, enabling mapping of the Pse glycoproteome and demonstrating therapeutic potential against multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii in in vitro and in vivo infection models.

Recent work has revealed that dendritic cells (DCs) are more heterogeneous than previously thought, yet the functional roles of these newly described DC subsets remain unclear. Here, Li et al. find that in mice, TSLP from keratinocytes activates transitional DC-derived DC2 to promote GATA3⁺ regulatory T cells and mediate immunosuppression during inflammation and cancer.

Genome-wide analyses in the Norwegian HUNT study with replication in Swedish and Finnish cohorts identify host genetic variants associated with gut microbiome features and provide evidence of a causal effect of body mass index on gut microbiota composition.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

Keshishian, Mischler et al. report that a recurrent automatic speech recognition system aligns closely with brain organization: model layers map to distinct cortical regions and naturally learn to encode a parallel progression from acoustic to phonetic, lexical and semantic content.

A lab-scale proof-of-principle demonstration of a quantum network comprising one server chip and 20 client photonic chips implementing twin-field quantum key distribution shows excellent scalability and reliability and yields a pathway towards future large-scale networks.