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Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is a common clinical intervention used for unresectable liver tumors, but conventional embolic microspheres generally exhibit slack vascular stacking and suboptimal drug release. Here, Guo et al. report tumor vessel-adaptable, adhesive, and absorbable microspheres (3Asphere) for sustained TACE therapy of liver tumors.

Pl@ntBERT is a language-based AI model that learned the ‘syntax’ of plant assemblages, predicting likely species and inferring habitats by modelling biotic relationships.

Integrated multi-omic analyses using samples from the TRACERx study highlight cross-talk between DNA hypermethylation and genomic lesions in non-small cell lung cancer.

Analysis of soundscape data from 139 globally distributed sites reveals that sounds of biological origin exhibit predictable rhythms depending on location and season, whereas sounds of anthropogenic origin are less predictable. Comparisons between paired urban–rural sites show that urban green spaces are noisier and dominated by sounds of technological origin.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.

Adenoviral transfer of NT-3 and CNTF genes provides therapeutic benefit to mice with motor neuron disease (pages 429–436).

Pérez-González et al. explore the mechanical properties of intestinal organoids, and report the existence of distinct mechanical domains and that cells are pulled out of the central crypt along a gradient of increasing tension.

An analysis of fish and macroinvertebrate communities in European rivers over 32 years shows that inland ship traffic is associated with declining taxonomic richness, diversity and trait richness and with increased taxonomic evenness.

Analysing 27 years of freshwater invertebrate biomonitoring data from European rivers, the authors show that although some commonly used biodiversity metrics can reflect anthropogenic impacts at broad spatial scales, there was little consistency among other metrics in accurately reflecting community responses.

Anderson localization has been previously reported in 1D and 3D but it has remained elusive in 2D environments. Here the authors report probable observation of 2D Anderson localization using ultracold atoms in a weak interaction regime.

A comparison of alpha diversity (number of plant species) and dark diversity (species that are currently absent from a site despite being ecologically suitable) demonstrates the negative effects of regional-scale anthropogenic activity on plant diversity.

Analyses of genome and exome sequencing data identify rare coding and structural variants associated with atrial fibrillation and highlight genetic links between atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathies.

Beck et al. conducted single-cell and spatial profiling of embryonal tumors with multilayered rosettes, finding that malignant cellular hierarchies are driven by developmental programs and specific members of the chromosome 19 microRNA cluster.

Cas9 DNA targeting is inherently sequence specific but not temporally controlled. Here, authors spatiotemporally couple Cas9 activity to target site transcription in eukaryotes and exploit this to preferentially edit the more highly transcribed of two alleles that harbor identical Cas9 targets.

A multi-omics approach reveals host–microbiome interactions in aging in mice.

This study investigates long-term trajectories of post-traumatic-stress-disorder symptoms of World Trade Center responders (n = 12,822), revealing highly variable symptom trajectories and 10% of responders experiencing persistence or worsening of symptoms after 20 years.

The authors present SVclone, a computational method for inferring the cancer cell fraction of structural variants from whole-genome sequencing data.

Understanding species’ spatiotemporal dynamics is key to predicting their responses to climate change. Here, the authors combine landscape genomics, demographic reconstructions, and species distribution models to assess lineage-specific responses to past and future climate in a migratory raptor.

Improvements in European freshwater biodiversity occurred mainly before 2010 but have since plateaued, and communities downstream of dams, urban areas and cropland were less likely to experience recovery.

PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are regulatory RNAs that bind to PIWI proteins to control transposons and maintain genome integrity. Here the authors characterized their binding specificity and reveal the 5′ nucleotide bias of the Drosophila Piwi protein, through mutation of its specificity loop.

Cancers evolve as they progress under differing selective pressures. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, the authors present the method TrackSig the estimates evolutionary trajectories of somatic mutational processes from single bulk tumour data.

Experiments in zebrafish and human tissues show that, during retinal morphogenesis, emerging photoreceptor cells migrate in a bidirectional manner, which lessens competition for space and helps to ensure that the retina is formed correctly.

Here, the authors use a massively parallel reporter assay RNA polymerase II massively systematic transcript end readout, to quantify factors that influence transcriptional start site selection in the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to reveal patterns of dependence on DNA sequence, RNA polymerase II activity and nucleoside triphosphate abundance.

The global biodiversity decline might conceal complex local and group-specific trends. Here the authors report a quantitative synthesis of longterm biodiversity trends across Europe, showing how, despite overall increase in biodiversity metric and stability in abundance, trends differ between regions, ecosystem types, and taxa.

piggyBat is the only known DNA transposon active in mammals. Here the authors used cellular assays and 3D structure to show that sequences within the transposon ends restrict activity, and also how transposition activity can be substantially increased.

A global shortage of suitable donor kidneys is the primary challenge in kidney transplantation. In this Review, the authors describe different methods of donor kidney preservation, discussing the strengths and limitations of each method and noting how advances in donor organ perfusion could improve organ utilization and patient outcomes.

Anaemia is a clinical hallmark of advanced kidney disease, characterized by insufficient erythropoiesis due to inadequate erythropoietin production in the kidney, inflammation and iron deficiency. Here, Mark Koury and Volker Haase discuss the hypoxic regulation of erythropoiesis and renal erythropoietin production, providing insight into the inter-relationships between erythropoietin synthesis, erythrocyte production, iron metabolism and inflammatory mediators. They also describe current clinical experience with pharmacologic activators of hypoxia-inducible factor signalling as an emerging approach to the treatment of renal anaemia.

MYCN amplification is common in neuroblastomas. Here the authors analyse the MYCN amplicon structure and its epigenetic regulation by integrating short- and longread genomic and epigenomic data and find two classes of MYCN amplicons in neuroblastomas, one driven by local enhancers and the other by hijacking of distal regulatory elements.