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MgCl₂ is shown to be a cheap and non-toxic replacement for the costly and environmentally unfriendly salt CdCl₂ that has long been used as the ‘activation’ step in the production of cadmium telluride solar cells.

Microorganisms can form complex, spatially organized communities that are coordinated by both physical and chemical intercellular interactions, as well as by other molecules present in the surrounding environment. Here, Whiteley and colleagues describe a number of microscale techniques for reproducing small bacterial communities in the laboratory. They also discuss the analytical tools available to monitor the impact of spatial organization on both bacterial behaviour and the generation of phenotypic heterogeneity.

SUMO modification regulates protein function, with SENP enzymes controlling SUMO removal. Here, the authors present crystal structures of SENP5 bound to SUMO1 and SUMO2, revealing how structural features drive its preference for SUMO2 and offering insights into SUMOylation regulation.

The effect of hydrogen embrittlement on metal nanostructures is still unclear. Here, the authors combine nanomechanical testing and molecular dynamics simulations to show that hydrogen can suppress surface dislocation nucleation in silver nanowires.

Suo et al. show that sulfonium-based molecules afford formamidinium lead iodide perovskites protection against environmental stress factors, improved phase stability and solar cells retaining efficiency over 4,500-h operational stability tests.

Known genetic loci account for only a fraction of the genetic contribution to Alzheimer’s disease. Here, the authors have performed a large genome-wide meta-analysis comprising 409,435 individuals to discover 6 new loci and demonstrate the efficacy of an Alzheimer’s disease polygenic risk score.

Mass-independent fractionation of sulphur isotopes in basalts from the oceanic island of Mangaia (Cook Islands) indicates ancient subducted Archaean (>2.45 Gyr) oceanic crust and lithosphere survives in the mantle to be sampled beneath hotspot volcanoes.

This paper reports the use of mass cytometry on adherent cells and tissue samples for highly multiplexed imaging at subcellular resolution.

The wurtzite crystal structure of nitride semiconductors results in strong piezoelectricity. Here, the authors also achieve electric-field control of the magnetization of gallium manganese nitride, thus showing that piezoelectric and magnetoelectric effects can be combined in the same material.

To reach terabit density in random access memory devices, the select switching and storage components need to be improved. Here, the authors fabricate a fully stackable switching device based on chalcogenides, which reaches an exceptional performance following reactive nitrogen and nitrogen plasma treatments.

High-quality wafer-scale single-crystal monolayer graphene is achieved on sapphire substrate, by epitaxially growing graphene at the Cu(111)/sapphire interface and then detaching Cu film via immersion in liquid nitrogen and rapid heating.

Bilayer graphene (BLG) is promising for optoelectronic applications due to its tunable bandgap, but its large-area growth on Cu substrates is still challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate the fast synthesis of high-coverage meter-scale BLG on commercial Cu foils by introducing CO₂ during the growth.

Long-term stability of organic solar cells is critical to promote practical applications. Here, the authors utilize iridium/iridium oxide nanoparticles as the electron-transporting material and realize enhanced device stabilities under thermal aging with T70 of over 10000 h.

The COSIMA mass spectrometer on the Rosetta spacecraft has analysed the solid organic matter found in dust particles emitted by comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko; this matter is similar to the insoluble organic matter extracted from carbonaceous chondrites such as the Murchison meteorite, but is perhaps more primitive.

All-solid-state lithium-metal batteries are at the forefront of battery research and development. Here C. Wang and colleagues have developed an interlayer design strategy to address issues associated with lithium dendrite growth and interface resistance, resulting in substantial improvements in battery performance.

A certified efficiency of 26.4% in all-perovskite tandem solar cells, exceeding that of the best-performing single-junction perovskite solar cells, is achieved by control over surface defects in the Pb–Sn subcell.

Antimony selenide possess several advantages for solar cell applications but state-of-the-art vapor transport deposition methods suffer from poor film quality. Here Wen et al. develop a fast and cheap method to reduce the defect density by 10 times and achieve a certified power conversion efficiency of 7.6%.

Oxygen isotope compositions of dated magmatic zircon show that the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia, Earth’s best-preserved Archaean continental remnant, was built in three stages initiated by a giant meteorite impact.

The development of high energy lithium metal batteries is affected by the mass loading of the cathode. Here, the authors report a lithium metal pouch cell with a cathode capacity of 12 mAh cm-2. The positive electrode is prepared by applying UV-curable gel electrolyte as a processing solvent.

The upper mantle can be highly heterogeneous in its carbon isotopic signature, recording variable influence from subducted carbon, according to carbon isotopic measurements by secondary ion mass spectrometry in CO₂-undersaturated olivine-hosted melt inclusions in MORB basalt.

Quantum emitters in Si show promise for applications in quantum information processing and communication due to their potential as spin-photon interfaces. Jhuria et al. report the formation of selected telecom emitters in Si using local writing and erasing by fs laser pulses and annealing in a hydrogen atmosphere.

The open-circuit-voltage deficit of cadmium selenide telluride solar cells is typically higher than that of other photovoltaic technologies yet the reasons are unclear. Now, Onno et al. use photoluminescence techniques to break down the contributions of dopants and back contacts to voltage losses.

The amber deposits from Kachin, Myanmar have provided numerous insights into life in the Cretaceous ~99 million years ago. Here, Zheng and colleagues describe a new Late Cretaceous amber biota from Tilin, Myanmar, dating from ~72 million years ago and preserving a diverse insect assemblage.

Here, the authors describe BioE3, a biotin-based method to discriminate direct substrates of ubiquitin E3 ligases of interest from mere interactors using proximity proteomics. BioE3 responds to chemical treatments, and works with RING- and HECT-type E3s, as well as ubiquitin-likes (e.g., SUMO).

Youngest Toba Tuff glass shards found together with evidence of human occupation at two archaeological sites from the southern coast of South Africa indicate that early modern humans thrived in this region despite the eruption of the Toba supervolcano about 74,000 years ago.

Post-translational protein modification can modulate neuronal activity and function. Here, Henley and colleagues discuss the emerging data on the roles of protein SUMOylation in various aspects of nervous-system function and in the pathology of several neurological disorders.

Here, the authors study the effects of expression quantitative trait loci on enhancer activity and promoter contacts in primary monocytes isolated from male individuals, suggesting an inherent genetic link between the activity of enhancers, their contacts to target gene promoters and gene expression.

Small proteins encoded by previously assumed non-coding RNAs can have cell regulatory functions. Here the authors report that TINCR lncRNA encodes pTINCR, a ubiquitin-like protein (UBL) that promotes epithelial differentiation through the SUMOylation and activation of CDC42, and it has tumour suppressor activity in epithelial cancers.

Working with cancer genomes from multiple projects can increase investigative power, but quality of sequences can vary. Here, the authors present a framework for comparing whole genome sequencing quality to help researchers guide downstream analyses and exclude poor quality samples.

Activity patterns in the hippocampus resemble temporal relations of learned event sequences. Here, the authors show that these relational memories arise through mnemonic construction and are generalized to reflect the temporal event structure.

Polygenic risk scores for Alzheimer’s disease derived from individuals of European ancestry can show improved performance in multiancestry settings after incorporating genome-wide association summary statistics from diverse populations.