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Freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity are declining quickly. By integrating global environmental, socioeconomic, and biological data, this study identifies the key conditions associated with imperilment of freshwater fishes.

Taking advantage of the abundant renewable energy sources along seashores, this work describes a three-chamber electrolyser that combines electrolysis and desalination to produce both freshwater and green hydrogen.

Florets of indica rice open earlier than japonica rice, hindering utilization of the cross subspecies heterosis. Here, the authors show that an OsMYB8-OsJAR1 module regulates diurnal floret opening time divergences between the two subspecies.

Climate change threatens the future of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Here the authors show that individual drainage basins have different thresholds and loss patterns, suggesting the need to consider the dynamical interactive nature of the basins and their individual tipping points.

SCCmec is a large mobile genetic element that confers resistance to β-lactam antibiotics in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Here, the authors show that biofilm growth conditions enhance the efficiency of natural transformation in S. aureus and allow the transfer of SCCmec to methicillin-sensitive strains.

Vertical transmission is thought to favour beneficial host–microbe interactions, but these may also be context dependent. Here Bruijning et al. show with a model that variable environments can select for bet-hedging by hosts via imperfect vertical transmission of microbes.

Soil microbial populations bloom and then die-off in ecosystems with seasonal snowpack. This study showed that distinct taxa utilize different N sources for growth or energy during the microbial bloom and alter the fate of N after snowmelt.

Behaviour changes, rather than vaccination or postinfection immunity, best explained the sudden decline of mpox cases among men who have sex with men during an outbreak in the Paris region in 2022, according to a network model and survey data.

3-Hydroxypropionic acid (3HP) is a top Department of Energy value-added chemical and precursor to bioplastics, yet cost-effective microbial bioproduction remains elusive. Here the authors establish efficient 3HP production in an acid tolerant yeast and validate its financially viability.

Kathiriya et al. identify a cardiac progenitor lineage with expression of Tbx5 and anterior heart field-specific expression of Mef2c that bisects the intraventricular septum during development and show that alterations in this lineage lead to congenital heart defects in mice.

CaBLAM is a bioluminescent genetically encoded calcium indicator that delivers high-contrast signals as shown in cell culture, in the in vivo mouse brain and in zebrafish larvae.

Atmospheric chemistry models and observation networks in China may underestimate particulate dry nitrogen deposition due to inadequate representation of the particle size distribution and dry deposition mechanisms, impacting nitrogen deposition modelling used for public health decisions and climate change projections.

Vision–language deep neural network models better explain human visual cortex activity than vision-only models. Damaging brain connections between visual and language areas reverses this pattern, suggesting that human visual perception is modulated by language.

The reactive nitrogen (Nr)-driven atmospheric multiphase buffering can induce unintended Concomitant Pollution. Given the importance of NH₃ in this process, rising global NH₃ emissions has positioned Concomitant Pollution as an urgent challenge.

Iron-rich sediments are transferred from Antarctic mountains to the coast by glacial systems. Sediments that reach ice shelf fronts provide iron to ocean phytoplankton, increasing CO2 uptake; this could increase with climate warming.

Forested catchments are vital hydrological hotspots, yet a global analysis of their runoff processes remains elusive. This study synthesizes data from 691 forested catchments worldwide, testing eight hypotheses to reveal how biotic and abiotic factors influence runoff generation and providing new insights for land, water and forest management across diverse climates.

Deciphering body-brain communication pathways is key to a deeper understanding of brain physiology and pathology. Here, the authors define the astrocyte endfoot proteome and show dynamic vascular-to-astrocyte signaling relevant to human neuropathology.

Using data from the CoVPN 3008 study, the authors show that the neutralizing antibody correlate of risk holds in people living with HIV. However, the nAb correlate was weaker and shorter-lived in a vaccine-immunity versus hybrid-immunity population.

This study describes a targeted artificial evolution strategy to create a continuum of compact phenotypes in cucurbit crops for higher yield and labour efficiency, based on screening natural populations and artificially generating novel variants.

This study identifies the Giant Oval Cavity as a large, long-lived superbubble in the Perseus Arm. Its slow expansion, sustained by frequent supernovae, balances Galactic shear and turbulent pressure, revealing a quasi-stationary feedback structure crucial for galactic evolution.

The face reveals more than just emotion. Cazettes, Reato and colleagues show that subtle facial movements reveal hidden cognitive states, reflecting the brain’s ongoing computations and offering a noninvasive window into unexpressed thoughts and decisions.

A highly scalable approach is used to generate 3,000 genome-wide maps of transcription factor binding in ten flowering plants, along with multi-species single-nucleus RNA-seq atlases. Together, the results reveal both ancient regulation and key regulatory adaptations.

Shape-changing robots face control complexity that limits their capabilities. Here, authors develop a genetic algorithm that optimizes actuator grouping, contraction ratios, and timing. This enables complex shape adaptations with fewer control units, which is validated through simulations and physical prototypes.

Meteorite impacts can create long-lived hydrothermal systems that may spark onset of microbial life. At Finland’s Lappajärvi crater, minerals in fractures contain biosignatures of microbial life related to the hydrothermal circulation, offering clues to deep microbial colonization of Earth and beyond.

Nutrient competition is a major obstacle to probiotic survival and success in treating inflammatory bowel disease. Here, the authors report on an ameba-inspired food-carrying strategy developed to provide a prebound food supply, free from competition, to improve probiotic survival increasing therapeutic potential.

Dietary n-6 PUFAs enhance adipose tissue expandability through the PPARγ–LPCAT3 membrane remodelling axis.

A multi-objective optimization water–energy model explores the effect of dam re-operation strategies to minimize hydrological alterations in the Lower Mekong. Dam re-operation provides a feasible opportunity for the restoration of key elements of hydrological variability without hindering hydropower production.

Confining plasma and managing disruptions in tokamak devices is a challenge. Here the authors demonstrate a method predicting and possibly preventing disruptions and macroscopic instabilities in tokamak plasma using data from JET.

Light-responsive polymers with polarization-dependent deformation are promising material to develop tunable devices usually limited by irreversible dynamic control. Here, the authors use controlled polarization of visible light to produce arbitrary deformations into amorphous composites containing azopolymer microdomains to unlock the next level of complex actuation in soft lightdriven robots.

Eremophilanes represent a prominent class of sesquiterpenoid natural products. Here, the authors report a series of eremophilane derivatives, including the aromatic structures of farfugin A and aza-janthinellin A, and the non-aromatic structure of phomenonol A, and show that the formation of farfugin A and aza-janthinellin A involves ring arrangement and aromatization process initiated by heteroatom nucleophilic addition and mediated by a FAD-dependent monooxygenase.

Interactions among insects, plants, and microorganisms are fundamental for ecosystem function. This study focuses on the attraction of oriental armyworm moths to yeast-fermented nectar and finds that isoamyl alcohol, a yeast-derived compound, activates specific olfactory neurons in the moths, enhancing yeast dispersal and moth reproduction.