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A fresh approach to protein design that incorporates excited intermediate states enables precise control over the lifetime of protein interactions, with potential applications in cell-signalling modulation and in biosensors and synthetic circuits.

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.

Supersonic turbulence is relevant to astrophysical plasmas with their study mostly limited to numerical simulations. Here the authors demonstrate supersonic turbulence in collisional high Mach number plasma jets generated in laboratory by using high power lasers.

Polygenic scores for body mass index and obesity constructed using data from 5 million people with different ancestries were associated with distinct weight gain trajectories from early childhood to adulthood.

In preclinical studies, the FDA approved TSP-1 antagonist gabapentin has been shown to disrupt neuronal-glioma interactions, slowing glioblastoma progression. Here, authors report a retrospective cohort study demonstrating a survival benefit associated with gabapentin in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma.

Superlattices, with a length scale and structure that differs from the parent lattice of the host material, are well-known to allow for remarkable new electronic and magnetic properties. Here, Xie et al. synthesize Cr_1/4TaS₂, and find that it exhibits an unusual anomalous Hall effect below the Néel temperature even in stoichiometric high-quality crystals.

Ferroelectric tunnel junctions, where electrical transport occurs across two electrodes separated by a ferroelectric layer, could be used for future non-volatile computer memories. Here, the authors employ graphene as an electrode in tunnel junctions for interface-facilitated enhancement of device performance.

Fibrin drives inflammation and neuropathology in SARS-CoV-2 infection, and fibrin-targeting immunotherapy may represent a therapeutic intervention for patients with long COVID.

Synthesis of heterostructures of magnetic intercalation compounds in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) via directed topotactic reactions enables the creation of multi-component magnetic architectures, overcoming limitations of crystallographic incommensurability

Kim et al. show that NAD⁺ kinase 2 serves as a source of mitochondrial NADPH to support mitochondrial fatty acid synthesis, protein lipoylation and mitochondrial oxidative metabolism.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis study of blood lipid levels in roughly 1.6 million individuals demonstrates the gain of power attained when diverse ancestries are included to improve fine-mapping and polygenic score generation, with gains in locus discovery related to sample size.

Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) are known to promote the development of drug resistance. Here, the authors investigate the chromatin remodeling and associated changes in gene expression in the multiple myeloma (MM) cells following their interactions with BMSCs, which are also observed in extramedullary disease (EMD).

Different functional variants in ADH1B (and elsewhere) in Europeans and Africans strongly affect risk for alcohol dependence. Dependence only partly genetically correlates with consumption, with strong correlations to other psychiatric disorders.

Mitochondria are able to maintain two competing metabolic pathways—oxidative phosphorylation and the reductive synthesis of proline and ornithine—by generating two mitochondrial subpopulations that are enriched in either pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase or ATP synthase.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

The CMS Collaboration reports evidence for off-shell Higgs boson contributions in the production of Z boson pairs, and measures the width of the Higgs boson, which is inversely related to its lifetime.

The phase transitions of rare earth nickelates have attracted intensive study as they arise from the complex interplay of charge, spin and lattice degrees of freedom. Here Guo et al. present evidence that LaNiO₃ has an unanticipated magnetically ordered metallic phase.

The most up-to-date combination of results on the properties of the Higgs boson is reported, which indicate that its properties are consistent with the standard model predictions, within the precision achieved to date.

The limited infiltration and migration of T cells in the brain can hinder the success of immune checkpoint blockade in glioblastoma (GBM). Here the authors show that an adeno-associated virus-based gene therapy for the intratumor delivery of CXCL9 promotes T cell infiltration and enhances response to anti-PD1 in GBM preclinical models.

A circuit in the amygdala uses thyrotropin-releasing hormone to suppress male mating when a female mouse is unhealthy.

Combination of epidemiology, preclinical models and ultradeep DNA profiling of clinical cohorts unpicks the inflammatory mechanism by which air pollution promotes lung cancer

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Changes in the leaf area index alter the distribution of heat and moisture. The change in energy partitioning related to leaf area, increasing latent and decreasing sensible fluxes over the observational period 1982–2016, is moderated by plant functional type and background climate.

The CMS Collaboration reports the study of three simultaneous hard interactions between quarks and gluons in proton–proton collisions. This manifests through the concurrent production of three J/ψ mesons, which consist of a charm-quark–antiquark pair.

Cui et al. developed LAUNCHER, a single-component switch using potyviral protease, which offers a high signal-to-noise ratio for precise payload release, enabling versatile cellular applications and enhanced synthetic circuit performance.

Developing an in vitro blood-brain-barrier (BBB) model that reproduces the organ’s complex structure and function is an open challenge. Here the authors present a BBB-on-a-chip that includes endothelial cells, pericytes and a 3D astrocytic network which resembles the morphology and function of astrocytes in the BBB in vivo.

The internal electron dynamics of submicrometre devices are hard to resolve because of bandwidth limitations of current measurement techniques. Here, the authors sample the 250 GHz coherent oscillation of a single-electron wave packet inside a quantum dot at 4.2 K employing a resonant level.

Wetland methane emissions contribute to global warming, and are oversimplified in climate models. Here the authors use eddy covariance measurements from 48 global sites to demonstrate seasonal hysteresis in methane-temperature relationships and suggest the importance of microbial processes.

Soft robotics is a growing field, and requires versatile actuation methodology. Here, the authors report high-speed bending of anisole crystals due to natural vibration, induced and amplified by photothermal effect.

Ca₂RuO₄ is a Mott insulator that becomes a metal when a current is passed through it. Now, the changes in its electronic structure are revealed as this transition takes place.

Fibrin deposition occurs after the blood–brain barrier is breached. Akassoglou and colleagues generate a therapeutic monoclonal antibody that targets a cryptic fibrin epitope to suppress activation of innate immune responses in the CNS and diminish neuroinflammation.

Multiple sclerosis is characterized by the activation of microglia cells. Davalos et al. investigate the early stages of neuroinflammation in mice and reveal that the plasma protein fibrinogen induces microglial clustering around the brain vasculature, which facilitates lesion formation and focal axonal damage.

Exploring astrophysical turbulent effects in laboratory plasma is challenging due to high threshold values of relevant parameters, such as the magnetic Reynolds number. Here the authors demonstrate the turbulent dynamo effect at large magnetic Reynolds numbers in laser-generated magnetized plasma.

Coulomb forces between ballistic electrons are detected and analysed using a mesoscopic electron collider in an unscreened regime. Controlling Coulomb interactions on picosecond time scales is key for quantum logic devices with flying electrons.

Analyses of single-cell whole-genome sequencing data show that somatic mutations are increased in the brain of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease compared to neurotypical individuals, with a pattern of genomic damage distinct from that of normal ageing.

Soft electronic patches worn on the skin of infants or children in intensive-care units have a wide range of capabilities in aiding critical care, including monitoring of hemodynamic parameters, cardiac activity, movement and crying.

Behavioural adaptations in response to stress are thought to be regulated by rapid neurotransmitter action, followed by slower hormonal signalling. Here, using optogenetic approaches, the authors find corticotroph cell populations are capable of rapidly modulating avoidance behaviours immediately after the onset of stress.

LFADS, a deep learning method for analyzing neural population activity, can extract neural dynamics from single-trial recordings, stitch separate datasets into a single model, and infer perturbations, for example, from behavioral choices to these dynamics.