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Urban informal settlements, more commonly known as slums, are hotspots for the environmental transmission of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Here, the authors discuss the behavioural, environmental and structural reasons for this and propose that improvements in water and waste infrastructure, as well as legal and economic incentives, could limit environmental AMR dissemination.

Activity in a set of parabranchial neurons in the mouse brain is increased during chronic pain, predicts coping behaviour, and can be modulated by circuits activated by survival threats.

Estimates from the Global Dietary Database indicated that 2.2 million new type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cardiovascular disease cases were attributable to sugar-sweetened beverages worldwide in 2020, with the highest burdens in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Here the authors show that antibiotic resistance genes peak in the gut at the age of 6 months, and that beneficial bifidobacteria produce aromatic lactic acids that actively inhibit antimicrobial resistant bacteria, suggesting that boosting these microbes may help curb antimicrobial resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance has evolved over decades due to widespread antimicrobial use, with resistance genes now circulating across humans, animals and the environment, creating complex cross-sector connectivity challenges. This Perspective advocates for genomics-based studies of AMR connectivity to enable coordinated global action and investment under the One Health framework.

Kang et al. define distinct spatial niches within glioblastoma (GBM) tumors according to their infiltrative nature and report that glioma cells induce microglia and macrophage alignments through plexin-B2 signaling, sustaining the invasive behavior of GBM.

China’s coal-dominated power system is a source of carbon emissions, local air pollution and water stress. This study presents three power system development scenarios that run until 2030 in China, where coal strategies are optimized under current environmental regulations and varying prices for air pollutant emissions and water.

Sajti and colleagues identify TREM2 as a critical factor in myeloid cells in response to hyperoxia-induced lung injury in neonates, finding that TREM2 deficiency protects mice from bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Growth of malignant glioma involves a rare population of stem-like cells in the brain called brain tumor-initiating cells (BTICs). This study shows that immune cells in the brain can attenuate tumorigenic capacity of cancer patient-derived BTICs. The authors also identify a drug amphotericin B as an activator of microglia and macrophages that can enhance the microglial activation and mitigate BTIC proliferation in culture. This drug also improved the lifespan of a mouse model of malignant glioma in vivo.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), a diverse range of membrane-delimited particles, have multiple cellular functions and, when released by cancer cells, can promote tumour growth and metastatic dissemination. The authors of this Review describe advances in the development of EVs as biomarkers and cancer therapeutics, focusing on clinical translation of EVs into diagnostic and therapeutic clinical tools.

Evidence of antimicrobial resistance exchange between humans, animals, and the environment is limited by methodological challenges. Here, the authors report the development of ContextSeq, a Cas9 targeted sequencing method, and captured genetically similar AMR elements across households in Kenya.

Carbon sequestration will be vital in mitigating future climate change, and understanding how CO₂ behaves in aquifers is important for developing technologies. Here, the authors suggest that silicate-rich rocks inhibit the transport of CO₂, which may have consequences for future engineered storage facilities.

An expansion of a hexanucleotide repeat in the C9ORF72 gene can cause ALS. Here, the authors develop a high-fidelity RNA-targeting CRISPR system to suppress the repeat RNA expressed from the C9ORF72 gene, which improved abnormalities in a mouse model.

Data from questionnaires distributed to hunters and wild meat vendors in Nigeria suggest that most captured pangolins are not specifically targeted and that the animals are primarily captured for their meat, which is mostly consumed by hunters’ households, rather than for their scales.

Across 27 countries, Većkalov and Geiger et al. find that scientific consensus messaging on climate change is an effective, non-polarizing tool for changing misperceptions, beliefs and worry but not support for public action.

The bactericidal action of some antibiotics is associated with increased ATP consumption, cellular respiration, and reactive oxygen species formation. Here, Li et al. show that constitutive hydrolysis of ATP and NADH (or ‘bioenergetic stress’) potentiates the evolution of antibiotic resistance and persistence in E. coli.

Global potential forestation could provide about 0.06 °C of biophysical cooling, yet this benefit is expected to diminish as atmospheric CO₂ increases, primarily because background climate shifts weaken the non-local cooling mechanisms.

Escherichia coli-contaminated stored drinking water facilitates strain-sharing between household members, suggesting water treatment can curb bacterial transmission and antibiotic resistance in urban low-income communities.

An in vivo screen of small-molecule compounds to inhibit the mosquito-stage development of Plasmodium identified hits that can be incorporated into bed nets and led to effective parasite killing in the insect host.

Dietary changes can impact the microbial constitution of the gastrointestinal tract and modulate the local immune response. Here, the authors show supplementation using lysates of Methylococcus capsulatus Bath result in changes to the microbiota, modulate Treg populations and metabolic read outs in a dietary control murine model.

The ubiquitin ligase, RNF168, promotes DNA break repair but must be regulated to prevent run-away ubiquitin signaling. Here, the authors identify a three-step post-translational cascade regulating RNF168 chromatin removal, acting to suppress excessive signaling and radiosensitivity.

Sepsis induces a period of immunosuppression which can be problematic in the face of subsequent infectious challenge. Here the authors show the presence of PD-L1 expressing regulatory plasma cells that can inhibit T cells in a murine model and in patients with sepsis.

A simple and versatile strategy is established to facilitate molecular recognition by extending electron catalysis for use in supramolecular non-covalent chemistry.

This study evaluated the success of marine ecosystem restoration efforts through a descriptive statistical comparison, a formal meta-analysis conducted on 764 active restoration interventions, and by using a mixed model based on a spectrum of survival data reported in the reviewed literature.

New Zealand implemented stringent COVID-19 control measures early after identification of its first case. Here, the authors perform whole genome sequencing of samples taken until 22 May 2020 and find high viral diversity indicative of multiple separate introductions and limited community transmission.

The paper maps air pollution from power plants supplying electricity to US Bitcoin mines. It finds that 1.9 million people in 2022-2023 breathed toxic amounts of Bitcoin mine attributable pollution, particularly around New York City and Houston.

A peritumourally implanted macroporous scaffold releasing small molecules and antibodies to suppress regulatory T cells and to attract and stimulate effector T cells enhanced endogenous antitumoural responses in mice bearing aggressive tumours.

JNJ-9676—a small-molecule inhibitor targeting coronavirus M protein that shows excellent efficacy in Syrian golden hamster models—binds to and stabilizes the M protein dimer in an altered conformational state between its long and short forms, preventing the release of infectious virus.

In-mold electronics often rely on vacuum forming processes, which are traditionally limited to thermoplastics. Here, the authors introduce a vacuum forming method for thermoset materials using frontal polymerization.

By 2100, the decline of all glaciers outside the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets will produce new terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems, posing both challenges and opportunities for conservation.

The biomechanical mechanisms enabling the invasive growth of brain tumors remain opaque. Here, Junqueira Alves et al. reveal that the guidance receptor Plexin-B2 controls membrane tension, facilitating confined migration of brain tumor cells.

In this work, authors utilise genome-wide CRISPRi screening to identify vulnerabilities in isoniazid-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Here, the authors develop a self-amplifying RNA encoding the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein encapsulated within a lipid nanoparticle as a vaccine candidate and show induction of neutralization antibody titers in mice that are comparable to titers in convalescent sera of patients.

The paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH) exerts an indispensable role in body weight control. Here, authors demonstrate the role of PVH RUVBL2 in suppressing food intake and reveal two anorexigenic circuits of PVHRUVBL2 → ARCPOMC and PVHRUVBL2 → DMH.

Topical microbicide combined with vaccine effectively prevents infection of female macaques with simian immunodeficiency virus.

Dietary shifts can be hard to implement and their impacts can differ across population groups. Using dietary intake data from more than 7,000 US children and adults, this study identifies relatively simple dietary substitutions from higher- to lower-carbon foods, estimating the impact of these substitutions on greenhouse gas emissions and overall dietary healthfulness.

Increasing evidence suggests that antigen presentation by B cells is critical to the initiation of autoimmunity. Here, the authors demonstrate that tolerance breakdown is initiated outside of germinal centres and that B cells can directly instruct T cells to break tolerance and propagate autoimmune responses.

A fluorogenic reporter allows visualization of spike protein and ACE2 receptor interaction and the identification of natural products that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro and in vivo.

As the availability of affordable freshwater in urban settings becomes ever more urgent around the world, this study looks at how an unregulated, informal market meets demands at the expense of groundwater resources.

The amount of carbon dioxide released by the Australian wildfires of 2019–2020 is uncertain, but is estimated here using satellite observations of carbon monoxide to be more than twice the amount suggested by fire inventories.