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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.

Shallow seawater during the Great Oxidation Event contained abundant phosphite, comprising 5–88% of total dissolved phosphorus. Preferential phosphate removal by ferric oxides and microbial competition may have promoted its biological usage.

MOBSTER is an approach for subclonal reconstruction of tumors from cancer genomics data on the basis of models that combine machine learning with evolutionary theory, thus leading to more accurate evolutionary histories of tumors.

Analysis of snRNA genes in individuals with rare disorders identifies de novo and recurrent variants in RNU5B-1 and RNU5A-1, in addition to previously unreported cases with pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in RNU4-2.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

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

Controlled particle acceleration in plasmas requires precise measurements of the excited wakefield. Here the authors report and demonstrate a high-resolution method to measure the effective longitudinal electric field of a beam-driven plasma-wakefield accelerator.

Nitrogen oxides are major air pollutants; capture and abatement technologies exist but they typically involve toxic species or precious-metal catalysts. Now, a metal–organic framework has been shown to store NO₂ dimers selectively, and to separate NO₂ from other gases under wet conditions. Treatment with water in air leads to conversion of NO₂ into HNO₃—an important feedstock for fertilizer production—with full recovery of the host.

A new phylogenomic tree for butterflies is constructed using 391 genes from 2,300 species, representing 92% of genera. It suggests that butterflies originated around 100 million years ago in what is now the Americas and originally fed on Fabaceae.

Gaining molecular-level insight into host–guest binding interactions is fundamentally important, but experimentally challenging. Here, Schröder and co-workers study CO₂–host hydrogen bonding interactions in a pair of isostructural redox-active V^III/V^IVMOFs using neutron scattering and diffraction techniques.

Exome sequencing within a structured diagnostic process for rare diseases in Germany shows how facial image analysis and machine learning can guide variant prioritization and uncover many ultrarare diseases.

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.

Several neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the aggregation of cytoplasmic proteins. Here, the authors demonstrate that the small molecule SMER28 activates VCP, which enhances both autophagic and proteasomal clearance of aggregate-prone proteins.

The selective capture of carbon dioxide in porous materials has potential for the storage and purification of fuel gases, but strategies to enhance carbon dioxide–host selectivity are required. A partially interpenetrated metal–organic framework that undergoes dramatic phase transition on desolvation and exhibits temperature-dependent selective hysteretic sorption of carbon dioxide is now reported.

The EMDataResource Ligand Model Challenge aimed at assessing the reliability and reproducibility of modeling ligands bound to protein and protein–nucleic acid complexes in cryo-EM maps determined at near-atomic resolution. This analysis presents the results and recommends best practices for assessing cryo-EM structures of liganded macromolecules.

The authors investigate the impact of warming and nutrient supply on entire ecological networks within ten Swiss lakes. Warming generally reduces network interactions, particularly under high phosphate, leading to shifts in trophic control of food webs.

Ultrafast photo-induced processes in complex systems require theoretical models and their experimental validation which are still lacking. Here the authors investigate singlet fission in a pentacene dimer by a combined experimental and theoretical approach providing a real-time visualisation of the process.

Sudden order-disorder transitions can be seen in the variety of biological and engineered systems. Here, authors reveal an extreme synchronization transition scenario characterized by a rapid jump of the order parameter, persisting in small finite systems.

The structure of red phosphorous remains poorly elucidated. Here, the authors report the adsorption and photopolymerization of P₄ encapsulated in a metal-organic framework to obtain a double-helical chain composite comprising of [P₈] units in the porous material.

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.

Discovering disease genes on the X chromosome can be particularly challenging. Here, the authors use features of known disease genes and machine learning to predict genes that remain to be associated with disorders on this chromosome.

OICR-41103 is a potent, selective probe targeting the DCAF1 WDR domain and displacing viral Vpr protein. It enables new opportunities in cancer research, antiviral therapy, and targeted protein degradation via PROTACs.

Benzene is a genotoxic carcinogen with no safe level of exposure. Here, by creating and decorating a structural defect in a metal–organic framework to form MIL-125-Zn, a benzene uptake of 7.63 mmol g^–1 at 1.2 mbar is observed due to binding to Zn(II) sites.

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.

Photon antibunching typically measures the time-averaged photophysics of multichromophoric nanoparticles. Here, the authors report on time-resolving photon antibunching, allowing the true number of chromophores and exciton diffusion to be measured in DNA origami and conjugated polymer aggregates.

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.

Analysing >40 plant traits and ecosystem properties over 10 years, the authors find moderate evidence for traits being predictors of ecosystem-level properties within years, but limited evidence for any effect across years.

Earth’s surface underwent a dramatic transition ~2.3 billion years ago when atmospheric oxygen first accumulated during the Great Oxidation Event. Here, the authors find that biogenic methane and volcanic emissions played a vital role in the reduced Late Archean atmosphere.

Here, the authors compile pollen records from across Iberia and Morocco, comparing them with other paleohydrological and archaeological data, as well as historical sources. Using these data, they suggest that a series of strong droughts could have contributed to the decline of the Visigothic Kingdom and subsequent Islamic expansion.

Repeat expansions in the FGF14 gene can cause late-onset cerebellar ataxia (SCA27B), however the defining features of pathogenic expansions remain uncertain. Here, the authors compare the sequence and structure of FGF14 repeat expansions in patients and controls, leading them to suggest a lower pathogenic threshold and emphasizing the importance of sequencing the full expansion for accurate interpretation.

Relaxation of a perturbed plasma back to its initial state over nanosecond timescales establishes that megahertz repetition rates are supported, and high luminosities and brilliances are in principle attainable with plasma-wakefield accelerator facilities.

High beam quality is key for particle-accelerator applications in high-energy physics and photon science. Here, authors demonstrate gigavolt-per meter acceleration of electron bunches in a plasma-wakefield accelerator with no degradation of emittance, while also preserving charge and energy spread.

Graphene energy transfer with vertical nucleic acids (GETvNA) is a general approach enabling dynamical observations of DNA structural changes and DNA–protein interactions with spatial resolution down to the Ångström scale.

The non-coding RNA RNU4-2, which is highly expressed in the developing human brain, is identified as a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder gene, and, using RNA sequencing, 5′ splice-site use is shown to be systematically disrupted in individuals with RNU4-2 variants.

Pellino family proteins are ubiquitin ligases known to regulate immune signalling. Here Yang et al. show that Pellino3 regulates apoptotic TNF signalling by modulating the composition of the death-induced signalling complex, and that absence of Pellino3 sensitizes mice to TNF.

Nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond have established themselves as excellent candidates for solid-state quantum memories due to their optical addressability and long coherence times. Here, the authors report on a diamond-nanocavity system with improved spin-photon interface performances.

Whether rewetting leads to effective restoration of drained peatlands is unclear. Here the authors analyse a large number of near-natural and rewetted fen peatland sites in Europe, finding persistent differences in plant community composition and ecosystem functioning, and higher variance in the restored sites.

The partial oxidation of CH₄ to CH₃OH is challenging to perform in artificial systems due to ready over-oxidation to CO and CO₂. Here by confining mono-iron hydroxyl sites in a metal–organic framework, photo-oxidation of CH₄ to CH₃OH is achieved with high selectivity and time yield.