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Using 63 globally distributed grassland and shrubland sites from the International Drought Experiment, this study identified plant traits linked to drought resistance after 1 year of extreme drought across growth forms, lifespans and climate.

People constantly decide whether to stop what they are doing to do something else. Here, the authors show that the quality of available options has a greater influence on people’s decisions to help others than to help themselves.

Astrocytes in the basolateral amygdala dynamically track fear state and support fear memory retrieval and extinction.

Analysis of the somatic and transcriptomic profile of 123 acral melanoma samples from Mexican patients helps understand tumour origins and prognosis, and highlights the importance of including samples from diverse ancestries in cancer genomics studies.

This study shows how the bacterial retron Eco2 defends against viruses. Phage nucleases trigger activation of Eco2, which cuts RNAs, shuts down protein production and stops phage replication.

An outbreak of MPXV in sooty mangabeys in Côte d’Ivoire was linked to MPXV-infected fire-footed rope squirrels, providing direct evidence of interspecies transmission and indicating risk for zoonotic transmission of MPXV from both hosts.

Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

Kinematic measurements of the Perseus galaxy cluster reveal two drivers of gas motions: a small-scale driver in the inner core associated with black-hole feedback and a large-scale driver in the outer core powered by mergers.

Man-made ammonia emissions have harmful effects on human health and ecosystems, yet global mitigation strategies remain underexploited. A study now finds that emissions could be halved cost-effectively by 2050 through targeted and prioritized measures, with benefits far outweighing costs.

Sequencing of marine sediments finds 136 newly identified Heimdallarchaeia and several novel lineages, and indicates that Heimdallarchaeia evolved distinct metabolic capabilities from other Asgardarchaeota, in conditions that may have given rise to early eukaryotes.

This research identifies two neural factors linked to externalizing and internalizing symptoms through a longitudinal imaging-genetic cohort. Distinct neural configurations and cognitive-behavioral relevance highlight the need for tailored therapeutic strategies addressing psychiatric comorbidity across developmental stages.

Langstein-Skora, Schmid, Huth et al. propose that intrinsically disordered region functionality can be driven by the interplay between linear binding motifs and contextual chemical characteristics such as charge and hydrophobicity.

Three-component Fermi gases represent a versatile platform for quantum simulation, including quantum chromodynamics-like physics, pairing and few-body effects. Here the authors demonstrate control of spin imbalances and an unexpected asymmetric decay due to different three-body losses for each component, and whose microscopic mechanism remains to be understood.

Evolutionarily related ‘proto-point’ centromeres providing resolution to the evolutionary origins of point centromeres are identified in yeast, and comparison shows they evolved in an ancestor with retrotransposon-rich centromeres and that long-terminal-repeat retrotransposons are the genetic substrate.

When senescent cells accumulate during adulthood they negatively influence lifespan and promote age-dependent changes in several organs; clearance of these cells delayed tumorigenesis in mice and attenuated age-related deterioration of several organs without overt side effects, suggesting that the therapeutic removal of senescent cells may be able to extend healthy lifespan.

Alzheimer’s disease alters brain structure broadly, but its regional impact is poorly mapped. Here, the authors show that App and Psen1 mutations in mice cause volume changes across 231 regions, which are associated with individual differences in behavior.

Disease heterogeneity complicates precision medicine, which focuses on single conditions and ignores shared mechanisms. Here the authors introduce ‘pan-disease’ analysis using a deep learning model on multi-organ data, identifying 11 AI-derived biomarkers that reveal new therapeutic targets and pathways, enhancing patient stratification for disease risk monitoring and drug discovery.

In one-shot perceptual learning, what we see can be dramatically altered by a single past experience. Using psychophysics, fMRI, iEEG, and DNNs, the authors identify neural and computational mechanisms underlying this remarkable ability in humans.

This study applies generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) and advanced transcriptome wide association study (TWAS) methods to improve the discovery of colorectal cancer risk transcription factors and genes, including potential druggable targets.

The systemic discovery of metal–small-molecule complexes from biological samples is a difficult challenge. Now, a method based on liquid chromatography and native electrospray ionization mass spectrometry has been developed. The approach uses post-column pH adjustment and metal infusion combined with ion identity molecular networking, and a rule-based informatics workflow, to interrogate small-molecule–metal binding.

It is unclear whether the harsh abiotic conditions of drylands hinder biological invasions. This global analysis shows that drylands are vulnerable to non-native plants and are likely to become more so as native plant diversity declines and grazing pressure intensifies.

Conventional methods for human motion analysis using sensors tightly attached to the body are often uncomfortable. Here, the authors demonstrate motion recognition and prediction using sensors embedded in garments. The results provide guidance for the development of wearable technology integrated into everyday clothing.

Nanocatalyst ‘nanozymes’ provide a versatile alternative to natural enzymes. Nanozymes can operate in conditions inimical to enzymes and can catalyse reactions that their natural analogues cannot. This Perspective discusses design principles, strengths, challenges and applications of nanozymes.

How aperiodic 1/f noise drives ripple activity in human brain and impacts on ripple detections is not fully understood. Here authors show that ripple detections should be driven by the 1/f noise, which indexes different brain states and cognitive demands.

A covariate-aware analysis reveals that microbiome changes in the gut of patients with chronic kidney disease are better explained by intestinal transit time than by kidney function.

Functional studies of O-GlcNAcylation have often focused on individual modifications. Now, a systems-level approach has identified simultaneous O-GlcNAcylation events that coordinate cellular activities and tissue-specific functions.

Membrane ion channels can be responsive to a variety of stimuli such as pressure, temperature, or pH. Here, the authors show that simply shining 365 nm light activates a native potassium channel in rodent pain-sensing neurons, delivering powerful analgesia without drugs or genetic manipulations.

Most genetic risk variants for brain disorders lie in non-coding regions and are difficult to interpret. Here, the authors develop BASIC, a method integrating bulk and single-cell eQTLs, to reveal cell-type-specific effects and improve gene discovery and disease colocalization.

A demonstration of the ability to control the flow of laser energy in a dense plasma by tuning the colour of multiple laser beams injected into it could be useful in the development of laser-driven fusion.

A neuromorphic sensing system combining a flexible piezoelectric sensor array, event-triggered circuitry and a memristive chip enables energy-efficient, low-latency edge processing of event-based data through analogue in-memory computing.

FACED 2.0 builds on and expands the capabilities of the free-space angular-chirp-enhanced delay microscopy approach. Its high speed, large field of view and volumetric coverage enable two-photon voltage imaging of hundreds of neurons or calcium imaging of thousands of neurons in the mouse or zebrafish brain.

The identification of cellular targets for natural products that potently inhibit the growth of cancer cell lines implicates oxysterol-binding proteins in the growth of cancer cells. These natural products, termed ORPphilins, also affect sphingomyelin biosynthesis.

Dynein–dynactin–cargo adaptor complexes typically function with two dynein motors. Rao et al. show that, under mechanical load, these complexes can recruit a third dynein via a second adaptor, increasing force generation.

Comparative genomics and high-resolution mass spectrometry reveal the biosynthetic gene clusters, and vast chemical diversity of natural products that they encode, in Photorhabdus and Xenorhabdus, bacteria that interact with hosts as symbionts and entomopathogens.

Here, the authors show that complexes formed by bacterial chromosome segregation protein ParB are stabilized by condesin SMC. They examine the impact of SMC on ParB dynamics, DNA binding and its CTPase activity, providing insights into the nature of ParB complexes.

González-Gualda, Reinius et al. demonstrate that platinum-based chemotherapy-induced senescence promotes malignancy in ovarian and lung cancer via TGFβ ligands, with evidence in mouse models validated in clinical samples. Concomitantly blocking TGFβ signaling with chemotherapy reduces tumor burden and increases survival in mice.

The authors create a room-temperature super relaxor critical state in a lead-free ceramic, delivering dual-high recoverable energy density and efficiency by residing at a crossover between dynamic and static/frozen polar states.

Long-period radio transients emit periodic radio pulses of unknown origin. The longest-lived source, GPM J1839−10, has a 21-min spin and 9-h orbit, resembling the more rapid white dwarf pulsars that are powered by binary interaction, potentially linking the classes.

Large-effect variants in autism remain elusive. Here, the authors use long-read sequencing to assemble phased genomes for 189 individuals, identifying pathogenic variants in TBL1XR1, MECP2, and SYNGAP1, plus nine candidate structural variants missed by short-read methods.

Response to immune therapy varies among cancer types and individual cancer patients; thus, predictive biomarkers of success are urgently needed. Here, the authors present a computational framework that integrates tumor clonality and neoantigen characterization data to predict patient outcomes upon immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment.

Antigen presentation in skull bone marrow by hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells induces myelopoiesis and generates CD4⁺ regulatory T cells in a mouse model of ependymoma, promoting immune tolerance. Treatment with anti-GM-CSF antibody has antitumor effects that are augmented by immunotherapy.

Plant traits drive ecosystem dynamics yet are challenging to map globally due to sparse measurements. Here, the authors combine crowdsourced biodiversity observations with Earth observation data to accurately map 31 plant traits at 1 km² resolution.