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Studies in zebra finches show that dopamine has a key role as a reinforcement signal in the trial-and-error process of learning that underlies complex natural behaviours.

The authors model regional electricity grid coordination, which enables access to geographically dispersed resources. Results suggest grid integration can reduce planning uncertainty region-wide but may impact individual countries differently.

A modeling approach to assess the global risk of Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 and 3 gene deletions identifies ten priority African countries for surveillance and could inform malaria control policies.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

Enfortumab vedotin (EV) is the current standard treatment for advanced bladder cancer, but resistance typically develops within a year, highlighting the need for new therapies. This study demonstrates that NECTIN4-targeting CAR T cells are effective against bladder cancer, including EV-resistant cells, and their potency can be further enhanced by using rosiglitazone to boost NECTIN4 expression.

A study of several longitudinal birth cohorts and cross-sectional cohorts finds only moderate overlap in genetic variants between autism that is diagnosed earlier and that diagnosed later, so they may represent aetiologically different conditions.

Analyses of whole-genome sequencing data from UK Biobank and All of Us identify rare variant burden signals associated with metabolic health, including effects of protein-truncating variants in IRS2 on type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease risk.

Pl@ntBERT is a language-based AI model that learned the ‘syntax’ of plant assemblages, predicting likely species and inferring habitats by modelling biotic relationships.

Here Schwämmle et al. develop CRISPR reporter screens to map transcription-factor-regulatory element interactions at the Xist locus, revealing a two-step mechanism integrating developmental and X-dosage signals to initiate X-chromosome inactivation.

This study uses spatial proteomic and spatial compartment-based whole-transcriptome profiling to develop predictive models for immunotherapy outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer.

2D semiconductors hold promise for solution-processed circuits requiring low-cost components and manufacturing scalability. Here, the authors investigate the criteria for the electrochemical exfoliation of high aspect-ratio nanosheets from 28 different layered materials, identifying the most promising candidates and key bottlenecks for solution-processed complementary electronics and functional circuits.

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) since the Last Interglacial is reconstructed, showing orbital-scale shifts in ACC position driven by eccentricity and precession, possibly counteracting the predicted southward shift due to global warming.

Bacterial antigens, such as lipopolysaccharides, are complex structures which remain difficult to synthesise or purify for antibody generation. Here, authors present a platform technology using Citrobacter rodentium - an enteric mouse pathogen - to both produce and present complex antigens for antibody generation.

This study found higher RSV antibody levels were associated with lower RSV risk in children outside the hospital. An earlier rise in incidence and higher incidence rates were observed among children <5 years compared to older children and adults.

Whether higher-order visual areas exhibit a fine-grained functional organization remains poorly understood. Here, the authors use high-resolution fMRI to reveal that category-selective regions in macaques are organized into mesoscale functional units which form distinct long-range mesoscale functional networks.

This study reveals that interlayer exciton emission in MoSe₂/WSe₂ heterobilayers is shaped by phonon-dressed polarons, challenging the prevailing moiré-trapped model and highlighting strong exciton-phonon interactions.

BamA is the catalytic core of the BAM complex, which inserts proteins into bacterial outer membranes. Here, the authors show that hinge flexibility between BamA’s β-barrel and POTRA domains is vital, demonstrating how evolution has fine-tuned the BamA sequence and structure for function.

The authors present a molecular classification of acute leukemia using 5-methylcytosine signatures, together with a neural network-based classifier for clinical use.

An optical detection and analysis platform quantifies aggregate density, distribution and size in fluorescently labelled post-mortem human brain tissue.

In an integrated analysis of transcriptomic data from the SUBSPACE consortium and public datasets of patients with sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, trauma and burns, dysregulation within four consensus molecular clusters related to myeloid and lymphoid cells is associated with mortality and illness severity.

Available wheat genomes are annotated by projecting Chinese Spring gene models across the new assemblies. Here, the authors generate de novo gene annotations for the 9 wheat genomes, identify core and dispensable transcriptome, and reveal conservation and divergence of gene expression balance across homoeologous subgenomes.

This study reports widespread loss of mountain vegetation worldwide from 2000 to 2020, with ∼89% attributable to human expansion, primarily agriculture. Over half of this loss occurred within protected areas and other biodiversity-rich areas, threatening conservation efforts.

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.

Covert attention to a specific location enhances performance. Here, the authors show that anticipating an attentional target selectively alters visual cortex activity, modulating neural responses and spatial tuning via top-down attentional mechanisms.

A two-phase machine-learning-based tool making use of high-throughput experimentation is introduced to examine the connections between chemical and protein sequence space and predict productive biocatalytic reactions among substrate and enzyme pairs.

The authors estimate genomic vulnerability for closely related species of rainbowfish. They find that narrow endemic species that have hybridized with a warm-adapted generalist show reduced vulnerability to climate change and that hybridization may facilitate evolutionary rescue for such species.

Using MPXV genomes specific to New York City, phylogenetic clusters were identified. Most mutations were driven by ABOBEC3. The prevalence of coinfections with distinct strains was ~4.2% and results may improve MPXV genomic epidemiology applications.

In advancing the design of electronic devices, the dielectric tunability of barium strontium titanate is enhanced by an order of magnitude relative to the previously reported values through the manipulation of polar domain characteristics.

RNA base editing represents an exciting modality in precision genetic medicine. Here the authors develop short, metabolically stable RNA oligonucleotides (RESTORE 2.0) that enable precise and efficient RNA base editing, demonstrating successful in-vivo correction of a disease-causing human mutation.

Enterololin is a narrow-spectrum antibiotic that selectively kills Enterobacteriaceae in vitro and in a mouse model of adherent-invasive Escherichia coli gut infection. AI-guided mechanism-of-action studies identified LolCDE as its molecular target.

HippoMaps provides an open-source resource for studying the human hippocampus at different scales and with different modalities such as histology, fMRI, structural MRI and EEG.

To what degree do the laws of thermodynamics constrain biological function? This work shows that the amount of free energy dissipated by microbes during growth imposes tight constraints on the versatility of their metabolism.

The location of EGFR exon 20 loop insertions (EGFRex20ins) has been shown to alter sensitivity to lung cancer therapy. Here, the authors report the results of the ZENITH20 clinical trial investigating poziotinib (EGFR TKI) in lung cancer patients and, combining with a similar trial, investigate how structural differences due to location of EGGFRex20ins alters sensitivity to EGFR TKI.

Variation in responses to bacterial and viral stimuli between Batwa rainforest hunter-gatherers and Bakiga agriculturalists from Uganda suggests population-level divergence under natural selection, with hunter-gatherers disproportionately showing signatures of positive selection.

In the past three decades, fish abundance, richness and uniqueness have diverged across cold and warm streams, and the effects on native fish communities of stream warming and increases in introduced fishes have magnified each other.

The activity of the membrane-bound enzyme pMMO depends on copper but the location of the copper centers is still under debate. Here, the authors reconstitute pMMO in nanodiscs and use native top-down MS to localize its copper centers, providing insights into which sites are essential for activity.

HIV infection triggers transcriptomic remodelling and a quiescence programme via KLF2 and the p53 pathway leading to proviral silencing.

Silane, which is a precursor to the sandy surfaces of rocky planets and dusty clouds on gas giants, is seen directly in another world—a low-metallicity brown dwarf in which oxidation is slow and gas mixing is fast.

Integrated multi-omic analyses using samples from the TRACERx study highlight cross-talk between DNA hypermethylation and genomic lesions in non-small cell lung cancer.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

Rizzollo et al. show that BDH2 participates in iron distribution between cellular compartments, which sets the threshold for the ferroptosis vulnerability of the melanoma cell phenotypes, ultimately affecting their metastatic capacity

Spatial cell distribution within a tissue microenvironment is a rapidly advancing field. Here, authors assess three commercially available single-cell resolution spatial transcriptomics approaches (CosMx, MERFISH, and Xenium) to inform which technology outperforms for immune profiling of solid tumors using patient samples.

 A bifunctional iminophosphorane-catalysed, stereo-controlled deconjugation for the synthesis of highly enantioenriched alkylidenecyclopropanes is described, alongside computational studies elucidating the mechanistic pathway and origins of diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity.

Engineering of semiconductor nanocrystals requires a detailed understanding of their formation. Here, the authors use signal-enhanced NMR and theoretical calculations to decode the structural transition from metastable CdSe clusters to mature quantum dots.

Repetitive head impacts from contact sports are associated with brain inflammation, vascular damage and neuron loss that are independent of hyperphosphorylated tau pathology.

Population history learning by averaging sampled histories is a new Bayesian method for estimating historical effective population size from recombining sequence data that offers improved speed and accuracy and enables uncertainty quantification and testing for ancient bottlenecks.

What we eat, as well as where and how it is grown, impacts species extinction risks through agricultural land use. Using a new global biodiversity impact data product, this study estimates how many species extinctions may potentially be caused by the production and consumption of different food types on a country-by-country basis.