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Solid-state pressure sensors have performance limitations in liquid environments. Here, the authors design a pressure sensor using solid–liquid–liquid–gas multiphasic interfaces where a trapped air layer modulates capacitance changes with pressure to achieve near-friction-free contact line motions for near-ideal pressure sensing.

Identification of a metabolic checkpoint involving lipid signalling that is specific to regulatory T cells (T_reg cells) in the tumour microenvironment raises the possibility of targeting this checkpoint for treatment of cancer.

From 1980 to 2018, the levels of total and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreased in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe.

Fine-scale geospatial mapping of overweight and wasting (two components of the double burden of malnutrition) in 105 LMICs shows that overweight has increased from 5.2% in 2000 to 6.0% in children under 5 in 2017. Although overall wasting decreased over the same period, most countries are not on track to meet the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025.

The emergence of cisplatin resistance and side-effects are important factors in cancer treatment failure. Here, the authors identify autophagy-mediated EGFR hyperactivation by TRPV1 promotion as a mechanism of cisplatin resistance and demonstrate the efficacy of a TRPV1 inhibitor to sensitize lung cancer to cisplatin.

Rationally manipulating the in-situ-formed catalytically active surface of catalysts is a challenging but promising endeavour. Now, the surface of LiCoO₂ during water oxidation is engineered by Cl doping via a cationic redox-tuning method that modulates in situ leaching and redirects the dynamic surface restructuring.

The correlation between tear glucose and blood glucose is still controversial. Here, the authors demonstrated the correlation between tear glucose and blood glucose in both animal models and human subjects using smart contact lenses.

A meta-analysis of genome-wide association study data from 77,418 individuals of East Asian ancestry with type 2 diabetes identifies novel variants associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Intrinsic limitations of nanoporous graphene limit its applications in water treatment. Here the authors produce post-treatment-free, low-cost graphene-based membranes from renewable biomass and demonstrate their high water permeance and antifouling properties using real seawater.

Stretchable and degradable elastomers are crucial for developing transient and bioresorbable electronics. Herein, Han et al. tuned the diverse properties of biodegradable PLCL elastomers and demonstrated their application in soft, perceptive robotic grippers and transient, suture-free cardiac jackets.

CAR T cell success requires targeting tumors, but these cells can get trapped in other tissues, such as in the lungs, where they can cause pathology. Here, the authors use a loss-of-function CRISPR screen to identify regulators of CAR T cell tumor trafficking and engineer CAR T cells accordingly to overcome this limitation.

Many homeodomain transcription factors are secreted and move to neighboring cells. Here, orthodenticle homeobox 2 is shown to be exported from the nucleus in a nuclear membrane, which buds off to then be degraded or secreted.

Bahn et al explore the role of the lipid raft protein Prominin-1 in liver regeneration. They show that Prominin-1 promotes hepatocyte proliferation after acute liver injury by interacting with the signal transducer GP130, confining it to lipid rafts and activating IL-6 signaling pathway and eventual activation of STAT3.

Cong et al. show that MTSS1 suppresses breast cancer initiation by promoting ubiquitin-mediated suppression of the NF-κB pathway. Loss of this regulatory mechanism promotes the activation and expansion of tumor-initiating cells.

The semiclassical quantization rule breaks down for a class of dispersionless flat bands, and their anomalous Landau level spectrum is characterized by their Hilbert–Schmidt quantum distance.

Although artificial skins can facilitate the healing of damaged skin, the restoration of tactile functions remain a challenge. Here, Kang et al. report an artificial skin with an implantable tactile sensor that can simultaneously replace the tactile function by nerve stimulation and promote skin regeneration.

Bioresorbable neural implants offer a promising solution to the challenges of secondary surgeries required for the removal of implanted devices. Here, the authors introduce a fully bioresorbable flexible hybrid opto-electronic system for simultaneous electrophysiological recording and optogenetic stimulation.

The cellular levels of the critical coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)⁺ depend on its salvage pathway. Here, the authors show that the NAD⁺ salvage pathway in hypothalamic astrocytes is activated to promote obesity in high fat diet-fed mice.

Qing Lan and colleagues report the results of a genome-wide association study of lung cancer in never-smoking women from Asia. They identify three new susceptibility loci and confirm three other previously reported associations.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) released from infiltrating immune cells are a major contributor to blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown following stroke. Here, the authors identify an early, MMP-independent BBB breakdown mechanism caused by rapid cytoskeletal rearrangements in endothelial cells, which could be inhibited by ADF.

How extramedullar cytokines regulate hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) homeostasis is unclear. Here, the authors show that the cytokine leukocyte cell-derived chemotaxin 2 regulates HSC expansion and mobilisation via tumour necrosis factor and interaction with CD209a in macrophages.

A geologically informed model of the relationship between changing island area and species richness for the Hawaiian archipelago reveals the rates of species richness change for 14 endemic groups over their entire evolutionary histories without the need for fossil data or molecular phylogenies.

Phosphorylation-mediated activation of SLAC1 anion channel is crucial in plant responses for abiotic stresses including drought. Here, authors determine the open and closed structures of SLAC1, revealing how phosphorylation can activate SLAC1.

There is heterogeneity in the response to self-ligands within the naïve CD8⁺ T cell pool and the consequences of this are unclear. Here the authors show subsets of naïve CD8⁺ T cells which differ in expression of Ly6C and CD5 and response to viral infection through regulation by type I IFN signalling.

Seehawer et al. show that deletion of Kmt2c or Kmt2d promotes brain metastasis in mouse models of triple-negative breast cancer due to altered KDM6A activity and upregulated MMP3 expression, which may constitute a potential therapeutic target.

Quantitative methods to assess the quality of hPSC-derived organoids have not been developed. Here they present a prediction algorithm to assess the transcriptomic similarity between hPSC-derived organoids and the corresponding human target organs and perform validation on lung bud organoids, antral gastric organoids, and cardiomyocytes.

NLRP1 and CARD8 are two recently described sensor proteins for the human inflammasome complex. Here, the authors present the cryo-EM CARD filament structures of the NLRP1 and CARD8 activating domains, which reveal how NLRP1 and CARD8 discriminate between ASC and pro-caspase-1. They further propose a two-step model for NLRP1 activation.

Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) represents a non-invasive option to monitor cancer progression. Here, the authors perform deep sequencing of plasma cell-free DNA, and find that nucleosome-dependent cfDNA degradation at 6 specific regulatory regions is predictive of ctDNA burden.

CRISPR screening and protein–protein interaction networks identify components and mechanisms of nutrient-dependent mTORC1 signalling in regulatory T cells and reveal how mTORC1 integrates immunological cues and nutrient signals for adaptive immunity.

Many technological materials are intentionally 'doped' with foreign elements to impart new and desirable properties, a classic example being the doping of semiconductors to tune their electronic behaviour. Here lanthanide doping is used to control the growth of nanocrystals, allowing for simultaneous tuning of the size, crystallographic phase and optical properties of the hybrid material.

Holotomography is a 3D, label-free optical imaging method for visualizing living tissues and cells. In this Primer, Kim et al. discuss the implementation of holotomography in various applications ranging from cell biology to biophysics and biotechnology.

In the nucleus, specific stretches of DNA are ‘anchored’ to distinct membrane-less compartments that harbor gene regulatory function. Using GO-CaRT, the authors discovered unique aspects of genome architecture in neural precursors in vivo, providing new insights into brain development and disease.