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Climate action could avoid over 1 million deaths globally from air pollution in 2040. However, it is suggested that cooperation is needed between developed and developing nations to ensure that disparities in air pollution are not perpetuated in the future.

Here, the authors propose the Antarctic Ecosystem Value Index, an Earth systems model-based measure of marine ecological value. The index identifies potential present and future high-value locations, which often fall within coastal polynyas.

Cholera remains a significant public health burden in sub-Saharan Africa, but the mechanisms of continental and regional spread remain undefined. Here, the authors investigate recent patterns of spread using Vibrio cholerae genomic surveillance data collected by a consortium of seven African Union member states from 2019-2024.

This paper reports the excess mortality estimated during the evolving consecutive waves of COVID-19 in countries participating in the European Mortality Monitoring Network (EuroMOMO) in 2020-2023 and how they compare to recent influenza seasons.

Pangenomic and epidemiological analyses reveal a genetic shift in U.S. Salmonella Hadar populations during 2019–20, driven by expansion of a lineage carrying a prophage-like element that likely arose in commercial poultry and spread to backyard flocks.

Conventional slurry electrodes limit high-energy lithium batteries. This work shows that dry-processed electrodes with molecularly coupled carbon–binder networks enable high mass and active material loading, supporting stable high-voltage operation and enhancing battery energy density.

From 2014–2017, marine heatwaves caused global mass coral bleaching, where the corals lose their symbiotic algae. The authors find, this event exceeded the severity of all prior global bleaching events in recorded history, with approximately half the world’s reefs bleaching and 15% experiencing substantial mortality.

Meningiomas are common brain tumors with variable behavior. This study reveals high STING expression across multiple cell types in the meningioma microenvironment. STING agonism triggers tumor cell death via programmed necrosis and pyroptosis, enhancing survival in preclinical models.

This paper uses multiomics to profile a large cohort of meningioma samples to highlight the role of the tumor microenvironment in driving the epigenetic changes underpinning tumor classification and prediction of outcome.

The study introduces radio interferometric multiplexed spectroscopy (RIMS), a method designed to efficiently monitor the radio emissions of massive samples of stars. Applying it to LOFAR data, the authors identify stellar bursts, offering clues to possible star–planet magnetic interactions.

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.

Transport networks in coastal zones are critical for human activities and are faced with increasing flooding risk. Using a detailed risk analysis in Europe, the authors show that the affected networks and expected annual damage will increase considerably with global warming.

Identifying jets originating from heavy quarks plays a fundamental role in hadronic collider experiments. In this work, the ATLAS Collaboration describes and tests a transformer-based neural network architecture for jet flavour tagging based on low-level input and physics-inspired constraints.

The transcription factor ATF4 and its effector lipocalin 2 (LCN2) have a key role in immune evasion and tumour progression, and targeting the ATF4–LCN2 axis might provide a way to treat several types of solid tumour by increasing anti-cancer immunity.

The longevity of leaves determines the overall duration of photosynthesis for plants. This study suggests that climate change drives leaf longevity convergence toward intermediate ranges, which, by altering leaf traits and enhancing photosynthetic capacity, strengthens ecosystem stability and is closely linked to vegetation diversity.

XCR1+ type 1 conventional DCs (cDC1s) are crucial to mount anti-tumor immune responses, however their infiltration within tumours is often limited. Here the authors show that cDC1 infiltration could be expanded by intratumoral delivery of mesenchymal stromal cells engineered to express the membrane bound form of FLT3L in combination with poly(I:C) or CXCL9 and CCL5, improving anti-tumor immunity in preclinical models.

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.

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.

Wheat yields in northwest Europe have plateaued since the mid-1990s. This study finds that no ceiling in genetic yield potential has been reached and that climatic conditions have not constrained wheat yields across high-yielding environments in the region thus far; suboptimal agronomic management is responsible for unrealized wheat yield progress of 67–114 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ during the period 1994–2016.

The ALICE Collaboration provides details on the microscopic mechanism that ends up creating antideuteron in high-energy proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider.

Global Burden of Disease estimates show that between 1990 and 2023, the prevalence and burden of drug use disorders, inclusive of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and opioid use, have been increasing in high-income countries, particularly in the USA.

Using two newly developed immunoassays tested in three clinical cohorts, this study highlights CSF DOPA decarboxylase as a promising biomarker for differentiating dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease from Alzheimer’s disease and controls.

Luppi et al. identify transcriptomic and connectomic controllers of information integration and its breakdown induced by anaesthesia in humans, macaques, marmosets and mice.

Here, Yang-Jensen et al. demonstrate that a scalable microbial protein lysate from Methylococcus capsulatus Bath reshapes gut microbiota and T cells and, via fermentation-driven GLP-2 receptor mimicry, protects against gastrointestinal inflammation while providing sustainable protein nutrition

Genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies 58 independent risk loci for major anxiety disorders among individuals of European ancestry and implicates GABAergic signaling as a potential mechanism underlying genetic risk for these disorders.

Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

De novo and inherited dominant variants in genes encoding U4 and U6 small nuclear RNAs are identified in individuals with retinitis pigmentosa. The variants cluster at nucleotide positions distinct from those implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders.

A clinical cohort-based biomarker study in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma demonstrates that blood levels of soluble mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 are prognostic for survival in patients treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors and may serve as a surrogate marker for gut dysbiosis based on integrated data from three clinical trials.

This report describes a nanobody targeting glycine receptor mGlyR that inhibits its ability to regulate G protein signaling and produces anti-depressant effects in mice providing an immunotherapy approach to potentially treat depression.

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.

Variants in the PSMC5 gene impair proteasome function and cellular homeostasis, altering brain development in children. This study reveals underlying molecular mechanisms contributing to this neurodevelopmental phenotype, and suggests therapeutic leads for neurodevelopmental proteasomopathies.

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.

Exposure to twelve widely used preservative food additives are associated with a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes in the French NutriNet-Santé cohort of 108,723 adults, supporting recommendations to favour fresh and minimally processed foods

There are limited data on mpox immunity in West Africa. In this study, authors present serological and genomic evidence of residual smallpox vaccination immunity and possibly unrecognized mpox exposure among ostensibly healthy Nigerian adults.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

Vassy, Dornisch and colleagues developed a genomics-based prostate cancer risk model to support a randomized clinical trial of precision screening in a national healthcare system.

Centennial-scale variations in methane carbon isotope ratios are attributed to changes in pyrogenic and biogenic sources that can be correlated with anthropogenic activities, such as varying levels of biomass burning during the period of the Roman empire and the Han dynasty, and changes in natural climate variability.

Genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders identifies five underlying genomic factors that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders.

The hepatitis B virus surface protein recognizes host entry receptor via its intrinsically disordered peptide. The authors reveal the dynamic process of the viral surface protein that involves a stepwise binding maturation for establishing high affinity and specific virus-receptor entry complex.

Large-scale computational and in vitro analyses identify commensal type III secretion systems and substrates in the human gut microbiome that can interact with human proteins to modulate immune pathways.

The CMS Collaboration reports the measurement of the spin, parity, and charge conjugation properties of all-charm tetraquarks, exotic fleeting particles formed in proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider.

A systematic review including 574 studies extracts information about transmissibility, epidemiological delays and outbreaks for Zika virus disease at global scale.

By combining satellite observations with ground-based data and expert validation, this analysis demonstrates considerable misestimation of grassland extent and thereby carbon stock estimates in previous global assessments based on remote sensing.

This study examines long-term changes in species richness across tropical forests in the Andes and Amazon. Hotter, drier and more seasonal forests in the eastern and southern Amazon are losing species, while Northern Andean forests are accumulating species, acting as a refuge for climate-displaced species.

The variability in clinical outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection is partly due to deficiencies in production or response to type I interferons (IFN). Here, the authors describe a FIP200-dependent lysosomal degradation pathway, independent of canonical autophagy and type I IFN, that restricts SARS-CoV-2 replication, offering insights into critical COVID-19 pneumonia mechanisms.

DNA double-strand breaks endanger genome stability. Here, the authors present cryo-EM structures showing how Ku70/80 and DNA-PK bind DNA ends on nucleosomes, offering a mechanistic model for break recognition within chromatin.

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.

Here, as part of the Sherlock-Lung study, the authors profile the microbiomes of 940 lung cancers in never smokers finding no significant associations with demographic and clinical features, suggesting lung bacteria are unlikely to have a sizable role in lung cancer.