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Newly developed microfluidic neural tube-like and forebrain-like structures based on human pluripotent stem cells can model pivotal aspects of neural patterning along both the rostral–caudal and dorsal–ventral axes.

Using patient-derived colorectal cancer tumour enteroids, Schwartz et al. find that ectopic expression of hepcidin in the tumour epithelium establishes an axis to sequester iron to maintain the nucleotide pool and sustain proliferation.

Organometallic complexes have numerous applications in chemistry and biology, but diversification of their structures is synthetically challenging. Here, the authors report a versatile platform for on-the-complex annulation reactions using transient aryne intermediates to access pi-extended polypyridyl complexes.

Free-electron lasers enable diffractive imaging of single nanostructures, but algorithms, such as correlation analyses, are needed to determine their diffraction volume from accumulated data. Starodub et al.present such a method for X-ray diffractive imaging of nanometre-scale polystyrene dimers.

McKinney and Smith review the metabolic exhaustion of T cells in infection, cancer and autoimmunity

The European X-ray free-electron laser (EuXFEL) in Hamburg is the first XFEL with a megahertz repetition rate. Here the authors present the 2.9 Å structure of the large membrane protein complex Photosystem I from T. elongatus that was determined at the EuXFEL.

Although ulcerative colitis (UC) is a major type of inflammatory bowel disease, attempts to model it fully have fallen short. Here the authors use patient-derived iPS cells to develop a UC organoid model that recapitulates disease histological and functional features, and confirm the role of CXCL8/CXCR1 in pathogenesis.

This study seeks to explain the poor overlap of genome-wide association study and cis-expression quantitative trait locus variants using a model of differential selective constraint, suggesting that these two study types have biases towards different functional classes of variants.

A multivariate genome-wide association study highlighting loci that influence both face and brain shape suggesting shared developmental axes during early embryogenesis. These loci did not overlap with those governing behavioral–cognitive traits or neuropsychiatric risk indicating divergence between early brain development and cognitive function.

With increasing global communications, we have experienced increasing misinformation. New research shows that mere exposure to misinformation about smart meters is related to perceptions of related risks. Increased knowledge about smart meters can reduce the impact of some misinformation but it does not work for all types.

Despite decades of research, the sequence of events leading to the deglacial atmospheric CO₂ rise remains unclear. Menviel et al. show that Southern Ocean convection driven by intensified Southern Hemisphere westerlies during Heinrich stadial 1 can explain the abrupt pCO₂ rise and changes in atmosphere and ocean carbon isotopes.

Patients with chronic lung disease (CLD) have an increased risk for severe coronavirus disease-19 and poor outcomes. Here the authors compare the transcriptomes of single cells isolated from healthy and CLD lungs to identify molecular characteristics of lung cells that may account for worse COVID-19 outcomes in these patients.

Extracellular-matrix remodelling promotes tumour progression and metastasis. Papalazarou et al. demonstrate that mechanosensing affects pancreatic cancer cell migration, metabolism and ultimately metastatic potential by targeting the creatine–phosphagen ATP-recycling system.

A free-electron laser provides a sufficiently intense source of X-rays to allow X-ray and optical wave mixing, here demonstrated by measuring the induced charge density and associated microscopic fields in single-crystal diamond.

AI-based models may amplify pre-existing human bias within datasets; addressing this problem will require a fundamental realignment of the culture of software development.

The appearance of a third radiation belt in the Earth’s Van Allen belts is difficult to explain using existing models for two belts. However, a model based on ultra-low-frequency waves agrees quantitatively with measurements of the third belt.

Humans and animals can collect and maintain information that guides decisions, but how neural circuits achieve this is unknown. It seems neural populations may do so by passing through diverse states in many possible sequences.

Under most circumstances, Foxp3⁺ regulatory T (T_reg) cells are a stable T cell population essential for maintaining self-tolerance. A study now shows that the inflammatory environment in autoimmune arthritis induces conversion of a subset of Foxp3⁺ T cells into interleukin-17–producing cells that contribute to disease pathogenesis (pages 62–68).

Analysis of copy number alterations in 1,451 patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) and matched patient tumor samples shows strong conservation from patient tumors through late-passage PDXs and a lack of systematic copy number evolution driven by the mouse host.

Femtosecond X-ray laser pulses are used to probe the structure of liquid water in micrometre-sized droplets that have been cooled below the homogeneous ice nucleation temperature, revealing the existence of metastable bulk liquid water down to temperatures of 227 kelvin.

Refinement of genetic variants within the major histocompatibility complex reveals three distinct genetic influences on schizophrenia risk and sheds light on the disease's neurobiology.

Two recent studies describe clinical successes for single-dose gene therapy in trials for two forms of hemophilia.

This study identifies a mechanism linking loss of Arp2/3 to the progressive formation of shaft excitatory synaptic contacts. This leads to enhanced cortical excitation, striatal hyperdopaminergia and antipsychotic-responsive psychomotor agitation. This illustrates how diverse pathologies may converge downstream of spine actin disturbances to drive psychomotor behaviors.

An integrated analysis of over 100 single-cell and single-nucleus transcriptomics studies illustrates severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 viral entry gene coexpression patterns across different human tissues, and shows association of age, smoking status and sex with viral entry gene expression in respiratory cell populations.

Femtosecond XFEL crystallography is used to identify dynamic changes in the adenine riboswitch aptamer domain, with at least four states identified in real time, two in the apo form before binding and two with the ligand bound.

Public support for solar geoengineering and carbon dioxide removal methods decreases with age, and gender has little effect overall, according to an analysis combining the survey of 30 844 participants from 30 countries and a statistical approach.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impairments in social and communication skills. Accumulating evidence suggests a genetic component to ASDs, and here a two-stage, genome-wide approach is used to identify candidate genomic loci enriched in ASD cases. The majority of these loci are found to be involved in neuronal adhesion and ubiquitin degradation, suggesting novel susceptibility mechanisms.