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The genetic susceptibility to breast cancer remains understudied in non-European populations. Here, the authors analyse pathogenic variants associated with breast cancer susceptibility in Hispanic/Latina women using genomics, and find that loss of function variants in FANCM are strongly associated with ER-negative breast cancer risk.

TARPs are tetraspanins that are claudin-like but regulate glutamate receptors. Here, the moieties that define TARP function and distinguish them from claudins are uncovered through cryo-EM, structure prediction, and electrophysiology.

Sensing of cytosolic RNA or DNA can lead to innate responses, but little information is available for RNA/DNA dual sensors. Here the authors find SAMD9 as a potential dual sensor linked to pro-inflammatory responses, interferon induction and resistance to viral infection, as evidenced by in vitro overexpression and in vivo knockout mouse data.

The affected cellular populations during Alzheimer’s disease progression remain understudied. Here the authors use a cohort of 84 donors, quantitative neuropathology and multimodal datasets from the BRAIN Initiative. Their pseudoprogression analysis revealed two disease phases.

Antarctica is increasingly popular as a site for tourism and scientific research. The growth of marine traffic and the presence of major research stations have increased the anthropogenic deposition of heavy metals into this fragile ecosystem.

The joint analysis of datasets from NOvA and T2K, the two currently operating long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, provides new constraints related to neutrino masses and fundamental symmetries.

The authors present SVclone, a computational method for inferring the cancer cell fraction of structural variants from whole-genome sequencing data.

The role Tibetan Plateau uplift played in Asian inland aridification remains unclear due to a paucity of accurately dated records. Here, the authors present a continuous aeolian sequence for the period >51–39 Ma, analysis of which indicates that aridification was driven by global climatic forcing rather than uplift.

The authors reveal that the Tibetan alpine permafrost region currently functions as a marginal CH₄ sink, and that future flux trajectories diverge under different emission scenarios as a result of the coupled effects of climate forcing and atmospheric CH₄ dynamics.

The semileptonic decay channels of the Λc baryon can give important insights into weak interaction, but decay into a neutron, positron and electron neutrino has not been reported so far, due to difficulties in the final products’ identification. Here, the BESIII Collaboration reports its observation in e+e- collision data, exploiting machine-learning-based identification techniques.

Tunable polarization control and a two-colour X-ray pump–X-ray probe operating mode are demonstrated at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS).

Fe isotopic composition of the distal ejecta of a terrestrial impact crater records both evaporation and condensation, refining the nature of the isotopic fractionation taking place during hypervelocity impacts in the Solar System.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

A significant challenge in modern drug development is the comprehensive profiling of covalent inhibitors. Here, the authors develop COOKIE-Pro, an unbiased method for quantifying the binding kinetics of irreversible covalent inhibitors on a proteome-wide scale.

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of superconducting magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene reveals flat-band replicas that are indicative of strong electron–phonon coupling; these replicas are absent in non-superconducting twisted bilayer graphene.

The results of the Fifth RNA-Puzzles contest highlights advances in RNA three-dimensional structure prediction and uncovers new insights into RNA folding and structure.

A multi-omic analysis of pancreatic cancer identifies spatially resolved, heterogeneous cell populations including transitional cell types. Analysis of primary samples identifies treatment-related changes in cross-talk between tumor and stromal cells.

It remains to be seen if high-T_c superconductors rely on similar Fermi-surface instabilities as their BCS counterparts. Miao et al. study the high-T_c compound LiFe_1−xCo_xAs with high-resolution ARPES and find a robust gap with Co doping that suggests the order parameter is not tied to such instabilities.

A multi-ancestry genome-wide gene–smoking interaction study identifies 13 new loci associated with serum lipids.

S-acylation of adipose triacylglyceride lipase, the rate-limiting enzyme of lipolysis, is shown to be required for lipolysis and lipid droplet homoeostasis in mice.

Fast keying and mode switching exploiting the orbital angular momentum of light are sought after in optical communications and quantum key distribution for larger transmission capacity and higher security. Here Strain et al., propose a compact thermo-optically tunable vortex emitter with microsecond switching rates.

Biased noise qubits, which can selectively suppress certain types of noise, are advantageous for quantum error correction of bosonic codes. Here the authors make an important step in this direction by demonstrating quantum control of a harmonic oscillator with a biased noise qubit.

Integrative analyses of transcriptome and whole-genome sequencing data for 1,188 tumours across 27 types of cancer are used to provide a comprehensive catalogue of RNA-level alterations in cancer.

Managing power exhaust in fusion reactors is a key challenge, especially in compact designs for cost-effective commercial energy. This study shows how alternative divertor configurations improve exhaust control, enhance stability, absorb transients and enable independent plasma regulation.

A novel covalent inhibitor, ISM3312, targets the main protease of multiple human coronaviruses, including drug-resistant strains, and shows broad antiviral activity. It offers a promising therapeutic strategy against current and future coronavirus threats.

The behaviour of subducted carbonates at high pressures within the Earth is still poorly understood. Here, the authors present experimental and theoretical evidence of a new carbon–oxygen bond in a high-pressure mineral phase, which has implications for the viscosity and mobility of carbonate melts.

Iron pnictide compounds have recently been shown to have superconducting properties. Xuet al. show that the superconducting gap of underdoped pnictides scales linearly with the transition temperature, and that a pseudogap develops with underdoping.

A new artificial intelligence model, DeepSeek-R1, is introduced, demonstrating that the reasoning abilities of large language models can be incentivized through pure reinforcement learning, removing the need for human-annotated demonstrations.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

Two high-redshift post-starburst galaxies are in the process of quenching, although their quasars remain active, indicating the complex co-evolution between black hole activity and star formation.

The mechanisms of contextual modulation in direction selective ganglion cells in the retina remain unclear. Here, the authors find that that On-Off direction-selective ganglion cells are differentially sensitive to discontinuities of dark and bright moving edges in the visual environment and, using synapse-specific genetic manipulations with functional measurements, reveal the microcircuits underlying this contextual sensitivity.

The origin of superconductivity enhancement in FeSe monolayer grown on SrTiO₃ compared to bulk FeSe is still a debated issue. Here, Shi et al. report a further 15 K jump of T_c accompanying a second Lifshitz transition triggered by electron doping in FeSe/SrTiO₃monolayer films.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.

Cancers evolve as they progress under differing selective pressures. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, the authors present the method TrackSig the estimates evolutionary trajectories of somatic mutational processes from single bulk tumour data.

Accurate tree cover mapping is vital for fighting climate change and land degradation. This high-resolution study reveals that 17% of pan-tropical tree cover was previously undetected, with over half of recent losses linked to human activities.

Excitatory neurons in the neocortex exhibit considerable morphological diversity, yet their organizational principles remain a subject of ongoing research. Here, the authors use unsupervised learning to show that most excitatory neuron morphologies in the mouse visual cortex form a continuum, with notable exceptions in deeper layers.

Viral pathogen load in cancer genomes is estimated through analysis of sequencing data from 2,656 tumors across 35 cancer types using multiple pathogen-detection pipelines, identifying viruses in 382 genomic and 68 transcriptome datasets.

Nitrogen and phosphorus limitations are both key to spatial patterns and temporal trends in primary production. This global analysis indicates that phosphorus limitation on terrestrial primary productivity has become stronger and is increasing more rapidly than nitrogen limitation.

Generalized body pain and headaches are common experience after sleep disruption. How does sleep disruption lead to generalized pain is unknown. Here, authors reveal that N-arachidonoyl dopamine, an endocannabinoid, is critically implicated in pain perception after sleep disruption.

Reduced glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is a hallmark of chronic kidney disease. Here, Pattaro et al. conduct a meta-analysis to discover several new loci associated with variation in eGFR and find that genes associated with eGFR loci often encode proteins potentially related to kidney development.

In somatic cells the mechanisms maintaining the chromosome ends are normally inactivated; however, cancer cells can re-activate these pathways to support continuous growth. Here, the authors characterize the telomeric landscapes across tumour types and identify genomic alterations associated with different telomere maintenance mechanisms.

An analysis of 2,954 genomes from 38 cancer subtypes identified 19,166 retrotransposition events in 35% of samples. Aberrant LINE-1 retrotranspositions can lead to the deletion of tumor-suppressor genes as well as the amplification of oncogenes.