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Plant-available phosphorus declines in paddy soils as atmospheric CO₂ increases, according to long-term free air carbon dioxide enrichment experiments of rice plants.

The number and diversity of organisms known to produce the environmentally important sulfur compound dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is expanded with the discovery of a family of DMSP synthesis enzymes.

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

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.

Two-phase materials hold great promise for multifunctional applications. To realize practical devices, it is first necessary to obtain a high degree of control of the phase composition. By taking into account the properties of each phase, it is now possible to control the strain at the interfaces between them in two-component materials, and obtain phase ordering at large scales.

Graphene oxide produced via the standard Hummers method possesses a high degree of chemical inhomogeneity and limited reversibility. Now, it has been shown that an alternative ultra-high-vacuum approach for oxidizing epitaxial graphene yields uniform epoxy functionalization with thermal reversibility at temperatures as low as 260 °C.

The controllable modification of graphene by chemical functionalization can modulate its optical and electronic properties. Sunet al. devise a functionalisation-based method to pattern graphane/graphene superlattices within a single sheet of graphene.

This study shows that glial reactivity is linked to synaptic dysfunction in aging and Alzheimer’s disease, with tau pathology mediating these effects–highlighting the potential of synaptic biomarkers track disease progression.

The electronic structure of the helimagnet CrAs is unusual due to its nonsymmorphic crystal symmetry. Here, the authors observe quasilinear magnetoresistance close to a pressure-driven superconducting transition, which may arise from the interaction of the band structure and magnetic fluctuations.

Insulator-to-metal transitions induced by spontaneous magnetization above room temperature have rarely been observed. Here, the authors show that this transition, along with concurrent high-temperature ferrimagnetic order, is realized in the novel 3d/5d hybridized quadruple perovskite oxide CaCu₃Ni₂Os₂O₁₂.

The mechanism of contact formation during the firing of screen-printed contacts to Si solar cells remains elusive. Here, Fields et al. use in situ X-ray diffraction during firing to reveal the reaction sequence, thus suggesting approaches for development of inexpensive, nontoxic solar cell contacting pastes.

Storage and retrieval of memory is important for applications in quantum information processing. Here the authors demonstrate an efficient quantum Raman memory protocol by preparing hot rubidium atoms in specific states using control pulse scheme.

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.

Atom manipulation in a scanning tunnelling microscope allows the fabrication of artificial topological quantum magnets. Single-atom electron spin resonance experiments probe the many-body topological modes of the quantum magnets and provide a visualization.

Cell type labelling in single-cell datasets remains a major bottleneck. Here, the authors present AnnDictionary, an open-source toolkit that enables atlas-scale analysis and provides the first benchmark of LLMs for de novo cell type annotation from marker genes, showing high accuracy at low cost.

A sequencing chemistry that separates nucleotide identification from nucleotide incorporation achieves high accuracy.

Cryogenic electron microscopy structures and functional analyses reveal that NCLX functions as a H⁺/Ca²⁺ rather than a Na⁺/Ca²⁺ exchanger, and uncover its transport mechanism with implications for therapies treating cardiac and neurodegenerative disorders related to abnormal mitochondrial Ca²⁺.

Hypoglycemia is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition for people with insulin dependent diabetes, but preventative hypoglycemia therapies are elusive. Here, the authors report the use of catechol and boronic acid chemistry to design a self-crosslinkable hydrogel-based microneedle patch that delivers Zinc-Glucagon at low glucose levels and prevents insulin-induced hypoglycemia.

Scientists report the observation of ultralow-power resonant optical bistability, self-induced regenerative oscillations and coherent four-wave mixing in graphene–silicon hybrid optoelectronic devices at cavity recirculating energies of a few femtojoules. The findings indicate the feasibility and versatility of such devices for use in next-generation chip-scale high-speed optical communications, radiofrequency optoelectronics and all-optical signal processing.

Heterometallic nanomaterials in unusual crystal phases that are impossible to form in the bulk state can show interesting physical and chemical properties. Here, crystal-phase heterostructured 4H/fcc Au nanowires are used as seeds to epitaxially grow a variety of binary and ternary hybrid noble metal nanostructures on the phase boundary.

The feasibility of satellite-assisted quantum communication is demonstrated by a field test on the ground. To supress noise due to sunlight the wavelength of 1,550 nm is chosen, and spectrum and spatial filtering technology developed.

The MICrONS mouse visual cortex dataset shows that neurons with similar response properties preferentially connect, a pattern that emerges within and across brain areas and layers, and independently emerges in artificial neural networks where these ‘like-to-like’ connections prove important for task performance.

The spectrally narrow photoluminescence lines occurring in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) heterostructures at low temperature have been attributed to interlayer excitons (IXs) localized by the moiré potential between the TMD layers. Here, the authors show that these lines are present even when the moiré potential is suppressed by inserting an hBN spacer between the TMD layers.

Van der Waals heterostructures offer a platform for harnessing the spin-valley degree of freedom for information processing. Here, the authors transfer optically generated spin-valley polarization from one layer to another in a two-dimensional molybdenum diselenide–tungsten diselenide heterostructure.

PREVIOUS orbiter and lander pictures have given an indication of the general morphology of the surface of Mars and of some relatively small features on the surface. Here we have determined the elemental composition of martian soil from Phobos 2 using orbital γ-ray spectrometry. This technique is used to analyse the surfaces of planets which either do not have an atmosphere or which have only a low-density atmosphere (that is, there is negligible absorption of γ-rays). The γ-radiation is caused by the decay of radioactive elements excited by the interaction of solar (SCR) and galactic (GCR) cosmic rays with the surface materials. Measurements of this radiation by a -γray spectrometer enable the elemental composition of the near-surface rocks to be determined. The first successful measurements of γ-radiation were conducted from Luna 10 (ref. 1). The method was used subsequently during studies of the Moon from Apollos 15 and 16 (ref. 2), and Mars 5 (ref. 3).

Magic state distillation is achieved with logical qubits on a neutral-atom quantum computer using a dynamically reconfigurable architecture for parallel quantum operations.

Here, the authors perform large trans-ancestry fine-mapping analyses identifying large numbers of association signals and putative target genes for colorectal cancer risk, advancing our understanding of the genetic and biological basis of this cancer.

Quantum electrodynamics predicts a rare process in which light is scattered by light. The ATLAS Collaboration reports signs of this elusive effect in the collisions of ultra-relativistic lead ions.

Inborn errors of the alternative NF-κB pathway in humans impair the development of AIRE-expressing medullary thymic epithelial cells, thereby underlying the production of autoantibodies against type I IFNs and predisposition to viral diseases

Cryo-electron and atomic force microscopy shed light on how fibrils of the protein tau, which accumulate in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s disease, can be disassembled by short peptides, providing a possible route towards developing treatments.

To overcome limitations of previous genome-wide association studies of coronary artery disease, this study incorporates a cohort of individuals containing large fractions of Black and Hispanic individuals to provide a wider view of the genetic landscape of this disease.

Fang and colleagues show that the metabolite succinate can inhibit succinylation, and consequently protection from ubiquitin-mediated degradation, of the transcription factor FOXP3, with consequences on T_reg cell-suppressive function and IBD pathology.

Estimates from the Global Dietary Database indicated that 2.2 million new type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cardiovascular disease cases were attributable to sugar-sweetened beverages worldwide in 2020, with the highest burdens in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

We have implemented a two-site Kitaev chain in a two-dimensional electron gas by coupling quantum dots through Andreev bound states in a superconductor–semiconductor hybrid region.

STAARpipeline is a comprehensive framework for flexible and scalable rare-variant association analysis using whole-genome sequencing data and annotation information.

Targeted protein degradation of cell-surface glycoproteins suppresses cancer in mice.

A study presents a strategy based on human pluripotent stem cells for treating neurodegenerative disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.

The spin-orbit torque (SOT) induced magnetic switching makes metal/magnetic insulators bilayers preferred in the energy efficient spintronic applications. Here the authors show SOT switching in W/TmIG bilayers and reveal the dimension crossover of SOT as a function of TmIG thickness.

Perylene diimide-bithiophene macrocycles are electroactive and shape-persistent hosts. Here, the authors describe their self-assembly into a cellular organic semiconducting film whose voids are electrically sensitive to different guests, and which can function as the active layer in a field-effect transistor device.

Neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) are denervated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) through unknown mechanisms. Here, the authors show immune cells infiltrating muscle of ALS patients and mouse models, driven by CCL2-CCR2, which can be blocked to protect NMJs.

A cross-reactive antibody and T cell response is identified in a large portion of patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.

Cooperative species of extrachromosomal DNAs are coordinately inherited through mitotic co-segregation.

Early Pleistocene artefacts at Calio suggest that Sulawesi was populated by hominins at around the same time as Flores, if not earlier.

Despite concern over anticipated eustatic sea-level rise, our understanding of past relative sea level, including regional deviations from the global average, is limited. Here, the authors show evidence for synchronous 0.6-m sea-level fluctuations between 6850 and 6500 yr BP at three sites across Southeast Asia.

The efficacy of CAR-T cells against solid tumors is still limited by immunosuppressive factors. Here, the authors show that engineering of CAR T cells with A1R enhances their efficacy against solid tumors in vitro and in vivo.

The approval of first line immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has improved outcomes for patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC), however, whether patients would benefit more from ICB alone or alongside chemotherapy is unclear. Here, the authors develop a machine-learning based approach to help guide individual treatment selection patients with mNSCLC.

Genome-wide sequencing of 180 ancient individuals shows a continuous gradient of ancestry in Early-to-Mid-Holocene hunter-gatherers from the Baltic to the Transbaikal region and distinct contemporaneous groups in Northeast Siberia, and provides insights into the origins of modern Uralic and Yeniseian speakers.