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Modern vision-based language models face challenges with complex physical interactions, causal reasoning and intuitive psychology. Schulze Buschoff and colleagues demonstrate that while some models exhibit proficient visual data processing capabilities, they fall short of human performance in these cognitive domains.

The LHCb experiment at CERN has observed significant asymmetries between the decay rates of the beauty baryon and its CP-conjugated antibaryon, thus demonstrating CP violation in baryon decays.

This technique allows functional imaging of neurons in head-fixed Drosophila while the fly walks on an air-supported ball. Using a genetically encoded calcium sensor, the activity of motion-sensitive neurons in the fly optic lobe was recorded while the flies were presented with visual stimuli. Activity in these cells correlated with robust optomotor behavior in the walking flies.

Protonic ceramic electrochemical cells (PCECs) interconvert hydrogen and electricity and therefore have potential as long-duration energy storage systems, but the durability of these devices under industrially relevant conditions is limited. Here the authors report a PCEC that maintains low degradation rates throughout exceptionally long-term durability tests.

To bypass the limitations of detergents, Ren et al. developed peptide scaffolds that extract membrane proteins directly into lipid nanodiscs, preserving the native environment for structural and functional studies of previously inaccessible membrane protein complexes

The advancement of sodium halide solid-state electrolytes can propel high-energy-density all-solid-state sodium-ion batteries. Here, the authors present a LaCl₃-based electrolyte facilitating rapid Na⁺ ion conduction along the c-axis diffusion channel, ensuring high capacity even at elevated current densities.

Al-Hilal, Chrysovergi et al. identify a role for durotaxis in lung fibrosis and metastatic pancreatic cancer, mediated by the FAK–paxillin mechanosensor complex, and demonstrate therapeutic targeting of this pathway using the small molecule JP-153.

The bile acid-sensitive ion channel (BASIC) is inhibited by extracellular Ca²⁺ . Here, authors present cryo-EM structure of human BASIC in the presence and absence of Ca²⁺ , providing insight into the Ca²⁺-dependent mechanism of the channel.

A direct proxy for past dissolved organic carbon signatures using co-precipitated organic carbon in iron ooids enables reconstruction of marine dissolved organic carbon signals dating back to the Palaeoproterozoic.

A three-dimensional imaging system which distributes the optical illumination over the full field-of-view is sought after. Here, the authors demonstrate the capability of reconstructing 128 × 128 pixel resolution three-dimensional scenes to an accuracy of 3 mm as well as real-time video with a frame-rate up to 12 Hz.

In this study, Willenbockel et al. trace circulating itaconate in vivo to gain insight into its fate and systemic metabolism.

The quark structure of the f₀(980) hadron is still unknown after 50 years of its discovery. Here, the CMS Collaboration reports a measurement of the elliptic flow of the f₀(980) state in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV, providing strong evidence that the state is an ordinary meson.

Here we show how PFL2 and PFL3 neurons in the Drosophila brain compare a representation of direction with internal spatial goals, both anchored in world-centric coordinates, and produce body-centric steering commands that act to correct deviations from the goal direction. 

Edge states of QSHIs hold promise for future technologies due to protection against backscattering. This work observes that intraband backscattering remains allowed for nonmonotonic edge bands, revealing critical aspects of edge state stability.

The authors study experimentally the impact on rigid surfaces of soft porous solids saturated with liquid (hydrogel balls and liquid-saturated foam balls) where three dissipative mechanisms are involved: capillary adhesion, viscous dissipation in the liquid film between the ball and the substrate, and poroelastic dissipation due to porous flow inside the ball.

The principal layer architecture of the sensory cortex is altered with aging. The authors show that overall thinning of the primary somatosensory cortex is driven by deep layer degeneration but that layer IV is more pronounced in old age.

Conversion electrodes for lithium-ion batteries are capable of high capacity but low energy efficiency and low voltages are problematic. The electrochemical reactivity of MgH₂ with Li shows promise in using metal-hydride electrodes for both lithium-ion-battery and hydrogen storage applications.

The lithospheric mantle may be delaminating from the crust in an oceanic plate segment offshore Southwest Iberia, which could be the ultimate cause of the 1755 Great Lisbon Earthquake, according to seismic imaging and numerical simulations.

The M₅ muscarinic acetylcholine receptor represents a promising therapeutic target for neurological disorders. Here, the authors reveal a 2.1 Å cryo-EM structure of the M₅ bound to a selective positive allosteric modulator site that enables structure-based drug design.

Specific neurons in the fan-shaped body of the Drosophila brain convert translational information in relation to the fly’s body to externally referenced coordinates for navigation.

Aarrestad et al. show that, in contrast to psychedelics, the nonhallucinogenic psychoplastogen tabernanthalog promotes neuroplasticity through 5-HT_2AR activation without immediately increasing extracellular glutamate levels or immediate early gene expression.

Membrane proteins are essential for any cell but difficult to fold. Here, the authors show that the EMC acts as a chaperone for membrane proteins. They dissect client recognition and provide a molecular mechanism that underlies this EMC function.

In this Protocol, three dual adeno-associated viral strategies for delivery of large transgenes are presented—by reconstitution at the genomic, transcript or protein level—together with instructions for the design, production and evaluation of dual adeno-associated viral vectors.

This study reveals that brain aberrations after preterm birth are highly individual yet shaped by early injury and social environment, influencing long-term cognitive outcomes.

Periaqueductal gray (PAG) inputs control hunting, but foraging-inducing PAG cells were unidentified. Here, authors show that in mice activity in the projection of vgat PAG cells to the zona incerta is sufficient and necessary for food-seeking.

The tumor environment is nutrient deficient. Here the authors show that early availability of methionine is critical for optimal T cell activation and prevents T cell dysfunction, and that dietary methionine can improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy in mice.

Estimates of stomatal conductance are important for models of crop and ecosystem water and carbon flux. Here, data from temperate tree species show interspecific variation in stomatal function that can be accounted for to make models more accurate.

Lithium has an essential role in the brain and is deficient early in Alzheimer’s disease, which can be recapitulated in mice and treated with a novel lithium salt that restores the physiological level.

Olfactory perception of food-derived odors influences feeding behavior, but the underlying neural pathways remain unclear. Here, the authors show that prolonged exposure to food odor suppresses food intake and body weight gain by activating an olfactory bulb–hypothalamus circuit.

Time-resolved in situ (TRIS) X-ray powder diffraction promises great potential to study mechanochemical processes. Here, the authors develop a strategy to enhance the resolution of TRIS experiments to allow deeper interpretation of mechanochemical transformations; the method is applied to a variety of model systems including inorganic, metal-organic, and organic mechanosyntheses.

What we eat, as well as where and how it is grown, impacts species extinction risks through agricultural land use. Using a new global biodiversity impact data product, this study estimates how many species extinctions may potentially be caused by the production and consumption of different food types on a country-by-country basis.

A connectome analysis identifies, and experiments confirm, three state-dependent circuit motifs that modify the response of an aggressive female Drosophila or a courting male to fly-sized visual objects.

Activated carbon has been widely used for PFAS adsorption, but this method generates secondary solid wastes. The flash Joule heating approach realizes mineralization of PFAS and generation of useful flash graphene in waste granular activated carbon.

Developing robot hands for unstructured human environments is a major challenge. A robotic hand that combines grasping and wrist-like rotation in one mechanism for more efficient and versatile object manipulation is presented.

Water dissociation has proven power in tuning the behaviors of electrochemical CO₂ reduction. Here, the authors report the spontaneous water dissociation capability of the intermetallic electride LaCu_0.67Si_1.33 material that enables high rate electrosynthesis of methane from CO₂.

How fearful events are represented in the hippocampus remains unclear. Here, the authors describe aversive stimulus-triggered single neuron and population responses as well as alterations of the spatial code in the dorsal hippocampal CA1 region.

Decreased brain coenzyme Q₁₀ levels cause encephalopathy and are associated with neurodegeneration; supplementation with 4-HMA or 4-HB restores coenzyme Q₁₀ synthesis in mice and humans with HPDL variants, improving survival and neurological symptoms in HPDL-driven mitochondrial encephalopathy.

Drosophila are shown to have retinal muscles that allow them to smoothly track visual motion and also to make rapid eye movements, and the associated functions and mechanisms involved are discussed.

Here, the authors report on the thermal and mechanical properties of Ruddlesden-Popper phases (Ban+1ZrnS3n+1, n = 2 and 3) of a perovskite chalcogenide (BaZrS3) that push to extreme limits and defy the century-old relation between thermal conductivity and interatomic bond strength.