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A secondary zone of subsidence near the volcanic arc in subduction zones is indicative of the locking state of the megathrust, which for the Lesser Antilles megathrust suggests that it is locked, according to numerical simulations and deformation data.

The mountain ranges of northeast Japan were formed by the Ryukyu/Izu–Bonin–Marianas same-dip double subduction system in a process that may have driven other non-collisional orogens, according to geologically constrained three-dimensional geodynamic simulations.

Multiple factors, including slab geometry and upper-plate stress state, determine the variation in slip behaviour along most megathrusts, according to a synthesis of observations of the Alaska, Hikurangi and Nankai subduction zones.

Slow earthquakes form part of a spectrum of fault behaviour between steady creep and fast rupture during a normal earthquake. Laboratory simulations of slow slip in rock samples taken from the Nankai subduction zone, Japan, reveal similar characteristics to fast earthquakes, implying that some slow slip events could be prematurely arrested earthquakes.

The rupture area of the 2014 Iquique earthquake offshore northern Chile was spatially limited to a region where the plate boundary is non-reflective in seismic images, indicative of low fluid pressure. In contrast, north and updip of the rupture area, a coherent highly reflective plate boundary indicates excess fluid pressure, which may inhibit strain accumulation, while strain release in the non-reflective rupture area occurs during large earthquakes.

Chemical reactions between slab and mantle rocks may lead to brittle failure where deep episodic tremor occurs in subduction zones, according to field and microstructural observations of a shear zone in New Zealand.

Slow earthquakes have recently been discovered on the shallow parts of some subduction zones. A review of the conditions under which these quakes form reveals that they could be common in most subduction zones globally.

A heteroepitaxial-strain-based strategy for enhancing the stability of perovskite quantum dots for spectrally narrow (pure) red LEDs is reported.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

Here the authors report a crystal structure of a pseudoknot-containing hammerhead ribozyme. Catalysis is based upon a general base (G N1) and a general acid (G O2’). The structure is closely similar to the pistol ribozyme, but mechanistically different.

Little is known about microbial life in the basaltic ocean crust, but this paper details a survey from two sites that reveals unexpected microbial abundance and diversity.

Rapid tremor migration in subduction zones has been associated with aseismic, shear strain at the plate interface. Here, the authors develop a physical model that shows that pore-pressure waves at the plate interface are likely to generate secondary slip fronts triggering rapid tremor migrations with speeds and pathways similar to those observed in subduction zones.

Authors uncover room-temperature skyrmions in 2D van der Waals material, attributing their presence to Fe-deficiency-induced symmetry breaking, enabling topological Hall effect and small Néel-type skyrmions with femtosecond laser writability.

Sediments accumulated in a subduction trench are usually unconsolidated and impede the updip propagation of fault rupture during an earthquake. Seismic images of the southern Sumatra–Andaman trench reveal blocks of consolidated sediment that may have enabled fault rupture in 2004 to propagate up fault dip, thus further seaward, increasing the tsunami magnitude.

Conventional palladium-catalyzed Heck reactions rely on the addition of oxidants and may suffer from low selectivity. Here, the authors report a nickel-catalyzed oxidative Heck arylation driven by transfer hydrogenation of an acceptor olefin leading to high E/Z selectivity and regioselectivity.

Isolation and characterization of an archaeon that is most closely related to eukaryotes reveals insights into how eukaryotes may have evolved from prokaryotes.

In this Consensus Statement, a consortium of microbiome scientists discuss current sequencing data sharing policies and propose the use of a Data Reuse Information (DRI) tag to promote equitable and collaborative data sharing.

Antimicrobial resistance has evolved over decades due to widespread antimicrobial use, with resistance genes now circulating across humans, animals and the environment, creating complex cross-sector connectivity challenges. This Perspective advocates for genomics-based studies of AMR connectivity to enable coordinated global action and investment under the One Health framework.

Redox-active MOFs have demonstrated advantages in the field of electrochromism but controlling and modulating the electrochromic behaviors in specific MOFs remains a challenge. Here, the authors design a redox-active Zr-MOF with coordination unsaturated pockets which exhibits reversible electrochromic behavior.

Combining computation and experimentation, the authors reveal prevalent epistatic patterns of the highly diverged B1 β-lactamase family. Both methods locate residues with the strongest epistasis in regions of intermediate residue burial.

Shallow parts of megathrusts up-dip of locked patches generally have a high slip rate deficit, which could mean tsunami hazard has been underestimated, according to a stress-constrained inversion of geodetic data.

To celebrate the first anniversary of Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, we asked five researchers investigating solid Earth processes to outline notable developments within their discipline and provide thoughts on important work yet to be done.

The Juan de Fuca plate, which subducts below the Cascades, is remarkably dry, according to reconstructions of water content based on seismic data. Decompression rather than hydrous melting must therefore be responsible for Cascades volcanism.

Systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease study reported that, despite global improvements from 1990 to 2021, dietary iron deficiency-associated disease burden remains high in women, children and residents in low socio-demographic index countries.

Catalytic upcycling of waste plastics has multiple benefits from a sustainability perspective, but available processes struggle with chlorine-containing feedstocks. Here the authors propose a strategy capable to upcycle chlorine-containing plastic wastes to valuable chemicals.

Additions to alkenes and alkynes are useful routes for generating highly functionalized products. Here the authors report the 1,1-difunctionalization of alkynes through a CuH-catalysed asymmetric hydroboration/hydroamination cascade.

The role of vascular plasticity in brain function remains poorly understood. Here, the authors demonstrate that a significant portion of blood vessels in the adult brain periodically occlude and regress, a process that is associated with a reduction in neuronal activity.

While Bell inequalities have been violated several times—mostly in photonic systems—their violations within particle physics experiments are less explored. Here, the BESIII Collaboration showcases Bell-violating nonlocal correlations between entangled hyperon pairs.

The large-scale production of crystalline porous materials remains a challenge. Here the authors report a general approach of high-pressure homogenization that can realize large-scale synthesis of crystalline porous materials under benign conditions.

The authors here present a detailed reconstruction of the landslide mass following the 2018 eruption of Anak Krakatau. Bathymetry data reports the volume of the collapsed submarine flank to be much larger than previously reported.

Depletion of calcium from intracellular stores induces interaction between the endoplasmic reticulum STIM1 protein and the plasma membrane ORAI1 channel that facilitates cellular calcium entry. Here Ma et al. characterize a STIM1 gain-of-function mutant and propose a conformational switch that controls ORAI1 gating.

A 32-year-long slow-slip event occurred on a shallow part of the Sunda megathrust, perhaps because of stress accumulation after fluid expulsion, according to an analysis of the deformation history of the area and physics-based simulations.

In the year AD 365, an earthquake and tsunami destroyed much of the eastern Mediterranean coastal regions. The distribution of uplift at the time suggests that the earthquake occurred on a fault within the overriding plate at the subduction zone beneath Crete, and not on the subduction interface itself.

Encapsulating large and contorted nanographenes inside artificial receptors remain challenging. This work reports the synthesis, characterization and binding properties of a trigonal prismatic cage compound that can serve as a receptor for contorted nanographene derivatives.

Suppressing surface Cs⁺ accumulation in methylammonium-free α-FA_1−xCs_xPbI₃ perovskite with an intermediate phase-assisted strategy enables high-efficiency and thermally stable photovoltaics.

Exciton transport in 2D Ruddlesden−Popper perovskite plays a key role for their optoelectronic performance. Here, authors significantly enhance free exciton mobilities in exfoliated thin flakes by anchoring butyl ammonium cation with polymethyl methacrylate, which also improves lattice rigidity.

A shallow slow-slip source region has laterally variable elastic properties and pore pressure, and near-velocity-neutral frictional properties, according to seismic imaging of part of the Hikurangi subduction margin and data-constrained modelling.

Seismic waves can trigger further fault slip. Analysis of seismic and geodetic data shows that seismic waves from the 2016 Kaikōura, New Zealand earthquake were amplified by subduction zone sediments, triggering slow fault slip up to 600 km away.

This perspective explores the potential continuum and diversification of microbes along the soil-plant-human gut microbiome axis, highlighting microorganisms capable of moving along the axis and proposing a conceptual framework for mechanisms underlying microbial interactions.