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The composition of Earth’s inner core can be constrained by the supercooling required for its formation. Based on molecular dynamic simulations this work shows that inner core nucleation from an iron-carbon composition fits geophysical constraints.

Plasma proteomic analysis of presymptomatic individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis identifies novel disease-associated proteins and enables the development of an accurate diagnostic biomarker panel.

Seagrass meadows store 24–40 million tons of carbon and fix 83–137 million tons of carbon annually in their biomass, ranking among the most productive ecosystems on Earth. Seagrass conservation can contribute to climate change mitigation.

Many tumours exhibit hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypoxic tumours often respond poorly to therapy. Here, the authors quantify hypoxia in 1188 tumours from 27 cancer types, showing elevated hypoxia links to increased mutational load, directing evolutionary trajectories.

The CMS Collaboration reports evidence for off-shell Higgs boson contributions in the production of Z boson pairs, and measures the width of the Higgs boson, which is inversely related to its lifetime.

GluA2-containing AMPA receptors (AMPARs) are not Ca²⁺ impermeable, and their ability to transport Ca²⁺ is shaped by the subunit composition of AMPAR tetramers as well as the orientation of transmembrane AMPAR regulatory proteins and cornichon auxiliary subunits.

Here, authors present a Digital Twin framework for urban parking and mobility in Caserta. By integrating distributed sensor data with machine learning and generative AI, the system enables real-time monitoring, forecasting, and scenario simulation to support smarter urban management.

The most up-to-date combination of results on the properties of the Higgs boson is reported, which indicate that its properties are consistent with the standard model predictions, within the precision achieved to date.

Analysis of medulloblastomas in humans and mice shows that the functional consequences of ZIC1 mutations are exquisitely dependent on the cells of origin that give rise to different subgroups of medulloblastoma.

The CMS Collaboration reports the study of three simultaneous hard interactions between quarks and gluons in proton–proton collisions. This manifests through the concurrent production of three J/ψ mesons, which consist of a charm-quark–antiquark pair.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

Axonal injury, induced in the white matter by expansion of early tumour cells, is a key driver of glioblastoma progression.

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

An optical slab waveguide with highly programmable nonlinear functionality is described, enabling the demonstration of versatile control over broadband second-harmonic generation across the spectral, spatial and spatio-spectral domains.

Using multi-ancestry genome-wide association study and fine-mapping, 298 loci and 36 credible genes are identified in the aetiology of bipolar disorder.

Pollinator-driven evolution of floral traits is thought to be a major driver of angiosperm speciation and diversification. Here, the authors assemble the chromosome-scale genome of the sexually deceptive orchid Ophrys sphegodes and reveal insights into sexual deception and pollinator adaptation.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

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.

In most cancers, mutations that lead to oncogene activation and tumor suppressor inactivation synergize to promote tumorigenesis. However, in neuroblastomas, MYCN amplification and ATRX mutations are mutually exclusive and incompatible.

Ring deconvolution microscopy leverages symmetry to provide fast and straightforward spatially varying deblurring and offers improved speed and image quality compared to standard approaches across diverse microscopy modalities.

A population of TRAIL-positive astrocytes in glioblastoma contributes to an immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment and this mechanism can be targeted with an engineered oncolytic virus to improve outcomes.

Using viral barcode tracing to detect interactions between glioblastoma cells and non-malignant astrocytes in patient samples, investigators discovered a pathway that reduces tumour-specific immunity and identified potential therapeutic targets.

Megaraptoran theropod dinosaur anatomy and evolution is unclear due to the fragmentary nature of most available fossils. Here the authors report a well-preserved, late surviving megaraptoran from Argentina that clarifies our understanding of the morphology of this group and potentially provides insights into its diet and feeding strategies.

Transcriptomic, proteomic and immune repertoire profiling reveals distinct peripheral features of MIS-C and pediatric COVID-19, including elevated soluble spike protein levels, more pronounced type II IFN-dependent gene expression and a higher B cell mutation rate in patients with MIS-C.

Multi-omics datasets pose major challenges to data interpretation and hypothesis generation owing to their high-dimensional molecular profiles. Here, the authors develop ActivePathways method, which uses data fusion techniques for integrative pathway analysis of multi-omics data and candidate gene discovery.

Silane, which is a precursor to the sandy surfaces of rocky planets and dusty clouds on gas giants, is seen directly in another world—a low-metallicity brown dwarf in which oxidation is slow and gas mixing is fast.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

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.

In this prespecified exploratory biomarker analysis of the placebo-controlled CheckMate 274 trial, a composite model of adaptive immunity biomarkers and clinical parameters was identified and shown to predict benefit from nivolumab treatment in patients with muscle-invasive urothelial cancer.

A genome-wide association study of critically ill patients with COVID-19 identifies genetic signals that relate to important host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage that may be targeted by repurposing drug treatments.

Phylogenomic analysis of 7,923 angiosperm species using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes produced an angiosperm tree of life dated with 200 fossil calibrations, providing key insights into evolutionary relationships and diversification.

Lightning Pose is an efficient pose estimation approach that requires few labeled training data owing to its semi-supervised learning strategy and ensembling.

Analysing camera-trap data of 163 mammal species before and after the onset of COVID-19 lockdowns, the authors show that responses to human activity are dependent on the degree to which the landscape is modified by humans, with carnivores being especially sensitive.

Whole-metagenome sequencing of 1,780 raw-material, end-product and surface samples from 113 food processing facilities reveals the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance determinants in foods and their processing environments.

Fine-mapping of causal variants and integration of epigenetic and chromatin conformation data identify likely target genes for 150 breast cancer risk regions.

Loss-of-function variants in thyroid hormone transporter MCT8 cause a neurodevelopmental and metabolic disorder. Here the authors identify genotype-phenotype relationships, advance insights in MCT8 (dys)function and create a pathogenicity-severity variant classifier.

RNA viruses, such as Zika and Dengue, activate the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) signaling to restrict the antiviral response. Here, the authors report that coronaviruses also activate AHR signaling, potentially allowing them to escape the immune response, and show that AHR antagonism limits SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro, suggesting that AHR could be targeted for antiviral therapy.

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.

Engineering mammalian cells with synthetic circuits drives innovation in next-generation biotherapeutics and industrial biotechnology. Here the authors use RNA-seq and computational biology to identify drugs that increase engineered cell productivity without genetic edits - Filgotinib proved enhanced gene expression across contexts, offering a powerful tool for biotech applications.

Entanglement was observed in top–antitop quark events by the ATLAS experiment produced at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN using a proton–proton collision dataset with a centre-of-mass energy of √s  = 13 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 140 fb⁻¹.

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.

In this work, the authors apply polymer models to reconstruct the 3D structure of the genome during SARS-CoV-2 infection and examine how the virus impacts key mechanisms of chromatin organization.

The authors collate literature on the responses of bird assemblages to forest loss and show that locations with a more variable natural environment and a longer history of agricultural land use have bird assemblages that are more tolerant to forest loss.

TSPO PET imaging is widely used to quantify microglial activation. Here, the authors show that TSPO expression increases in activated rodent but not human microglia, implying that in humans TSPO informs on microglial density rather than activation status.

Pressure-driven polymerisation reactions in confined environments, such as zeolites, can generate unique composite materials and increase our understanding of confined reactions. Here, a polyethylene–silicate composite is synthesised, and the mechanical properties can be tuned by varying the ethylene content.