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Substitution of Si with Au and Ir in Ti₃SiC₂ through a solid-state diffusion process allows the synthesis of Ti₃AuC₂, Ti₃Au₂C₂ and Ti₃IrC₂ phases able to form Ohmic contacts with SiC stable at high temperatures under ambient air conditions.

Ryugu is more primitive than carbonaceous chondrites, according to elevated noble gas concentrations. Elevated Xe and its isotopic composition further provide constraints on fractionation of the solar composition to form the early planetary components.

Barium tagging is a key ingredient for future detectors of neutrinoless double beta decay in low-background environments. Here, the authors demonstrate fluorescence imaging of single Ba2+ ions in high pressure Xenon gas, by comparing activity between Ba2+ chelated and unchelated samples of crown-ether chemosensors.

Acetylenes can be covalently linked by oxidative coupling reactions. Zhanget al. report terminal alkyne C_sp-H bond activation and concomitant homo-coupling on a silver surface, yielding polymeric networks with a conjugated backbone.

In this study, a new analytical technique is employed to measure Kr and Xe isotopes in groundwater at high precision. These measurements indicate that gravitational signals of past water-table depth are preserved in ancient groundwater, representing a novel proxy for past terrestrial hydroclimate.

The temporal characterization of few-femtosecond vacuum ultraviolet pulses bring new opportunities for investigating ultrafast light-matter interactions.

2023 CX1 is the only L-chondrite-like asteroid analysed from space to ground. It catastrophically fragmented in the atmosphere, depositing 98% of its energy in one burst—an unusual, high-risk fragmentation mode with implications for planetary defence.

Analyses and modelling of noble gases in groundwater show that the mean annual surface temperatures of low-altitude, low-to-mid-latitude land masses were about 6 °C cooler during the Last Glacial Maximum than during the Late Holocene.

Exploring the occurrence of the level of water saturation of air within leaves uncovers a mechanism for maintaining photosynthesis and vascular flow under dry conditions.

The authors reveal that even within a few-nanometre thin films, ultrafast all-optical magnetisation switching is spatially inhomogeneous along the depth and driven by the picosecond propagation of a transient domain boundary.

Substituted 1,3,4-thiadiazoles find extensive use in pharmaceutical, agricultural, and materials chemistry. Herein, the authors report the synthesis of multi-functionalized 1,3,4- thiadiazoles via sulfur-mediated direct coupling between primary nitroalkanes and acyl hydrazines.

The surfaces of noble metals possess Shockley states which exhibit Rashba-type spin splitting and spin-momentum locking. Here, the authors use ab initiomethods and photoemission spectroscopy to demonstrate how such Shockley states may be reinterpreted as topologically protected surface states.

The stability of non-noble catalysts is key for their use in proton exchange membrane water electrolysers. Here, authors study activity-stability relationships of MoS_x allotropes for H₂ production, reporting allotrope-dependent stabilities and dissolution pathways, and propose operation guidelines.

There are comparable structural properties between the natural enzyme [FeNi]-hydrogenase and the natural ore, pentlandite. Here the authors, inspired by these similarities, use the mineral as a ‘rock’ electrode, and evaluate its electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance.

Sea-level fluctuations can have a profound impact on coastal groundwater circulation. The geochemistry of groundwater in the Floridan aquifer system suggests that the fresh water in the upper aquifer was emplaced primarily during the last glacial period, when sea level was more than 100 m lower than at present.

Injecting industrial CO₂ into deep geological strata could be a safe and economical means of storing it, either dissolved in solution or absorbed by carbonate minerals. Chris Ballentine and colleagues used noble gas and isotope tracers to identify what happens to CO₂ in gas fields in North America, China and Europe that provide a natural model of geological storage of anthropogenic CO₂ over millennia. They find that dissolution in water is the main mechanism.

Tiny Fe-Ni metal blebs from lunar basaltic magma exhibit astonishing nutshell-like microstructures and geochemical features tracing with unprecedented details the full thermal history of shocked lunar meteorites.

Formic acid fuel cells require nanosized intermetallic nanoparticles as anode catalysts, but current techniques are poor at producing the small size required. Now, surface-modified ordered mesoporous carbons have been used to produce nanocrystallites as small as 1.5 nm that are extremely active catalysts.

The geometry of periodic plasmonic nanostructures in three dimensions can be exploited to give tailored optical properties. Here, the authors study the role of anisotropy on the nano- and mesoscale to provide a framework for designing the optical response of metamaterials formed from plasmonic building blocks.

Here, Martin-Vicente et al. show that the Aspergillus fumigatus protein kinase, CotA, controls invasive growth in an isoform dependent manner in response to carbon source diversity, partially mediated by the downstream effector, SsdA.

Green hydrogen production via water electrolysis requires a low-cost solution to provide efficient catalysts. Here, the authors report an industrially scalable method for synthesizing NiFe layered double hydroxide at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, enhancing alkaline electrolysis.

Interferometric detection schemes exploit phase-sensitive combination of spatially separated observation to increase sensitivity. Here, the authors combine data from two atomic comagnetometers separated by 860 km to improve limits on axion-like particles across nine orders of magnitude of mass range.

Microrobot collectives promise new functions beyond individuals’ capability. Here, nature-inspired reconfigurable self-assembly of microrobots was created, driven by their photocatalytic and magnetic properties, showing potential application in water purification.

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).

Collisional redistribution of radiation has been proposed as a cooling mechanism for atomic two-level systems. Here, a proof-of-principle demonstration is reported in which a relative cooling of 66 K is achieved in an ultradense vapour of rubidium atoms and argon buffer gas. This technique may facilitate fundamental studies of supercooling and have applications in optical refrigeration.

Light–matter interaction is expected to be isotropic in free-electron-like materials. Here, by using time- and phase-resolved photoemission, the authors observe signatures of an anisotropic interaction on a noble metal surface, that can only be accounted for by optical transition dipoles with a fixed orientation.

Membrane-less electrochemical systems eliminate the need for costly ion-exchange membranes, but typically suffer from low-power densities. Braff et al.propose a hydrogen bromine laminar flow battery, which rivals the performance of the best membrane-based systems.

Titanium isotope measurements for chondrites, ancient terrestrial mantle-derived lavas and modern ocean island basalts imply the preservation of a primordial lower-mantle reservoir for most of Earth’s geologic history.

While photoredox catalysis provides organic chemistry new avenues for chemical reactions, typical photocatalysts require expensive noble metals and show modest stabilities. Here, authors examine lead halide perovskites nanocrystals as stable and tunable photoredox catalysts for organic synthesis.

Pyrolysis of defined nitrogen-ligated cobalt acetate complexes onto a commercial carbon support transforms the complexes into heterogeneous Co₃O₄ materials. These reusable non-noble-metal catalysts are highly selective for the industrially important hydrogenation of structurally diverse and functionalized nitroarenes to anilines.

The relationship between the structural configurations of M-N-C electrocatalysts and their performances in neutral environments has been insufficiently investigated. Here the authors demonstrate that an ultralow metal-loaded Co-N-C electrocatalyst, featuring the asymmetric Co-C/N/O configuration, exhibit exceptional efficiency in electrochemically producing hydrogen peroxide under neutral conditions.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

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.

CDC25 phosphatases are attractive anticancer drug targets that regulate CDK activity. Here, the authors present the cryo-EM structure of the CDK2-cyclin A-CDC25A complex at 2.7 Å resolution, detailing key protein-protein interactions.

Generally it is thought that confining clay layers provide protection to low-arsenic groundwaters against intrusion of shallower, high-arsenic groundwater bodies. Here, the authors show that impermeable clay layers can increase arsenic input to underlying groundwater systems due to reduction of iron oxides coupled to carbon oxidation.