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'Atkins snowballs', solid layers of helium around an ion core in bulk superfluid He, have been investigated for simple ions but many properties remain unknown. Here, the authors show via photofragmentation experiments that a phase transition occurs in C₆₀-doped He droplets depending on the number of He atoms.

The competing magnetic interaction in the spin-ice oxide compounds lead to emergent magnetic monopole excitations. Here, the authors study the critical dynamics near the monopole liquid-gas transition, and confirm predictions that these monopoles are also accompanied by an electric dipole.

Understanding the dynamics of bound and free charges and local electric fields on a nanometre scale are important in scanning tunnelling microscopy and nanoscale electronics. Here, the authors present a model system—a metallic tip near a gallium arsenide surface—for studying such electrostatic interactions.

Fluorocarbons are industrially important chemicals and materials for their adsorption and separation have applications in refrigeration and environmental technologies. Here, the authors investigate the adsorption behaviour of fluorocarbons on a series of metal-organic frameworks.

A set of neurons in the peri-locus coeruleus region controls arousal and avoidance states, providing an understanding of the neurobiological basis of arousal and exploratory behaviours.

Shocked compression experiments support the melt line of nickel above that of iron, as recently theorised, which helps to constrain the behavior of nickel at conditions relevant to Earth’s core where it makes up 5-20 wt %

An abnormal cardiac action potential underlies different types of cardiac arrhythmias. Here the authors show that microRNA-365 regulates the cardiac action potential by modulating key cardiac repolarizing channels.

In the Tumor Profiler proof-of-concept observational study, a multiomics approach for profiling tumors from patients with melanoma was feasible, returning data within 4 weeks and informing treatment recommendations in 75% of cases.

Although derived from feedstock chemicals and therefore in principle abundant, ketones are not widely used as cross-coupling partners in organic synthesis. Herein, the authors use ketone derivatives as one-electron handles for forging C(sp3) architectures via dual photo- and nickel catalysis.

Whether marine microbes form strongly differentiated communities over time remains unknown. Here, Martin-Platero and colleagues develop a time series analysis to characterize marine bacteria and Eukarya communities at a fine temporal grain, revealing cohesive but rapidly changing communities.

The cycloaddition of N-metalated azomethine ylides to C₆₀ can result in the formation of a number of different stereoisomeric products. Now, it has been shown that the stereochemical outcome of this reaction can be controlled by carefully choosing the the correct combination of metal and ligand to form the complex that catalyses this process.

Little is known about how the identity of a leaving group affects the dynamics of a bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction. A study of the reaction of F⁻ with CH₃Cl, and comparison to its reaction with CH₃I, now reveals key insights into such effects, with reactant orientation considered a key factor in understanding the behaviour observed.

In the field of multiferroic thin films, attaining low-temperature epitaxy has been a long-standing problem. In this work, authors propose a pathway to significantly reduce the BiFeO₃ thin film growth temperature using the BaBiPbO₃ template.

Long-range magnetic ordering of two-dimensional crystals can be sensitive to interlayer coupling, enabling the effective control of interlayer magnetism. Here, the authors report the pressure-controlled interlayer magnetic coupling of chromiumpyrazine coordinated magnets.

Dynamic nanodomains in lead halide perovskites, dictated by A-site cations, crucially affect the optoelectronic properties by modulating electronic disorder and consequently enabling better solar cells and optoelectronic devices.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

Perceptual abilities can be improved by training, up to certain limits. Martin et al. show that vagus nerve stimulation in mice boosts performance on an auditory task via cholinergic modulation, beyond the level achieved by training alone.

Alterations of therapeutic pressures have been shown to affect clonal evolution of resistance. Here, the authors conducted a single arm, phase 2 trial consisting of alternating osimertinib and gefitinib in non-small cell lung cancer, and found ctDNA dynamics were predictive of response.

Charge disproportionation in thin molecular films of a metal–organic complex enables the realization of a ternary memristor and binary memcapacitor.

Argonaute proteins are key effectors in the microRNA pathway. Here, the authors show that the conserved peptidase DPF-3 regulates Argonautes in C. elegans, and that loss of dpf-3 restores function and fitness in animals lacking the microRNA Argonaute ALG-1.

Instrumental to the migration of antigen-scavenging immune cells, the lymphatic vessel entry receptor LYVE-1 interacts with the hyaluronan glycocalyx, anchored by the leucocyte hyaluronan receptor CD44. Here, dynamic force spectroscopy, crystal structures and MD simulations provide mechanistic insights.

In individuals with long-term cardiac symptoms after an initially mild course of COVID-19 illness, magnetic resonance imaging and measurement of cardiac injury biomarkers commonly detected ongoing cardiac inflammation but not structural heart disease.

An epsilon-near-zero medium is used to demonstrate ultrastrong coupling between phonons and gap plasmons. The approach may pave the path to exploitation of vibrational transitions.

Spatially resolved JWST spectroscopy of a massive, quiescent galaxy at a redshift of ~4 reveals that it formed its stars and quenched rapidly, despite being surrounded by an abundant gas reservoir and gravitationally bound to a star-bursting companion.

Directly modulated semiconductor lasers are shown to be able to operate with bandwidths exceeding 65 GHz thanks to a cavity design that harnesses photon–photon resonances.

This study models a zero-emissions Western North American grid to provide guidelines and understand the value of long-duration storage as a function of different generation mixes, transmission expansion decisions, storage costs, and storage mandates.

Using the AstroLight system, the authors reveal that astrocytic ensembles in the nucleus accumbens regulate cue-motivated reward behavior, demonstrating that selective manipulation of tagged astrocytes can influence specific behavioral choices.

In a multicenter, randomized trial, patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction who underwent a regimen of combined endurance and resistance exercise training over the course of 1 year did not show a statistically significant improvement in the modified Packer score—the primary efficacy endpoint—as compared to patients who received usual care, but they did show improvements in secondary endpoints for maximal oxygen consumption and NYHA heart failure class.

Keyl et al. present an explainable artificial intelligence model-based real-world data analysis from over 15,000 patients across 38 cancer types, identified key prognostic marker interactions, and confirmed these in an external lung cancer cohort.

Periods with enhanced iron and sulfide availability that promoted recycling of bioavailable phosphorus from sediments contributed to episodic development of oxygen oases in the Archaean ocean, according to analysis of trace metals, phosphorus and iron from 2.9-billion-year-old sediments.

Many insects supply secretion via small tubes or pores to the end of their legs to be able to attach to a surface. Here, inspired by nature, Xue et al.fabricate adhesive pads with porous nanorod structure for oil delivery, which give rise to a 100-fold increase in adhesivity under humid conditions.

Artificial neural networks can be trained using backpropagation because of the sophisticated digital hardware they run on. Here, the authors show how many simple physical systems can autonomously be trained to perform complex computations without needing to interface with any digital hardware.

Hehlert et al. report that the gating spring that pulls open mechanosensitive NOMPC channels is not their helical ankyrin tether, but instead an elastic hinge that suspends that tether on the channel gate.

In the non-randomized phase 3b/4 DESTINY-Breast12 study, trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) treatment of patients with HER2⁺ advanced breast cancer and active or stable brain metastases showed consistent intracranial activity and systemic efficacy of T-DXd.

The structurally different domains of a polycrystalline material may exhibit differing catalytic properties. Here, the authors directly visualize this phenomenon by observing the catalytic hydrogen oxidation that oscillates, simultaneously exhibiting different frequencies for structurally different rhodium domains.

The nature and stability of carbon dioxide under extreme conditions relevant to the Earth’s mantle is still under debate, in view of its possible role within the deep carbon cycle. Here, the authors perform high-pressure experiments providing evidence that polymeric crystalline CO₂ is stable under megabaric conditions.

Does aromaticity have a size limit? Evidence is presented for global aromaticity in porphyrin nanorings with circuits of up to 162 π-electrons. The conformation of the nanoring can be altered by changing the template, which in turn controls the aromaticity. Whenever a ring current is observed, its direction is correctly predicted by Hückel’s rule.

Electronic excitations in low-dimensional quantum nanoelectronic devices are collective waves that are strongly affected by the Coulomb interaction. Here, the authors demonstrate that they are able to prepare these collective excitations down to the single electron level and control their propagation.

The authors introduce frozen evanescent waves as the Bloch eigenmodes of periodic problems at zero frequency. Elastic waves serve as an example. Under special conditions, the decay length of the frozen evanescent phonons can become anomalously large.

Our ability to identify associations between behaviour and brain imaging is important for uncovering markers of cognition and disease. Here, the authors illustrate the importance of the reliability of behavioural measurements to accurately investigate brain-behaviour associations using machine learning.

A hybrid analogue–digital quantum simulator is used to demonstrate beyond-classical performance in benchmarking experiments and to study thermalization phenomena in an XY quantum magnet, including the breakdown of Kibble–Zurek scaling predictions and signatures of the Kosterlitz–Thouless phase transition.

Imaging of quantum oscillations in Bernal-stacked trilayer graphene with dual gates enables high-precision reconstruction of the highly tunable bands and reveals naturally occurring pseudomagnetic fields as low as 1 mT corresponding to graphene twisting by 1 millidegree.

A well-preserved partial skeleton (Upper Triassic, Brazil) of the new lagerpetid Venetoraptor gassenae gen. et sp. nov. offers a more comprehensive look into the skull and ecology of dinosaur and pterosaur precursors.

Singlet fission — the conversion of one singlet exciton into two triplet excitons, could improve the efficiency of photovoltaic devices — but its mechanism is still to be fully understood. Now, in films of TIPS-tetracene, it has been shown that the formation of the triplet pair state, which has been proposed to mediate singlet fission, is ultrafast and vibronically coherent in this endothermic fission system.