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It is known that spatially localized interactions can give rise to self-organized collective motion. Here, by studying pairwise interactions in juvenile zebrafish, authors reveal the role of reciprocal temporal coupling and find that temporal coordination considerably improves spatial responsiveness, such as reacting to changes in the direction of motion of a partner.

A key step in the assimilation of formate is its reduction into formaldehyde. Here, the authors develop a two-enzyme route in which formate is activated into formyl phosphate and reduced by NAD(P)H into formaldehyde and confirm its functionality in vitro and in vivo.

High-throughput electron microscopy demands minimal human intervention and high image quality. Here, authors introduce DeepFocus, a data-driven method for aberration correction in electron microscopy, robust for low SNR images, fast and easily adaptable to microscopes and samples. Peer Review Information: Nature Communications thanks Yang Zhang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.

A new form of pure, solid carbon has been synthesized consisting of a somewhat disordered hexagonal close packing of soccer-ball-shaped C₆₀ molecules. Infrared spectra and X-ray diffraction studies of the molecular packing confirm that the molecules have the anticipated 'fullerene' structure. Mass spectroscopy shows that the C₇₀ molecule is present at levels of a few per cent. The solid-state and molecular properties of C₆₀ and its possible role in interstellar space can now be studied in detail.

Metabolic interactions shape ecosystems but remain hard to study. Here, authors present MetaFlowTrain, a modular, low-cost fluidic system controlling metabolic fluxes between microbes, and show its value in uncovering soil conditioning, microbial interactions, and exometabolite-driven inhibition.

Examination of demographic age trajectories for species from a wide range of taxonomic groups shows that these species have very diverse life-history patterns; mortality and reproduction vary greatly with age for both long- and short-lived species, and the relationships between ageing, mortality and reproduction are clearly complex.

Many single cells rely on beating cilia and flagella to move. Now it is shown that the core of these appendages twists to generate the torsion waves responsible for three-dimensional motion.

Ammonia oxidizing archaea and Nitrospinae are the main known nitrifiers in the ocean, but the much greater abundance of the former is puzzling. Here, the authors show that differences in mortality, rather than thermodynamics, cell size or biomass yield, explain the discrepancy, without the need to invoke yet undiscovered, abundant nitrite oxidizers.

Genome-wide studies of de novo genes have tended to focus on genomic open reading frames (ORFs). Here, Blevins et al. use deep transcriptomics and synteny information to identify de novo transcripts in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, many of which are expressed from the alternative DNA strand.

The alloy bismuth-palladium is a candidate material for observing topological superconductivity. Here, the authors study the interplay of spin–orbit interactions and superconductivity in this noncentrosymmetric compound using scanning tunnelling spectroscopy and relativistic first-principles calculations.

Adding short, complementary oligonucleotides to single-stranded DNA condensates creates a concentrated, linearly propagating, sharp diffusion front that contradicts the fuzzy concentration gradients and nonlinear kinetics typical of Fickian diffusion.

Intense lasers can both ionize atoms and subsequently drive the recollision of the released electrons with their ionized parents. Holography experiments now show that the orientation of the parent can change the recollision process, requiring a refinement of the commonly used strong-field approximation.

Several factors have limited the potential/application of self-propelled chemical motors. Here, to address some of these concerns, the authors report on the development of squid-derived biodegradable motors, which use an anaesthetic metabolite for propulsion and demonstrate a range of different applications.

An extreme Einstein ring ~10,000 times as bright as the Milky Way in the infrared is studied with VLT/ERIS and ALMA, and the authors find that the lensed galaxy is a starburst with a fast-rotating disk, rather than being driven by a major merger.

Microbial strategies for allocating limited resources to different cellular functions remain to be fully understood. Lisevich et al. show how the interplay between general physical and context-dependent physiological limitations determines resource allocation into a major bacterial cellular function, motility.

Spectra decomposes gene expression data into interpretable programs using prior knowledge.

SAR11 bacteria and their phages are abundant in the oceans. Here the authors quantify the number of phage-infected SAR11 cells using microscopy techniques and discover phage-infected cells without any detectable ribosomes. They hypothesize that ribosomal RNA may be used for the synthesis of phage genomes.

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

Little is known about the diets of early modern humans as they dispersed into Australia. Here, Florin et al. study charred plant remains from Madjedbebe rockshelter, which show that 65–53 thousand years ago, early modern humans in northern Australia already had a broad diet of plants.

DNA from ancient wolves spanning 100,000 years sheds light on wolves’ evolutionary history and the genomic origin of dogs.

Genomic analysis of Plasmodium DNA from 36 ancient individuals provides insight into the global distribution and spread of malaria-causing species during around 5,500 years of human history.

This study shows that among healthy adults tracked across their lives, brain atrophy rates correlate with genetic risk for Alzheimer’s and memory decline, and that degeneration in Alzheimer’s-vulnerable brain regions is a continuous phenomenon.

Contier et al. show that dimensions are superior to categories at predicting brain responses to visual objects.

A genomic study of 125 individuals from the Carpathian Basin (4800–3900 BCE) reveals different kinship systems in nearby Copper Age communities, and highlights both genetic continuity and contrasting patterns of social organization.

Recent estimates indicate that half of Ethiopian girls aged 15–19 years have experienced female genital mutilation/cutting (FGMC). This socio-centric social network study estimates the social influence and social selection on preference for cutting female relatives using data from 5,163 Ethiopian Arsi Oromo adults. They find no clear evidence of social selection within marriage-advice networks, suggesting that these networks are not implicated in FGMC maintenance.

Zhang et al. provide evidence that, during meiosis, recombination proteins assemble into active droplets, the coarsening of which partially explains the phenomenon of crossover interference.

Spectroscopic studies and theoretical calculations of the electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction establish that reaction rates depend on the amount of charge stored in the electrocatalyst, and not on the applied potential.

This Perspective discusses how well-established theoretical models of evolution can be adapted to study and generate testable predictions about the evolutionary dynamics of host–microbiota associations.

JWST observations suggest that both pebbles and planetesimals played an important role in forming the giant exoplanet WASP-121 b beyond the H₂O ice line. They also indicate that strong vertical mixing likely drives the nightside atmospheric chemistry.

At the ultrafast timescale the propagation of light pulses through a dielectric material is not only determined by the envelope, but also by nonlinear interactions that evolve within one optical cycle. Here, the authors demonstrate a method to determine the subcycle-resolved delay to a probe pulse in ultrafast, high-field pump–probe experiments.

This Registered Report of 7,978 people in 20 countries found that guilt and information about consequences drive prosocial behaviour. Guilt-prone individuals gave more when they were informed about the consequences.

Three key axes of variation of ecosystem functional changes and their underlying causes are identified from a dataset of surface gas exchange measurements across major terrestrial biomes and climate zones.

Recent work shows that m6A RNA methylation is an important regulatory mechanism during development. Here they show that the m6A RNA methylase subunit METTL14 plays a critical role in chondrogenesis during mouse limb development, where it stabilizes Gdf5 and Runx2/3 mRNAs.

Rossetti and coauthors explore how human cooperation dynamics shift when players engage in multiple economic games at the same time, rather than treating each game as isolated. The authors find that cognitive constraints, strategic motives, and spillover effects can reduce cooperation in such scenarios, challenging traditional models of direct reciprocity.

Societal upheaval occurred across Eurasia in the sixth and seventh centuries. Tree-ring reconstructions suggest a period of pronounced cooling during this time associated with several volcanic eruptions.

Neutrophils are involved in both the initiation and resolution of cardiac inflammation post myocardial infarction (MI). Here, the authors show that intravenously injected nanoparticles can modulate cardiac neutrophils to inhibit inflammation and promote repair for MI therapy.

Plasma turbulence is the main driver to deteriorate the performance of fusion power plants. This work presents an unprecedented comparison of plasma turbulence between experiment and simulation, proving that the gyrokinetic model GENE reached a high level of maturity to predict core turbulence.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

Removal of the C. elegans germline substantially increases organismal lifespan. Here, Nakamura et al. show that the transcription factors MML-1 and MXL-2 coordinate this process in that they reduce TOR signalling and increase autophagy by regulating activity of HLH-30.

Strong X-ray emission from a population of radio jets shows variability that supports a model of synchrotron emission by a secondary population of electrons boosted to teraelectronvolt energies within a small volume of a jet.

Convection shapes BVOC dynamics over the Amazon rainforest, driving dawn photochemistry in the upper troposphere. Changes in BVOC emissions can strongly impact regional and global atmospheric chemistry.