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Reflection anisotropy spectroscopy has long been used to explore surface optical properties, yet the origins of bulk-related features remain contentious. Here, the authors introduce a layer-resolved exciton localization measure within many-body perturbation theory to reveal that these bulk features in arsenic-modified silicon are primarily due to surface-localized states, challenging traditional views and highlighting the role of excitonic contributions.

Genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies 58 independent risk loci for major anxiety disorders among individuals of European ancestry and implicates GABAergic signaling as a potential mechanism underlying genetic risk for these disorders.

Auvray and colleagues present a covalent fluorescent probe targeting tubulin, a key cytoskeletal protein. The probe is cell-permeable, fluorogenic, and STED-compatible, enabling clear, minimally-invasive imaging of dynamic processes in live and fixed cells.

The authors suggest that a probable Keplerian disk is feeding an optically revealed massive young stellar object in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Small cell lung cancer cells form functional synapses with glutamatergic neurons, receiving synaptic transmissions and deriving a proliferative advantage from these interactions.

Replication-dependent histone mRNA decay involves the RNA helicase UPF1, the histone stem-loop binding protein SLBP and the exoribonuclease 3’hExo. Here, the authors present evidence for assembly of a degradosome-like complex involving the three proteins and delineate the mechanism that drives their concerted action to achieve histone mRNA decay.

Ubiquitination is a versatile modification system in eukaryotic cells. Here, the authors unveil that the ubiquitin ligase HUWE1 can modify drug-like small-molecule substrates, beyond proteins. This discovery may be harnessed to develop specific tool substrates or inhibitors of HECT-type ligases.

Genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders identifies five underlying genomic factors that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders.

 Observations with the sensitive mid-infrared spectrometer MIRI on board JWST reveal the presence of a water vapour reservoir in the terrestrial plant-forming zone of the young planetary system PDS 70.

Graph Neural Networks achieve accurate predictions of optical spectra after finetuning on only a few hundreds of spectra from a higher rung on Jacob’s ladder of optoelectronic properties, offering an efficient route towards experimental accuracy.

Mitochondrial DNA from horses at the Middle Pleistocene archaeological site of Schöningen reveals insight into the evolutionary history of horses and advances techniques for the analysis of ancient DNA retrieved from highly degraded samples.

Mutations in elongation factor G protect bacteria from aminoglycoside antibiotics through unknown mechanisms. Here, the authors show that the mutations selectively slow the movement of antibiotic-bound ribosomes along mRNA, which prevents error-prone protein synthesis and thus membrane damage and antibiotic uptake.

Lavdovskaia, Hanitsch, Linden et al. provide a comprehensive roadmap of mitoribosome biogenesis and establish that mitochondria use a unique pathway for the assembly of their translation machinery.

MethyLYZR, an epigenetic classifier of brain tumors, provides clinically relevant cancer classification results within 15 min of sequencing, with potential applications for neurosurgical intraoperative use.

4D-scanning transmission electron microscopy uses diffractive imaging for structural studies. Here, authors study single particle cryo-EM protein samples at up to 5.8 Å resolution, using 4D-STEM and ptychography data processing.

H3K36me3 is a marker of actively and recently transcribed genes. Here, the authors describe a 3-step mechanism of transcription-coupled H3K36me3 deposition by the mammalian methyltransferase SETD2, via the elongation factor SPT6.

STED nanoscopy enables sub-diffraction imaging with a wide range of fluorescent probes. Here, the authors show that a bright and very photostable class of fluorescent quantum dots can be super-resolved with STED as biolabels in cellular contexts.

The quantitative connection between the molecular topology and molecular dynamics is a long-standing, fundamental challenge in polymer science. Here the authors present a model-driven predictive scheme for the uniaxial extensional viscosity and strain hardening of branched polymer melts, specifically for the pom-pom architecture.

PRPF8 is a hotspot for mutations causing retinitis pigmentosa-type 13. Here the authors generated PRPF8 patient-specific retinal cells, demonstrating an important role for this splicing factor in spliceosome kinetics and 5’ splice site selection.

When strain is applied to strontium ruthenate, superconductivity emerges at a different temperature to the breaking of time-reversal symmetry. This indicates that the superconductivity could have a chiral d-wave order parameter.

The dayside thermal emission spectrum and brightness temperature map of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-18b obtained from the NIRISS instrument on the JWST showed water emission features, an atmosphere consistent with solar metallicity, as well as a steep and symmetrical decrease in temperature towards the nightside.

Cross-linking mass spectrometry (XLMS) allows mapping of protein-protein and protein-RNA interactions, but the analysis of protein-DNA complexes remains challenging. Here, the authors develop a UV light-based XLMS workflow to determine protein-DNA interfaces in reconstituted chromatin and isolated nuclei.

The authors explore the impact of MC4R deficiency on lipid metabolism in humans, based on two large cohorts. Findings indicate that individuals with obesity due to MC4R deficiency have lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, as well as reduced cardiovascular risk.

Although IWS1 has been implicated in transcription-coupled processes, its direct role in RNA polymerase II function remained undefined. Here, the authors demonstrate that IWS1 enhances Pol II elongation velocity by acting as a structural scaffold and promoting co-transcriptional H3K36me3 deposition.

Biglari et al. reveal subgroups of arcuate nucleus hypothalamic neurons that exhibit distinct molecular signatures and feeding-regulatory functions, thus uncovering new regulatory principles in body weight control.

Understanding the underlying pathophysiology of obesity can help prevent this condition. Here, the authors perform a GWAS of BMI in diverse ancestries, finding four missense variants in FRS3 that affect BMI.

Genome-wide association meta-analyses of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptom measures and clinical diagnoses identify new risk loci, highlight putative effector genes and yield improved polygenic risk scores.

Using cryo-EM, SAXS and HDX–MS, the authors mechanistically delineate dimerization-induced autoinhibition of the HECT-type ligase HACE1 and the selectivity of the active ligase monomer for GTP-bound RAC1.

Splicing is carried out within a large structure, the spliceosome, containing many RNAs and proteins. In this paper, two intermediary complexes of the splicing reaction have been purified. The differences in these complexes provide a significant advancement in understanding of the composition of the catalytic core.

Epicardial engineered heart muscle allografts from induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes can safely and effectively remuscularize chronically failing hearts in rhesus macaques, leading to improved cardiac function and paving the way for human clinical trials.

Highly abundant hydrocarbons in a very low-mass star’s disk are detected using the JWST. This unique chemical composition is probably due to the destruction of carbon grains, and the resulting high gaseous C/O ratio may have a profound impact on the composition of growing exoplanets.

Harasimov, Gorry, Welp, Penir, Horokhovskyi et al. analyse proteostasis in mammalian oocytes and ovaries: the maintenance of oocytes involves exceptional protein longevity, and many of the extremely long-lived proteins decline as the ovary ages.

Do proteasomes catalyze peptide splicing? Here, the authors develop and apply a method to identify spliced peptides produced from entire proteins, confirm that proteasomes produce a sizeable variety of cis-spliced peptides with well-defined characteristics, and show that non-spliced and spliced peptides are concentrated in hotspots.

By conducting chemical reactions involving a single pair of reactants within helium nanodroplets, Henning and Krasnokutski have measured the energetics of simple reactions relevant to astrochemistry. This approach allows the reaction pathways of surface reactions to be predicted with more accuracy than before.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis of individuals with clinically assessed or self-reported depression identifies 44 independent risk loci. Comparisons with other psychiatric disorders and candidate gene analyses provide new insights into major depressive disorder.

ASCC3 is a multi-functional helicase that contains two consecutive Ski2-like helicase units. Here, the authors show that ASCC3 can unwind DNA by threading one strand of a substrate duplex through both helicase units, supported by the TRIP4 protein.

STING-activation-induced necroptosis (STAIN) is a central pathogenic mechanism in both caspase-8-deficient inflammation and STING-associated vasculopathy with onset in infancy.

Truncated version of adenylyl cyclase 3 acts as a cold-induced rheostat during long-term brown adipose tissue activation.

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the accumulation of aggregated tau protein. Here the authors find that Hsp chaperones, which normally protect cell homeostasis, can assemble with co-chaperones in a “multichaperone machinery” to target tau aggregation.

Comprehensive quantitative profiling of intact glycopeptides remains technically challenging. To address this, the authors here develop an integrated quantitative glycoproteomic workflow, including optimized sample preparation, multiplexed quantification and a dedicated data processing tool.

Observations of the formation of individual stripes in a mixed-dimensional cold-atom Fermi–Hubbard quantum simulator are described, enhancing understanding of the phase diagram of high-temperature superconducting materials and the relationship between charge pairs and stripes.