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Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

Neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy against NSCLC has been tested in clinical trials. Here, the authors follow up longer-term survival and measure immune cell phenotype changes in a single-arm phase II clinical trial of neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy, indicating association of intratumoural TCR diversity and CD8 T cell positioning.

Coherent twin boundaries in nickel-based superalloys are vulnerable sites for alloy failure in demanding environments. Here, the authors show that the abnormal γ″ precipitation mechanism at twin boundaries is responsible for pronounced strain localisation and subsequent failure.

Conducting ferroelectric domain walls constitute a new class of functional material, but to achieve site-specific injection and annihilation of such walls is challenging. Here, McQuaidet al. report site-specific injection of such walls in Cu₃B₇O₁₃Cl created by local point-stress and controlled by electric field.

It is unclear whether the linkage between tree species richness and insect herbivory is consistent across climates and forest types. Here, the authors analyse data from forest biodiversity experiments to show a generally positive tree growth–insect herbivory relationship that is modulated by leaf traits.

Species’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. Here, the authors find that dominant tree species are taller and have softer wood compared to rare species and that these trait differences are more strongly associated with temperature than water availability.

Surface structures can have an important effect on the traits of two-dimensional electron liquids. Here, the authors demonstrate how the surface terminations of SrTiO₃(001) affect the mechanism and properties of the two-dimensional electron liquid.

Protein folding is crucial for proper cellular function but often requires assistance. Here, researchers visualize how the chaperonin TRiC guides tubulin folding by stabilizing a nonnative folding nucleus, revealing a stepwise, hierarchical process of protein folding inside a confined chamber.

Here the authors apply machine learning approaches to Alzheimer’s genetics, confirm known associations and suggest novel risk loci. These methods demonstrate predictive power comparable to traditional approaches, while also offering potential new insights beyond standard genetic analyses.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias identifies new loci and enables generation of a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Improving the creep response of superalloys used in turbine engines is key to improving fuel efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Here, stress-induced localized phase transformations, creating nano-laths, are found to immobilize planar defects, enhancing creep performance. Peer Review Information: Communications Materials thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: John Plummer. A peer review file is available.

CRISPR-mediated genome editing tools are entering the clinic, but concerns remain about the potential immunogenicity of these bacterial-derived proteins. Here, Raghavan et al. engineer two Cas effectors, Cas9 and Cas12, for reduced immunogenicity in vivo while maintaining on-target activity.

The conformational heterogeneity of RNA molecules makes their structure determination by X-ray crystallography and NMR challenging. Here the authors show that RNA structures can be solved by cryo-EM and present the structures of a 40 kDa SAM-IV riboswitch in the apo form and bound to its ligand S-adenosylmethionine.

Wood density is an important plant trait. Data from 1.1 million forest inventory plots and 10,703 tree species show a latitudinal gradient in wood density, with temperature and soil moisture explaining variation at the global scale and disturbance also having a role at the local level.

Analysis of ground-sourced and satellite-derived models reveals a global forest carbon potential of 226 Gt outside agricultural and urban lands, with a difference of only 12% across these modelling approaches.

The Mass Spectrometry Query Language (MassQL) is an open-source language that enables instrument-independent searching across mass spectrometry data for complex patterns of interest via concise and expressive queries without the need for programming skills.

Polygenic risk scores for Alzheimer’s disease derived from individuals of European ancestry can show improved performance in multiancestry settings after incorporating genome-wide association summary statistics from diverse populations.

Known genetic loci account for only a fraction of the genetic contribution to Alzheimer’s disease. Here, the authors have performed a large genome-wide meta-analysis comprising 409,435 individuals to discover 6 new loci and demonstrate the efficacy of an Alzheimer’s disease polygenic risk score.

Ilievski et al. examine differences and similarities in the various ways human and AI systems generalize. The insights are important for effectively supporting alignment in human–AI teams.

Cells locally expand and retract their surface in response to environmental factors such as changes in membrane tension. Here the authors show the membrane adapter, dynamin2, locally constricts surface membrane to form an isolated but contiguous membrane reservoir that can open upon phospholipid scrambling via TMEM16F.

Plasma extracellular vesicles contain quantifiable amounts of TDP-43 and full-length tau, allowing the accurate assessment of pathology in frontotemporal dementia, frontotemporal dementia spectrum disorders and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Using experimental communities of grassland species, this study shows that drought-exposure history can accelerate recovery from subsequent drought through increased niche complementarity between species. This transgenerational effect may enhance the sustainability of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in a future with more frequent droughts.

Measurements of the spin Seebeck effect, the generation of spin current in a ferromagnet due to a temperature gradient, are often hindered by parasitic effects. Here, the authors use ferromagnetic insulators to show how transverse spin Seebeck measurements can be explained by the longitudinal spin Seebeck.

Graham and colleagues analyzed locally advanced esophageal adenocarcinoma clinical trial patient samples and identified major changes in gene expression profiles and immune microenvironment composition independent of changes in clonal composition.

Biallelic loss-of-function variants in the gene encoding Matrix Gla Protein (MGP) are known to cause a recessive disorder called Keutel syndrome. Here, the authors report that heterozygous missense variants affecting one particular cysteine residue of MGP can cause a clinically distinct, dominant disorder, likely via impaired signal peptide processing leading to cellular stress and apoptosis.

The interaction between perovskite oxides and water can have a significant influence on practical performance. Here the authors study the dynamics of surface water adsorption and hydroxide formation during monolayer formation on a ruthenate.

What is the state of trust in scientists around the world? To answer this question, the authors surveyed 71,922 respondents in 68 countries and found that trust in scientists is moderately high.

Systematic large-scale analysis of embryonic development requires the processing of large amounts of microscopy data. Here Schmid et al.solve this problem by developing a high-speed imaging system that projects zebrafish embryos onto a ‘world map’ in real time, revealing characteristic migration patterns in the early endoderm.