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Declining oocyte quality contributes to age-related reduction in fertility; however, the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here Liu et al. reveal that replenishing mevalonate pathway metabolites and supplementation with a natural compound, 8-isopentenyl flavone, improve aged oocyte quality by restoring cortical F-actin through CDC42 and RAC1 prenylation.

Xu et al. identify the MondoA–TXNIP signalling axis as a regulator of antitumour immune surveillance in response to lactic acid in the tumour microenvironment.

Worldwide, the number of only-child families is increasing. This research examines how growing up without siblings affects adult brain structure, function and connectivity, cognition, personality and mental health.

Adult zebrafish possess the ability to regenerate injured hearts through a complex orchestration of molecular and cellular activities. Here, the authors present a single cell and spatially-resolved atlas of the regenerating zebrafish heart, which serves as a valuable resource for research on heart regeneration.

2- arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), an abundant endocannabinoid in the brain, regulates diverse neural functions. Here, the authors identified four loss-of-function mutations in dicylglycerol lipase β (DAGLB) from six patients with early onset Parkinsonism. In mice, loss of DAGLB in dopamine neurons reduced neuronal activity and impaired locomotor function and augmentation of 2-AG levels boosted neuronal activity and rescued locomotor deficits.

It is extremely difficult to separate tritium from radioactively contaminated water. Here the authors introduce catalytic hydrogen isotope exchange to water distillation, realizing excellent detritiation performance.

The role of vascular plasticity in brain function remains poorly understood. Here, the authors demonstrate that a significant portion of blood vessels in the adult brain periodically occlude and regress, a process that is associated with a reduction in neuronal activity.

Lewis acid additive semicarbazide hydrochloride improves the formation of α-phase FAPbI₃-based films and promotes a homogeneous vertical distribution of A-site cations through a deprotonation–reprotonation process. The upgraded device performance reaches up to 26.12% with high stability, and mini-module perovskite solar cells achieving 21.47% (area, 11.52 cm²) demonstrate great scalability.

Honeybee behavioral plasticity provides a model to study how brain gene networks regulate behavior. Here, authors show stripe activation in Kenyon cells links gene regulatory networks to behavioral maturation via spatial-cellular coordination.

Socioeconomic status is multidimensional and can change over time. Xu, Lui, Ji et al. found dimension-specific, late-stage-specific and change-specific socioeconomic effects on brain, cognition, personality and emotion.

This study shows GS2 controls seed size by activating SUG1 expression, which encodes a transcriptional regulator that interacts with multiple TFs to control seed growth via GA and BR pathways. SUG1⁹³¹¹ allele offers the potential to improve rice yield.

IL-2 is a classic T cell growth factor. Huang and colleagues demonstrate, however, that chronic IL-2 stimulation leads to a new exhaustion pathway that impairs antitumor immune responses.

ATP/ADP translocators in obligate intracellular parasites and plastids facilitate energy parasitism and endosymbiosis by mediating ATP import and ADP export, with their cryo-EM structures and mechanisms revealed, providing insights for drug development against intracellular pathogens.

Cross-ancestry genome-wide association studies of 3,414 brain imaging phenotypes in Chinese Han and white British participants identify autosomal and X-chromosomal associations in more diverse populations.

Human pancreatic δ cells play important roles in the balance of pancreatic hormones. Here, the authors develop a directed differentiation method to generate in vitro and in vivo functional δ cells from human stem cells by combining FGF2 with FGF7.

Methotrexate-loaded tumour-cell-derived microvesicles induce neutrophil-mediated antitumour activity and can relieve biliary obstructions in patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria can replace chemical fertilizers, but they are susceptible to harsh environmental conditions. Here, the authors report on a protective hydrogel for promoting rhizobacteria colonization to enhance growth and improve adaptability of plants to acidic soil.

Depression affects millions of people worldwide. Here, the authors show a substantial polygenic overlap between depression and brain subcortical volumes, identifying 44 shared loci.

Zhang, Liu and colleagues identify and characterize cell death in rapidly proliferating CD8⁺ T cells resulting from excessive ammonia accumulation and subsequent lysosomal dysfunction and mitochondrial damage.

Cryo-EM structures of the mouse TRPV2 channel, combined with electrophysiology and simulations, reveal that endogenous cholesterol binds to the vanilloid binding pocket to inhibit this channel, while exogenous 2-APB binds to same pocket to open TRPV2.

Arabidopsis thaliana PIN3 structures reveal the molecular mechanisms of the transport of indole-3-acetic acid and the inhibition of polar auxin transport by N-1-naphthylphthalamic acid.

Using CO and H₂O to electrosynthesize oxygenates is a possible low-carbon synthetic route. Here, the authors study the CO adsorption behavior on Ag catalysts and design a Cu-Ag nanostructure catalyst with a relay mechanism that enhances the electrosynthesis of oxygenates.

Here the authors show that lithium carbonate can revitalize tumor-reactive CD8⁺T cells by shunting cytosolic lactic acid into the mitochondria for oxidation, indicating that lithium ions might be applied as a cancer immunotherapy.

Xu et al. report structures of the Arabidopsis cytokinin importer AZG1 in the apo, trans-zeatin-bound, 6-benzyleaminopurine-bound and kinetin-bound states, and elucidate an elevator transport model for the AZG1-mediated cytokinin uptake.

CsPbBr₃ is a characteristic halide perovskite with extensive optoelectronic application potential. Here, the authors report the pressure modulation of the crystal structure and electronic properties of CsPbBr₃ at room temperature and pressures up to 5 GPa.

Genome-wide association meta-analyses in populations of East Asian and European ancestries identify variant–trait associations for 44 hippocampal traits and provide insight into the genetic architectures of hippocampal and subfield volumes.

Additional roles of metabolic enzymes in cancer remain to be explored. Here, the authors show nuclear localized PYCR1 undergoes IGF1R-mediated phosphorylation under hypoxia, binds with ELK4 and recruits SIRT7 to modulate transcription of target genes to promote colorectal cancer progression.

The authors reveal the structure and gating mechanisms of BRTNaC1, a myriapod ion channel sensitive to heat and acidity. They show that a proton triggers a ‘twist the wrist’ motion, heat induces broad structural changes and testosterone inhibits channel activation.

Ebullition is the dominant pathway for riverine methane emissions in the Yangtze River Basin, China, contributing about 86% of total annual emissions, and urban rivers have higher methane concentrations and fluxes than natural rivers, according to a data model analysis of methane concentration and flux data.

Anlotinib hydrochloride is a multi-target tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitor, previously combined with anti-PD1 as therapeutic strategy for several cancer types. Here the authors report the results of a phase II trial of nivolumab (anti-PD1) plus anlotinib hydrochloride in patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Transposon-associated inverted repeats play a role in drought resistance and yield-related traits in maize.

Traditional catalytic techniques often encounter obstacles in the search for sustainable solutions for converting CO₂ into value-added products because of their high energy consumption and expensive catalysts. Here, we introduce a contact-electro-catalysis approach for CO₂ reduction reaction, achieving CO Faradaic efficiency of 96.24%.

The water-to-land transition of vertebrates is a landmark event in evolutionary history. This work utilizes single-cell RNA sequencing to explore the adaptations in African lungfish lungs and gills to terrestrialization.

Membranization of membraneless coacervates and condensates offers a solution to their inherent instability, but current strategies are system specific. Now, it has been shown that condensate-amphiphilic block polymers provide robust and versatile membranization for a wide range of coacervates and condensates, substantially enhancing their mechanical stability and tolerance to extreme conditions.

The potassium channel KCNQ2 can be activated by analgesics and antiepileptic drugs via an unclear mechanism. Here authors report structures of KCNQ2-CaM in complex with cannabidiol, PIP2, and HN37 and elucidate the mechanisms of activation.

Cell softness protects cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) from autolysis by own soluble factors such as perforin secreted for killing target cells. Here the authors show that softness can be induced by YAP activation, and that T leukemic cells are more sensitive to YAP inhibition than CTLs, thereby hinting YAP inhibitors as a potential therapy for T leukemia.

Guo and colleagues characterize an intact Carnegie stage 7 human embryo at single-cell resolution in a spatially resolved manner.

The fabrication of artificial crystals by reassembling monolayer semiconductors enables on-demand engineering of their excitonic properties. Here, the authors report an efficient stacking method to fabricate millimetre-scale van der Waals homo-/hetero-crystals, demonstrating enhanced monolayer-like photoluminescence emission and quadrupolar interlayer exciton emission.

Imperfections can greatly alter a material’s properties. Here, the authors investigate the influence of point defects on the electronic structure, charge-carrier mobility and optical absorption of molybdenum disulphide prepared by mechanical exfoliation, physical and chemical vapour deposition.

Genetically encoded dense core vesicle markers, compatible with immunohistochemistry and expansion microscopy, enable single-vesicle resolution in Drosophila using confocal microscopy.

Separation of ⁹⁹TcO₄⁻ from nuclear waste at the Savannah River Site is hampered by the extreme conditions. Here, the authors propose a solution by developing an alkaline-resistant metal organic framework material featuring unique recognition sites for selective incorporation of ⁹⁹TcO₄⁻ anions.