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In this work, researchers build a scalable photonic Chern insulator by twisting a fibre during fabrication, breaking an effective time-reversal symmetry and inducing a pseudo-magnetic field. The team reveals a ‘Goldilocks’ regime that guarantees topological protection against fabrication-induced disorder of any symmetry class in the fibre cross-section.

Studies in zebra finches show that dopamine has a key role as a reinforcement signal in the trial-and-error process of learning that underlies complex natural behaviours.

Thin film transistors with high voltage gains and operating frequencies are required for internet of things applications. Here, the authors report short-channel source-gated transistors based on monolayer MoS₂, showing intrinsic gain exceeding 2.4×10³ and cutoff frequencies up to 208 MHz in the subthreshold regime.

The Ocean Equity Index provides a systematic, twelve-criteria framework to assess and improve equity in ocean initiatives, projects and policies, producing structured data that guide evidence-based decisions and support more equitable outcomes for coastal communities and ecosystems.

An algorithm that combines deep learning, Bayesian optimization and computer vision techniques can be used to autonomously tune a semiconductor spin qubit from a grounded device to Rabi oscillations.

Human visual system relies on temporal attention to detect moving objects before high-level processing with large computational overheads. Wang et al. emulate this function in a neuromorphic hardware, showing a 400% speedup compared to algorithm-based visual perception and surpassing human capabilities.

Quantum error correction codes protect quantum information, but running algorithms also requires the ability to perform gates on logical qubits. A lattice surgery scheme for fault-tolerant gates has now been demonstrated in a quantum repetition code.

cellSTAAR advances noncoding rare variant association analysis by integrating single-cell genomics data.

Studying many-body quantum chaos on current quantum hardware is hindered by noise and limited scalability. Now it is shown that a superconducting processor, combined with error mitigation, can accurately simulate dual-unitary circuit dynamics.

Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

It is unclear which aspects of experience shape sleep’s contributions to learning. Here, by combining neural recordings in rats with reinforcement learning, the authors show that reward-prediction signals support sleep-dependent learning over multiple days.

Xenotransplantation of a genetically edited pig kidney with a thymic autograft into a brain-dead human for 61 days with immunosuppression resulted in stable kidney function without proteinuria, and xenograft rejection was treated and reversed by the end of the study.

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.

Decentralized natural resource governance is thought to aid conservation and reduce poverty, but its heterogeneous local effects are under-explored. A study in Nepal shows that forest governance decentralization reduces poverty but the benefits are greater for dominant ethnic and caste groups compared with minority ones.

Exotic six- and eight-particle excitonic complexes have recently been observed in 2D semiconductors. Here, the authors uncover a stable many-body exciton in WSe₂–comprising 20 interacting quasiparticles–that emerges when strong electrostatic doping fills the Q valley.

MYC-driven medulloblastoma is an aggressive pediatric tumor with limited treatment options. Here, the authors show that CDK8 regulates ribosome biogenesis and that combined inhibition of CDK8 and mTOR demonstrates therapeutic efficacy in mouse models of this cancer.

A mechanochemical protocol for the direct synthesis of organosodium compounds is developed using cheap and shelf-stable sodium lumps and readily available organic halides under bulk, solvent-free conditions. This approach allows for the generation of an array of organosodium compounds in minutes, without special precautions against moisture or temperature control.

Quinone-based electrochemical systems can capture carbon dioxide but are limited by oxygen reactivity. Here, authors present a naphthoquinone and electrolyte design that improves oxygen tolerance while maintaining efficient carbon dioxide capture and concentration in aqueous flow cells.

CaBLAM is a bioluminescent genetically encoded calcium indicator that delivers high-contrast signals as shown in cell culture, in the in vivo mouse brain and in zebrafish larvae.

A key challenge for compact accelerators is boosting an electron beam’s energy without

sacrificing its brightness. Here, the authors demonstrate the concept of a plasma wakefield

‘dual transformer’, which simultaneously increases both beam energy and brightness of an

electron bunch injected from the plasma at SLAC.

The authors study a Pt/Nb hybrid structure by scanning microscopy and muon spin rotation. They find an anomalous absence of Meissner screening near the Pt/Nb interface due to spin-triplet pair correlations driven by spin-orbit coupling alone with no ferromagnetic layer necessary.

Single cell transcriptomics and chromatin accessibility uncover the gene networks underlying planarian cell type differentiation, revealing insights into the combinatorial logic of planarian cell fate specification.

Bacterial mechanosensitive channel YnaI opens at near-lytic membrane tension. Here, authors show that YnaI remains open to a much lower membrane tension than required for its activation and evolved to respond to slow changes in membrane tension.

A solid hitting a liquid surface normally creates a region of high pressure at the solid-liquid contact area. Now, it is shown that for a flat-bottomed cylinder hitting a liquid at low-enough impact speed, the local pressure is sufficiently low to cause the liquid to cavitate.

Supercooled water in so-called “no man’s land” promises to reveal the origin of the water anomalies. Here, the authors use electron diffraction to provide the first characterization that spans this temperature range, which narrows down the array of possible explanations.

In a prospective study enrolling 1,222 patients from 22 emergency departments, a device using a machine-learning-based signature of blood mRNAs demonstrated clinically acceptable performance to diagnose bacterial and viral infections and to predict the all-cause need for critical care interventions within 7 days, with benchmark to established biomarkers and risk scores.

Gel electrophoresis image analysis still largely relies on manual or semi-automatic tools, limiting both efficiency and reproducibility. Here, authors introduce GelGenie, an AI-driven open-source platform that rapidly detects gel bands under various conditions.

Artificial intelligence is driving rapid growth in electricity demand, straining grid reliability and infrastructure. This study demonstrates a software-based method that allows data centres to adjust workloads in response to real-time grid signals, reducing power use and supporting grid stability without hardware modifications.

The ergodic hypothesis is used to produce a statistical solution to the chaotic non-hierarchical three-body problem.

A high-resolution transcriptomic and epigenomic cell-type atlas of the developing mouse visual cortex from embryonic to postnatal development is presented, providing a real-time dynamic molecular map associated with individual cell types and specific developmental events.

High-density dynamic random access memory is crucial for addressing the memory wall issue, yet its three-dimensional integration faces significant challenges. Liao et al. utilize a single-step self-aligned integration scheme, achieving 4 F² density and demonstrating 4-bit operation.

By unifying data from engineered β-barrel nanopores and supported by modelling, it is demonstrated that the lumen charge in a β-barrel nanopore governs rectification and voltage-driven gating, with applications in computing using nanofluidic synapses.

The authors develop a microwave interferometer method to measure how electric and acoustic waves mix inside piezoelectric materials. Using this approach, they detect and quantified electric-acoustic heterodyning in lead zirconium titanate, showing the mixed signal scales linearly with both input powers.

Federated learning (FL) algorithms have emerged as a promising solution to train models for healthcare imaging across institutions while preserving privacy. Here, the authors describe the Federated Tumor Segmentation (FeTS) challenge for the decentralised benchmarking of FL algorithms and evaluation of Healthcare AI algorithm generalizability in real-world cancer imaging datasets.

Quantized subgap states measured in the vortex cores of YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δhave been challenging theory for over twenty years. Here, the authors show that these spectral features identified as vortex-core states exist independent of vortices, which calls for revisiting vortices in cuprate superconductors.

Global shark and ray populations have declined sharply, driven by expanding fisheries and inequitable gaps in catch, trade and distribution data. This Review assesses global status, highlights drivers of decline, and outlines the regulatory, market-based and conservation actions needed to reduce mortality and reverse shark and ray biodiversity loss.

The X-ray crystal structure of plant photosystem I is solved to 3.4 Å resolution, revealing 17 protein subunits. This structure provides a picture of 11 out of 12 protein subunits of the reaction centre, 168 chlorophylls, two phylloquinones, three Fe₄S₄ clusters, and five carotenoids.

Loretan and colleagues present a low-cost smartphone-based microscope capable of detecting single-molecule fluorescence. This approach opens doors to personalised and widely distributed applications in diagnostics, biosensing, and science education.

Individual proteins tend to adopt preferred orientations when subjected to vitrification for cryo-electron microscopy analysis. A laser flash melting procedure followed by rapid revitrification provides a simple approach to mitigate this issue, reducing the number of micrographs required for successful structure determination at high-resolution.

This study discovers human SERF2 as a key partner in stress granule formation by binding specific RNA G-quadruplexes. SERF2 and these RNAs provide a detailed structural model of protein-RNA interactions driving liquid-liquid phase separation in condensates.

Here, the authors describe scDEEP-mC, an improved single-cell whole-genome bisulfite sequencing method for complex libraries and deep genomic coverage, and show advanced analyses of allele-specific methylation, replication dynamics, and X-inactivation.