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Virtual nature exposure reduces self-reported pain and is associated with decreased brain responses linked to somatosensory and nociceptive processing, providing new insights into the underlying mechanisms of nature-induced analgesia.

Treatment-seeking for fever is widely used to estimate treatment of childhood infections, but cross-country comparisons are problematic. Here, the authors estimate the probability of seeking treatment for fever at public facilities across 29 countries by quantifying person-level latent variables.

Soil microbial populations bloom and then die-off in ecosystems with seasonal snowpack. This study showed that distinct taxa utilize different N sources for growth or energy during the microbial bloom and alter the fate of N after snowmelt.

A multiancestry phenome-wide analysis of copy number variants in the UK Biobank genomes increases power to detect genetic associations with complex traits across human populations.

Reprograming the tumor microenvironment is a promising strategy to overcome resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in patients with malignant melanoma. Here, the authors report a phase 1/2 study evaluating the combination of LOAd703 (viral-vector encoding CD40L and 4-1BBL) with atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1) in patients with ICI-resistant, malignant melanoma.

Global scale assessment of coastal vulnerability indicates that the most vulnerable coastal zones are located in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, where there is also a large concentration of countries with low adaptive capacity.

Peer review information Nature Communications thanks Lars Rosendahl Appelquist and Daniela Pantusa for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.

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.

Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 continue to evolve 6 to 12 months after infection in patients who have recovered from COVID-19, increasing in potency and breadth with time.

By combining satellite observations with ground-based data and expert validation, this analysis demonstrates considerable misestimation of grassland extent and thereby carbon stock estimates in previous global assessments based on remote sensing.

A bookkeeping approach shows that disturbed tropical humid forests experienced net aboveground carbon loss during 1990–2020, primarily driven by small but persistent deforestation clearings owing to persistent land-use conversion without forest regrowth.

In a randomized study involving 9 general cardiologists and 107 real-world patient cases, assistance from a specifically tailored large language model resulted in preferable responses on complex case management compared to physicians alone, as rated by specialist cardiologists using a multidimensional scoring rubric.

The phase 2/3 DEVOTE trial demonstrated that high-dose nusinersen significantly improved motor function and was safe in patients with spinal muscular atrophy, compared with a matched sham control.

Centennial-scale variations in methane carbon isotope ratios are attributed to changes in pyrogenic and biogenic sources that can be correlated with anthropogenic activities, such as varying levels of biomass burning during the period of the Roman empire and the Han dynasty, and changes in natural climate variability.

Non-Annex I countries—mostly developing countries under the UN climate framework—excluding China accounted for approximately 61% of hydrofluorocarbon emission growth during 2011–2020, while China’s emissions have been overestimated since 2017, according to atmospheric observational data and inverse modelling.

Down syndrome (DS) increases gene dosage that disrupts neurodevelopment and cognition. Using human-derived isogenic neurons, this study reveals altered network activity, synaptic dysfunction, and ion channel defects underlying DS neural impairment.

The STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory demonstrates evidence of spin correlations in \(\Lambda \bar{\Lambda }\) hyperon pairs inherited from virtual spin-correlated strange quark–antiquark pairs during QCD confinement.

Despite high morbidity and mortality, there are currently no approved vaccines for protection against Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus. Here the authors develop a ferritin nanoparticle-based MERS-CoV vaccine that elicits high levels of neutralizing antibodies in mice, non-human primates, and alpacas and prevents infection in an alpaca challenge model.

Humans rely on both learned value and action affordances to decide how to act. This study shows that these systems compete under a dynamic brain controller, with the presupplementary motor area and anterior cingulate cortex guiding which system dominates.

CFAP20 has a key role in rescuing RNA polymerase II complexes that have arrested during DNA transcription, limiting the accumulation of R-loops and preventing collisions between the transcription and replication machinery.

Here the authors perturb genes linked to schizophrenia risk in human neurons. They find that single perturbations share common downstream effects on gene networks, while joint perturbations result in downstream effects being saturated.

Voluntary deference to prestigious individuals is a unique feature of human social life. Here, the authors show that human prestige psychology can promote marked-yet-adaptive inequalities in influence while remaining non-coercive.

Photothermal reactions between liquid gallium and water or seawater enable hydrogen production under light exposure. The authors show that the metal can be regenerated electrochemically, supporting a reusable and sustainable cycle for hydrogen.

The CMS Collaboration reports the measurement of the spin, parity, and charge conjugation properties of all-charm tetraquarks, exotic fleeting particles formed in proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider.

This study examines long-term changes in species richness across tropical forests in the Andes and Amazon. Hotter, drier and more seasonal forests in the eastern and southern Amazon are losing species, while Northern Andean forests are accumulating species, acting as a refuge for climate-displaced species.

This manuscript combines eDNA data with a statistical model to describe the spatial distribution of eulachon, a threatened smelt. DNA was positively associated with river mouths, offshore banks, warmer waters, and areas with high prey concentration.

Global Burden of Disease estimates show that between 1990 and 2023, the prevalence and burden of drug use disorders, inclusive of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and opioid use, have been increasing in high-income countries, particularly in the USA.

The universality of the energetic equivalence rule has long been debated. Here, the authors show that across 183 soil invertebrate food webs, size–density and energy use varied with trophic level, energy measure, and food web structure, showing that ecosystem energetics depend on context and trophic complexity.

Understanding how community-based initiatives work is crucial for effective environmental management, but causal evaluations of these efforts are rare. This study presents a national-scale evaluation of a locally managed network of marine areas in Fiji and examines whether the expected mechanisms deliver conservation outcomes.

The long-term natural history of long-COVID is not well understood. In this population-based cohort study from Scotland, the authors describe symptom prevalence and health-related quality of life up to 18 months after a positive SARS-CoV-2 test and compare with matched test-negative controls.

Using infant fMRI, the authors show that, by 2 months of age, representations in high-level visual cortex encode visual categories that align with deep neural networks, and lateral object-selective regions are later to develop.

CLC transporters exchange Cl⁻ for H⁻ with 2:1 stoichiometry. Here, authors integrate hydrogen-deuterium exchange, cryo-EM, MD simulations, ion binding analysis, and functional assays to establish a complete ion-exchange model, explaining how subtle dynamics enable reversible transport.

Bark decomposition could significantly affect global carbon and nutrient cycling. Here, the authors report the global trend of bark decomposition rates, identify the key drivers in different climate regions, and predict the response of bark decomposition to future climate change.

Here, a combination of forward genetics and genome-wide association analyses has been used to show that variation at a single genetic locus in Arabidopsis thaliana underlies phenotypic variation in vegetative growth as well as resistance to infection. The strong enhancement of resistance mediated by one of the alleles at this locus explains the allele's persistence in natural populations throughout the world, even though it drastically reduces the production of new leaves.

Sebaceous tumours are a rare skin tumour which have highly variable outcomes. Here, the authors analyse tumours from 222 patients to identify genomic mutations to assess the molecular portrait of the spectrum of tumours.

Bacterial competition shapes biofilm community architecture. Here, the authors show how cell aspect ratio is a winning strategy in microbial communities. Cell morphology and emergent collective alignment may be key drivers of microbial community dynamics

Selective oxidation of biomass-derived precursors has been reported but requires elevated temperatures and pressures of O₂ and strongly alkaline conditions. This study develops an antenna–reactor plasmonic photocatalyst (RuPt on TiN) for the selective conversion of HMF to FDCA using near-infrared irradiation in the absence of base.

High-resolution flare footpoint observations in the extreme ultraviolet and X-rays were taken by Solar Orbiter. Combined with simulations, the results reveal that the dominant mechanism carrying flare energy through the Sun’s atmosphere can vary on small spatial scales.

Producing isolated single-photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride with predefined spin transitions is challenging. Oxygen annealing enables the controlled fabrication of narrowband quantum emitters with optically active spin for quantum applications.

Transcriptomic and clinical data analyses from multiple cohorts of patients with cancer receiving immunotherapy find that PD-1 blockade potentiates tumor-specific IgG1 plasma cell responses that complement cellular immunity and contribute to clinical benefit.

Tropical forests regulate Earth’s carbon cycle, but what governs carbon sequestration following land use remains unclear. Here Tang et al find a shift from strong nitrogen limitation to no nutrient limitation over tropical forest secondary succession.

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.

CLASSIC is a high-throughput genetic profiling platform that combines long- and short-read next-generation-sequencing modalities to quantitatively assess pools of constructs of arbitrary length containing diverse genetic part compositions.

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet responded to different natural forcing mechanisms than the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the mid-Pliocene due to a greater sensitivity to oceanic feedbacks, according to iceberg-rafted debris records and ice-sheet modelling experiments.

Spin transport properties of magnetically ordered materials have been well studied. Here, the authors report an anomalous spin signal exhibiting spin transport over 480 microns in the frustrated hyperkagome magnetic insulator Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂.