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Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) has proven therapeutically valuable in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other cancers but treatment failure is still seen. Here the authors use multiplex immunofluorescence to visualise the tumour microenvironment in NSCLC to probe functional and metabolic states and correlate this with survival.

Optomechanical crystals are promising building blocks for quantum networks but suffer from thermal mechanical noise. Here the authors demonstrate on-demand conversion of single phonons into high-purity telecom photons with low thermal noise and MHz-scale narrow bandwidth using a quasi-2D optomechanical system.

Kim, Wang, Clow and colleagues show that long-range chromatin loops bringing distal enhancers or super-enhancers together with promoters are cohesin dependent and cell type specific, whereas most short-range and promoter-centric transcriptional loops are cohesin independent and constitutive.

Hole spin qubits in germanium have seen significant advancements, though improving control and noise resilience remains a key challenge. Here, the authors realize a dressed singlet-triplet qubit in germanium, achieving frequency-modulated high-fidelity control and a tenfold increase in coherence time.

An anti-HIV-1 antibody that targets an N332_gp120 glycan-independent V3 epitope, a site of Env vulnerability, can decline viremia in HIV-1-infected humanized mice while overcoming classical V3 escape mutations.

Crystal structures of HIV Env trimer with native glycosylation in complex with neutralizing antibodies reveal a glycan shield of high-mannose and complex-type N-glycan and indicate a path for germline-targeting vaccine design.

The current unbalance between the performance of n-type and p-type 2D transistors limits their applications for next-generation electronics. Here, the authors report the realization of high-performance 2D MoTe₂ p-type transistors by depositing metallic tellurium contacts via thermal evaporation.

2D p-type transistors are essential for the realization of complementary circuits for post-silicon electronics. Here, the authors report a chloroform doping strategy to fabricate p-type monolayer WSe₂ transistors with high performance and long-term stability.

Agricultural drought linked to past and current growing-season soil moisture is rising in Europe, southern Africa, northern South America and western North America and may persist until 2100, according to climate reanalyses and model simulations.

Calcium imaging of mouse hippocampal neurons while mice learn a reward-based task over several weeks provides insight into the evolution of the hippocampal reward representation during extended periods of experience.

The inability of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells to shift the circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus during daytime is caused by light-dependent depolarization block of these cells.

Neural crest cells have been implicated in heart development, yet the mechanisms by which they act have remained elusive. Here, the authors show neural crest cells modulate Wnt signalling in cardiac progenitors, providing new insight into the mechanisms underpinning congenital heart defects.

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.

Jahn-Teller distortions alter molecular structures, but are usually only probed on the basis of electronic signatures. Here, the authors demonstrate that tip-enhanced Raman imaging in real space can map the associated vibrational changes in a single molecule.

This study finds that native tree extinctions and alien naturalizations are pushing forests towards fast-growing, resource-demanding species. This global shift could affect carbon storage and ecosystem stability, highlighting the need to protect slow-growing trees.

The contribution of ether lipid species in cancer cell fate has not been fully understood yet. Here the authors show that malignant cancer cells employ ether lipids to modulate membrane biophysical properties, enhancing iron endocytosis and ferroptosis susceptibility.

Large-effect variants in autism remain elusive. Here, the authors use long-read sequencing to assemble phased genomes for 189 individuals, identifying pathogenic variants in TBL1XR1, MECP2, and SYNGAP1, plus nine candidate structural variants missed by short-read methods.

This work presents a global wind power simulation tool that uses high-resolution data and extensive validation to improve accuracy. It corrects wind speed biases and validates against real-world data, enhancing reliability for wind energy assessments across various scales and regions.

Bruijns et al. present a modeling tool that enables the tracking of learning dynamics across subjects to reveal how behaviors emerge and adapt. Applying the tool to a decision-making task in mice uncovers similarities and differences across individuals.

This study surveyed key informants across 26 countries on burning plastic for waste management and energy needs. It finds high awareness of this practice, with potential drivers including inadequate waste collection and a lack of affordable fuels.

Applications of optical laser-based techniques are limited by the long wavelengths of the lasers. Now, observations of phonons and thermal transport at nanometre length scales are reported with an all-hard X-ray transient-grating spectroscopy technique.

A Gifsy-1 prophage–encoded higher eukaryotes and prokaryotes nucleotide-binding protein, HepS, senses Siphoviridae infection, activates abortive defence by cleaving host transfer RNAs, blocks rival phages and avoids self-targeting via tail-tip variation.

Each valley of the mini-Brillouin zone ("mini valley") of twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) contains two Dirac cones that hybridize to form flat bands. Theory predicts that these two Dirac cones have the same chirality, leading to topological obstruction. Here, the authors confirm this prediction experimentally.

Analysis of a placebo-controlled trial of a BCMA-targeting CAR-T cell therapy in patients with myasthenia gravis shows that CAR-T cell infusion selectively remodels the systemic immune environment, with elimination of BCMA-high plasma cells and activated plasmacytoid dendritic cells and changes in the autoreactive B cell repertoire.

Analysing the causal links of gene expression and protein abundance on type 2 diabetes risk in blood and seven tissues related to the disease from individuals of four ancestries, the authors advance our understanding of the genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes

People often look around without a specific task in mind (free viewing). Here, the authors demonstrate that free viewing eye movements aim to understand scenes by frequently focusing on people and objects that maximize scene comprehension.

Although genome editing has transformed plant research, delivering editing reagents remains challenging. This study reports the use of viral vectors to deliver engineered eTnpBc, achieving high levels of somatic and heritable editing in plants.

Prenatal Zika virus (ZIKV) exposure can lead to a spectrum of developmental issues, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Here the authors show that prenatal ZIKV exposure in macaques disrupts neurodevelopment, causing prolonged maternal attachment and visual deficits at 3 months that normalize by 12 months, independent of sensory function.

Spatiotemporal coordination of cellular and molecular events is crucial for cell fate commitment. Here, Yang et al. describe how transcription factors, signaling pathways, and epigenomic states regulate left-right patterning and axial mesendoderm lineage commitment during mouse gastrulation.

Respiratory virus genomic surveillance output is unevenly distributed globally. Here, the authors show that addressing this imbalance could substantially reduce the time to first detection of novel (variant) viruses, enhancing surveillance effectiveness and efficiency.

Pseudaminic acids (Pse) are a family of carbohydrates found within bacterial lipopolysaccharides, capsular polysaccharides and glycoproteins. Now, monoclonal antibodies have been developed that recognize diverse Pse across several bacterial species, enabling mapping of the Pse glycoproteome and demonstrating therapeutic potential against multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii in in vitro and in vivo infection models.

The protospacer-adjacent motif specificity of several Cas enzymes is customized using protein language models.

In complex reaction systems featuring intricate product and pathway possibilities, achieving simultaneous control over multiple selectivities remains highly challenging. Now it has been demonstrated that biomimetic peptide–phosphonium salts can concurrently impart stepwise and stereochemical control in the asymmetric Atherton–Todd reaction, which enables efficient access to diverse P-stereogenic platform molecules.

pH is a critical regulator of (bio)chemical processes and therefore tightly regulated in nature. Now, proteins have been shown to possess the functionality to drive pH gradients without requiring energy input or membrane enclosure but through condensation. Protein condensates can drive unique pH gradients that modulate biochemical activity in both living and artificial systems.

Adaptive microwave surfaces can dynamically adjust their electromagnetic transmission to meet specific needs, being potentially useful in reconfigurable communication systems. Here, the authors use temperature induced break and reconstruction of hydrogen bonds to drive the orientational motion and charge mobility of an ionic liquid in a polymer leading to the controllable modulation of dielectric properties at microwave frequencies.

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.

Radiation reaction (RR) on particles in strong fields is the subject of intense experimental research, but previous efforts lacked statistical significance due to the extreme regimes required. Here, the authors report a 5σ observation of RR and obtain strong, quantitative evidence favouring quantum models over classical, using an all-optical setup where electrons are accelerated by a laser in a gas jet before colliding with a second, intense pulse.

Insulin signaling plays a crucial role in coordinating skeletal development with whole‑body energy metabolism. Here, the authors use phosphoproteomics to show insulin-signaling rewiring in aged, insulin-resistant bone and identify defective phosphorylation of AFF4 as a key mechanism for regulating gene-specific transcriptional activation.

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.

GluFormer, a generative foundation model, uses continuous glucose monitoring data to accurately forecast glycaemia-related health responses, particularly for long-term outcomes.

Tuning surface charge and polymer length enables PEG-grafted nanoparticles to assemble into cubic superlattices resembling ZnS, NaCl, CsCl, simple cubic and diamond, offering a programmable route to valence-free crystals.

Analysis of data from pre-implantation genetic testing sheds light on the genetic basis of meiotic-origin aneuploidy, the leading cause of human pregnancy loss, identifying common genetic variants associated with maternal meiotic errors.

Approved antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) remain constrained by a limited repertoire of payloads with restricted modes of action. Here, the authors present phosphoramidate-based self-immolative linker units that facilitate stable attachment in serum and traceless drug release in the target cell from aliphatic and aromatic alcohols with various modes of action.

Newly developed mouse models that enable cell-specific analyses of proteostasis dynamics across the lifespan of the mice reveal key aspects of neuronal proteostasis with ageing.

Aadvanced computer simulations of three-dimensional turbulence reveal that the ab initio generation of large-scale magnetic fields is driven by shear-flow-induced jets; an analytical model is derived which reproduces the essential features of the flow- and field-generation mechanisms.