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Quantum electrodynamics predicts a rare process in which light is scattered by light. The ATLAS Collaboration reports signs of this elusive effect in the collisions of ultra-relativistic lead ions.

Deuteration of active pharmaceutical ingredients is increasingly applied as the isosteric and isotopic replacement can modulate the pharmacokinetic profile, without necessarily having to alter the overall synthetic strategy toward the compound of interest. Here, the authors show manifold deuterations of piperidines and apply molecular rotational resonance (MRR) spectroscopy as a methodology to distinguish isotopomers within a distribution of products.

Lack of CD8⁺ T-cell infiltration into solid tumors is associated with poor responsiveness to immune checkpoint therapy (ICT). Here, the authors show that blocking the phosphorylation of HRS to reduce the induction of immunosuppressive exosomes promotes CD8⁺ T-cell infiltration into tumors and enhances the efficacy of ICT in mouse melanoma models.

The RNA pseudoknot of SARS-CoV-2 promotes -1 programmed ribosomal frameshifting. Here the authors use single molecule force spectroscopy to study the folding of this pseudoknot, showing that it forms at least two different pseudoknot conformers with distinct fold topologies.

Using spin-entangled baryon–antibaryon pairs, the BESIII Collaboration reports on high-precision measurements of potential charge conjugation and parity (CP)-symmetry-violating effects in hadrons.

Oxygen in shallow shelf waters rose linearly with atmospheric oxygen in the Neoproterozoic era, potentially driving the first radiation of marine animals, but widespread ocean oxygenation came later, according to reconstructions of oxygen levels and marine productivity.

Wnt/β-catenin signaling regulates oligodendrocyte (OL) development. Here the authors show that Tcf7l2, a β-catenin transcriptional partner,sequentially interacts with stage-specific partners to coordinate the transitions of differentiation initiation and maturation during OL development.

Activated hepatic stellate cells (aHSC) promote hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here the authors show that selective ablation of stearoyl CoA desaturase-2 in aHSC suppresses leukotriene B4 receptor 2-dependent nuclear β-catenin signaling, preventing liver tumorigenesis.

Membrane technology using well-defined pore structure enables high ion purity and recovery but achieving uniform pore structure and effective pore area is challenging. Here the authors introduce dendrimers that self-assemble, facilitating the formation of polyamide nanofilms with well-defined effective pore ranges and uniform pore structures.

Pr₂Ir₂O₇ is a candidate for a metallic spin liquid with a quantum critical point; however, the exact nature of its ground state and quantum criticality is unknown. Here, the authors report strong deviations from dipolar spin-ice ground state and find normal electronic behavior near quantum criticality.

Current genetic modification methods require regeneration using tissue culture. This study now reports a type of transformation technology, pollen magnetofection, that allows production of transgenic seeds in multiple species in a fast, culture-free manner.

Use of wood and crop residue for cooking and heating in rural China is a significant source of carbon emissions and air pollution. Using a survey of more than 34,000 households, researchers show that between 1992 and 2012 usage of these fuels decreased by much more than previous estimates, due primarily to rising incomes.

Transgene knock-ins into housekeeping genes lead to high efficiency of cell selection.

The non-coding genome of T-ALL has not been extensively studied. Here, the authors conduct RNA-seq, ATAC-seq and Hi-C seq analyses and find that T-ALL associated neo-loops may regulate key transcription factors including HOXA13; the aberrant expression of which is associated with poor prognosis.

Form factors encode the structure of nucleons. Measurements from electron–positron annihilation at BESIII reveal an oscillating behaviour of the neutron electromagnetic form factor, and clarify a long-standing photon–nucleon interaction puzzle.

The ultra-quantum limit refers to the high magnetic-field regime where electrons are confined to the lowest Landau level and is most easily reached in topological semimetals due to their low carrier density. Here, the authors study this regime in the Dirac semimetal ZrTe₅ and find evidence for a Lifshitz transition at moderate field, leading to the emergence of a 1D-Weyl band structure at high field.

There is a long-standing experimental effort to observe field-induced correlated states in three-dimensional materials. Here, the authors observe an unconventional Hall response in the quantum limit of the bulk semimetal HfTe₅ with a plateau-like feature in the Hall conductivity.

Chiea Chuen Khor, Tin Aung, Francesca Pasutto, Janey Wiggs and colleagues report a global genome-wide association study of exfoliation syndrome and a fine-mapping analysis of a previously identified disease-associated locus, LOXL1. They identify a rare protective variant in LOXL1 exclusive to the Japanese population and five new common variant susceptibility loci.

Analysis of whole-genome sequencing data across 2,658 tumors spanning 38 cancer types shows that chromothripsis is pervasive, with a frequency of more than 50% in several cancer types, contributing to oncogene amplification, gene inactivation and cancer genome evolution.

Analysis of mitochondrial genomes (mtDNA) by using whole-genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancer samples across 38 cancer types identifies hypermutated mtDNA cases, frequent somatic nuclear transfer of mtDNA and high variability of mtDNA copy number in many cancers.

Efficient, large-scale genomic analysis is facilitated on the cloud by a computational tool with error-diagnosing and self-healing capabilities.

The behaviour of sound waves in phononic crystals—metamaterials with spatially varying acoustic characteristics—is similar to that of electrons in solids. Now, phononic band inversion and Zak phases have been measured for a 1D phononic system.

In thin magnetic films with confined geometry, the magnetization can adopt vortex-shaped arrangements. Such vortex states have been studied intensely in ferromagnetic films, but this paper reports the first direct observation of them in an antiferromagnetic system.

Air-stable, non-encapsulated Bi₂O₂Se ultrathin films grown by chemical vapour deposition display high electron mobility and exceptional semiconducting transport properties, making the observation of quantum oscillations possible and suggesting potential applications in electronics.

The measurement of the total cross-section of proton–proton collisions is of fundamental importance for particle physics. Here, the first measurement of the inelastic cross-section is presented for proton–proton collisions at an energy of 7 teraelectronvolts using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider.

Optical second harmonic generation technology quantitatively characterized the enhancement of antiferromagnetic order and Néel temperature in epitaxially strained BiFeO₃, providing a quantitative detection and manipulation for the antiferromagnetism.

The decay asymmetry and helicity phase of polarized baryon–antibaryon pairs are measured at the BESIII experiment, testing charge–parity symmetry and revealing a discrepancy of the Λ → pπ⁻ decay asymmetry with respect to the current world average.

Insight-HXMT detected a double-peaked X-ray burst from Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154, consistent with two fast radio bursts (FRBs) observed from the same object within seconds. This coincidence suggests a common physical origin, and gives insight into the mechanism behind the origin of FRBs.

Jia-Hao Lu and colleagues explore advancements in bio-inspired acoustic metamaterials for railway noise mitigation. They review design strategies that integrate machine learning techniques to enhance sound absorption and control.