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Graphene systems have the potential to host Wigner crystal states at zero magnetic field. Here, the authors report transport signatures consistent with Wigner crystallization in AB-stacked bilayer graphene at both zero and finite magnetic fields.

Spin-enhanced lateral flow tests use nanodiamonds for the sensitive, robust detection of disease biomarkers. Here, authors report a clinical evaluation of a test for SARS-CoV-2 antigen, finding 95.1% sensitivity (Ct ≤ 30) and 100% specificity, with detection 2.0 days earlier than conventional tests.

The plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is a regulator of plant growth, development and responses to environmental stresses. Recently, the PYR/PYL/RCAR family of START proteins was found to bind ABA and mediate inactivation of downstream effectors. The crystal structures of apo and ABA-bound receptors as well as a ternary PYL2–ABA–PP2C complex is now reported and analysed, revealing a gate–latch–lock mechanism underlying ABA signalling.

It is extremely difficult to design a broad-spectrum inhibitor for metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) due to the diversity in the active site. Now, indole-2-carboxylates have been developed as broad-spectrum inhibitors for MBLs. These inhibitors take advantage of key elements of both MBL substrates and products and work by locking a hydroxide.

This study demonstrates that the fastest astrophysical jets are locked to a fixed axis, whereas slower jets can precess or wobble. The findings imply that the most relativistic jets are tied to the spin axis of the black hole that launched them.

A significant challenge remains in preparing high-quality, large-area tin-lead mixed narrow-bandgap perovskite films for all-perovskite tandem solar modules. Here, the authors introduce pyridine to facilitate crystallization process, achieving maximum efficiency of 22.0% for 10.4 cm² mini-modules.

In the proof-of-concept phase 2 ROME trial, comprehensive genomic profiling followed by molecular tumor board evaluation and randomization of patients with metastatic solid cancer to receive personalized therapy or standard of care led to a significantly higher objective response rate and longer progression-free survival in patients who received personalized therapy.

The Zika viral protease NS2B-NS3 is a crucial target for antiviral drug development due to its role in processing viral polyproteins. Here, the authors utilize crystallographic fragment screening and deep mutational scanning to identify binding sites for resistance-resilient inhibitors.

Glioblastoma—the deadliest form of brain cancer—alters the calvarial bone and its marrow components, pushing it toward producing more myeloid cells and contributing to an immunosuppressive environment.

The performance of inverted perovskite solar cells has been limited by non-radiative recombination at the perovskite surfaces. Here, authors employ phosphonic acids and piperazinium chloride for homogeneous passivation, achieving certified efficiency of 28.9% for 60 cm² perovskite-silicon tandems.

Radiation-induced malignantly transformed cells undergo multi-scale 3D genome reorganization. TP63 acts as a key mediator, creating accessible chromatin sites that form tumour-specific loops activating the MYC oncogene during malignant transformation.

Accurately describing and tuning active sites remains a major challenge. Here, the authors introduce an effective metal-ion chelation strategy—guided by DFT predictions and in situ Raman measurements—to structurally engineer and quantitatively link the electronic properties of active sites in an ionic liquid.

As presented at the 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer, in a multiarm phase 2 trial, perioperative immunotherapy was safe and feasible in patients with resectable diffuse pleural mesothelioma, with exploratory data suggesting that ctDNA kinetics could be informative of tumor regression and post-treatment survival.

Wastewater surveillance for disease outbreaks currently requires lab testing which causes delays. Here, authors develop ultra-sensitive quantum sensors enabling 2-hour near-source pathogen detection from raw wastewater with high sensitivity and specificity, creating a portable “lab-in-a-suitcase” system.

A compact platform for quantum magnetometry and thermometry can be created by integrating nitrogen–vacancy-based quantum sensing with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology.

The authors report shotgun sequences from airborne environmental DNA samples, identifying local biodiversity and enabling deeper analysis of specific species and genomic regions of interest.

Here the authors show that LC3-associated phagocytosis is initiated by various receptors, which enrich phosphatidylserine in the membrane domains proximal to the phagosome, recruiting Rubicon to the membrane for phagosome maturation.

Perforin monomers self-assemble into pre-pores that first insert into the membrane and then recruit additional subunits to grow in size.

Cholesterol-dependent cytolysins (CDCs) are bacterial pore-forming virulence factors. Cryo-EM structure of an early conformation of the CDC ILY from Streptococcus intermedius, bound to the human immune receptor CD59, provides insight into ILY oligomerization and role of cholesterol in membrane lysis.

Frequency comb synthesizers are important for metrology, but they have been difficult to use as frequency rulers in the terahertz region due to their low power. Consolinoet al. phase-lock a quantum cascade laser to a free-space-propagating terahertz comb, demonstrating that they can overcome this limitation.

Heller et al. showed dense longitudinal imaging in four females, including one with endometriosis and one using oral contraceptives, and the finding that different hormonal milieus influence widespread brain volume changes linked to progesterone or estradiol.

Bispecific antibody architecture is often important for function but rarely optimized. Here, authors present a modular approach to assemble bispecifics in varied formats using a SpyTag/SpyCatcher approach called SpyMask, and build anti-HER2 bispecifics whose activities depend on binder orientation and bispecific geometry.

Rho-family GTPase Rac1 activates the WAVE complex (WRC) to promote Arp2/3-mediated actin assembly in various processes. Here, the authors determined cryo-EM structures of WRC bound to Rac1 in different states, revealing how Rac1 binding activates WRC.

The interplay between superconductivity that might break time-reversal symmetry and charge order is a key issue in kagome materials. Now, optical measurements show that spatial and time-reversal symmetries are broken at the onset of charge order.

A UCP1-independent mechanism of thermogenesis involving ATP-consuming metabolism of monomethyl branched-chain fatty acids in peroxisomes is described and a previously unrecognized role for peroxisomes in adipose tissue thermogenesis is identified.

The kinesin-1 motor protein accesses open active and closed autoinhibited states. These states are regulated by a flexible elbow within a complex coiled-coil architecture. Now, a conformational switch has been developed by engineering the elbow to create a closed state that can be controllably opened with a de novo designed peptide to increase kinesin transport inside cells.

The cortex fuels essential physiological processes with glucose-derived carbon, while gliomas fuel their aggressiveness by rerouting glucose carbon pathways and scavenging alternative carbon sources such as environmental amino acids, providing a potential therapeutic target.

The two-dimensional atomic layers of black phosphorus may be exfoliated to create devices with desirable electronic transport properties. Here, the authors observe two-dimensional quantum transport in black phosphorus quantum wells, protected from oxidation by encapsulation in a polymer layer.

Dinoflagellates and cyanobacteria produce saxitoxin (STX) congeners that block voltage-gated sodium channels. Here authors show how amphibians may sequester STX congeners using a ‘lock and key’ mode, expanding the understanding of toxic sponge action.

Lateral-flow in vitro diagnostic assays based on fluorescent nanodiamonds, in which microwave-based spin manipulation is used to increase sensitivity, are demonstrated using the biotin–avidin model and by the single-copy detection of HIV-1 RNA.

Slow light effects are interesting for telecommunications and quantum photonics applications. Here, the authors use coupled exciton-surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in a hybrid monolayer WSe₂-metallic waveguide structure to demonstrate a 1300-fold reduction of the SPP group velocity.

Continuous shape morphing for small robots can offer advantages, but it is difficult to perform tasks if they are not stiff enough. Xu et al. present here a design combining liquid crystal elastomers and shape memory polymers to lock morphable elements in place.

Controllable dislocations are desirable for modulating the physicochemical properties of materials. Here authors present a light-driven strategy for reversible high-density dislocation writing in ferroelectric crystals, enabling multidimensional manipulation and repeatable erasure, with potential for innovating informatics and functional materials.

Li-Fraumeni syndrome leads to an increased predisposition to tumour development. Here, the authors develop a support vector machine model to predict early cancer risk in individuals using peripheral blood DNA methylation profiles.

By introducing chiroptical spectroscopy with attosecond pulses, attosecond coherent control over photoelectron circular dichroism is demonstrated and measurements of chiral asymmetries in the forward–backward and angle-resolved photoionization delays of chiral molecules are reported.

Nematicity, the spontaneous breaking of lattice rotational symmetry, plays an important role in kagome metals. Here, the authors report on a nematic phase within seven Kelvin below the charge density wave transition in the bilayer kagome metal ScV₆Sn₆.

Electromagnetic responses can reveal the non-trivial properties of topological materials. Here, the authors demonstrate an anomalous planar Hall effect in trigonal crystals associated with the presence of topological nodal lines in trigonal-PtBi₂.

Laser-based time transfer with near quantum-limited acquisition and timing is demonstrated that can support femtosecond precision over 102 dB link loss, more than sufficient for future time transfer to geosynchronous orbits for future optical clock networks.

The control of translation during mitosis has an important role in cancer cell biology. Here the authors report that in mitotically arrested cancer cells, redistribution of ribosomes towards upstream open reading frames results in enhanced presentation of immunogenic peptides on cancer cell surface.

Previous work has shown the detection of quantum turbulence with mechanical resonators but with limited spatial and temporal resolution. Here, the authors demonstrate real-time detection of single quantum vortices in superfluid ⁴He with millisecond and micron resolution at temperatures of 10 millikelvin.