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There’s an emerging body of evidence to show how biological sex impacts cancer incidence, treatment and underlying biology. Here, using a large pan-cancer dataset, the authors further highlight how sex differences shape the cancer genome.

Detection of radiation is important for environmental health and safety. Here the authors demonstrate a method for radiation detection and mapping in 2D using minimum number of detectors and inter-pixel padding to increase the contrast between pixels.

The clinical outcomes of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remain poor, and thus it remains critical to find prognostic molecular markers. Here, the authors identify prognostic ESCC subtypes based on bulk and single-cell RNA-seq combined with histology AI in samples from patients with more than four years of follow-up, and find markers associated with immune evasion.

Optineurin is linked to ALS and glaucoma, but the mechanism is unknown. Here, the authors show that optineurin mutation causes deficits in axonal mitochondria transport and neurodegeneration, enhancing of which achieves axon protection and regeneration.

The prothoracic gland is the principal steroidogenic gland in Drosophila. Here Zhang et al. perform transcriptomic analysis and show that starvation prior to the nutrient restriction checkpoint alters mitochondrial homeostasis in the gland and blocks steroid hormone production.

The authors investigate the response of Archaea to experimental warming in a tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Warming was linked to reduced diversity and convergent succession, with further links to changed ecosystem function. Stochastic processes dominated community changes but decreased over time.

Resistance of gRNA to ubiquitous ribonucleases is required for CRISPR-Cas9-based therapeutics. Here, the authors explore chemical modifications at all positions of the crRNA guide and tracrRNA cofactor, and identify modified versions that are more potent and stable than their unmodified counterparts in editing human cells.

Mechanisms and consequences of the acclimation of soil respiration to warming are unclear. Here, the authors combine soil respiration, metagenomics, and functional gene results from a 7-year grassland warming experiment to a microbial-enzyme decomposition model, showing functional gene information to lower uncertainty and improve fit.

Non-small cell lung cancers with inactivating SMARCA4 mutations are currently undruggable. Here, the authors show that the absence of SMARCA4/2 reduces chromatin accessibility at the CCND1 locus, leading to a subsequent reduction in cyclin D1 expression, which promotes vulnerability of these cancers to CDK4/6 inhibition.

Pyruvic acid and its conjugate base, the pyruvate anion, are largely present in the atmosphere. Here the authors, using photoelectron imaging and quantum chemistry calculations, investigate the photochemistry of isolated pyruvate anions initiated by UVA radiation and report the formation of CO₂, CO, and CH₃⁻ further decomposing into CH₃ and a free electron.

Newly developed microfluidic neural tube-like and forebrain-like structures based on human pluripotent stem cells can model pivotal aspects of neural patterning along both the rostral–caudal and dorsal–ventral axes.

Structural coloration - i.e. colors arising from light interference in microstructures - is a good resource for several applications but usually involves elaborate fabrication techniques. Here, the authors achieve controllable coloration using silica particles embedded in a rearrangeable polymer network.

Here, Xue et al. identify N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) modification sites in RNAs of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and show that these sites, particularly sites in the transcript encoding for the viral glycoprotein, affect virus replication in primary human cells and cotton rats.

A generalizable framework to prospectively engineer cis-regulatory elements from massively parallel reporter assay models can be used to write fit-for-purpose regulatory code.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

Anti-CRISPR proteins offer the means of regulating CRISPR-Cas9 activity. Here the authors present the structure and biochemical characterisation of AcrIIC2_Nme alone and in complex with Cas9.

Efficient and stable electrocatalysts for acidic oxygen evolution are essential for proton exchange membrane electrolyzers. Here, the authors report Ru–O–Ir atomic interfaces that enable bridging oxygen-mediated deprotonation pathways, overcoming the activity/stability trade-off in acidic oxygen evolution.

The isoprene unit is widely found in bioactive molecules, but stereoselective synthetic methods for these 1,3-dienes remain limited. Here, the authors disclose an E-selective rhodium-catalyzed synthesis of terminal isoprene units from allenes.

Xue and colleagues show that Runx3^−/− CD8⁺ T effector cells aberrantly upregulate genes characteristic of T_FH cell lineage and exhibit impaired induction of cytotoxic molecules.

Transient micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) devices that are based on water-soluble material platforms can provide safe implants for biointegrated systems.

Using single-cell and multi-omics data of fetal blood, a high-resolution molecular map of dysregulated haematopoiesis in Down syndrome is provided.

Mitochondrial point mutations are corrected in human cells using a transcription activator-like effector (TALE)-based system.

This study has identified new regulators, such as RHD6 and GL2, involved in the regulation of the RAE1-STOP1-ALMT1 module, contributing to Al resistance. It has also established a complex transcriptional network that controls STOP1-dependent ALMT1 expression, offering new insights into Al resistance and signaling.

Brown adipocytes contribute to energy balance, and adipocyte development and brown adipocyte thermogenesis are in part regulated by epigenetic modifications. Here the authors report that the histone demethylase Utx maintains brown adipocyte identity via demethylation of PRDM16, which in turn represses myogenic remodelling via DNMT1-mediated Myod1 promoter hypermethylation in mice.

A study reports a combination of processing, optimization and low-damage deposition methods for the production of silicon heterojunction solar cells exhibiting flexibility and high performance.

Macrophages may polarize into different states with distinct regulatory functions for inflammation. Here the authors perform high-throughput in vitro screening of a library of ~4000 compounds to identify those with specific effects on human macrophage polarization, while RNAseq helps uncover the targets and pathways mediating these effects.

Although electron-driven chemistry is ubiquitous, how molecular electron capture is altered by solvent remains poorly understood. Now, using anion two-dimensional photoelectron spectroscopy, it is shown that the presence of water molecules can enhance electron capture and that considering the mechanism from the perspective of the anion offers further understanding.

Phosphorescence resonance energy transfer systems have potential in light-harvesting and bioimaging, but host-guest systems are rarely explored. Here, the authors report the development of a macrocyclic host-guest system for targeted cell imaging.

We fabricated silicon heterojunction back-contact solar cells using laser patterning, producing cells that exceeded 27% power-conversion efficiency.

Designing high performing low-cost nanomaterials for catalyzing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) remains challenging. Here, the authors report a volcano-shape correlation between HER activity and cobalt atomic configuration in single-atom doped CoSe2-DETA (DETA = diethylenetriamine) nanobelts toward achieving high performance.

The poor conductivity of passivators often impacts the charge carrier transport in perovskite solar cells. Here, the authors report a binary and synergistical post-treatment method to form the passivation layer, achieving certified quasi-steady power conversion efficiency of 26% for stable devices.

An accurate evaluation of lithium-metal battery performance is challenging due to the excessive lithium that is often used at the anode. Here the authors report a methodology to assess the degradation mechanism and cycle life of practical lithium-metal batteries.

Uroz et al. report that the distinct mechanical properties of brain vasculature versus parenchyma drive cancer cell migration through a talin-dependent mechanism, enabling vessel co-option and metastatic invasion in the brain.

Despite their broad utility, design and construction of plasmids remains laborious and time-consuming. Here the authors report a robust, versatile, and automated end-to-end platform that enables scarless construction of virtually any plasmid.

Conflicting reports have found disease to sometimes be positively and sometimes negatively correlated with alcohol consumption. Here, the authors show that misreporting and reduction of alcohol consumption is associated with disease, leading to misleading associations between alcohol and disease.

Leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR) is frequently downregulated in liver cancer. Here the authors show that loss of LIFR promotes liver tumorigenesis and confers resistance to drug-induced ferroptosis through NF-κB-mediated upregulation of iron-sequestering cytokine LCN2.

Xue Zhang, Jing Yu Liu and colleagues report SLC20A2 mutations in familial idiopathic basal ganglia calcification (IBGC, also known as Fahr disease). These mutations impair the function of the type III phosphate transporter encoded by SLA20A2 and may disturb phosphate homeostasis in the body.

A chemical infrastructure for integrating sensing and memory and exhibiting short- and long-term memory responses to alcohols and aldehydes through an artificial olfactory memory system is realized with conductive metal-organic framework Ce-HHTP.

Wang and colleagues revealed how oleic acid produced by thymic epithelial cells could affect the developing thymocytes to differentiate into peripheral regulatory T cells.

The exclusion of cytotoxic T cells remains an important barrier to the efficacy of immunotherapies. Here the authors demonstrate that the combination anti-fibrosis agents and immune-enhanced cytokines can enhance T cell infiltration in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer.