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African trypanosomes can reduce their requirement for tsetse fly transmission, allowing an expanded geographical range. Here, molecular analyses of field and laboratory selected lines has identified adaptions for the parasite’s simplified life cycle.

Kinesin-1 utilizes ATP-driven conformational changes to transport vital intracellular cargoes along microtubules. The authors use cryo-EM to reveal a missing structural transition state of the kinesin-1 motor domain during ADP release that is unaffected by its autoinhibitory tail.

The quantum Hall effect in GaAs-based devices defines resistance standards accurate to within one part in 10⁻⁹ at magnetic fields close to 10 T. Here, Lafont et al. demonstrate such accuracies over an extended magnetic field range at 1.4 K in chemically vapour-deposited graphene on silicon carbide.

Hybrid devices based on electrons on helium may find application in quantum devices. Here the authors demonstrate surface acoustic wave driven acoustoelectric transport of electrons on superfluid helium.

Using ultrashort laser pulses it is possible to induce ferromagnetic ordering in otherwise anti-ferromagnetic FeRh. Here, Li et al. use THz emission spectroscopy with double pump to probe the transient dynamics of this transition, showing the insusceptibility of the ferromagnetic order to applied magnetic fields at picosecond timescales.

High contiguity human genomes can be assembled de novo in 6 h using nanopore long-read sequences and the Shasta toolkit.

Kovalski et al. perform a genome-wide CRISPRi screen for selective MYC mRNA translation regulators and identify RBM42 as a ribosome-associated protein that modulates translation of MYC and an oncogenic mRNA programme required for pancreatic cancer growth.

A new p-type small molecule enhances defect passivation and improves interfacial charge transport in perovskite solar cells, enabling devices with a certified power conversion efficiency of 26.72%, 97% of which is maintained after 2,500 h of continuous operation.

The role of orbital degrees of freedom in determining the electronic structure remains obscured. Here, Walkup et al. report strain-induced band structure changes in a topological crystalline insulator SnTe, whose surprising behavior reflects the  orbital nature of bands.

Many experiments have been performed that study rectification by exciting electrons to tunnel across a single quantum barrier. Here, the authors take a 2-dimensional approach by combining 2D closed-loop tunneling barriers with broken symmetry to enable geometrically controllable rectification of THz fields.

Iodide-related defects pose serious challenges to the irradiation, thermal, light or reverse-bias stabilities of perovskite solar cells. Here, the authors find that by using the iodide/polyiodide capture and confine effects of perfluorodecyl iodide interfacing with perovskites, inverted perovskite solar cells achieve much improved stabilities.

The recovery of human genomic data from environmental DNA samples raises ethical questions regarding consent, privacy, surveillance and data ownership, which will need to be grappled with as the environmental DNA field moves forward.

Here, the authors report on the thermal and mechanical properties of Ruddlesden-Popper phases (Ban+1ZrnS3n+1, n = 2 and 3) of a perovskite chalcogenide (BaZrS3) that push to extreme limits and defy the century-old relation between thermal conductivity and interatomic bond strength.

Plastic deformation is shown to tune the quantum degrees of freedom in SrTiO₃.

The authors report subnanosecond thermal transport on a gold–hexagonal boron nitrite interface governed by hyperbolic phonon–polariton coupling, demonstrating a cooling mechanism orders of magnitude faster than those relying on phonon-mediated processes.

Here, the authors show that giving probiotics to very low birth weight preterm babies can help reduce harmful antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the gut and support the development of a healthier microbiome.

Diamondoids are building blocks for nanostructured materials that can be used in molecular devices. Here, Randel et al.demonstrate an all-hydrocarbon single-molecule rectifier composed of a buckyball cage fused to a diamondoid, which outperforms either of its separate molecular constituents.

Rydberg blockade — the suppression of excitation of more than one Rydberg atom within a blockade volume — has so far been realized using ultracold atoms. Now, scientists show that coherence times of >100 ns are achievable with coherent Rydberg atomic spectroscopy in micrometre-sized thermal vapour cells, making them good candidates for investigating low-dimensional strongly interacting Rydberg gases, constructing quantum gates and building single-photon sources.

As well as superconductivity, cuprate perovskites can exhibit many different exotic spin and charge ordering states. Adding to this, Rosen et al.identify a stark difference in the electronic structure of the cuprate Bi2201 between its surface and its bulk.

The effect of Ohmic dissipation in two-dimensional chiral materials has never been experimentally verified. Here, Khanikaev et al. demonstrate that the circular dichroism in a nanostructured metasurface occurs due to handedness-dependent Ohmic heating.

Hole-spin qubits based on semiconductor quantum dots offer potential advantages over their electron-spin counterparts, such as fast qubit control and enhanced coherence times. Liles et al. report a hole-based singlet-triplet spin qubit in planar Si MOS device and develop a model to describe its dynamics.

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.

Electrolyte gating enables the accumulation of large carrier densities in two-dimensional electron systems. Here, the authors demonstrate that a few-atom thick layer of hexagonal boron nitride can dramatically improve carrier mobility in an electrolyte-gated system by limiting chemical reactions and disorder.

Interface transparency between 2D semiconductors and superconductors is a longstanding problem, seriously hindering potential applications. Here, using a new hybrid system, Kjaergaard et al. report quantized conductance doubling and a hard superconducting gap measured via a quantum point contact, indicating a near pristine interface.

Here, the authors show that Brown-Zak fermions in graphene-on-boron-nitride superlattices exhibit mobilities above 10⁶ cm²/V s and micrometer scale ballistic transport.

It is thought that polyphenols inhibit organic matter decomposition in soils devoid of oxygen. Here the authors use metabolomics and genome-resolved metaproteomics to provide experimental evidence of polyphenol biodegradation and maintained soil microbial community metabolism despite anoxia.

Olfactory perception of food-derived odors influences feeding behavior, but the underlying neural pathways remain unclear. Here, the authors show that prolonged exposure to food odor suppresses food intake and body weight gain by activating an olfactory bulb–hypothalamus circuit.

Ears encode sound with precisely timed spikes, but the perceptual role of this temporal coding remains uncertain. Here, the authors report that high-fidelity temporal coding is necessary for neural network models to reproduce human-like auditory behavior.

A dynamic model of the 4Pi point spread function enables localization microscopy with exceptional three-dimensional resolution and a simpler optical design. 4Pi-STORM images of neurons and mitochondria reveal new details of nanoscale protein and nucleic acid organization.

A new discovery strategy, ‘reverse metabolomics’, facilitates high-throughput matching of mass spectrometry spectra in public untargeted metabolomics datasets, and a proof-of-concept experiment identified an association between microbial bile amidates and inflammatory bowel disease.

Although electron motion is prohibited in magnetic insulators, the electron spin can be transported by magnons. Such magnons, generated and detected using all-electrical methods, are now shown to travel micrometre distances at room temperature.

One of the many intriguing possibilities in strongly interacting quantum systems is the formation of emergent excitations with fractional charges. Here the authors show how the high-frequency noise emitted by a dc-biased quantum point contact can be used to demonstrate charge fractionalization.

Long operational stability is essential to commercialisation of organic solar cells. Here, the authors investigate the thermal degradation of inverted photovoltaic devices based on PM6:Y6 non-fullerene system to reveal that trap-induced transport resistance is primarily responsible for the drop in fill factor.

When a plasma interacts with a surface, different thermal effects may arise. Here, the authors explore plasma interactions with a surface that produce a surface cooling effect.

Nuclear spins in solid-state systems present a promising platform for quantum information applications. Here the authors report evidence of the long-predicted entangled dark nuclear spin state via optical polarization of localized hole spins coupled to the nuclear bath in a lead halide perovskite semiconductor.

A method for modelling time-varying dynamic stability in a natural marine fish community finds that seasonal patterns in community stability are driven by species diversity and interspecific interactions.

SxtT and GxtA are Rieske oxygenases that are involved in paralytic shellfish toxin biosynthesis and catalyze monohydroxylation reactions at different positions on the toxin scaffold. Here, the authors present crystal structures of SxtT and GxtA with the native substrates β-saxitoxinol and saxitoxin as well as a Xenon-pressurized structure of GxtA, which reveal a substrate access tunnel to the active site. Through structure-based mutagenesis studies the authors identify six residues in three different protein regions that determine the substrate specificity and site selectivity of SxtT and GxtA. These findings will aid the rational engineering of other Rieske oxygenases.

Graphene is characterized by unique physical properties that offer substantial promise, most notably for electronic applications. Mannooret al. present a wireless graphene-based sensor for detecting bacteria on a range of biological tissues.

Magnetic stability of holmium atoms on a platinum(111) surface has recently been reported, raising prospects for atomic-scale spintronics, however contradictory results have since emerged. Here, Steinbrecher et al.find evidence for an invisibility of the holmium spin to scanning tunnelling spectroscopy techniques which challenges recent results.

Injecting spin-polarized current into a ferromagnetic thin film via a nanocontact is expected to generate a radially-symmetric spin wave soliton. Here, the authors use time-resolved x-ray microscopy and micromagnetic simulations to demonstrate the occurrence of p-like symmetry associated with non-uniform magnetic fields in the nanocontact region.

Spin–photon interfaces provide a connection between quantum information stored in atomic or electronic spins and optical communications networks. A quantum photon emitter with long-lived, controllable coherent spin has now been demonstrated.

Confining plasma and managing disruptions in tokamak devices is a challenge. Here the authors demonstrate a method predicting and possibly preventing disruptions and macroscopic instabilities in tokamak plasma using data from JET.

The precise cellular localization of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA and replication partners has been elusive. Here, the authors use super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and specific labeling to reveal the nanoscale structure of viral replication organelles.

The alkali-metal electrolytes often used in electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction can lead to problematic carbonate formation and salt precipitation. Here, the authors demonstrate a scaled-up system for CO₂ reduction that uses both anion-exchange and proton-exchange membranes, allowing alkali-cation-free water to be used as a feed, with resulting stable operation.

The authors study the light-driven dynamics of attractive and repulsive Fermi polarons in monolayer WSe₂. They show that the resonance shifts of Fermi polarons are valley-selective; the resonance shifts of attractive polarons increase with Fermi-sea density, while those of repulsive polarons decrease.

Deltex E3s modify ADP-ribosylated targets with ubiquitin, creating a hybrid modification whose readers remains unknown. Here, the authors synthesise a non-hydrolysable probe that mimics the modification and identify RNF114 as an interactor. RNF114 binds tightly to this modification and further elongates it with a K11-linked ubiquitin chain.