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Guided by density functional theory, a commercially viable refractory alloy is developed, which exhibits excellent room-temperature ductility and strength, and high strength at elevated temperatures.

The APOE-ε4 allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, but it is not deterministic. Here, the authors show that common genetic variation changes how APOE-ε4 influences cognition.

The lowest-frequency gravitational wave background may be shaped by supermassive black hole binaries that scatter nearby stars or dark matter. In this case, the NANOGrav 15-year dataset favours dense galactic centres with 10⁶ solar masses per cubic parsec.

Iron–sulfur minerals play critical roles in regulating nitrogen cycling under anoxic conditions. This study shows that pyrrhotite with abundant iron vacancies promotes electron transfer and microbial nitrate reduction to dinitrogen.

Surface controls nanocrystal growth, but atomic-scale hard-soft interfaces are hard to measure. Here, the authors develop electron microscopy methods to reveal the position of metal adatoms and surfactant counterions on gold nanocuboid surfaces.

The cleavage of C–C bonds in hydrocarbons is traditionally entrusted to precious metal catalysts, whereas common non-reducible oxides are considered unreactive. Now, the authors report nanostructured silica-embedded zirconia nanoparticles that are competent for the hydrogenolysis of polyethylene with remarkable performance.

Here, the authors examine the mechanisms behind cheatgrass’s successful invasion of North American ecosystems. Their genetic analyses and common garden experiments demonstrate that multiple introductions and migrations facilitated cheatgrass local adaptation.

Polygenic scores for body mass index and obesity constructed using data from 5 million people with different ancestries were associated with distinct weight gain trajectories from early childhood to adulthood.

Precise control over the energy of atomic metal sites is key to unlocking novel reaction pathways. Here, the authors achieve selective oxygen activation by the isolated copper site on ceria, due to its reduced 3d orbital energy via cerium induced electron withdrawing effect.

Polygenic risk scores can help identify individuals at higher risk of type 2 diabetes. Here, the authors characterise a multi-ancestry score across nearly 900,000 people, showing that its predictive value depends on demographic and clinical context and extends to related traits and complications.

Experimental measurements of high-order out-of-time-order correlators on a superconducting quantum processor show that these correlators remain highly sensitive to the quantum many-body dynamics in quantum computers at long timescales.

The Au²⁺ oxidation state is rarely stable in molecules or extended solids, where extreme synthetic conditions or exotic ligands are often necessary. Now, Au²⁺ has been stabilized with simple Cl⁻ ligands in Cs₄Au^IIAu^III₂Cl₁₂, an extended solid with a perovskite-derived structure that is readily synthesized under mild conditions and is stable to ambient conditions.

Unconventional quasiparticles carrying spin but not electric charge emerge in quantum spin liquid phases. The Kondo interaction of these spinon quasiparticles with magnetic impurities may now have been observed.

Oxygen vacancies (O_v) are prevalent anionic defects in transition metal oxides, known for enhancing catalytic performance by modifying the material’s electronic and geometric structure. Here, the authors introduce a novel type of O_v, and materials featuring this rare O_v structure demonstrate excellent performance in the ammonia decomposition reaction.

A consensus cell type atlas for the fly brain provides both an intellectual framework and open-source toolchains for brain-scale comparative connectomics.

The role of the tumour microenvironment in the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic melanoma remains poorly understood. Here, single cell profiling of metastatic melanoma samples identifies associations of the mature dendritic enriched in immunoregulatory molecules subtype with immunotherapy response.

Large genome-wide meta-analysis of clinically diagnosed late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) from 94,437 individuals identifies new LOAD risk loci and implicates Aβ formation, tau protein binding, immune response and lipid metabolism.

Interstitial oxygen conductors have the potential to enable efficient oxygen-ion transport at lower temperatures. An approach combining physically motivated structure and property descriptors, ab initio simulations and experiments is now proposed for the discovery of fast interstitial oxygen conductors.

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of CaNi₂ shows a band with vanishing dispersion across the full 3D Brillouin zone that is identified with the pyrochlore flat band as well as two additional flat bands that arise from multi-orbital interference of Ni d-electrons.

Exome-sequencing analyses of a large cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes and control individuals without diabetes from five ancestries are used to identify gene-level associations of rare variants that are associated with type 2 diabetes.

An integrated data and sample repository for clinical, cellular and multi-omics research from diverse spaceflight missions known as Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) is presented.

Tong et al. form a 2D perovskite layer with two large organic cations to improve the structural and optoelectronic properties of Sn–Pb perovskites, and eventually the performance of single-junction and tandem solar cells.

A rechargeable aqueous Zn–MnO₂ battery features a combination of favourable sustainability characteristics from safety to cost. The authors deploy advanced characterizations and theoretical calculations to provide fresh insight into the charge storage mechanism, which not only closes an ongoing debate but suggests ways forward.

Aqueous organic redox flow batteries (AORFBs) are a promising grid-scale energy storage technology, but the development of high-performance catholytes has been challenging. Here the researchers reveal redox-active species based on dimers of (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl that demonstrate high cycling stability, power and volumetric capacity in AORFBs.

Rab6 is a key regulator of the Golgi apparatus, the central sorting organelle of eukaryotic cells. Here the authors use cryo-electron microscopy and functional experiments to reveal how Rab6 is activated by the Ric1-Rgp1 complex.

A large genome-wide association study of more than 5 million individuals reveals that 12,111 single-nucleotide polymorphisms account for nearly all the heritability of height attributable to common genetic variants.

Developing effective and stable catalytic interfaces in the medium temperature region is a practical route to replace the existing water gas shift (WGS) process. Here the authors designed a composite Ni-Y₂O₃ catalyst achieving the highest WGS activity for Ni based catalysts.

The electrons that contribute to the Mott insulator state in single-layer 1T-TaSe2 are shown to also have a rich variation in their orbital occupation. As more layers are added, both the insulating state and orbital texture weaken.

Magnetic symmetry is a vital factor to determine exotic topological phases. Here, Riberolles et al. demonstrate a helical antiferromagnetic order in EuIn₂As₂ which makes it a magnetic topological-crystalline axion insulator.

Iridium oxide is the state-of-the-art catalyst for water oxidation in an acidic electrolyte. Now amorphous and crystalline iridium oxides are studied using operando time-resolved optical spectroscopy, together with other techniques, to reveal the nature and density of active centres and the role of adsorbate–adsorbate interactions.

Rechargeable solid-state sodium-ion batteries hold great promise for safer and more energy-dense energy storage. Here, the authors show a new sodium-based halide, Na_3-xY_1-xZr_xCl₆, for sodium-all-solid-state batteries with enhanced ionic conductivity and long-term cycling stability.

FlyWire presents a neuronal wiring diagram of the whole fly brain with annotations for cell types, classes, nerves, hemilineages and predicted neurotransmitters, with data products and an open ecosystem to facilitate exploration and browsing.

Patients with BRAF^V600E-mutated colorectal cancer have encouraging overall response rates to inhibition of PD-1, BRAF and MEK, with translational analyses suggesting that induction of tumor-intrinsic programs and immune programs contributes to improved outcomes via MAPK inhibition.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias identifies new loci and enables generation of a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

The desirable functional properties of complex oxide materials are often influenced by the presence of oxygen defects and epitaxial strain. Meyer et al. demonstrate the role of oxygen defect kinetics in the strain control of the superconducting transition temperature of LSCO.

Bennu’s surface presents evidence of a variety of particle sizes, from fine regolith to metre-sized boulders. Its moderate thermal inertia suggests that the boulders are very porous or blanketed by thin dust. Bennu’s boulders exhibit high albedo variations, indicating different origins and/or ages.

Near-Earth rubble-pile asteroid Bennu has an unexpectedly old surface, with numerous candidate impact craters and morphologically diverse boulders, according to early observations by the OSIRIS-REx mission.

Fishing has had a profound impact on global reef shark populations, and the absence or presence of sharks is strongly correlated with national socio-economic conditions and reef governance.

A detailed and systematic X-ray and neutron scattering study of hexagonal iron sulfide uncovers the critical role of spin–phonon coupling in promoting the metal–insulator transition in this system.

Analyses of samples from patients with acute myeloid leukaemia reveal that drug response is associated with mutational status and gene expression; the generated dataset provides a basis for future clinical and functional studies of this disease.

Although N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are a promising class of ligands for forming robust self-assembled monolayers on metals, many questions remain about their behavior on surfaces. Here, the authors address these fundamental questions—such as the factors controlling NHC orientation, mobility, and ability to self-assemble—through an in-depth examination of NHC overlayers on Au(111).

Safely opening university campuses has been a major challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, the authors describe a program of public health measures employed at a university in the United States which, combined with other non-pharmaceutical interventions, allowed the university to stay open in fall 2020 with limited evidence of transmission.

The goal of the 1000 Genomes Project is to provide in-depth information on variation in human genome sequences. In the pilot phase reported here, different strategies for genome-wide sequencing, using high-throughput sequencing platforms, were developed and compared. The resulting data set includes more than 95% of the currently accessible variants found in any individual, and can be used to inform association and functional studies.

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of native type A GABA receptors from human brain reveal diverse subunit compositions, protein binding partners and binding sites for antiepileptic drugs.

The behaviour of strongly correlated nickelates is well studied in bulk but the corresponding strained thin films are largely unexplored. Here, the authors study strained NdNiO₃thin films with various degrees of strain and, in addition to a metal-to-insulator transition, find quantum critical behaviour.

An analysis of the Drosophila connectome yields all cell types intrinsic to the optic lobe, and their rules of connectivity.

Openshaw and colleagues find myeloid inflammation and complement activation signatures in patients with long COVID who were previously hospitalized.

Here the authors reveal the structural basis of how the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor type found on skeletal muscle and in fish electric organs desensitizes in response to agonist and how the arrow poison curare antagonizes the channel by stabilizing a desensitized state.

The response to respiratory virus exposure can currently not be predicted by pre- or early post-exposure molecular signatures. Here, the authors conduct a community-based analysis of blood gene expression from healthy individuals exposed to respiratory viruses and provide predictive models and biological insight into the physiological response.