Search

Key neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex form memories for best action strategies when mice seek rewards. Here, the authors show that these neurons have more mature dendritic spines than neighboring cells, this maturation requiring concurrent plasticity in the amygdala.

Bioactivity-guided isolation of specialized metabolites is an iterative process. Here, the authors demonstrate a native metabolomics approach that allows for fast screening of complex metabolite extracts against a protein of interest and simultaneous structure annotation.

Managing power exhaust in fusion reactors is a key challenge, especially in compact designs for cost-effective commercial energy. This study shows how alternative divertor configurations improve exhaust control, enhance stability, absorb transients and enable independent plasma regulation.

In vivo chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell engineering uses targeted delivery systems to generate CAR-T cells directly in patients, bypassing ex vivo manufacturing. This Review examines emerging viral and lipid nanoparticle platforms, early clinical proof of concept and potential applications beyond cancer.

CSF total tau (t-tau), often used as a marker of neuronal damage, is more strongly linked to synaptic degeneration. Here, the authors show that t-tau better reflects synaptic dysfunction than axonal or neuronal loss in Alzheimer’s disease.

Commensal Candida albicans enhances the virulence and dissemination of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium.

In this Stage 2 Registered Report, Buchanan et al. show evidence confirming the phenomenon of semantic priming across speakers of 19 diverse languages.

A superconducting quantum computer is used to realize an out-of-equilibrium topologically ordered state, which hosts anyonic excitations.

Conventional Dendritic cells (cDCs) continually migrate from peripheral tissues in homeostasis. Here, the authors analyse the homeostatic turnover of cDC subsets in the intestine from tissue entry to migration to the draining lymph nodes, noting a dynamic life cycle with changes in transcriptome and proliferation rates.

Trained and validated on multimodal data from 14.5 million images from multicountry datasets, a foundation model is shown to increase diagnostic and referral accuracy of clinicians when used as an assistant in a trial involving 16 ophthalmologists and 668 patients.

A purpose-built implantable system based on biomimetic epidural electrical stimulation of the spinal cord reduces the severity of hypotensive complications in people with spinal cord injury and improves quality of life.

While the connectivity of VTA dopamine neurons is well studied, less is known about the connectivity of VTA glutamate and GABA neurons. Here, authors show that these neurons form local circuits to modulate reward, aversion, feeding and locomotion.

Chronic stress is a risk factor for depression, yet the mechanisms are unclear. Here, the authors show in mice that stress drives interferon-mediated neutrophil recruitment from the skull to the brain’s outer membranes, contributing to depressive behaviors.

The social exposome—lifelong social and economic adversity—can shape brain health and dementia risk. Here, the authors show that an adverse social exposome is linked to poorer clinical, cognitive, and brain changes in Latin American older adults.

The quark structure of the f₀(980) hadron is still unknown after 50 years of its discovery. Here, the CMS Collaboration reports a measurement of the elliptic flow of the f₀(980) state in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV, providing strong evidence that the state is an ordinary meson.

The authors reveal an inherent trade-off between logarithmic average phonon frequency and the electron-phonon coupling constant in conventional BCS superconductors. The analysis suggests that achieving room-temperature conventional superconductivity at ambient pressure is extremely unlikely.

Nutrient-induced soil carbon gains in grasslands can persist for decades after fertilization stops as long as the soil remains untilled, according to a multidecadal field experiment on retired agricultural fields with sandy soils.

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.

Zhao et al. used single-cell and spatial multiomics data analysis of human and mouse lung adenocarcinoma tumors and cell lines to reveal TP53 mutation-associated changes in cancer cells and their microenvironment.

Two phase 1 studies report promising outcomes with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, but the next stage of development must address key pitfalls around comparator arms and ancillary immune-modulating treatments.

Chapman, Klaourakis and colleagues reveal that a lymphatic vasculature with poor clearance capacity in perinatal, regeneration-competent mouse hearts is required to retain pro-reparative macrophages and allow cardiac regeneration.

Measurements of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine in the caudate of conscious humans reveal a neurochemical boundary between patients with essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease based on serotonin release evoked by monetary offers.

RNAtracker is a computational pipeline that distinguishes variants associated with allele-specific RNA stability from those associated with allele-specific RNA transcription. Variants affecting RNA stability are enriched in immune-related genes and contribute to disease risk.

A minimal effector subset enables Salmonella Typhimurium to overcome bottlenecks regulated by the early innate immune response and establish infection within a CD62L⁺ monocyte niche in the spleen.

To date, experimental induction of hair cell regeneration in mammals leads to immature and poorly differentiated hair cells. Here the authors show that the transcription factor prdm1a plays a crucial role in specifying sensory hair cell types with loss of prdm1a in zebrafish leading to misspecification of hair cells in the sensory lateral line system into ear hair cells.

A comprehensive understanding of how urban nature affects mental health at a global scale remains essential. This study addresses that need through a systematic review and meta-analysis, revealing the effects of exposure to various urban nature types on 12 distinct mental health outcomes.

Genetic background, plasma metabolome and dietary data from 4,215 women and 1,490 men reveal 57 metabolites whose associations with dementia risk vary by APOE4 genotype and other risk variants.

Al-Hilal, Chrysovergi et al. identify a role for durotaxis in lung fibrosis and metastatic pancreatic cancer, mediated by the FAK–paxillin mechanosensor complex, and demonstrate therapeutic targeting of this pathway using the small molecule JP-153.

Net-zero bioplastics are possible when combined with high recycling rates. This study presents a mixed polyester recycling process integrated with monomer separation and purification for both fossil- and bio-based plastics. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses confirm its environmental and commercial advantages, advancing the path toward circular, low-emission polyester plastics.

Here the authors spatially map human pediatric low-grade gliomas using imaging mass cytometry, focusing on immunosuppressive myeloid cell populations and their functionality in tumor–immune interactions and tumor progression.

Here the authors dissect the developmental and functional relationship between tumor-responsive cytotoxic T cells in the tumor versus the tumor-draining lymph nodes (tdLNs), finding that stem-like T_PEX cells dependent on MYB in the tdLNs are required for CD8⁺ T cell tumor infiltration and ICB responses.

In clinical and population-based cohorts, a strong contribution of polygenic risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D) significantly modifies the onset and phenotypic variability of maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY). This polygenic T2D burden may also account for MODY-like individuals without identified monogenic causes.

Extreme heat in Latin America increases road traffic mortality risks, with motorcyclists and bicyclists facing a 27% higher risk on the hottest days. Urban protection measures for vulnerable commuters in cities in the Global South are critical as climate change intensifies heat exposure.

In this work, authors utilise a prefractionation natural product extract screening platform, which uncovers coniotins, lipopeptaibiotics with broad antifungal activity and a mechanism of action that targets fungal cell wall β-glucan.

For fertilization, sperm migrate through the utero-tubal junction (UTJ) and bind to the zona pellucida (ZP). Here the authors identify sperm expressed GALNTL5 as a GalNAc binding factor required for migration though the UTJ and attachment to the ZP.

Asteroid 1998 KY26 is the target of Hayabusa2 extended space mission. Here, authors show that it is smaller and rotates faster than known.

Analysis of samples from the asteroid Ryugu provide evidence of late fluid flow in a carbonaceous asteroid, indicating that such bodies may have retained two to three times more water than previously thought.

Despite observed routinely from spacecrafts landing on, e.g., lunar soil, the origin of radial streak patterns has been unclear up to now. Here, the authors report an experimental study of such instabilities in the coupled dynamics of rocket plumes and sand surfaces.

Antibody–bottlebrush conjugates expand the options for drug cargos compared to antibody–drug conjugates.

Cells use clathrin-mediated endocytosis to internalize biomolecular cargo. The authors demonstrate that the Epsin1 protein ensures uptake of ubiquitylated cargo through ubiquitin-dependent regulation of the stability of endocytic protein networks.

In superconducting circuits, the nonlinearity of Josephson junctions mediates photon interactions, but they are typically dominated by two-photon processes. Here the authors observe multi-photon interactions in a superconducting circuit with Cooper-pair pairing, revealing a new regime of microwave quantum optics.

A new artificial intelligence model, DeepSeek-R1, is introduced, demonstrating that the reasoning abilities of large language models can be incentivized through pure reinforcement learning, removing the need for human-annotated demonstrations.

The A3 adenosine receptor is a promising drug target for cancer, inflammation, and glaucoma. Here, authors determine atomic structures of the human A3 receptor, identifying a previously hidden binding pocket that will aid in the development of more effective A3 receptor-targeted medicines.

It is unclear whether the linkage between tree species richness and insect herbivory is consistent across climates and forest types. Here, the authors analyse data from forest biodiversity experiments to show a generally positive tree growth–insect herbivory relationship that is modulated by leaf traits.

By controlling oxygen partial pressure, this study coerces Mn and Fe into divalent states, stabilizing seven new high-entropy rock salt oxides, and introduces oxygen chemical potential as a key design axis for predictive synthesis.

A retrospective, observational study shows that completion of a diabetes prevention program in England (the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme) was associated with decreased incidence of type 2 diabetes and long-term conditions such as dementia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 24 months.

Labour productivity and labour market transitions are key to the future of agriculture. By simulating agricultural labour input demand in production technologies and incorporating a wage-responsive labour supply, this study sheds light on the dynamics of future agricultural labour market evolution.

Dextran sulfate sodium is a colitis inducer that stimulates a ROS–Src–IP6K2 signaling axis to generate 5-IP₇, which sterically inhibits PI(4,5)P₂ phosphatases to promote PI(4,5)P₂-mediated E-cadherin endocytosis and epithelial junction breakdown.