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As they train the next generation of scientists, some senior researchers share why they find mentoring fun and rewarding.

In this field, scientists draw on ecology, population genomics, oceanography and biophysical modeling to assess and predict change. Their dynamic study object just never quite sits still.

cellSTAAR advances noncoding rare variant association analysis by integrating single-cell genomics data.

Poster sessions are a staple at conferences. Some junior and senior scientists share some experiences and strategies about making and presenting posters.

Reported detections of gases in exoplanet atmospheres, including claims of biosignatures on K2-18 b, disappear when broader models are tested, revealing that such detections often reflect modelling limits rather than real signals.

Since the chance discovery of nanobodies in the late 1980s, their uses and applications have kept growing. Researchers are now exploring new ways to harness nanobody versatility.

Not all conferences offer childcare, but when they do, these scientists, who are also mothers, rejoice. The toys are pretty good, too.

Using electron microscopy, scientists mapped a Caenorhabditis elegans nervous system and Drosophila brain at single-neuron resolution. Connectomics work on bigger brains takes new methods strategies.

Human transplantation with allogeneic donor organs results in non-matching of MHC and differential presentation of T cell antigens. Here the authors show that in a lung transplanted SARS-CoV-2 infected patient T cell responses generated from the host may not be able to recognise infected cells within the graft and this may contribute to virus persistence.

Hole spin semiconductor qubits suffer from charge noise, but now it has been demonstrated that placing them in an appropriately oriented magnetic field can suppress this noise and improve qubit performance.

The recently observed rotation of a photon's polarization by interaction with a single solid state spin has potential implications in quantum computing. Here, Arnold et al. demonstrate enhanced spin–photon coupling and polarization rotation via a coupled quantum dot/micropillar cavity system.

JWST data show that the exoplanet WASP-18b has thermally distinct regions of its dayside. The authors mapped the sizes of these regions, measured their temperatures and potentially identify water destruction in the hottest region.

Several researchers share tales around the development of their widely used methods.

Leading a lab is both a venture and an adventure. It’s double that for these researchers.

Usually magnetoelectric switching is accompanied by hysteresis, which is a consequence of the large barrier between different magnetoelectric states. Here, the authors show that in the antiferromagnet Ni₃TeO₆magnetoelectric switching of magnetization as well as polarization occur without hysteresis.

Despite many recent advances in silicon photonics for optical telecommunications and on-chip optical interconnects, the issue of power consumption has not been fully addressed. Here, Virot et al. propose a waveguide avalanche germanium photodiode suitable for low power consumption interconnects.

By focusing on wellbeing, sufficiency, and reducing inequality, high-income countries like Switzerland can move towards a more just global distribution of energy and resource consumption, while securing wellbeing for their residents.

Mitigation scenarios are required to account for societal factors. Fisch-Romito et al. integrate factors related to infrastructure, actors’ decision-making and socio-institutional context into a national energy model, and, using hindcasting, show how this can improve the modelled pathways.

Under-representation of African populations in mental-health studies perpetuates inequities — change is needed.

Authors show that base editing can convert sickle hemoglobin (HbS) to the rare but naturally occurring variant G-Makassar (HbG). Purified HbG appears normal, but in a mouse model, HbGS red cells sickle under hypoxia, highlighting the importance of assessing red cell quality when evaluating novel gene editing strategies for hematologic disorders.

The human pelvis exhibits distinct spatiotemporal ossification patterns and an ilium cartilage growth plate that is shifted perpendicularly compared with those of other mammals and non-human primates—two key adaptations that underlie bipedalism.

In an updated report on 70 laboratory-confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza A H5N1 cases in the USA between March 2024 and May 2025, the absence of human-to-human transmission to date was confirmed, with no known mutations of resistance to neuroaminidase inhibitors.

Scientists track how these membraneless biomolecular foci self-organize for their cellular tasks.

Synthesizing the cellular proteome is demanding and finely regulated. Here, the authors show that mTORC1 cooperates with tRNA wobble modification to promote ribosomal protein synthesis, thus supporting the high translational demands of cell growth.

Efficiently cutting a target sequence to effect a desired change in the genome is one gene-editing task. Knowing where else in the genome a tool might have made its mark is quite another.

Pocock et al. reveal that transient activation of 5′ AMP-activated protein kinase and estrogen-related receptor drives robust maturation of multicellular human cardiac organoids, enabling modeling of desmoplakin cardiomyopathy dysfunction, which could be rescued using the bromodomain and extra-terminal inhibitor INCB054329.

In neural progenitor cells, recurrent DNA break clusters (RDCs) occur to genes crucial for brain function. Here the authors find that most RDCs emerge at long-traveling unidirectional replication forks, and often unrelated to R-loops.

Methylmalonic acid (MMA) is increased in aging as well as produced by advanced tumors, and can drive pro-aggressive changes in these tumor cells. Here, the authors show that MMA can also act on fibroblasts in the tumor microenvironment, recruiting and activating them to further support tumor progression.

The use of electronic devices to process electrical signals in molecular communications can hardly realize its potential for various applications. Here, the authors report on chemical concentration signal processing in real time and digital signal transmission over distances.

The histone methyltransferase ASH1L has been linked to tumorigenesis, mainly in leukemia. Here, authors report that ASH1L cooperates with HIF-1α to induce a pro-metastatic transcriptome in prostate cancer cells, and promotes conversion of monocytes to lipid-associated tumor-associated macrophages in the bone metastatic niche.

MultiSTAAR provides a general and flexible statistical framework for functionally informed multi-trait rare variant analysis of biobank-scale sequencing studies by jointly analyzing multiple traits and incorporating annotation information.

Living crystallisation-driven self-assembly is a useful method in the construction of uniform polymer microstructures, but visualising this process generally requires labelling. Here, the authors use interferometric scattering microscopy for observe real-time growth of individual fibres and platelets.

With a focus on the evolutionary forces that shape cancer cell behavior, some researchers work out ways to outmaneuver cancer.

Awards are gratifying, and also a moment to reflect on how one’s research shapes the work of others.

Here the authors elucidate how epigenetic regulation influences the regulatory impact of transposable elements in the human genome using cellular models of the neurodegenerative disease XDP, which is caused by an SVA insertion at the TAF1 locus.

γδ T cells contribute to the response to immune checkpoint blockade treatment in patients with HLA-class-I-negative DNA mismatch repair-deficient colon cancers. .

Ventral pallidum GABA and glutamate neuron activation drives approach and avoidance, respectively. Here, the authors show that both ventral pallidum cell types are activated during approach to reward and by aversive stimuli, but elicit opponent effects on VTA cell-type activity.

These scientists prefer digging in the hot sun or hauling in ocean data in the sub-zero cold.

Some researchers have the good fortune of two academic affiliations. Sometimes these affiliations are not exactly within easy commuting distance.

Research with human embryos and embryo models, this year’s Method of the Year, can be fraught. In contrast, digital embryos could be studied, even perturbed, in computational what-happens-when experiments.

Here, the authors investigate the relationship between HUSH-MORC2 and DNA methylation in embryo-derived human neural progenitor cells, enhancing the understanding of the epigenetic control of repeats in somatic cells.

The non-invasive detection of microthrombi following acute ischemic stroke is challenging. Here the author develop an MRI-based contrast agent allowing the identification of microthrombi, investigating it in a mouse model of thromboembolic ischemic stroke.

How aging influences peripheral immune cell infiltration and the role of these cells following traumatic injury of the CNS is unclear. Here, the authors show that aging transforms CNS-associated macrophages into regulators of immune cell trafficking after ischemic stroke, modulating neurological outcomes.

Many scientists are active on social media, especially Twitter. The social media world is changing, but these researchers want to stay socially connected.