Search

The authors present a Mn incorporation strategy to enhance the stability of PdH_x metallenes by locking interstitial H atoms via strong electronic interactions in the immiscible alloy, resulting in an improved alkaline oxygen reduction reaction activity and stability at working temperature around 353 K.

First-instar orchid mantis nymphs avoid predators by mimicking black-red assassin bugs, whereas those in later instars avoid predators and attract prey by camouflaging themselves as lighter-coloured flowers. Here the authors use developmental transcriptomics, evolutionary genomics and predation experiments to reveal that this ontogenetic colour change is regulated by a pigment transporter called Redboy that emerged in Polyneoptera 284–197 million years ago.

Achieving sustainability in wireless communications is crucial yet poses significant challenges. To address this, the authors propose and demonstrate a solar-powered programmable metasurface enabling hybrid light-to-microwave wireless communications.

Xu, Meng, St-Germain et al. report that S1P in HDL induces a calcium signalling cascade involving E-Syt1 that ultimately promotes the formation of contact sites between the endoplasmic reticulum and the plasma membrane, as well as HDL-derived cholesterol transport.

Hydrogen production via proton exchange membrane water electrolysis is limited by the high cost and scarcity of iridium catalysts. By doping lanthanum into cobalt oxide, the authors anchor iridium atoms within the oxide lattice, boosting oxygen evolution activity and stability and reducing iridium loading.

The authors demonstrate that the response of the flexural vibrations of twisted bilayer graphene can be hysteretic depending on the angle between the lattices of the layers, finding that the quality factors of the vibrations are enhanced compared to untwisted bilayers.

Here Chang et al. found that two kinesins, HUG1 and HUG2, form a kinesin cage encasing the vegetative nucleus and a distinctive double-layered kinesin microtubule cage around the generative cell, tethering them into a male germ unit and aiding sperm delivery.

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is limited by the scaling relationship in the conventional oxygen associative pathway. In this study, single p-block atoms and interstitial H are incorporated into Pd metallenes favoring the direct dissociation mechanism, leading to high alkaline ORR performance.

Asparagales is the largest monocot order. Here, the authors produce the phylogeny of Asparagales with transcriptomic data from 455 species and investigate the evolution of genes involved with allium flavor biosynthesis.

Vascular calcification, a key risk factor of cardiovascular diseases, involves smooth muscle cells shifting to osteogenic phenotype. Here, the authors show that NEXN inhibits this process and protects against calcification by stabilizing SERCA2.

The O-alkylation of tertiary alcohols with racemic tertiary electrophiles to access chiral hindered dialkyl ethers has remained elusive. Now this synthetic challenge has been accomplished by copper-catalysed C–O cross-coupling between tertiary haloamides and alcohols using designed ligands.

The isolation of a crystalline radical cation carbon(I) species, generated via single-electron transfer between a carbodicarbene and a nitroaromatic compound, is reported. The resulting radical ion pair can mediate various C–O and C–C cross-coupling reactions with electron-deficient arenes bearing a leaving group.

Quantum information cannot be copied, posing challenges for long-distance communication due to signal losses. Here the quantum relay architecture using a single-photon source enhances the signal-to-noise ratio of quantum information transmission.

Rechargeable sodium-sulfur batteries able to operate stably at room temperature are sought-after platforms as they can achieve high storage capacity from inexpensive electrode materials. Here, the authors use rationally selected cathode and electrolyte materials to design a room temperature Na-S battery.

Synthetic biology enables sustainable chemical production. Here, authors develop a modular enzymatic platform to biosynthesize non-natural amino acids with C–S, C–Se, and C–N side chains from renewable substrate glycerol, achieving high efficiency and scalability.

A stereotaxic atlas of the whole mouse brain, based on a Nissl-stained cytoarchitecture dataset with isotropic 1-μm resolution, achieved through continuous micro-optical sectioning tomography, promises to be a versatile brainsmatics tool for studying the whole brain at single-cell level.

Rice stripe virus deploys its SP protein to dismantle SERRATE condensates in rice cells, blocking microRNA production and enhancing viral spread. This discovery reveals how viruses can hijack host phase separation to modulate gene regulation.

Dihydroxyacid dehydratase (DHAD) is an essential enzyme for the synthesis of branched-chain amino acids in plants. Here, the authors rationally design a range of DHAD inhibitors as herbicides and present the crystal structure of a lead compound in complex with Arabidopsis DHAD.

The synthesis of ionic olefin linked threedimensional covalent organic frameworks (3D COFs) is challenging because of the difficulties in forming stable carbon-carbon double bonds. Here, the authors report a general synthesis of an ionic sp² carbon linked COFs and demonstrate selective capture of ReO₄⁻ ions.

R9AP is a key receptor for entry of Epstein–Barr virus into human epithelial and B cells, and interacts directly with the viral glycoprotein gH/gL complex to mediate virus–host membrane fusion.

Heterocycles containing difluoromethyl groups are molecules with potential application in pharmaceutical, agricultural and materials science. Here, the authors show an organophotocatalytic difluoromethylation of heterocycles using O₂ as green oxidant and preliminarily study the products’ bioactivity.

A meta-transcriptomic analysis of the viromes of 2,438 mosquitoes of 81 species from across China identifies geographic hotspots of mosquito virus diversity, links between mosquito virome composition and host phylogeny, and a suggestion of long-distance mosquito dispersal.

There is a paucity of studies on enzyme stereoselectivity from an evolutionary biochemistry perspective. Here, the authors use ancestral sequence reconstruction to trace the evolution of stereoselectivity in imine reductases, elucidate its structural basis, and investigating the role of epistasis.

A DNA matrix material potentiates humoral response through multiple administration routes, generating neutralizing antibodies and conferring robust protection against infection.

Diarrhoea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in China. Here, the authors present results from a large sentinel surveillance scheme from 217 hospitals in all 31 provinces in mainland China, including ~150,000 patients with acute diarrhoea and covering years 2009-2018.

China operates a national surveillance program for acute respiratory infections and sampled over 200,000 patients between 2009–2019. Here, the authors present results from this program and describe patterns by age, pathogen type, presence of pneumonia, and season.

An annually resolved 3476-year tree-ring record from the Tibetan Plateau reveals severe 20^th century droughts and highlights the interplay between the Asian Monsoon and Westerlies. Droughts are often linked to the collapse of dynasties.

Cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome features non-motor dysfunctions such as anxiety. Here, authors show that the cerebellum projects to zona incerta through excitatory and inhibitory transmissions to modulate anxiety in a plasticity-dependent manner.

Developing low-Pt or Pt-free electrocatalysts is critical for lowering the cost of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Here, the authors report a low-cost and high performance tandem catalyst, with Ru nanoclusters decorated with Pt single atoms, for the anodic hydrogen oxidation reaction.

ctDNA is a promising method to monitor tumor burden in triple negative breast cancer. Here, the authors show that ctDNA detection correlated with prognosis after neoadjuvant chemotherapy but not at baseline.

The RNA binding protein hnRNPL is recruited to chromatin by the PIK3CB promoter-transcribed non-coding RNA and forms phase-separated condensates, which activates PIK3CB transcription and glycolysis, thus promoting ovarian cancer progression.

The use of biomarkers of ageing is crucial for investigating age-related processes. This Review discusses biomarkers of ageing and of ageing-associated physiological changes, at the cellular, tissue and organism levels in humans and non-human primates.

We demonstrate a single-photon source based on topological bulk cavity, achieving high extraction efficiency and robust QD-cavity interaction against irregular cavity boundaries.

By regulating the level of accessible cholesterol on endothelial cells via OSBP/ORP-mediated transport, tetraspanin tunes the balance of Cdc42 and RhoA activities to affect vascular inflammation. Reducing accessible cholesterol by statin treatment or blocking its non-vesicular transport by OSBP/ORP inhibition can limit vascular inflammation.

Enhancing the toughness of hydrogels while maintaining biocompatibility is desirable for many biomedical applications. Here, Zhu et al. reports a strategy using peptide-based rigid nanorods for increased hydrogel toughness and compressive strength while preserving biocompatibility, demonstrating enhanced osteochondral repair and compatibility with additive manufacturing.

Using a tuning fork-based probe, the authors offer evidence of 2D magnetic moment along the c-axis of CsV₃Sb₅. Their findings suggest that loop currents within the kagome lattice can generate orbital magnetism.

Yang et al. developed a new method, BEPH, a foundation model trained on TCGA WSI images. BEPH improves cancer recognition, classification, and survival prediction across subtypes, potentially reducing reliance on expert annotations.

The Philippine islands, summer monsoon, and ocean cooling jointly form a natural buffer that weakens powerful super typhoons as they enter the South China Sea, with implications for storm prediction and coastal safety.

This work introduces roll-to-roll fluidics, a method that enhances reagent efficiency and reduces turnaround time, enabling rapid and economical next-generation sequencing.

Proteomics can aid in the identification of molecular subtypes in cancers. Here, the authors perform proteomic profiling of 124 paired oesophageal cancer and adjacent non-tumour tissues and identify two subtypes that are associated with patient survival for therapeutic targeting.

Targeted deletion of integrin-associated protein CD47 enhances long-term engraftment of human CD34⁺ cells in immunodeficient pigs lacking IL2RG and RAG2, enabling large-scale production of functional human immune cells.

Limited whole genome sequencing (WGS) of Asian populations results in a lack of representative reference panels, hindering imputation of Asian ancestry-specific genetic variants. Here the authors use WGS data from 11,067 individuals across 17 Asian countries to create a new reference panel which shows improved imputation accuracy for South Asian populations.