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Exhaustion is a functional state that hampers anti-cancer and antiviral CD8 T cell activity, and is preceded by a stem-like state, maintained by the transcription factor TCF1. Here authors develop mouse models that allow a precise understanding of the developmental trajectory between the stem-cell-like and exhausted states of CD8 T cells and find that while constitutive overexpression of TCF1 expands the stem-like T cell pool, TCF1 expression specifically in already exhausted cells is unable to promote dedifferentiation.

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.

Identifying jets originating from heavy quarks plays a fundamental role in hadronic collider experiments. In this work, the ATLAS Collaboration describes and tests a transformer-based neural network architecture for jet flavour tagging based on low-level input and physics-inspired constraints.

Native crystallographic defects are often introduced during synthesis of battery materials, but has been overlooked. Here, using in situ synchrotron X-ray probes and electron microscopy, the authors have revealed their adverse effect during battery operation.

Conventional type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1) can boost the precursor exhausted T cell population thought to be essential for efficacy of immune checkpoint therapy. Here the authors enhance this cellular network using Flt3L to expand cDC1s and then map the movement of T cells and DCs between tumors and lymph nodes.

This study reveals that adhesion G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) promote extracellular vesicle (EV) formation and EVs spread GPCRs into neighboring cells to activate G-protein signaling, providing a novel mechanism for cell–cell communication.

Jacquemyn et al. identify key lipid determinants controlling ectosome shedding from neurons. They find that ectosomes are a major route for the intercellular transport of misfolded α-synuclein, with relevance to Parkinson’s disease pathology.

The STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory demonstrates evidence of spin correlations in \(\Lambda \bar{\Lambda }\) hyperon pairs inherited from virtual spin-correlated strange quark–antiquark pairs during QCD confinement.

Here, Chen et al. develop an injectable hydrogel that induces innate immune memory against reinfection and promotes bone repair in osteomyelitis, offering a biomaterial-based immunomodulatory strategy for refractory bone infections.

Dhamo et al. report metal-organic framework based X-ray scintillating films with hafnium oxide clusters as linking nodes and conjugated ligands as emitting centres. It reveals that the diffusion-mediated bimolecular processes lead to fast scintillation kinetics down to 150 ps and light yield over 10⁴ ph MeV^-1.

Fracto-mechanoluminescence is the emission of light from fracturing solids. Here, the authors show that this emission in Mn halides arises from elastic stiffness, electromechanical coupling, and trap states that activate Mn²⁺ d−d transitions.

The CMS Collaboration reports the measurement of the spin, parity, and charge conjugation properties of all-charm tetraquarks, exotic fleeting particles formed in proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider.

In this work, Wu et al. develop and present PolyCLOVER, a framework that integrates multi-stage learning, active learning, and high-throughput experimentation to iteratively discover potent, low-toxicity polymeric antibiotics without relying on external labelled data.

Mitochondrial superoxide production is shown to preserve nuclear envelope integrity by controlling lipid peroxidation, with impact on nuclear and organismal ageing in C. elegans.

Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

MnBi₂Te₄ has an appealing combination of topological bands and magnetic ordering. While chemical doping with Sb can be used to tune these properties, it typically comes with an increase in defect density. Here, Chen, Wang, Li, Duan, and coauthors demonstrate a defect engineering approach that preserves the topological and magnetic properties of Mn(Bi_1-xSb_x)₂Te₄.

The authors study a topological insulator (TI) sandwiched between two magnetic TIs. By keeping one of the magnetic TIs insulating, while tuning the other one into a metallic regime, they find half quantized anomalous Hall conductance, a boundary signature consistent with a quantized axion field.

Examples of materials with non-trivial band topology in the presence of strong electron correlations are rare. Now it is shown that quantum fluctuations near a quantum phase transition can promote topological phases in a heavy-fermion compound.

The authors report the synthesis of (La_0.9Y_0.1)H₁₀ superhydrides and their characterization using synchrotron-based, spatially resolved x-ray diffraction and electrical transport imaging. They reveal μm-scale structural inhomogeneity with coexisting cubic and hexagonal clathrate phases exhibiting distinct superconducting transition temperatures.

The coexistence of ferroelectricity and nonreciprocal transport in metallic material has been a challenge. The authors demonstrate that the polarity-induced nonreciprocal transport can be nonvolatile and electrically reversed in ferroelectric polar metal WTe₂.

Precise editing of DNA methylation has emerged as a promising tool in disease biology but most applications are limited to in vitro systems. Here, we develop two transgenic mouse lines harboring an inducible dCas9-DNMT3A or dCas9-TET1 editor to enable tissue-specific DNA methylation editing in vivo.

Using Canada’s National Forest Inventory, this study shows boreal understory plant communities are shifting, species richness rises while evenness falls. These changes track warming, nitrogen deposition and moisture, and are moderated by canopy cover.

There has been a recent interest in control of magnetism via ionic transport. The appeal of such magneto-ionic control lies in its extent, non-volatility and potential energy-efficiency, however, the number of systems showing such behaviour is limited. Here, Tan, Ma, and coauthors demonstrate magneto-ionic control through Carbon transport.

Genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders identifies five underlying genomic factors that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders.

Mechanical recycling of incompatible mixed plastics is challenging, as it often downcycles plastics into brittle materials. Here the authors develop a multi-arm topological universal dynamic crosslinker platform to enable mechanical upcycling of incompatible mixed plastics.

A mechano-intelligent transmission mechanism based on the slipknot delivers precise force signals for clinical practice and robotic operations such as minimally invasive surgery and tendon-driven robotics.

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 Einstein Probe has discovered a fast X-ray transient, EP240414a, associated with a broad-lined type Ic supernova. Its unusually soft spectrum and weak jet add to the diversity of stellar deaths and suggest a previously unknown Wolf–Rayet star explosion mechanism.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have shown potential as a therapeutic delivery system for cancer treatment. In here the authors have established HEK293T cells engineered with α-HLA-G VHH antibody-chimeric CD63 protein to promote the production of EVs that can augment the targeting of HLA-G-positive tumor cells

The ALICE Collaboration provides details on the microscopic mechanism that ends up creating antideuteron in high-energy proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider.

Indonesian cattle are unique due to their history of admixture involving both zebu and banteng. Here, Wang et al. identify ~3.5 million novel introgressed SNP variants and provide a genomic map of banteng introgression within and across many cattle breeds, each with unique introgression histories.

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.

Data obtained from the MicroBooNE liquid-argon time projection chamber are used to exclude the single light sterile neutrino interpretation of the LSND and MiniBooNE anomalies at the 95% confidence level.

The insertion of thin layers of cobalt can stabilize β-tungsten under back-end-of-line thermal constraints, allowing a 64-kb spin–orbit torque magnetic random-access memory to be fabricated that offers a spin–orbit torque switching of 1 ns, data retention of more than 10 years and a tunnelling magnetoresistance of 146%.

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.

Multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analyses of polycystic ovary syndrome in women of East Asian and European ancestries identify 94 independent susceptibility regions, including 73 novel loci.

A CRISPR knock-in strategy that uses endogenous gene regulatory mechanisms can engineer ‘armoured’ CAR T cells that secrete proinflammatory cytokines directly within a tumour without causing toxicity, leading to prolonged survival in mice.

Mutations in the PBAF chromatin-remodeling complex cause various neurodevelopmental disorders. This study shows that PBAF shapes distinct motor neuron identities, revealing how its disruption impairs movement and offering insight into neurodevelopmental disorders caused by PBAF mutations.

This study leverages plasma proteomics from over 50,000 individuals to build organ-specific aging models and uncover underlying genetic mechanisms. It also investigates causal links between organ aging, diseases, and lifestyle, providing insights for promoting healthy longevity.

The death of massive stars has traditionally been discovered by explosive events in the gamma-ray band. Liu et al. show that the sensitive wide-field monitor on board Einstein Probe can reveal a weak soft-X-ray signal much earlier than gamma rays.

Combined behavioural, circuit-level and cellular approaches are used to demonstrate how hypothalamic neurons integrate hunger and oestrous state to drive a switch in how female mice interact with pups.

Engineered polar nanoclusters in tin-doped barium titanate thin films enable microwave tunability of ~74% at 6 GHz under low bias, offering a strategy to achieve high tunability with minimal dielectric loss for microwave communication.

Therapeutic gene editing in vivo is an ongoing challenge. Here, authors demonstrate Cas9 nickase guided DNA ligation as a nonviral method for installing permanent genomic corrections with favorable on target edit profiles in model animal cell types and adult mice.

Safe lithium-ion batteries require stable electrolytes with high chemical resistance and high thermal tolerance. Chen et al. find a solid lithium-salt electrolyte that is able to give rise to a prolonged battery life and a delayed decomposition of battery cathodes.

While Bell inequalities have been violated several times—mostly in photonic systems—their violations within particle physics experiments are less explored. Here, the BESIII Collaboration showcases Bell-violating nonlocal correlations between entangled hyperon pairs.