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By doping ice with NaCl, it is shown that a flexoelectric coefficient of up to 10 μC m⁻¹ is generated, enabling effective piezoelectric coefficients that are comparable to those of ceramics. This arises from the streaming current of quasi-liquid flow through grain boundaries from one side of the sample to the other.

Analysis of whole-genome sequencing data from 3,023 human genomes from mainland Southeast Asia identifies high genetic heterogeneity among populations in the region and many unique small and structural variants.

Here, the authors perform a higher-order analysis of fMRI data, revealing that accounting for group interactions greatly enhances task decoding, brain fingerprinting, and brain-behavior associations compared to traditional methods, offering a new insight into brain dynamics.

The role Tibetan Plateau uplift played in Asian inland aridification remains unclear due to a paucity of accurately dated records. Here, the authors present a continuous aeolian sequence for the period >51–39 Ma, analysis of which indicates that aridification was driven by global climatic forcing rather than uplift.

Measurements of the quark pressure distribution in the proton reveal a strong repulsive pressure near the proton’s centre (stronger than the pressure in neutron stars) and a binding pressure at greater distances.

Observations of the young supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5 in the Large Magellanic Cloud reveal concentric shells of ionized calcium and sulfur that resemble hydrodynamical simulations of the double detonation of a sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf.

Precision laser spectroscopy of ground-state electromagnetic moments and nuclear charge radii of indium shows that ¹⁰⁰Sn has closed proton and neutron shells. The results serve as a benchmark for future theoretical models.

It remains a challenge to find the structure and the distribution of the constituents of nucleons. Here the authors use a scattering method to get information about the gluons and quarks inside a proton and separate the contribution of Bethe-Heitler from the deeply virtual Compton scattering process.

The soils of urban greenspaces are strikingly rich. This study finds that the variety of microbial life there is linked to acidic conditions and that this diversity is more homogenous than found in farmland soils.

Employing terahertz nanoscopy, we image highly confined, in-plane anisotropic acoustic terahertz plasmon polaritons in monoclinic Ag₂Te platelets placed above a Au layer, verifying a linear dispersion and elliptical isofrequency contour in momentum space.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

Leveraging genomic and epidemiological surveillance data, the authors show that flu epidemics in the US arise from independent outbreaks in different states that spread from state to state through commuting and compete for susceptible hosts.

The exact mechanism for superconductivity in iron-based superconductors remains elusive, but is thought to involve complex interactions between many orbitals. Using angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, Liuet al. report the electronic structure of the single-layer parent compound FeSe.

A unitary protocol for braiding projective non-Abelian Ising anyons in a generalized stabilizer code is implemented on a superconducting processor, allowing for verification of their fusion rules and realization of their exchange statistics.

Recent studies have greatly increased our understanding of the molecular actors that regulate X-chromosome inactivation in female mammals. A complex interplay ofcis- and trans-regulatory mechanisms ensures the differential activities of the two X chromosomes during female development.

The understanding of charge density wave (CDW) correlations in cuprate superconductors remains hampered due to the lack of scattering phase information. Here, Chen et al. discover a reproducible CDW domain memory effect upon repeated cycling to temperatures well above the CDW ordering temperature.

Power exhaust is one of the biggest challenges stopping fusion energy. This article shows experimental evidence for strategically shaping the power exhaust region as a solution to this challenge, utilising physics understanding to strike a balance between engineering complexity and power exhaust benefits, consistent with reduced models and simulations.

Soft auditory brainstem implant in the cochlear nucleus of macaque evokes auditory-like perceptions with high resolution and tonotopic specificity.

Most temporal analyses of multivariate time series rely on pairwise statistics. A study combining network theory and topological data analysis now shows how to characterize the dynamics of signals at all orders of interactions in real-world data.

The conventional approach with applying self-assembled monolayer suffers from limited interface coverage and weaker dipole interactions. Here, authors employ ferroelectric molecule to construct a dipole layer, achieving certified efficiency of 25.36% for inverted perovskite solar cells.

Quark–antiquark annihilation measurements provide a precise determination of the ratio of down and up antiquarks within protons as a function of momentum, which confirms the asymmetry between the abundance of down and up antiquarks.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

Phase transition brings a plethora of exotic phenomena and intriguing effects such as spin and charge frustration. However, the phase transition order is not always explicit. Here, the authors discover phase transition frustration near a tricritical composition point in ferroelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃.

The decay asymmetry and helicity phase of polarized baryon–antibaryon pairs are measured at the BESIII experiment, testing charge–parity symmetry and revealing a discrepancy of the Λ → pπ⁻ decay asymmetry with respect to the current world average.

A nanofluidic intracellular delivery (NanoFLUID) patch provides a versatile, biocompatible and efficient method for the targeted delivery of payloads to internal organs for therapeutic purposes and for biomolecular investigations.

Metal- and N-coordinated carbon materials are promising electrocatalysts, but improved activity and stability are desirable for fuel cell applications. Chang et al. address this by introducing F atoms into Pd/N–C catalysts, modifying the environment around the Pd and enhancing performance for ethanol oxidation and oxygen reduction.

Transmission electron microscopy is used to observe three-dimensional topological solitons known as hopfions that in a chiral magnet are found to form rings around skyrmion strings, and a nucleation protocol for these rings is provided.

Zong et al. reveal that genetic and pharmacologic inhibition of TRPM7 channel function prevents the activation of Ca²⁺–CaM–calcineurin–KLF4 signaling, the phenotypic switch of vascular smooth muscle cells and the formation of abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Integrative analyses of transcriptome and whole-genome sequencing data for 1,188 tumours across 27 types of cancer are used to provide a comprehensive catalogue of RNA-level alterations in cancer.

The nonlinear Hall effect is a quantum phenomenon, in which two perpendicular currents induce a Hall voltage; however, previous theories for this effect has remained at the semi classical level. Here, the authors develop a full quantum theory of the nonlinear Hall effect by using the diagrammatic technique.

Emergent phenomena often appear in crystals in the two-dimensional limit but are rare in bulky compounds. Here, Guo et al. report a quasi-two-dimensional superconductivity in a bulk material AuTe₂Se_4/3 at 2.85 K, potentially owing to a topological transition.

Solar cells based on 3D/2D perovskite heterostructures show promising performance, but ion diffusion limits the device stability. Now Luo et al. suppress ion diffusion by inserting a cross-linked polymer between the 2D and 3D layers, improving the operational stability.

Recently, clathrate superhydride superconductors have garnered significant attention. Here the authors measure the electron-phonon coupling strength and superconducting gap of an ultrahigh pressure superconductor LaH_10±δ by ultrafast spectroscopy, revealing a strong coupling nature of the superconductivity.

Early intermittent feeding of mice with a high-cholesterol Western-type diet accelerates atherosclerosis compared with late continuous exposure to the Western-type diet, despite similar cumulative circulating LDL-C levels.

Recently, signatures of quantum spin liquid have been reported in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides. Here the authors report evidence of such state in 1T-NbSe₂ via the measurements of the Kondo effect in a 1T-1H heterostructure, further supported by measurements for magnetic molecules on 1T-NbSe₂.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

Accurate liquid water modelling is challenging. Here the authors use X-ray micro-computed tomography, deep learned super-resolution, multi-label segmentation, and direct multiphase simulation to simulate fuel cell and guide fuel cell design.

Here, the authors report photon-energy-dependent terahertz emission and ultrafast photocurrents from the Weyl semimetal, TaAs. The polarization control of the emission is achieved by excitation of the photocurrents whose direction and magnitude depend on the polarization of the femtosecond optical pulses.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.