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The construction of analogues of natural gap junctions would provide a bottom–up strategy for building intercellular communication pathways for synthetic cells. Now artificial intercellular gap junctions have been prepared from unimolecular tubular channels by mimicking the hydrophobic–hydrophilic–hydrophobic triblock structure of natural junction channels.

Dynamic assembly and disassembly of primary cilia is critical for tissue development and homeostasis. Here the authors identify lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) as a physiological extracellular factor that initiates cilia disassembly through both YAP/TAZ mediated transcription and calcium/calmodulin mediated activation of Aurora A.

The antiangiogenic agent apatinib has been shown to clinically improve responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors in several cancer types. Here the authors report the results of a phase II clinical trial of camrelizumab (anti-PD1) and apatinib plus induction chemotherapy and concurrent chemoradiotherapy in stage N3 nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

The Somatic Mosaicism across Human Tissues Network aims to create a reference catalogue of somatic mosaicism across different tissues and cells within individuals.

The role of glycolysis in depression is unclear. Here the authors report a glycolytic deficit under social stress and demonstrate that astrocytic LDHA affects neuronal excitability and depressive-like behaviours via lactate homeostasis in mice.

A power conversion efficiency of 33.89% is achieved in perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells by using a bilayer passivation strategy to enhance electron extraction and suppress recombination.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are used for immunosuppressive therapy and a uniform source or heterogeneity characterisation is needed. Here the authors use multi-omics to compare human MSC from different sources and ages of donors and show differences in gene expression and immunosuppressive function.

Current methods for the modular assembly of biomaterials are associated with limitations. Here the authors implement vapor-phase deposition to fabricate 3D polymeric materials that permit biomolecule functionalization, tunable mass transport and mechanical properties, as well as control over boundaries between compartments, and analyze the behavior of 3D encapsulated cells.

Phase-switchable preparation of two-dimensional WS₂ is achieved through an electrochemical Li⁺ intercalation-based exfoliation strategy. A low discharge current density with high cutoff voltage produces pure semiconducting 2H phase WS₂ bilayers, while a higher discharge current density with a lower cutoff voltage favours semimetallic 1T′ phase WS₂ monolayers.

Energy density and cyclability are often a trade-off for lithium-ion batteries. The authors develop cobalt- and nickel-free cathodes with both good cycling stability and high energy density through the integration of polyanion units into rocksalt structures.

Andrew Morris, Mark McCarthy, Michael Boehnke and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for type 2 diabetes, including 26,488 cases and 83,964 controls from populations of European, east Asian, south Asian and Mexican and Mexican American ancestry. They identify seven loci newly associated with type 2 diabetes and examine the genetic architecture of disease across populations.

Mechanical stimulation is known to affect cell proliferation, differentiation, and regeneration. Here, the authors demonstrate that stretching mouse skin recruits macrophages and polarizes them into M2 cells that facilitate hair regeneration through the release of growth factors, including HGF and IGF-1

IFITM1 can compete with EBV glycoproteins for EphA2 binding and prevent virus entry into epithelial cells, in vitro and in vivo. YTHDF3 suppresses IFITM1 via the degradation-related protein DDX5.

R2D2 and Loqs-PD are cofactors of Drosophila Dicer-2 (DmDcr-2), which generates siRNAs. Here the authors report the cryo-EM structures of DmDcr-2/R2D2/Loqs-PD with dsRNAs showing that these complexes can form oligomers and assemble into fibers.

There is extensive research into water-oxidation electrocatalysts which exhibit long-term stability. Here, the authors report a single-crystal cobalt oxide electrocatalyst displaying high activity and stability, and develop an in situX-ray diffraction method to probe the structure–activity relationship.

Developing heat-resistant dielectric polymers for electrification is challenging due to the inverse relationship between thermal stability and electrical insulation. Using a machine learning-driven approach, the researchers identify and validate high-performance polymers that demonstrate promising thermal resilience and energy density for high-temperature applications.

Soft-matter-based photonic crystals like blue-phase liquid crystals (BPLC) have potential applications but face fabrication limitations for large monocrystalline structures. The authors report a method to rapidly form large-area monocrystalline BPLCs with various symmetries and tunable properties through an application of electric fields and temperature control.

Stem cell competition mediates the balance between tissue homeostasis and tumour formation, but how this occurs is unclear. Here, Singh et al.show that the tumour suppressor Mlfl-adaptor molecule regulates the balance between germline stem cell and somatic cyst stem cell growth in the Drosophila testis niche.

Partial loss of psychiatric risk gene Mir137 in mice causes repetitive behavior and impairs sociability and learning via increased Pde10a.

The authors used massively parallel splicing assays and statistical learning to decode and predict the erroneous splicing choices made by disease-relevant mutant sequences, which annotates intronic variants potentially for clinical usage.

Machine-learned potentials are accurate but often lack broad applicability. Here, authors develop a general-purpose neuroevolution potential for 16 metals and their alloys, achieving efficient and accurate predictions of various physical properties.

Norihiro Kato and colleagues perform a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies to identify common variants associated with blood pressure variation in east Asians. They identify five new genome-wide significant signals and replicate seven loci previously discovered in populations of European ancestry.

The current use of elastography ultrasound faces challenges, including vulnerability to subjective manipulation, echo signal attenuation, unknown risks of elastic pressure and high imaging hardware cost. Here, the author shows a virtual elastography to empower low-end ultrasound devices with state-of-art elastography function.

Modification of RNA with N6-methyladenosine can regulate RNA metabolism. Here they developed scm⁶A-seq to profile the methylome and transcriptome in single cells, and reveal the functions of m⁶A modification during oocyte maturation and early embryo development.

Electroreduction of CO₂ on single atom catalysts is often hindered by electron delocalization of the metal sites. To improve CO₂ activation, here the authors functionalize the carbon support with cyano moieties, thereby attenuating metal-substrate conjugation and improving CO₂ to CO conversion.

Th17 cells produce a range of characteristic Th17 type cytokines and express transcription factors governed by epigenetic regulation to engage the Th17 programme. Here the authors implicate the RNA 5- methylcytosine (m⁵C) methyltransferase Nsun2 in Th17 cells and the promotion of colitis in a murine model.

Bioluminescent sources can be detected with magnetic resonance imaging by leveraging the light-mediated activation of vascular cells expressing a photosensitive bacterial enzyme that causes alterations in local haemodynamic contrast.

Parabacteroides distasonis (P. distasonis), part of the gut microbiome, was reported to play a role in diabetes, colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease. Here the authors report that P. distasonis ameliorates liver fibrosis in studies with male mice, potentially via altered bile acid metabolism and hepatocyte pyroptosis.

Obesity is a significant health risk, and current treatments are inadequate. This study reveals that AA005, an annonaceous acetogenin mimic, targets mitochondrial HADHA in adipose tissue to boost thermogenesis via the UCP1 pathway, providing a promising new strategy for obesity treatment.

OPC-vascular coupling contributes to myelin maintenance. Here the authors show Cav-1 stabilizes interactions and mediates OPC maturation in ischemia.

Transcriptional dysregulation contributes to tumor progression. Here the authors show that transcriptional complex NELF interacts with SLUG, and co-opts KAT2B, to promote the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stemness-associated genes in breast cancer.

Zhou and colleagues identify SNX4–SNX5–SNX17 as a multiunit complex that mediates the recycling of autophagosomal components from autolysosomes.

Deep-learning models trained on retinal fundus images can be used to identify chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes and to predict the risk of the progression of these diseases.

c-Myc and p53 operate in a negative feedback manner to maintain cellular homeostasis. Here, the authors report a long noncoding RNA, MILIP as a downstream target of c-Myc and that MILIP represses p53 to support tumorigenicity.

Here the authors report the isolation and structural and biological characterization of a humanized angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)-blocking antibody, which exterts potent inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV and circulating global SARS-CoV-2 lineages both in vitro and in hACE2 mouse model.

A systematic analysis of lignin biosynthetic genes to quantitatively understand their effect on wood properties is still lacking. Here, the authors integrate transcriptomic, proteomic, fluxomic and phenomic data to quantify the impact of perturbations of transcript abundance on lignin biosynthesis and wood properties.

The contribution of urbanization to warming in China has been difficult to quantify owing to the proximity of rural stations to urban areas. A novel detection and attribution analysis separates the contribution of all external forcings, and shows that urbanization accounts for about one-third (0.5 °C) of the total warming signal in China (1.4 °C).

Commercial complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor and resistive random-access memory technologies can be used to create multibit compute-in-memory circuits capable of fast and energy-efficient inference for use in small artificial intelligence edge devices.

Cuticular wax is crucial for plant development and environmental interaction. This study reveals the negative impact of nitrogen on cuticular wax via MdBT2–MdMYB106–MdCER2L1, thus uncovering a novel pathway for N-mediated wax biosynthesis in apple.