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Lithium sulphide is a promising battery cathode material, but it suffers from fast capacity decay. Here, the authors demonstrate the use of two-dimensional transition metal disulphides, in contrast to conventional carbon-based materials, for effective encapsulation of the cathode.

Metal oxides can suppress detrimental polysulfide shuttling in lithium-sulfur batteries, however selection criteria for oxide materials are still lacking. Here, the authors investigate polysulfide adsorption and diffusion on metal oxides and propose selection criteria based on balancing these two effects.

There is an intensive research effort in suppressing the first-cycle lithium loss in lithium-ion batteries. Now, a cathode prelithiation method with nanocomposites of conversion materials is demonstrated to compensate the initial lithium loss and improve the battery performance.

Dissolution of sulphur into electrolyte is a major problem in lithium–sulphur batteries. Here, Yao et al.use an indium oxide-carbon interface and a polysulphide catholyte, and show that polysulphides preferentially deposit onto the oxide surface during electrochemical processes, thus alleviating the sulphur loss.

Hydrogen gas can drive detachment of protective surface oxides from metal substrates and this process is accelerated at moderately elevated temperatures relevant to applications. Here the authors use environmental transmission electron microscopy to monitor associated void coalescence processes and clarify roles that diffusion and hydrogen-vacancy complexes play.

Mechanical annealing is a process through which the dislocation density in submicrometre metal crystals can be removed purely by applying a mechanical stress. This study shows that mechanical annealing occurs in body centred cubic molybdenum, and not only in face centred crystals as previously thought.

Deformation twinning and dislocations are known to govern the plastic behaviour of metals at room temperature. Here the authors demonstrate a new deformation mechanism in single-crystal magnesium characterized by twin-like crystal reorientation and special interfaces.

Lipase is one of the most important industrial biocatalysts with wide applications, but its catalytic efficiency is often hindered by a closed lid conformation. Here, the authors present an aggregation-induced conformation locking strategy that enables the facile synthesis of highly activated lipase hybrid biocatalysts.

Clusters have proven useful models to elucidate the correlation between macroscopic properties and microstructures, but the exploration of actinide clusters lags. Here, the authors report the synthesis of a tetra-shell mixed-metal cluster which features a Th₁₃ core and acts as a highly effective visible light-driven CO₂ reduction photocatalyst.

In the phase 2 trial NEOSUMMIT-01, perioperative treatment of patients with locally advanced gastric or gastro-esophageal junction adenocarcinoma with anti-PD-1 and SOX/XELOX versus SOX/XELOX alone improved pathological complete response or near-complete response rate.

The gut microbiota may play a role in cardiovascular diseases. Here, the authors perform a metagenome-wide association study on stools from individuals with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and healthy controls, identifying microbial strains and functions associated with the disease.

A structural model of a K-Ras nanocluster that promotes the stability and accessibility of active K-Ras and creates composite interfaces that facilitate Raf binding provides a framework to unravel MAPK signaling.

Wang et al. discovered that AP2XI-2 and AP2XII-1 negatively regulate merozoite-primed pre-sexual commitment in Toxoplasma gondii, and parasites depleted of either AP2XI-2 or AP2XII-1 can serve as a valuable in vitro model for studying merogony.

Environments where antibiotics are used indiscriminately exhibit microbial communities that can represent hot-spots of resistance gene enrichment, which in turn could spread to humans. Here, the authors characterize how exposure to swine farms environment lead to temporal changes in the gut microbiome and resistome of healthy veterinary students.

Although deformation twinning in crystals controls the mechanical behaviour of many materials, its size-dependence has not been explored. Using micro-compression and in situ nano-compression experiments, the stress required for deformation twinning is now found to increase drastically with decreasing sample size of a titanium alloy single crystal, until the sample size is reduced to one micrometre; below this point, deformation twinning is replaced by dislocation plasticity.

Protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation are essential aspects of biology. Wang et al., report that Toxoplasma gondiiprotein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) mediated dephosphorylation is critical for starch metabolism and bradyzoite differentiation.

Magnetic reconnection is a key process in astrophysical luminosity outbursts, such as solar flares, and may also drive similar events in high-mass young stellar objects (HMYSOs). The authors study HMYSO G36.11+0.55, revealing a correlation between CH3OH maser variability and magnetic field strength, supporting models of reconnection-driven ejection and highlighting the role of magnetic fields in HMYSO dynamics.

Understanding deformation of Mg along the c-axis is important for wrought processing of Mg. Here the authors report deformation graining in submicron single crystal Mg where the initial single crystal evolves into ultrafine grains that rejuvenates dislocation activities, enabling large plasticity.

Gas-filled bubbles at the interface between a metal substrate and an oxide coating can cause blistering and eventual cracking of the oxide layer. The microscale mechanisms of how hydrogen bubbles form and grow have now been elucidated.

Activation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is important in the metabolic function of proinflammatory T cells in autoimmunity. Here the authors characterise how Rab4A is involved with CD98 and endosome recycling which subsequently affects mTOR activation, autoimmunity and T cell expansion.

Coherent twin boundaries (CTBs) in face-centered cubic metals are usually considered unable to slide at room temperature. Here, the authors use in situ transmission electron microscopy and molecular dynamics to show CTB sliding in copper nanopillars when leading and trailing partial dislocations have similar Schmid factors.

Li Dong Wang and colleagues report a genome wide association study for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in the Chinese population. They identify two risk loci at PLCE1 and C20orf54.

Inspired by the traditional Czochralski method of growing single crystal from liquid, the authors demonstrated that at nanoscale, metallic nanowires including Al, Ag, Cu and Sn can be controllably grown from the surface of a hot solid, by simply drawing a cold tip back after touching.

Here, the genome sequence of the tiger tail seahorse is reported and comparative genomic analyses with other ray-finned fishes are used to explore the genetic basis of the unique morphology and reproductive system of the seahorse.

The elastic limit represents the maximum stress and strain a material can withstand and is well characterized in many crystalline solids, yet remains elusive for metallic glasses. Here, this limit is investigated in submicron metallic glass structures and is found to be twice as high as that of bulk samples.

Genomes and transcriptomes of five distinct lineages of African cichlids, a textbook example of adaptive radiation, have been sequenced and analysed to reveal that many types of molecular changes contributed to rapid evolution, and that standing variation accumulated during periods of relaxed selection may have primed subsequent diversification.