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A fundamental question in ecology is whether species-rich communities tend to exhibit high ecological uniqueness. This study suggests that a negative association between species richness and ecological uniqueness is widespread across diverse taxa groups, and that the drivers of this relationship vary depending on whether species presence or abundance is considered.

Using an evolutionary optimization approach, the authors report a culture medium that matures stem cell-derived heart cells, improving their structure, metabolism and electrical activity to advance highly functional models for in vitro testing.

Orbital hybridization and quantum confinement are used to realize Ising-like superconductivity in trilayers of gallium, which alone is probably not strongly enough spin–orbit coupled to host such superconductivity under high in-plane magnetic fields.

Xiang, Wang, Tian et al. report that during nutrient insufficiency, inflammatory cytokines promote a ZBTB5-mediated mechanism to activate mTORC1 signalling, thereby enhancing amino acid uptake in tumour cells and restricting antitumour immune response.

Traditional recycling of polyoxymethylene plastic often leads to significant material loss and toxic emissions. Here, the authors introduce an acidic electrochemical process that efficiently converts plastic waste into valuable chemicals with conversion efficiency approaching 90%.

Tuft epithelial cells sense airway damage and recruit accessory submucosal gland stem cells to regenerate the surface epithelium, but these progenitors fail to fully repair the surface airway epithelium and instead promote airway remodeling.

After being internalized by cells, nanoparticles can, in rare events, acquire a biomolecular condensate corona. These complexes can reach the extracellular space, where they can deliver their acquired proteins and RNA content to other cells.

Emerging multidrug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a global health threat in the treatment of gonorrhoea. This study reports the discovery and characterization of a promising antigonorrhoea agent that addresses antibiotic resistance.

Although lithium–sulfur batteries are prized for their sustainability, practical energy densities are often limited by heavy host materials. The authors report a graphdiyne architecture that integrates anchoring and catalytic functions, enabling ultrahigh sulfur loading and exceptional energy densities, even in pouch-cell configuration.

The two species of African elephants are facing severe declines. Here, authors assess their continent-wide genomic diversity, identifying differences in their evolutionary histories and highlighting the formative role of gene flow.

Understanding and controlling phase-separated biomolecular condensate mechanochemistry is critical for their function and material properties. In this study, the authors developed assays that enable the study of mechanical transitions and fusion dynamics in condensate droplets, revealing that UV-induced thymine dimerization alters condensate nucleation and coalescence.

Researchers identified a previously unrecognized progeroid neuropathy caused by mutations in IVNS1ABP. Patient-derived fibroblasts, induced pluripotent stem cells, and neural progenitor cells exhibited disrupted dynamics, resulting in defective cytokinesis, DNA damage, and cellular senescence, which in turn led to premature neurogenesis in cerebral organoids.

A retrospective analysis of a publicly funded NIPT programme in Hebei province, China, covering more than 1.18 million pregnancies, shows that first-tier NIPT achieved high coverage, reduced invasive testing by 97% and was more cost-effective than maternal serum screening, and the NIPT positive results were linked to higher risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes, suggesting potential early warning value.

Here, the authors show that two genes encoding KATANIN p60 in maize promote growth and fertility via proper cell expansion and division. Aberrant microtubule organization in mutants alters cell shape, delays G1, and disrupts preprophase band formation and nuclear positioning.

Multi-ancestry GWAS meta-analysis identifies risk loci for severe nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. Downstream analyses explore maternal and fetal contributions of these loci and their temporal effects.

Wang, Guo, Zhang and colleagues obtain four cryo-electron microscopy snapshots that show how IscB is kept off by two RNA lids, with a car-pedal-like guide shift activating cleavage after ~11-nt pairing. They also engineer hinge regions that boost flexibility and improve genome editing in cells.

Urbanization can affect the dynamics of microbial communities, which can, in turn, have implications for public health. By leveraging global metagenome datasets, the authors study the impact of urbanization age on microbial communities for actionable insights for urban planning and public health.

The weak contact between the oxide electrode and molecular layer in inverted perovskite solar cells is prone to deformation, limiting long-term device stability. A bulk nano-heterointerface is designed to strengthen the binding force between molecules and spherical silicon oxide nanoparticles, increasing the interfacial contact area and improving the operational stability of perovskite solar cells.

Global travel hubs could be key in future pandemic surveillance efforts. Here, using a global metapopulation model calibrated to epidemiology, phylogeography and air travel, the authors show that traveler-focused genomic surveillance at key hubs can speed up detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants under resource constraints.

Covert mortality nodavirus, a pathogen previously known to cause important losses in shrimp aquaculture, is identified as being a potential causative agent of an emerging and severe ocular disease in humans, specifically presenting as persistent ocular hypertensive viral anterior uveitis.

Inducible base editors enhance cancer genomic screens in vivo.

When 100 social and behavioural science claims were examined, 34% of reanalyses closely matched the original results, with 74% reaching the same conclusion, revealing limited robustness of single-path analyses and the need to address analytical uncertainty.

This study demonstrates that overexpression of irisin, an exercise-induced myokine, ameliorates obesity and insulin resistance in high-fat-diet-fed mice by increasing local IL-33 production and preserving ST2⁺ regulatory T cells in white adipose tissues.

The Human Development Multiomic Atlas catalogues single-cell accessibility and gene expression data from human fetal cells across 12 organs, enabling the inference of syntactic rules for motifs that govern cell-type-specific transcription factor binding and chromatin accessibility during human development.

Synthetic super-enhancers enable specific delivery of anticancer payloads, achieving tumour elimination after a single dose in a mouse model of aggressive glioblastoma.

A genome-to-genome association study identifies host and viral risk factors that interact to drive nasopharyngeal carcinoma endemicity in southern China.

ceRNA mechanism of hypoxia-induced Schwann cells-derived extracellular vesicles reveals their protective effect in peripheral nerve injury.

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.

Mechanical modulation of protein conformation enables the reversible induction of strong plasmon-coupled circular dichroism in otherwise achiral plasmonic assemblies.

Parkinson’s disease is managed through co-treatment with levodopa and tolcapone, with tolcapone altering the microbiome to increase its capacity to metabolize levodopa, implicating the gut microbiome in drug–drug interaction.

Store-operated Ca²⁺ entry is essential for cellular signalling, yet excessive calcium influx drives disease. Here, authors develop genetically encoded CRAC channel inhibitory binders (CRABs) to precisely modulate Ca²⁺ signalling, with therapeutic potential in channelopathies and cancer immunotherapy.

Recovery of 48 bat and 9 horse HeV genomes from Australia (2016–2020) identified four Hendra virus clades, offering insights into evolutionary dynamics.

Zehr et al. revealed the 2.7-Å cryo-electron microscopy reconstruction of human microtubules in situ in the axon of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS cell)-derived neurons. It shows an expanded microtubule lattice yet bound to GDP, in contrast to the compacted lattice observed at the iPS cell stage.

Sensory neuron subtypes are defined by transcriptomics, but their proteomic identities remain unclear. Here, authors show distinct protein signatures of electrophysiologically defined nociceptors and implicate B3GNT2 in pain sensitization.

When senescent cells accumulate during adulthood they negatively influence lifespan and promote age-dependent changes in several organs; clearance of these cells delayed tumorigenesis in mice and attenuated age-related deterioration of several organs without overt side effects, suggesting that the therapeutic removal of senescent cells may be able to extend healthy lifespan.

Decreased brain volumes and increased NfL levels can be observed earlier than disease diagnosis in short-tandem-repeat-associated neurological diseases.

The paper reports a scalable, chemical-free plasma process that converts methane and water into high-purity, single-layer graphene oxide while co-producing hydrogen, cutting greenhouse emissions, and lowering cost compared with conventional methods.

Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

Du and colleagues present SMART, a scalable and computationally efficient framework for integrating spatial multi-omics data to identify tissue domains. The approach shows applicability to large and multi-section spatial profiling datasets.

Investigating how aging predisposes individuals to a higher metastatic risk, the authors identify that extracellular vesicles secreted by senescent hepatocytes carry miRNAs that enhance metastatic potential in tumor-bearing aged mice, with relevance for older adults with cancer.

Exhausted CD8⁺ T cells increase proteasome activity due to the accumulation of depolarized mitochondria, which drives the selective degradation of mitochondrial proteins and releases of regulatory haem through haemoprotein breakdown.

N-desethyl-fluornitrazene is a µ-opioid receptor agonist derived from nitazenes that has supramaximal intrinsic efficacy that produces analgesia with minimal adverse effects in rodent models.

Bioactivity-guided isolation of specialized metabolites is an iterative process. Here, the authors demonstrate a native metabolomics approach that allows for fast screening of complex metabolite extracts against a protein of interest and simultaneous structure annotation.

Functional and structural characterization of PtmA2 reveals that it is an unusual non-adenylating acyl-CoA ligase and part of a system wherein the canonical acyl-CoA ligase reaction is separated into two half-reactions performed by distinct enzymes.

Linker histone proteins (H1) play a key role in chromatin regulation, but their behavior in crowded nucleosome environments is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that different H1 variants bind and connect multiple nucleosomes in diverse ways, supporting dynamic chromatin organization.

Synthetic cells mirror fundamental biological behaviors, like growth, metabolism, and mobility, but have lacked genotype-driven selection, which is essential for Darwinian evolution. Here, the authors introduce libraries of short DNA sequences as genotypes into fuel-dependent peptide-RNA-based coacervate droplets, identify sequences that partition on the droplets, and show they differentially affect the droplet phenotype.