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Natural and sexual selection can be in opposition favouring different trait sizes, but disentangling these processes empirically is difficult. Here Okada et al. show that predation on males shifts the balance of selection in experimentally evolving beetle populations, disfavoring a sexually-selected male trait but increasing female fitness.

Adopting today’s best available construction technologies could reduce embodied CO₂ emissions from structural materials by about 73% compared to business as usual by 2050, while still meeting construction demand in low and middle income countries.

Translation of evidence about dementia risk into effective public health policy is a challenge. In this Consensus Statement, Demnitz-King and colleagues present 56 policy recommendations for dementia prevention, providing policymakers with a foundation for designing and implementing evidence-based dementia prevention strategies, prioritizing clear communication, targeted intervention and sustained research investment.

Carnitine uptake by OCTN2 supports fatty acid metabolism. Here, authors report cryo-EM structures of human OCTN2, revealing the mechanism of sodium ion-dependent carnitine transport and providing insight into disease-associated variants.

ATP synthase powers cells by converting proton translocation into energy. Here, authors reveal distinct structural features of the P. aeruginosa ATP synthase that regulate activity and may serve as targets for new antimicrobial therapies.

Large language models (LLMs) are emerging as powerful tools in healthcare, with a growing role in global health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This Perspective examines the current progress, challenges and prospects of LLMs in addressing health system disparities and supporting achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This study explores apelin receptor’s role in cardiovascular function, identifying residues critical for binding through genetic variants, AlphaFold2 modelling and base editing in cardiomyocytes. Co-crystallization with biased agonist CMF-019 shows a unique binding mode versus endogenous peptides.

Vietnam believes science to be the key to economic recovery. She hopes to have a “modern scientific capability” within 15 years. Alastair Hay reports

Walmsley and colleagues report that systemic hypoxia induces persistent loss of histone H3K4me3 marks and epigenetic reprogramming in neutrophil progenitors, resulting in long-term impairment of subsequent neutrophil effector functions.

Chemistry is an experimental science that for many learners only comes alive in the laboratory. But specialized equipment is increasingly out of reach of school budgets. Strengthening school–university collaborations can help to bridge the gap.

Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) offer a minimally invasive biopsy strategy for prostate cancer monitoring. This Review discusses the use of CTCs at all stages of prostate cancer development and treatment, from CTC isolation and enrichment strategies to the prognostic and clinical utility of these cells in prostate cancer.

Global chemical transport simulations reveal an ozone photochemistry regime where the uptake of hydroperoxyl radicals onto aerosol particles dominates ozone production.

In this Viewpoint article, Alastair Buchan and James Kennedy evaluate emerging options for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke and discuss the difficulties associated with choosing the patients who might benefit most from them.

The authors report Acheulean hominin occupation of eastern Britain during glacial marine isotope stages 17–16 and again in glacial marine isotope stage 12 via stone tools in sediments dated to 712,000 to 424,000 years ago.

Failure caused by dendrite growth in rechargeable batteries with lithium metal anodes has prevented their widespread applicability. A microtomography study on lithium–polymer–lithium cells now reveals that at the early stage of dendrite formation dendritic structures lie within the electrode, underneath the polymer/electrode interface.

The synthesis of biaryls by transition metal-free coupling is an important challenge. Here, the authors describe an electrochemical approach to the synthesis of biaryls, in which aniline derivatives are coupled through the temporary formation and reduction of ureas.

Nodal lines are 1D band crossings forming a ring in the Brillouin zone which can spawn Weyl points. Here, using a cut-wire metacrystal designed for gigahertz frequencies, Gao et al. observe photonic nodal line degeneracies as well as the photonic Weyl points arising from them.

Our understanding of subglacial lake drainage events is limited by a lack of direct observations. Here, the authors use ground penetrating radar to identify a relict subglacial lake and infer drainage mechanisms based on geomorphological features.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) frequency and risk factors vary considerably across regions and ancestries. Here, the authors conduct a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study and fine mapping study of HNSCC subsites in cohorts from multiple continents, finding susceptibility and protective loci, gene-environment interactions, and gene variants related to immune response.

In this phase 1 trial, treatment of patients with solid tumors using the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitor defactinib the RAF–MEK clamp avutometinib was safe and showed encouraging clinical responses, especially in patients with low-grade serous ovarian cancer.

Topological effects known from condensed matter physics have recently also been explored in photonic systems. Here, the authors directly observe topological surface-state arcs in momentum space by near-field scanning the surface of a chiral hyperbolic metamaterial.

Copy number variations inferred from spatial transcriptomics data in benign and malignant tissue reveal clonal architecture at the organ-wide level.

Previous studies have reported MLL-AF4 binding at intragenic and intergenic enhancers, however, the role of MLL-AF4 in enhancer function remains to be investigated. Here, the authors show that MLL-AF4 cooperates with PAF1 and FACT at enhancers to promote high-density interactions with oncogene promoters in leukemia.

Imaging dozens of proteins in situ and at large scales increases the complexity of data analysis. Here, the authors develop an end-to-end solution for multiplexed image analysis that facilitates data interpretation for clinically relevant insights.

General Giap, soldier turned scientist: “If the army could rise to the occasion, then surely the scientists can do the same”. Final part of Alastair Hay's series from Vietnam.

A systematic review, combined with a stakeholder survey, presents an overview of current practices and recommendations for dataset curation in health, with specific focuses on data diversity and artificial intelligence-based applications.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Patsy et al. review the relationship between the heart and the nervous system during development and the functional consequences of cardiac innervation. They describe the generation of cardiomyocytes and autonomic neurons and propose a roadmap toward the development of cardiac innervation models.

Combination of epidemiology, preclinical models and ultradeep DNA profiling of clinical cohorts unpicks the inflammatory mechanism by which air pollution promotes lung cancer

Iron has been shown to be necessary for the activation and differentiation of CD8⁺ T cells. Here the authors investigate changes in CD8⁺ T cell metabolism in iron limiting conditions and find that aspartate is increased yet downstream nucleotide synthesis is suppressed and addition of exogenous aspartate partially rescues T cell function.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

In a 6-week randomized phase 1 trial, tirzepatide led to reduced caloric intake during a meal test at week 3 compared with placebo and liraglutide in people with overweight or obesity.

Sustainable catalysts based on main-group elements, such as frustrated Lewis pairs, have emerged as alternatives to precious metal systems. Here the authors show that the charge-transfer band between P(mes)₃ and B(C₆F₅)₃ can be analyzed by supramolecular UV-vis spectroscopic techniques to provide the key thermodynamic parameter for the active encounter complex.

Can peer review be improved by withholding information from referees? There is some evidence to suggest it might be, but the jury is still out, reports Alastair Brown.

Basal cell adenoma (BCA) and basal cell adenocarcinoma (BCAC) of the salivary gland are rare tumours. Here the authors report that BCA and BCAC patients possess distinct genomic profiles despite histopathological similarities, and identify a recurrent FBXW11 missense mutation (p.F517S) which leads to accumulation of β-catenin in BCA and higher expression of Wnt/β-catenin targets.

Lu et al. perform systematic functional analyses using data from the TRACERx cohort of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer and delineate how FAT1 regulates homologous recombination repair, chromosomal instability and whole-genome doubling with distinct mechanisms.