Search

Tissue stiffness mediated by Piezo1 is shown to regulate the expression of diffusive guidance cues in the developing Xenopus laevis brain, revealing a crosstalk between mechanical signals and long-range chemical signalling.

The astrocytic transporter, GAT3, is a drug target for epilepsy. Here, the authors report the structures of human GAT3, bound to an inhibitor, to substrate GABA, or in substrate-free state, revealing the mechanism of transport and selective inhibition.

Enhancing the carrier mobility of graphene can enable the investigation of its fundamental properties and promote device applications. Here, the authors report the fabrication of double-layer graphene devices with a quantum mobility up to 10⁷ cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹ and integer quantum Hall features at magnetic fields as low as 0.002 T.

How white matter develops along the length of major tracts in humans remains unknown. Here, the authors identify fundamental patterns of human white matter development along distinct axes that reflect brain organization.

Organic additives frequently shape crystallisation in natural and industrial settings, yet their precise influence on nucleation remains poorly understood. Here, Baken et al. investigate how additives affect the crystallization of the industrially relevant minerals portlandite and gypsum. Using controlled titration coupled with in situ synchrotron monitoring, the team demonstrates that both minerals form via intermediate steps: portlandite gradually becomes more ordered as it develops, while gypsum switches abruptly from a disordered to an ordered state. The study reveals that additives influence these pathways prior to nucleation by altering the nature of prenucleation clusters. How strongly an additive interacts with these clusters depends on its chemical state, which is controlled by the pH conditions specific to each mineral. These findings offer a starting point for creating an industrial “toolbox” to help select more effective additives, and they advance our understanding of biomineralisation processes.

The cellular mechanisms to initiate allergic responses involve various immune cells in the lungs. Here the authors identify a Ly6G⁺Nur77⁺ macrophage population involved in initiation of HDM-driven Th2 responses that detect Derp1 allergen through PAR2 and modulate migration of conventional DC to draining lymph nodes via cysteinyl leukotriene production.

Large-effect variants in autism remain elusive. Here, the authors use long-read sequencing to assemble phased genomes for 189 individuals, identifying pathogenic variants in TBL1XR1, MECP2, and SYNGAP1, plus nine candidate structural variants missed by short-read methods.

Five-year survival data and biomarker analysis of the PRADO extension cohort of the phase 2 OpACIN-neo trial, in which patients with high-risk stage III melanoma received neoadjuvant ipilimumab and nivolumab and underwent pathologic response-directed surgery and adjuvant therapy, show 71% event-free survival and 88% overall survival, with tumor mutational burden, IFNγ signature and PD-L1 expression associated with favorable outcomes.

Staphylococcus aureus is able to evade host immune responses by expressing surface adhesins, like collagen binding adhesin (Cna). Here, the authors report the role of Cna during S. aureus skin infections.

Long-read sequencing is a valuable method to understand the impact of structural variants (SVs) on complex traits. Analysis of HiFi long-reads from 120 Bos taurus taurus bulls and genetic association testing with molecular phenotypes derived from RNA-seq from testis tissue, identified significant enrichment of SVs among expression and splicing QTLs in these bulls.

Li and colleagues describe a monocyte-specific transcriptional state along with a persistent elevation of inflammatory markers specifically found in individuals with long COVID who had mild-to-moderate disease during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is characterised by the accumulation of fibroblasts, which deposit excessive extracellular matrix impairing respiratory functions. Here, the authors show that fibroblast-expressed versican, a chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan, suppresses fibroblasts’ ability to invade and further grow the underlying matrix, thus limiting their accumulation and attenuating pulmonary fibrosis.

This study detects Chlamydia pneumoniae in human retina and brain, increasing with AD severity. Retinal pathogen load with Aβ₄₂ may predict AD stage. In models, infection drives Aβ deposition and NLRP3 activation, worsening pathology and cognition.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

Dierl, Hinsen et al. investigate long term pulmonary toxicity in pediatric cancer survivors by the use of Free-breathing phase-resolved functional lung (PREFUL) MRI on a low-field system. Subclinical and time-dependent reduction in pulmonary ventilation and perfusion is revealed.

The authors study epitaxial thin films of the pyrochlore-sublattice compound LiTi2O4 by RIXS and ARPES. They observe cooperation between strong electron correlations and strong electron-phonon coupling, giving rise to a mobile polaronic ground state in which charge motion and lattice distortions are coupled.

Plant-pollinator interactions are vital for food security and ecosystem stability but threatened by climate change. This study shows how warming and drying limit floral diversity, interaction resistance, and resilience for honey bees across Europe.

How the brain supports speaking and listening during conversation of its natural form remains poorly understood. Here, by combining intracranial EEG recordings with Natural Language Processing, the authors show broadly distributed frontotemporal neural signals that encode context-dependent linguistic information during both speaking and listening..

The study presents a recyclable polymer system that stores solar energy and releases it as hydrogen on demand, offering an efficient and sustainable route for renewable energy storage and fuel generation.

During development of eutherian females, one of the X-chromosomes is silenced. Here, authors show that alleles on the inactive X-chromosome are dynamically expressed along neural differentiation enhancing resilience of female neural tissue.

This study reveals high-spin state formation and quintet-mediated emission in diphenylhexatriene oligomers. Quintet states dominate delayed fluorescence up to room temperature, establishing a spin-selective platform for quantum technologies.

HCMV infection can become productive or latent. Here the authors show that variations in the number of incoming viral particles across cell types is a key factor of this decision, identifying entry efficiency as a key regulator of latency.

A classical device generates states with no relative superposition. Here, authors introduce models to simulate sets of quantum states by stochastically combining classical devices. They present an avenue to understand to what extent quantum states defy generic models based on classical devices.

Xeno-learning uses preclinical data from one species to boost the performance of neural networks applied to another species when exploring physiological responses.

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.

One of three back-to-back papers to show dosage of BACH2 can modulate T cell differentiation and function and how we might apply this to enhance chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapies for cancer.

Estimating respiratory infection rates in the community is challenging as testing is usually limited to people with more severe infections. Here, the authors develop a statistical method to estimate infection rates using data from a community survey that performed lateral flow testing in England and Scotland in 2023-24.

AlphaGenome, a deep learning model that inputs 1-Mb DNA sequence to predict functional genomic tracks at single-base resolution across diverse modalities, outperforms existing models in variant effect prediction and enables comprehensive genomic analysis.

Projected impacts of climate change on malaria burden in Africa by 2050 highlight the urgent need for climate-resilient malaria control strategies and robust emergency response systems to safeguard progress towards malaria eradication.

A martensitic alloy with a tensile strength exceeding 3 GPa and a fracture elongation of 5.13% is developed. These mechanical properties arise from interface complexes interacting with dense dislocation networks, which is a mechanism shown to be applicable to other compositions.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

The study introduces radio interferometric multiplexed spectroscopy (RIMS), a method designed to efficiently monitor the radio emissions of massive samples of stars. Applying it to LOFAR data, the authors identify stellar bursts, offering clues to possible star–planet magnetic interactions.

Optomechanical crystals are promising building blocks for quantum networks but suffer from thermal mechanical noise. Here the authors demonstrate on-demand conversion of single phonons into high-purity telecom photons with low thermal noise and MHz-scale narrow bandwidth using a quasi-2D optomechanical system.

An integrated optical parametric amplifier on thin-film lithium niobate achieves more than 17 dB gain with less than 200 mW input power.

Analyzing data of the Mexican Biobank project, a new study finds regional differences in clinically relevant genetic frequencies and presents MexVar, a publicly accessible resource designed to support ancestry-informed genetic testing.

Virtual nature exposure reduces self-reported pain and is associated with decreased brain responses linked to somatosensory and nociceptive processing, providing new insights into the underlying mechanisms of nature-induced analgesia.

At single-cell resolution, Tarkhov et al. delineate stochastic and co-regulated components of epigenetic aging, revealing a simultaneous loss of regulation at the epigenetic and transcriptional levels in aging.

Genomic analyses of DNA from modern individuals show that, about 800 years ago, pre-European contact occurred between Polynesian individuals and Native American individuals from near present-day Colombia, while remote Pacific islands were still being settled.

A wearable paper-based microfluidic device tracks cortisol in sweat via gold nanoflower colorimetric assays and captures circadian rhythms, stress responses and jet lag disruptions.

Quantum error correction codes protect quantum information, but running algorithms also requires the ability to perform gates on logical qubits. A lattice surgery scheme for fault-tolerant gates has now been demonstrated in a quantum repetition code.

Global Burden of Disease estimates show that between 1990 and 2023, the prevalence and burden of drug use disorders, inclusive of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and opioid use, have been increasing in high-income countries, particularly in the USA.

In the phase 1/2 CASTLE basket trial, autologous CD19 CAR-T cell therapy in patients with treatment-refractory systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis or idiopathic inflammatory myopathy was safe, with improved disease activity and patient-reported global health in most patients.

Radiation reaction (RR) on particles in strong fields is the subject of intense experimental research, but previous efforts lacked statistical significance due to the extreme regimes required. Here, the authors report a 5σ observation of RR and obtain strong, quantitative evidence favouring quantum models over classical, using an all-optical setup where electrons are accelerated by a laser in a gas jet before colliding with a second, intense pulse.

The authors report on engineering metazoan fatty acid synthase variants with tunable selectivity to obtain short- and medium-chain fatty acids, alcohols and aldehydes. Pairing these optimized enzymes with a yeast strain designed for efficient β-oxidation yields high production levels of medium-chain fatty acids.

The evolutionary origin of tumours remains largely unknown. Here, Domazet-Lošo et al. show evidence for naturally occurring tumours in the freshwater polyp, Hydra, and suggest that tumours have deep evolutionary roots.

Core excitons are strongly localised excitonic states impacting x-ray absorption and resonant inelastic scattering (RIXS) spectra. Here, the authors demonstrate an application of free electron laser-driven ultrafast RIXS spectroscopy to study previously unclear aspects of core exciton-phonon interactions in graphite.

Via high-throughput imaging and tracking over 140 million single mycobacteria, the authors show that drug- and strain-specific killing predict treatment outcomes, with potential to improve drug development and personalized therapy.