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Human primary monocytes reversibly phase separate into regular, multicellular, multilayered domains on soft matrices with physiological stiffness due to local activation and global inhibition processes that occur during random cell migration.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

The conversion of sunlight into electricity has been dominated by photovoltaic and solar thermal power generation. A highly efficient solar to electric energy conversion device based on nanostructured thermoelectric materials and high solar concentration is now demonstrated. The results show potential for cost effective solar thermoelectric generation.

Exome-wide analysis identifies rare and low-frequency coding variants associated with body mass index. Gene-based meta-analysis and functional studies implicate 13 genes, eight of which are novel, and neuronal pathways as factors in human obesity.

Merging photoredox and biocatalysis provides opportunities to address challenges in synthetic chemistry. Now the combination of a ruthenium photocatalyst for oxidative radical formation and ‘ene’-reductases for radical interception enables an enantiodivergent decarboxylative alkylation reaction.

Observations of a 3-million-year-old pre-main-sequence star with a misaligned disk reveal a giant orbiting planet; the system is ideal for studying the early formation and migration of planets.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

Viral pathogen load in cancer genomes is estimated through analysis of sequencing data from 2,656 tumors across 35 cancer types using multiple pathogen-detection pipelines, identifying viruses in 382 genomic and 68 transcriptome datasets.

Andrew Robinson reviews five of the week’s best science picks.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.

The authors present SVclone, a computational method for inferring the cancer cell fraction of structural variants from whole-genome sequencing data.

Many tumours exhibit hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypoxic tumours often respond poorly to therapy. Here, the authors quantify hypoxia in 1188 tumours from 27 cancer types, showing elevated hypoxia links to increased mutational load, directing evolutionary trajectories.

Multi-omics datasets pose major challenges to data interpretation and hypothesis generation owing to their high-dimensional molecular profiles. Here, the authors develop ActivePathways method, which uses data fusion techniques for integrative pathway analysis of multi-omics data and candidate gene discovery.

The characterization of 4,645 whole-genome and 19,184 exome sequences, covering most types of cancer, identifies 81 single-base substitution, doublet-base substitution and small-insertion-and-deletion mutational signatures, providing a systematic overview of the mutational processes that contribute to cancer development.

Cancers evolve as they progress under differing selective pressures. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, the authors present the method TrackSig the estimates evolutionary trajectories of somatic mutational processes from single bulk tumour data.

Regional, place-based biodiversity information is used to comprehensively map and quantify biodiversity intactness of sub-Saharan Africa to inform national and global sustainability policies and planning.

We demonstrate an avalanche photodiode design using photon-trapping structures to enhance the quantum efficiency and minimizing the absorber thickness, yielding high quantum efficiency, suppressed dark current density and bandwidth of ~7 GHz.

Many rock cracks on Earth point north, suggesting that the Sun may be involved in their formation. Here, the authors compile this Earth data, collect similar data for rock cracks on Mars, and present modelling results, linking the origin of Mars rock cracks to thermal stress from the Sun.

Despite being recommended, day-zero biopsies are often not performed, due to the cost and time. Here, the authors show that machine learning and donor’s basic parameters can predict the biopsy, offering a reliable virtual estimation of the day-zero biopsy findings.

The authors find that TDP-43 loss of function—the pathology defining the neurodegenerative conditions ALS and FTD—induces novel mRNA polyadenylation events, which have different effects, including an increase in RNA stability, leading to higher protein levels.

Oligodendrocyte progenitor cells harness aldolase C–TRPV–AMPK signalling in a bespoke way to sense glucose availability and prioritize energy towards remyelination.

A magnetic galactic halo featuring coherent ridges several kiloparsecs above and below the Galactic Disk has been detected in multi-wavelength observations. The halo is probably a consequence of outflows driven by active star-forming regions in the disk.

In a mouse model of the rare disease citrin deficiency, the authors discovered that the accumulation of glycerol-3-phosphate leads to ChREBP activation and FGF21 induction. The study identifies glycerol-3-phosphate as a ChREBP-activating ligand, which could resolve paradoxes of FGF21 expression and clarify the logic of lipogenic transcription.

Cells must be robust to the mechanical demands of their environments. Here, Gilbert et al. expose cells to high-intensity strain cycling and use proteomics to identify a protein, SUN2, that behaves as a strain-induced breakpoint that can decouple the nucleoskeleton from the cytoskeleton.

2023 CX1 is the only L-chondrite-like asteroid analysed from space to ground. It catastrophically fragmented in the atmosphere, depositing 98% of its energy in one burst—an unusual, high-risk fragmentation mode with implications for planetary defence.

Mercury has a global dayside exosphere that is very tenuous and does not extend far from the planet. Here, the authors show enhancement of neutral densities at high altitudes inferred from pickup ions that is most likely caused by the impact of a meteroid.

Mendelian randomization (MR) identifies causal relationships from observational data but has increased error rates when the genetic variants used as instruments come from a single region, a typical scenario when assessing molecular traits like protein or metabolite levels as risk factors. Here the authors introduce a single-region pleiotropy-robust MR method, validating the method on three ground truth sources, showing its capability to identify disease-causing molecular traits.

Andrew Robinson reviews five of the best science picks.

This work presents a fully implantable wireless optogenetic device that delivers spatiotemporally patterned cortical stimulation through the skull and generates artificial perception in mice.

In cohort B of the phase 2 SWOG S1512 trial, pembrolizumab monotherapy in patients with unresectable desmoplastic melanoma elicited a complete response rate of 37% and an objective response rate of 89%, supporting a new treatment option for this tumor type.

Study shows PTSD predisposition shares distinct genes and genomic regions with several cardiovascular conditions. Here the findings reveal neuronal, immune, and metabolic pathways, and repurposed drug targets that further the understanding of the comorbidity.

Genome-wide association analysis in over one million individuals of European ancestry identifies 2,103 independent genetic signals (including 113 new loci) associated with blood pressure traits.

Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope reveal a complex evolution of the ejecta produced by the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft impacting Dimorphos.

Whether multimorbidity accelerates brain Aβ deposition in humans remains largely unknown. Here, the authors demonstrate that higher self-reported multimorbidity burden predicts increased brain Aβ accumulation rates in the ADNI cohort.

It is known cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) involves a high tumour mutation burden. Here the authors identify common cSCC mutated genes, copy number changes, altered pathways and report the presence of a novel mutation signature associated with chronic exposure to the immunosuppressive drug azathioprine.

Catalytic metals dissolved in a liquid gallium solvent remain atomically dispersed. Alignments among the liquid atoms and reactants facilitate selective propylene synthesis from various hydrocarbon feedstocks.

A trans-ancestry meta-analysis of GWAS of glycemic traits in up to 281,416 individuals identifies 99 novel loci, of which one quarter was found due to the multi-ancestry approach, which also improves fine-mapping of credible variant sets.

Andrew Robinson reviews five of the best science picks.

Here, the authors perform large trans-ancestry fine-mapping analyses identifying large numbers of association signals and putative target genes for colorectal cancer risk, advancing our understanding of the genetic and biological basis of this cancer.

Geochemical analyses and climate modelling suggest that 2.5 billion years ago much of the nitrogen now stored in the solid Earth was in the atmosphere, and that the higher atmospheric nitrogen levels would have increased the efficacy of greenhouse gases, thus warming the Earth.

Analysis of the somatic mutations landscape of 111 patients with psoriasis vulgaris shows that the disease is unlikely to be driven by clonal expansions caused by somatic mutations in keratinocytes. A mutational footprint associated with psoralen treatment was observed and characterized.

Doppler spectroscopic measurements of the mass of the Earth-sized planet Kepler-78b reveal that its mean density is similar to Earth’s, suggesting a composition of rock and iron.

The genomic and immune landscape of pre-invasive lung adenocarcinoma is poorly understood. Here, the authors perform exome and transcriptome sequencing on precursor legions and invasive lung adenocarcinomas, identifying recurrently mutated genes in pre/minimally invasive cases, and arm level alteration events linked to immune infiltration.

The collapse of tropical forests during the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction weakened carbon sequestration, sustaining high CO2 and extreme global warmth for millions of years: an example of a runaway feedback in Earth’s climate-carbon system.