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Combinatorial optimization is a challenging yet crucial class of problems, and Simulated Bifurcation (SB) is a promising approximate solver developed in recent years. The authors enhance SB with ideas from Tabu Search to improve its performance, demonstrating clear gains on Max-Cut and particle track reconstruction problems.

It is unclear how early-life urbanicity influences adult neurobehavioral traits. This study reveals that earlier menarche mediates the relationship between early-life urbanicity and adult neurobehavioral traits associated with mental disorders.

A cross-ancestry GWAS meta-analyses of brainstem structures identify 713 associations. It reveals shared/distinct genetic architectures across ancestries/substructures and overlaps with neuropsychiatric disorders and physiological functions.

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is an important model organism, but its reference genome retains unresolved gaps. Here, the authors report a near-complete telomere-to-telomere genome of the D. melanogaster S strain closing many remaining gaps.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting up to 3% of the population. Here, Zuo et al.perform exome array analysis, identify single-nucleotide polymorphisms at 15 new loci, implicating several biological pathways in psoriasis risk and disease heritability.

Worldwide, the number of only-child families is increasing. This research examines how growing up without siblings affects adult brain structure, function and connectivity, cognition, personality and mental health.

Socioeconomic status is multidimensional and can change over time. Xu, Lui, Ji et al. found dimension-specific, late-stage-specific and change-specific socioeconomic effects on brain, cognition, personality and emotion.

Understanding the regulatory mechanisms of nitrogen assimilation is crucial for developing crop cultivars with improved nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUE). Here the authors identify a new negative regulator of NUE and mutation of this gene increases 10–20% rice grain yield under nitrogen-limiting field conditions.

Nagano et al. identify the third mitotic cohesin complex, STAG3–cohesin, which, with its unique biophysical properties, weakens insulation and rewires regulatory interactions of spermatogonial stem cells, shaping the male germline nucleome.

Diarrhoea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in China. Here, the authors present results from a large sentinel surveillance scheme from 217 hospitals in all 31 provinces in mainland China, including ~150,000 patients with acute diarrhoea and covering years 2009-2018.

Min Deng, Kai Wang and colleagues report genome-wide association analyses of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the Han Chinese population. They identify two new risk loci at 1q32 and 22p11.

A super-pangenome analysis incorporating 123 newly sequenced bryophyte genomes reveals that bryophytes exhibit a larger number of unique and lineage-specific gene families than vascular plants.

Certain chiral macroions have previously been shown to self-assemble into spherical structures. Here, the authors observe self-sorting of racemic macroions into enantiomeric ‘blackberry’-shaped structures, and furthermore show that the addition of chiral co-anions allows the formation of a single enantiomer.

Cross-ancestry and sex-stratified genome-wide association analyses for 21 amygdala volumetric traits in East Asian and European individuals provide insight into the genetic architectures of amygdala and subnucleus volumes.

China operates a national surveillance program for acute respiratory infections and sampled over 200,000 patients between 2009–2019. Here, the authors present results from this program and describe patterns by age, pathogen type, presence of pneumonia, and season.

Cross-ancestry genome-wide association studies of 3,414 brain imaging phenotypes in Chinese Han and white British participants identify autosomal and X-chromosomal associations in more diverse populations.

Available intrinsic magnetic topological insulators are rare. Here, the authors study the electronic and magnetic properties of Mn(Sb_xBi_(1-x))₂Te₄ bulks and thin flakes, revealing intrinsic magnetic topological insulator phase in the phase diagram.

Although ammonia synthesis represents a major chemical industry, developing highly effective non-iron catalysts is a challenging task. Now it has been shown that anchoring fullerene onto non-iron transition metals separates and activates catalytic sites for hydrogen and nitrogen intermediates, boosting ammonia synthesis rates.

Xuejun Zhang, Jun Wang, Liangdan Sun, Lennart Hammarström and colleagues sequence the MHC region in 20,635 Han Chinese individuals. Their Han-MHC database allows identification of new susceptibility loci for psoriasis and could serve as a tool for investigating the role of the MHC region in other complex diseases.

Genome-wide association meta-analyses in populations of East Asian and European ancestries identify variant–trait associations for 44 hippocampal traits and provide insight into the genetic architectures of hippocampal and subfield volumes.

Shape morphing materials are usually difficult to operate in a continuous fashion. Nie et al. fabricate stripes with liquid crystalline elastomers that can be given a Möbius-like morphology with seamless material composition, and perpetually driven under photothermally induced actuation.

Low formation efficiency of monkey blastoid cavities, typically below 30%, has limited their utility. Here, the authors achieve 80% efficiency from aged/young monkey stem cells and develop a hydrogel microfluidics platform for scalable production

Severe acne is a common skin disease characterized by chronic inflammation and potential scarring. Here, the authors have identified genetic variants at two loci associated with severe acne and provide insight into the genetic architecture and biological pathways underlying the disease.

A large electronic display textile that is flexible, breathable and withstands repeated machine-washing is integrated with a keyboard and power supply to create a wearable, durable communication tool.

Here the authors report the construction of a genome-scale porcine CRISPR/Cas9 library, called PigGeCKO, for screening and analyses of host resistance genes and factors associated with Japanese encephalitis virus replication.

RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription factories play a central role in gene expression and 3D chromatin organization. Here, the authors demonstrate that RUVBL2 directly regulates Pol II clustering at active gene promoters.

A multi-omic analysis of pancreatic cancer identifies spatially resolved, heterogeneous cell populations including transitional cell types. Analysis of primary samples identifies treatment-related changes in cross-talk between tumor and stromal cells.

Reconstructive phase transitions in materials are usually slow due to large activation energy barriers. Here, the authors show a kinetically favorable layer-by-layer mechanism in Ti₃O₅ transformations using machine-learning molecular dynamics simulations.

Non-syndromic cleft lip with palate is a common birth defect of unknown aetiology. Here, the authors discover 14 new genes associated with this condition, and show genetic heterogeneity in this and other non-syndromic orofacial clefting disorders.

Xu et al. show that satellite-measured urbanicity (living in a densely populated area) is correlated with brain volume, cortical surface area and brain network connectivity in a sample of 3,867 people from China and Europe.

A route to greatly elevate joint densities of states by introducing a flat-band electronic structure is demonstrated, showing metallic λ-Ti₃O₅ powders have a high solar absorptivity and offering insights into access to cost-effective solar-to-steam generation.

The use of tumour exosome-activated dendritic cell (DC) immunotherapy shows promise for the treatment of large established tumours. Here, the authors generate alarmin HMGN1-attached tumour exosomes which significantly improve therapy efficacy by boosting DC activation in several preclinical mouse models.

An interactive mouthguard that uses mechanoluminescent phosphors, distributed-optical-fibre sensors and machine learning algorithms can translate different biting patterns into inputs that can control other devices.

Errors in vascular development are associated with several congenital defects. Here they systematically investigated the epigenetic landscape of the endothelial lineage and found that MECOM depletion impairs endothelial cell differentiation and angiogenesis.

Xuejun Zhang and colleagues report results of a genome-wide association study of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a Chinese Han population. Their work identifies nine new SLE susceptibility loci and reveals overlap in the spectrum of risk alleles shared between Chinese Han and European populations.

The interaction between nitric oxide and the plant phytohormone cytokinin has a critical role in regulating adaptation growth. Here Feng et al. find that nitric oxide-mediated S-nitrosylation of a phosphotransfer protein inhibits its phosphorylation, thereby repressing cytokinin signalling.

Microparticles are small vesicular structures that are shed from cellular plasma membranes. Tang and colleagues show that cells treated with chemotherapeutic drugs produce drug-containing microparticles, which can be used as anticancer agents in mice.