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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.

This Commission aims to resolve the current dialysis policy challenges in Thailand and generate lessons for the global kidney community by drawing on empirical evidence, systems thinking and multidisciplinary expertise to generate policy goals and recommendations.

Strong paramagnetism is generated in hydrogels rich in carbon–oxygen double bonds simply by coupling with diamagnetic Ca cations. These paramagnetic hydrogels are applied as magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents and magnetic drug carriers.

Here, the authors conduct a metagenomic-based study of England’s rivers to show that biofilm bacteria are taxonomically and functionally diverse and are key to biogeochemical cycling, highlighting the importance of river biofilm bacteria in understanding and monitoring freshwater ecosystem health.

Downsizing into the strong confinement regime can improve single-photon purity in quantum dot emitters, but often at the expense of optical stability. Here, the authors present an alternative approach leveraging electron–phonon coupling to achieve stable, room-temperature single-photon emission with enhanced purity in colloidal hybrid lead halide perovskite quantum dots.

A genome-wide association study in rice identifies variation in SBRR1 associated with sheath blight resistance. Introducing the SBRR1-R allele into a commercial rice variety reduces yield loss under severe exposure to sheath blight disease.

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.

Japonica subspecies has a lower nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) than that of indica rice. Here, the authors show that natural variations in the NIN-like protein 4 (OsNLP4) encoding gene are responsible for the divergence and introgression of the indica OsNLP4 allele into elite japonica cultivar can increase NUE and grain yield.

Viral ribonucleoprotein–viral protein networks form pre-replication centres that nucleate viral factories and drive respiratory syncytial virus replication.

Grain chalkiness is an undesirable trait that severely compromises rice quality. Here, the authors report the cloning of an E3 ubiquitin ligase encoding gene Chalk9 and reveal its crucial role in regulating grain chalkiness through mediating the ubiquitination-dependent degradation of OsEBP89.

A strategy compatible with a broad range of materials by precisely manipulating optofluidic interactions within a confined 3D space to control the assembly of colloidal microparticles/nanoparticles is demonstrated, enabling the precise manufacture of complex microstructures/nanostructures.

Phototrophic bacteria could be used for chemical manufacturing from various carbon sources. This Review discusses the pathways, engineering and potential application of solar chemical biosynthesis.

Optical spin orientation of itinerant ferromagnets in twisted MoTe₂ homobilayers is demonstrated, enabling control of topological Chern numbers with circularly polarized light.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses are of global concern. This study shows that a low-dose H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b Alum/CpG-adjuvanted vaccine elicits broad, durable antibody and T cell responses and protects female mice against lethal homologous and heterologous H5N1 challenges.

In this work, an exotic nuclear decay in one dimension is simulated using IonQ trapped-ion quantum computers. The coherent evolution of many decay channels is classically hard and quantum simulation of these processes may impact future searches for new physics.

While CDK4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) are often initially successful in many breast cancer subtypes, often resistance develops and other subtypes like triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) fail to respond. Here, the authors demonstrate that the CDK2 inhibitor BLU-222, alone or with CDK4/6i, restores cell-cycle control via p21/p27 induction overcoming resistance in preclinical models of breast cancer, including TNBC.

Non-equilibrium two-dimensional melting is less understood than its equilibrium counterpart. Now it is shown that topologically driven melting in a two-dimensional crystal of charged colloids is the same irrespective of the mechanisms that generate the defects

Transition of superfluid to insulator is observed in the layer-imbalanced regime of bilayer magnetoexcitons.

While the photoreceptor outer segments in the bird outer retina have access to oxygen, the inner retina operates under chronic anoxia, supported by anaerobic glycolysis in the retinal neurons.

Analysing the causal links of gene expression and protein abundance on type 2 diabetes risk in blood and seven tissues related to the disease from individuals of four ancestries, the authors advance our understanding of the genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes

Nylon-11 is a common and durable polymer but possess low piezoelectric properties. Here, the authors use mechanical accelerations and strong electric fields to induce crystallization, hydrogen-bonding and dipole alignment in Nylon-11 films, achieving high piezoelectricity.

High evapotranspiration events are becoming more frequent because of anthropogenic climate change. This study shows robust increases in those events across many regions, indicating faster land drying and a growing risk of rapidly developing droughts.

A single-cell epigenomic atlas of human immune cells highlights cell-type-specific features associated with genetic or environmental exposures.

Symmetry breaking is key to tissue formation. Now it is shown that symmetry breaking of epithelial spheroids is controlled by an interplay of collective migration with curvature and matrix remodelling.

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.

This study uses single-cell DNA sequencing to analyze genomic evolution in pancreatic cancer using a cohort of multiregionally and longitudinally sampled patients’ tissues across various clinical contexts.

Phosphorylation-dephosphorylation and ubiquitination tune TCR signaling to avoid self-reactivity. Kim and colleagues show that acetylation also modulates TCR signaling.

Strongly enhanced optical nonlinearities and an ultrafast transition from coherent to incoherent polariton excitations are demonstrated by coupling an atomically thin WS₂ layer to a plasmonic nanostructure using ultrafast multidimensional spectroscopy.

Many biological systems appear to organize their dynamics close to a critical point. Now it is shown that the protein array mediating Escherichia coli chemosensing is near-critical, enabling large signal amplification without compromising response speeds.

Respiratory virus genomic surveillance output is unevenly distributed globally. Here, the authors show that addressing this imbalance could substantially reduce the time to first detection of novel (variant) viruses, enhancing surveillance effectiveness and efficiency.

This study finds that native tree extinctions and alien naturalizations are pushing forests towards fast-growing, resource-demanding species. This global shift could affect carbon storage and ecosystem stability, highlighting the need to protect slow-growing trees.

Languages vary in how they carve time, space, kinsfolk, and many other domains into categories. Here, the authors show that languages tend toward symmetry in the number of categories used across domains.

Atomic force microscopy is used to investigate the adsorption and organization of ions on charged surfaces. Trivalent ions adopt complex networks, clusters and layers associated with overcharging, whereas divalent ions follow classical predictions.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is predicted to slow with climate change. Sea surface temperature data and climate model analysis show that since 1900 natural variability has been dominant in AMOC changes; anthropogenic forcing is not yet reliably detectable by this method.

Large-scale computational and in vitro analyses identify commensal type III secretion systems and substrates in the human gut microbiome that can interact with human proteins to modulate immune pathways.

The Ocean Equity Index provides a systematic, twelve-criteria framework to assess and improve equity in ocean initiatives, projects and policies, producing structured data that guide evidence-based decisions and support more equitable outcomes for coastal communities and ecosystems.

This study shows that many small RNAs in Capsella rubella pollen originate from maternal tissues. These mobile small RNAs support proper pollen development, revealing that non-cell-autonomous small RNAs are crucial for successful plant reproduction.

The genetic basis underlying resistance to Sclerotinia stem rot (SSR) in oilseed rape remains elusive. Here, the authors identify BnaA07.MKK9 as a pivotal regulator of SSR resistance in oilseed rape by GWAS, providing new insights into plant defense mechanisms against necrotrophic pathogens.

Genome-wide analyses identify 13 loci associated with susceptibility to infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants, including variation in ST6GAL1, previously associated with influenza susceptibility, and other genes involved in glycosylation processes.

A photocatalytic synthetic route to deuterated N-heteroarenes over an atomically dispersed palladium photocatalyst in D₂O is developed. By recycling used D₂O and photocatalyst, up to 1.157 kg of deuterated N-heteroarenes can be obtained using only 4.5 litres of D₂O (19.7 equiv.).

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.

Neural mechanism underlying behavioural flexibility is not fully understood. Here authors study decision-making of macaques in a reversal task. They identify two complementary cognitive processes. Distinct neural patterns link these processes to the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, thalamus, and hippocampus.

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.

Here, the authors use a mouse model of multiple sclerosis to show that CD38⁺Foxp3⁺ T_reg cells persist in postinflammatory CNS tissues and are needed for maintaining immune homeostasis. These localized stress-tolerant T_reg cells have developed mechanisms to exploit the limited availability of IL-2 in this tissue.

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 researchers show that a subwavelength film of indium tin oxide, the bulk permittivity of which is strategically modulated via optical pumping, can be dynamically tuned to act as both a non-resonant amplifier and a perfect absorber. The findings extend the concept of coherent perfect absorption to the temporal domain and may enable coherent manipulation of light in Floquet-engineered complex photonic systems.