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Global analysis of obesity trends from 1980 to 2024 in 200 countries and territories using data from 4,050 population-based studies reveals that framing obesity as a single global epidemic masks the highly varied dynamics across countries and age groups.

Vacuum fluctuations amplified by a cavity can control and modify quantum phases. Now, strong anisotropic transport is demonstrated by manipulating quantum Hall stripes in a two-dimensional electron gas.

An autonomous robot system, Ace, combines event-based vision and reinforcement learning to compete with elite human table tennis players, highlighting the potential of physical AI agents to perform complex, real-time interactive tasks.

Bedau et al. evaluate cross-cancer generalization of five histopathology segmentation models across 21 tumor types comprising over 7,700 whole slide images. A model trained and validated on lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma achieves excellent segmentation in 11 of 19 non-native cancers, enabling development time reduction to under one week.

CRISPR/Cas9 screens have identified genetic contributions to many phenotypes. However, studying combinations of genes or regulatory elements remains challenging. Here, the authors use CRISPR/Cas12a to overcome those challenges and enable new approaches to study combinatorial genetic mechanisms.

Urban sprawl reduces water access and increases costs by distancing populations from infrastructure. An analysis of over 100 cities shows that, by 2050, compact growth could provide piped water to 220 million more people than horizontal expansion.

Möhring et al. assess the expected effects of a global transformation of agricultural pest management. They find positive contributions to multiple sustainability challenges, assess drivers and discuss necessary steps for a transformation.

Designing single molecules capable of complex sensing functions is challenging. Now, using crowdsourced RNA designs from the online game Eterna, compact single-molecule sensors have been demonstrated for a variety of tasks, including a complex three-input tuberculosis diagnostic. The development of a Monte Carlo Tree Search algorithm enabled automated design of similarly sophisticated nucleic-acid sensors.

The selective hydrogenation of trace acetylene to ethylene is a well-established process for purifying fossil-derived ethylene streams. Here, the authors present a self-repairing Pd-C laterally condensed catalyst that improves selectivity, prevents sub-surface hydride formation, and achieves high ethylene productivity, effectively bridging the gap between powder catalysts and single-crystal model catalysts.

An initial draft of the human pangenome is presented and made publicly available by the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium; the draft contains 94 de novo haplotype assemblies from 47 ancestrally diverse individuals.

Black and white fonio are two small indigenous grain cereals grown in West Africa. Here, the authors reveal their independent domestication and cultivation histories through population genetics and demographic history analyses.

A thermodynamic study of doped single crystals of NbFe₂ reveals the phase diagram of this system as a function of temperature, magnetic field and Nb doping — which includes an unusual quantum tricritical point.

The presence of guest atoms—known as rattlers—in the cages of some clathrate structures is considered to be responsible for the low thermal conductivity of the materials. Neutron spectroscopy provides important evidence regarding the actual phonon dispersion in the material, and the precise way in which this is influenced by rattlers.

Researchers summarize key insights from the world’s first comprehensive investigation into how a pandemic started.

Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining is a widely used method in histopathology, but it cannot directly inform about specific molecular markers. Here, the authors present ROSIE, a deep-learning framework that computationally imputes the expression and localisation of dozens of proteins from H&E images.

The structure-function relationships of a β-helix, a folding motif formed by parallel β-strands arranged in a helical repetitive pattern, remain poorly understood and underexploited. Here, the authors reconstitute a protein β-helix by design from an elementary sequence of 18 amino acids, which self-assembles into a self-contained multifunctional motif exhibiting a range of biological functions.

By creating a bespoke learning environment for 25 students, I found a way to raise the coding level of my entire laboratory.

Carbon neutrality complicates the transition to sustainability due to potential adverse effects on employment and the prosperity of high-emitting sectors. This study simulated the Hungarian economy and tested various strategies for reducing CO₂ emissions, revealing that decarbonization-induced economic and job losses can be substantially limited by considering the firm-level network of supply chains.

Over time, paralogous genes accumulate changes in their sequences that do not affect their function, which is called cryptic variation. Using paralogous myosins, this study shows how cryptic variation modulates the functional effect of mutations and biases duplicates to distinct evolutionary fates.

In June 2022, the IXPE satellite observed a shock passing through the jet of active galaxy Markarian 421. The rotation of the X-ray-polarized radiation over a 5-day period revealed that the jet contains a helical magnetic field.

The incidence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma varies significantly across different geographical regions. Mutational signature analysis of tumors sampled from high- and low-incidence areas suggests that these variations may not be explained by mutagenic exposures.

How accurate are social scientists in predicting societal change, and what processes underlie their predictions? Grossmann et al. report the findings of two forecasting tournaments. Social scientists’ forecasts were on average no more accurate than those of simple statistical models.

Thermal lepton pairs are ideal probes for the temperature of quark-gluon plasma. Here, the STAR Collaboration uses thermal electron-positron pair production to measure quark-gluon plasma average temperature at different stages of the evolution.

Gebhardt and colleagues developed a computational method using a naïve Bayes classifier to identify optimal protein labelling sites. Their analysis of 100+ proteins revealed four predictive parameters, leading to a Python package and a web-tool for protein structure analysis and labelling score calculations.

Accurately measuring dietary intake has long been a challenge in nutrition research. Integrating emerging tools with multisampling strategies and a dietary assessment methodology aligned with the research aims enables a more objective and comprehensive evaluation of dietary behaviours—and a deeper understanding of diets’ impact on human and planetary health.

Combinatorial Optimization problems can be solved by investigating the ground states of particular Ising models. Here, the authors developed a neuromorphic architecture to ensure asymptotic convergence to the ground state of an Ising problem and to consistently produce high-quality solutions.

Accurate segmentation of ischemic stroke lesions from brain MRI is crucial for timely diagnosis and treatment planning. Here, the authors present DeepISLES, an AI ensemble for stroke MRI analysis that outperforms previous methods and matches expert radiologist performance in identifying stroke lesions.

Gene duplication is a key evolutionary mechanism, as initially redundant paralogues diverge over time. The authors review how adaptive and non-adaptive forces influence the evolutionary fates of gene duplicates, highlighting the importance of function–fitness relationships and gene expression dynamics.

The Late Cretaceous experienced significant cooling, yet a lack of low-latitude records mean the regional extent of this cooling is poorly constrained. Linnert et al. present a TEX₈₆sea surface temperature record from a palaeolatitude of ~35 °N and show that Late Cretaceous cooling was global in nature.

International challenges have become the de facto standard for comparative assessment of image analysis algorithms. Here, the authors present the results of a biomedical image segmentation challenge, showing that a method capable of performing well on multiple tasks will generalize well to a previously unseen task.

The Perseverance rover has made the most definitive identification of Fe-phosphate minerals on Mars to date. High-resolution chemical and textural PIXL analyses suggest they originally formed after vivianite in a potentially habitable environment.

Households waste huge amounts of food, which leads to considerable financial costs for individuals and substantial contributions to CO₂ emissions. But this is a complex problem to address. In this Comment, Tapper and colleagues discuss how behavioural and systems science can help to provide solutions.

Detecting FGFR3-mutant muscle-invasive and metastatic urothelial cancers (MIBC/mUC) for targeted therapy remains challenging, but clinically important. Here, the authors develop a deep-learning model to detect FGFR3 mutations in MIBC/mUC from routine histopathology slides, allowing for highly sensitive, rapid, and cost-effective pre-screening.

Soft auditory brainstem implant in the cochlear nucleus of macaque evokes auditory-like perceptions with high resolution and tonotopic specificity.

Nowak and colleagues present a game theoretic model that explains how behaviours like subtlety, modesty and anonymous good deeds can be maintained under the standard model of reputation building and indirect reciprocity.

In modern power grids, knowing the required electric power demand and its variations is necessary to balance demand and supply. The authors propose a data-driven approach to create high-resolution load profiles and characterize their fluctuations, based on recorded data of electricity consumption.

The degradation in silicon-graphite anodes is originated from Li ion crosstalk between silicon and graphite, and the pressure-induced staging transition of the graphite. Here, the authors demonstrate a prismatic cell with improved volumetric energy density and cycle stability by targeted solving above issues.

Ongoing hydrogen loss from two sibling exoplanets provides support for the role of such hydrogen loss in the evolution of close-orbiting sub-Neptunes.

Sensory systems compress representations while preserving information. Modeling of dopamine neuron responses and behavior during decision-making indicates that cognitive systems also compress representations as long as overall rewards are preserved.

A black hole at the centre of a quasar at a redshift of z = 4 is accreting the mass of the Sun every day. The quasar’s extreme luminosity is equivalent to 50,000 times that of the Milky Way. Its broad-line region should be resolvable observationally and will provide an important test for broad-line region size–luminosity relationships.

Bosch-Queralt et al. find that diet-induced obesity impairs restoration of CNS demyelination through increased TGFβ-mediated suppression of cholesterol efflux.

In a birth cohort, Holz et al. found widespread structural brain changes at the age of 25 years as a function of adversity. This pattern was replicated at the age of 33 years and in another cohort. Individual-level volume reductions on top of this pattern predicted anxiety.

Past genome-wide associate studies have identified hundreds of genetic loci that influence body size and shape when examined one trait at a time. Here, Jeff and colleagues develop an aggregate score of various body traits, and use meta-analysis to find new loci linked to body shape.