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RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) is typically considered as an essential enzyme. Here the authors show that natural degradation of RNAPII drives chromatin reorganization in growing oocytes, preparing the chromatin for genome activation after fertilization.

The highest-quality JWST spectra reveal that little red dots are young supermassive black holes shrouded in dense cocoons of ionized gas, where electron scattering, not Doppler motions, broadens their spectral lines.

Active galactic nuclei are surrounded by a dusty and molecular disk that fuels supermassive black holes and connects them to their host galaxies. Here, the authors show with JWST interferometric observations that most of the dust in the Circinus galaxies lies in a compact disk, while only a tiny fraction traces hot outflowing material.

Coordinated X-ray and radio observations reveal that disk winds and jets occur mutually exclusively in 4U 1630–472, providing new observational constraints on the interplay between different modes of outflow in X-ray binaries.

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

Phylodynamic modelling shows how the changing antibiotic landscape and genetic determinants of resistance shape real-world gonococcal dynamics. Experiments validated that determinants with identical resistance phenotype differed in impact on fitness.

Women of reproductive age may have specific concerns relating to perceived impacts on fertility and menstrual cycles that make them hesitant to receive COVID-19 vaccination. In this study, the authors explore COVID-19 vaccine uptake rates in women of reproductive age using linked data for ~13 million women in England.

Applications of optical laser-based techniques are limited by the long wavelengths of the lasers. Now, observations of phonons and thermal transport at nanometre length scales are reported with an all-hard X-ray transient-grating spectroscopy technique.

The hepatitis B virus surface protein recognizes host entry receptor via its intrinsically disordered peptide. The authors reveal the dynamic process of the viral surface protein that involves a stepwise binding maturation for establishing high affinity and specific virus-receptor entry complex.

Ferroelectric ordering of moiré excitons and collective photon emission emerge in WSe₂/WS₂ heterobilayers near the Mott state driven by strong dipolar interactions and a transition to symmetry-broken ferroelectric phases.

A vagal reflex to blood volume changes in the heart involves PIEZO2 and helps to stabilize blood pressure in an upright posture and after blood loss.

Little Red Dots (LRDs) are a high-redshift galaxy population with unclear nature. Here, authors show CANUCS-LRD-z8.6, a spectroscopically confirmed LRD, hosting an active galactic nucleus, and its properties provide insights for early black hole and galaxy formation.

Moral-Sanz, Fernández-Carrasco and colleagues identify senolytic properties of sea anemone-derived pore-forming toxins, with selectivity mediated by senescence-associated lipid profiles. An optimized senotoxin improves the efficacy of chemotherapy in mouse models.

Tau phosphorylation was found to hinder the formation and protective functionality of tau envelopes against microtubule-severing enzymes, providing a potential explanation for microtubule destabilization observed in neuropathology.

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.

Taveneau et al. leverage artificial-intelligence-driven protein design to create inhibitors that control RNA-targeting enzymes in cells, revealing a strategy to rapidly design off-switches for RNA-editing systems.

Climate change can alter when and how animals grow, breed, and migrate, but it is unclear whether this allows populations to persist. This global study shows that shifts in seasonal timing are key to helping vertebrate species maintain population growth under global warming.

Kinematic measurements of the Perseus galaxy cluster reveal two drivers of gas motions: a small-scale driver in the inner core associated with black-hole feedback and a large-scale driver in the outer core powered by mergers.

Vassy, Dornisch and colleagues developed a genomics-based prostate cancer risk model to support a randomized clinical trial of precision screening in a national healthcare system.

Studying gravitational waves from a black-hole merger can constrain both the magnitude and direction of the remnant’s recoil, offering new ways to test black-hole formation scenarios and support multi-messenger observations.

The cytoplasm can be partitioned into distinct compartments by microtubule structures, which can be stabilized by distinct mechanisms in different species.

The authors report on imaging developments of solid-density plasmas and the current filamentation instability by means of the LCLS-XFEL at SLAC. This offers insights on the instability in the solid density region, stimulating new modelling of laser-solid interactions.

Lasing with multi-pass gain is achieved in a diamond-based X-ray cavity at the European XFEL, opening a path to next-generation X-ray science.

The combination of JWST and ALMA data here unravel the history of the gas content of a quiescent galaxy, which became quenched through an act of self-sabotage. Black-hole accretion feedback heated the galaxy’s surrounding material, preventing its accretion.

CFAP20 has a key role in rescuing RNA polymerase II complexes that have arrested during DNA transcription, limiting the accumulation of R-loops and preventing collisions between the transcription and replication machinery.

Long-period radio transients emit periodic radio pulses of unknown origin. The longest-lived source, GPM J1839−10, has a 21-min spin and 9-h orbit, resembling the more rapid white dwarf pulsars that are powered by binary interaction, potentially linking the classes.

Two groups of ammonia-oxidizing archaea drive marine nitrification. Stuehrenberg et al. reveal that their distribution reflects substrate use, with one relying on urea and the other on ammonia to maintain nitrification in open-ocean waters.

The accretion disk environments surrounding active galactic nuclei are potential locations where there is an excess of eccentric mergers of large black holes, which have different spin–orbit tilts compared with circular mergers.

The current unbalance between the performance of n-type and p-type 2D transistors limits their applications for next-generation electronics. Here, the authors report the realization of high-performance 2D MoTe₂ p-type transistors by depositing metallic tellurium contacts via thermal evaporation.

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

With its attribution to Paranthropus, a 2.6-million-year-old partial mandible expands the range of the genus into the Afar region of Ethiopia and adds to our understanding of hominin evolution in eastern Africa.

Gravitational lens modelling of a million-solar-mass dark object reveals that it cannot be a free-floating black hole or dark-matter halo as predicted by cold dark matter, instead indicating a peculiar and highly concentrated mass distribution.

Magnetic heliknotons are hopfions embedded in helical spin backgrounds. Current-induced nucleation and Hall-effect-free motion of isolated magnetic heliknotons is demonstrated in the chiral magnet FeGe.

CD44 expressed by fibroblastic reticular cells in secondary lymphoid organs regulates trafficking of dendritic cells, and thus has an essential role in the priming of T cells and the adaptive immune response.

Changes in ocean fronts could impact biological productivity and carbon exchange. By analysing satellite and reanalysis data, the authors identify areas with active frontal activity and rapid change in properties, as well as highlighting the correspondence with surface productivity and CO₂ uptake.

CAR-T cell efficacy is often limited by the inability to maintain a memory T cell program. Here, the authors show that intrinsic CXCR4 expression enhances CAR-T cell persistence and memory differentiation in acute myeloid leukemia.

Approved antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) remain constrained by a limited repertoire of payloads with restricted modes of action. Here, the authors present phosphoramidate-based self-immolative linker units that facilitate stable attachment in serum and traceless drug release in the target cell from aliphatic and aromatic alcohols with various modes of action.

The sedimentary DNA signal obtained from Black Sea sedimentary archives revealed the past dynamics of microorganisms able to transform mercury into the neurotoxin methylmercury. Water column anoxia during the mid-Holocene Climate Optimum appeared to be the main driver of potential methylmercury production in the Black Sea.

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.

Membrane ion channels can be responsive to a variety of stimuli such as pressure, temperature, or pH. Here, the authors show that simply shining 365 nm light activates a native potassium channel in rodent pain-sensing neurons, delivering powerful analgesia without drugs or genetic manipulations.

Polyamines prevent the action of kinases on acidic phosphorylatable motifs in spliceosomal proteins, thus providing a mechanism for metabolite-mediated regulation of alternative splicing in cells.

In this study, the authors present optimization and efficacy testing of apolipoprotein-based lipid nanoparticles for delivering various nucleic acid therapeutics in vivo to immune cells and their progenitors in the bone marrow.

Two main acceleration mechanisms in the auroral acceleration region are electric potential and Alfvénic acceleration but associated energy dynamics are not completely resolved. Here, the authors show that Alfvén waves power the Earth’s auroral arc through a static potential drop in the auroral acceleration region.

By combining satellite observations with ground-based data and expert validation, this analysis demonstrates considerable misestimation of grassland extent and thereby carbon stock estimates in previous global assessments based on remote sensing.

A van der Waals heterostructure made from atomic layers of ferroelectric CuCrP₂S₆ and ferromagnetic Fe₃GeTe₂ can offer reversible, non-volatile ferroelectric control of two-dimensional magnetism.

Proteomic data from natural isolates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae provide insight into how these cells tolerate aneuploidy (an imbalance in the number of chromosomes), and reveal differences between lab-engineered aneuploids and diverse natural yeasts.

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

Engineering motif-specific 'hot spots' into an antibody scaffold yields antibodies with high affinity to targets containing phosphoserine, phosphothreonine or phosphotyrosine.