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Very little is known about the molecular basis of chromosome segregation in archaea. Here, the authors describe conformational changes in the chromosome during the cell cycle of the archaeon Sulfolobus. The changes depend on candidate chromosome segregation proteins that interact with the cell division machinery.

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.

Engineering strain in semiconductor structures provides additional control over the optical and electronic properties, which is promising for device applications. Fluegel et al. show that electronic Raman scattering provides a route to sensitively measure the degree of strain in thin semiconductor layers.

Single-crystalline layered oxides can reduce capacity decay in nickel-rich cathodes, but controlling both the particle size and cation disorder is challenging. This work reports cation-disorder-free ~10-μm single-crystalline cathodes that deliver high volumetric capacity and cycle stability as well as improved safety.

In this study, the authors model the current mechanical properties of the seafloor of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, and find those rocks to be too strong to allow the kind of fracturing that, on Earth, enables rock–water chemical reactions on which chemosynthetic life relies.

Escherichia coli-contaminated stored drinking water facilitates strain-sharing between household members, suggesting water treatment can curb bacterial transmission and antibiotic resistance in urban low-income communities.

It is easy to imagine that carbon nanotubes deform under strain, but the microscopic mechanism of deformation is difficult to relate to the large-scale one. Through aberration-corrected transmission microscopy the atomic displacement under bending is now mapped out, revealing unexpected details.

Strain is an effective tool to tune the optoelectronic properties of two-dimensional materials. Here, the authors demonstrate that second harmonic generation can be used to extract the full strain tensor of MoS₂ and to spatially image its two-dimensional strain field.

Silicon anodes promise much higher battery capacity but are limited by poor storage life. This work identifies key ageing mechanisms and suggests ways to improve long-term stability.

Silicon-vacancy centres in diamond are promising candidates as emitters in photonic quantum networks, but their coherence is degraded by large electron-phonon interactions. Sohn et al. demonstrate the use of strain to tune a silicon vacancy’s electronic structure and suppress phonon-mediated decoherence.

Ferromagnetism is observed at ferroelastic domain walls in strontium titanate and its heterostructures with other oxides. Applying strain can reverse the magnetism. This suggests the possibility of device engineering using domain walls.

Comparative genomics and high-resolution mass spectrometry reveal the biosynthetic gene clusters, and vast chemical diversity of natural products that they encode, in Photorhabdus and Xenorhabdus, bacteria that interact with hosts as symbionts and entomopathogens.

A simple cut can wake up a dormant plant. New research uncovers how a wound instructs buds to resume cell division and sugar transport, driving them to sprout.

While oral bacteria rarely colonize the healthy gut, they dominate the gut microbiome of patients with chronic liver disease. Here a bacterial gene encoded by microbial translocators is linked to gut barrier disruption and fibrosis.

Root-knot nematodes locate host plants by sensing microbial volatiles shaped by plant defence metabolites, revealing a surprising ecological link between plant chemistry, soil microbes and parasite behaviour in the rhizosphere.

A modular, point-of-care device combining hemispheric plasmonic nanoarrays and automated microfluidics enables nucleic acid amplification and metabolic cell viability assay for rapid bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing.

Photonic time crystals (PTCs) have unveiled unusual band structures and phenomena due to temporal modulation of optical properties. Here, the authors address non-Hermitian features of PTCs within a purely Hermitian Hamiltonian description, bridging classical and quantum approaches.

The mitochondrial protease CLPP is found in most eukaryotic organisms but its biological role has been unclear. Here Osiewacz and colleagues show that deletion of CLPP extends lifespan of the filamentous fungus Podospora anserina, and that human and fungal CLPP are functionally conserved.

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.

Laboratory automation, machine learning, and metabolic engineering may be combined to quickly and efficiently build productive microbial strains. Here the authors used these techniques in P. putida to boost isoprenol titers 5-fold over six DBTL cycles while sampling a reduced design space.

The evolutionary origin of tumours remains largely unknown. Here, Domazet-Lošo et al. show evidence for naturally occurring tumours in the freshwater polyp, Hydra, and suggest that tumours have deep evolutionary roots.

The use of electric fields to control the magnetization of ferromagnetic materials could enable more efficient electronics. Lei et al.show that by applying lateral strain to a magnetostrictive nanowire with a piezoelectric, voltage-controlled gating of magnetic domain wall motion in the wire can be achieved.

Dynamic strain in silicon carbide can tune point defect properties and coherently control their electron spins. Here the authors fabricate Gaussian-shaped surface acoustic wave transducers, use stroboscopic x-ray imaging to measure lattice dynamics, and observe its effects on defect photoluminescence.

In this study, Dahmane et al use a method called cryo-electron tomography to uncover new details of how tick-borne flaviviruses transform cells into virus factories.

An exploratory analysis of the phase 3 ECOSPOR III trial shows that a higher dosage of the oral microbiome therapeutic VOWST led to enhanced pharmacokinetics, increased species engraftment and altered microbiome and metabolite profiles, providing mechanistic insights into how it may prevent Clostridioides difficile infection recurrence.

Genetically encoded sensors are generally optimized to function during exponential growth rather than stationary phase, which limits their potential value for metabolic engineering and bioproduction. Here, authors engineer a stationary phase green light sensor and use pulsatile light to optimize production of industrially relevant small molecules.

Magnetic effects are fundamentally weak at optical frequencies. Now, by applying inhomogeneous strain in photonic band structures of a honeycomb lattice of waveguides, scientists show experimentally and theoretically that it is possible to induce a pseudomagnetic field at optical frequencies. The field yields 'photonic Landau levels', which suggests the possibility of achieving greater field enhancements and slow-light effects in aperiodic photonic crystal structures than those available in periodic structures.

Population-scale WGS reveals genetic determinants of persistent EBV DNA, linking immune regulation—especially antigen processing and MHC class II variation—to EBV persistence and heterogeneous disease associations.

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.

A combination of biochemical, cell biological and electron microscopy analyses reveal a ‘nucleotide code’ that coordinates Lis1–dynein binding stoichiometry, which in turn governs Lis1’s ability to relieve dynein autoinhibition.

A family of 2D hybrid perovskites engineered with bulky organic ligands in a copper halide lattice is synthesized, demonstrating mixed tetrahedral–octahedral connectivity. These materials undergo strain-driven reversible transformation into Ruddlesden–Popper phases and exhibit structural asymmetry, leading to the coexistence of ferroelectricity and intralayer antiferromagnetism in one compound.

Bioactive sesquiterpenes accumulating in petunia stigmas are synthesized in the floral tube and then transported to the pistil via natural fumigation within the internal airspace of the developing flower.

Magnetotactic bacteria use chains of intracellular magnetic particles (magnetosomes) to align with and navigate along geomagnetic fields. Here, Russell et al. reveal lineage-specific and independent evolution of magnetosome chain formation driven by a suite of coiled-coil and actin-like proteins.

Analysis of Babesia divergens egress from host cells reveals druggable targets and identifies compounds for potential babesiosis treatment.

Dielectric materials with high energy storage performance are desirable for power electronic devices. Here, the authors achieve high energy density and efficiency simultaneously in multilayer ceramic capacitors with a strain engineering strategy.

Microplastics (MPs) represent an environmental hazard which must be resolved by efficient, cheap, and sustainable remediation technology. Here the authors use an engineered algae to capture MPs and treat wastewater, the captured algae-plastic mix is upcycled into a tougher bioplastic composite.

Here, the authors report an exome-wide association study for multi-organ imaging traits by leveraging recent bioinformatic tools such as AlphaMissense. The identified signals elucidate the genetic effects from rare variants on human organs and their connections to complex diseases

Nanocrystalline materials usually exhibit high strength and their deformation caused by stress is limited. Nanocrystalline CdS with spherical and hierarchical shell geometry is shown not only to withstand extreme stresses, but also to deform considerably before failure.

Triple artemisinin-based combination therapies, including mefloquine–piperaquine (MQ–PPQ), may delay emergence of multidrug-resistant strains. Here the authors show that resistance to mefloquine alone reduces the efficacy of the MQ-PPQ combination therapy, and that the interaction between the two drugs further inhibits piperaquine’s activity.

This study uses computational 3D simulations to reveal how deep mantle motions drive earthquakes along the Sunda subduction zone, one of the Earth’s most active tectonic regions.

Clb2 is a B-type cyclin essential for mitotic progression. Here, the authors found that the CLB2 mRNA localizes to the yeast bud via a cis-acting ZIP-code and She2/She3 transport machinery. This spatial regulation ensures proper cyclin protein levels, whereas its mislocalization perturbs division timing and bud size control.

Herpesvirales utilize a unique nuclear egress route for capsid export. Here the authors show that herpesviruses exploit a cellular membrane protein, once thought to transport chloride, to facilitate membrane fusion and egress from the nucleus.

Multimodal operando imaging reveals how multiscale structural design affects lithiation heterogeneity and electrochemical cycling stability in graphite/silicon composite battery electrodes.

A size-controlled composite powder feedstock design effectively enhanced the cryogenic strength and ductility of additively manufactured medium-entropy alloys through in-situ formation of hard and stiff reprecipitates.

Exemplified by Bi_0.4Sb_1.6Te₃, the authors reveal the reason for low thermal conductivity induced by compositional inhomogeneity lies in randomly aligned edge dislocations induced by random composition distribution.