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How and where somatosensory information is encoded in the cortex is unclear and important for developing new pain therapies. Here the authors show a crucial role for the secondary somatosensory cortex (S2) in accurate perception of sensory stimuli.

Whether oligodendrocytes have a role in the development of chronic pain is not clear. Here the authors show that oligodendrocyte depletion causes a neuropathic pain that sets in before demyelination and is independent of immune cell activation and infiltration.

Experiments and modelling unravel mechanisms of nitrous oxide production from nitrate, the primary nitrous oxide production pathway in oxygen minimum zones. Results highlight the critical role of microbial interactions in regulating this pathway.

An organic electrolytic photocapacitor transducing deep-red light into electrical signals and implanted within a thin cuff around the sciatic nerve of rats allows for wireless electrical stimulation of the nerve for over 100 days.

The neural circuits that transmit cool signals remain not fully understood. Here, authors identify a spinal circuit in mice that transmits cool sensations from the skin to the brain, revealing a dedicated neural pathway for detecting innocuous cool temperatures.

Endometriosis affects over 60% of women, leading to widespread pain. Here, the authors show that blocking C5a receptor (C5aR1) in Schwann cells reduces pain by inhibiting pathways that trigger inflammation, oxidative stress, and nerve sensitivity, revealing a potential therapeutic target in endometriosis pain management.

In a phase 1 trial, intramuscular injection of synthetic plasmid DNA encoding monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 was safe and well tolerated and did not elicit antidrug antibodies.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are known to alleviate pain by reducing inflammation. To the contrary, here, the authors show that selective inhibition of the prostaglandin E2 receptor (EP2) in Schwann cells eliminates pain without disrupting the protective and healing functions of inflammation.

A mitochondrial complex I inhibitor exhibited dose-limiting toxicities, including neurotoxicity, in patients with acute myeloid leukemia and solid tumors, warranting further studies to evaluate the mechanism linking oxidative phosphorylation inhibition and neurotoxicity.

The ice volume of glaciers outside the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets totals about 158,000 km³, with about 27% less ice in High Mountain Asia than thought, according to multiple models that estimate ice thickness from surface characteristics.

Lee et al. show that the development of the somatotopic map and the tonotopic map for substrate vibration is shaped by the intrinsic distribution of cutaneous end organs and selective dendritic integration within the brainstem dorsal column nuclei.

Box jellyfish venom causes tissue damage, pain, and death through unknown molecular mechanisms. Here, Lau et al. perform a CRISPR screen to identify genes required for venom action and use this information to develop an antidote that blocks venom-induced pain and tissue damage in vivo.

Analysing camera-trap data of 163 mammal species before and after the onset of COVID-19 lockdowns, the authors show that responses to human activity are dependent on the degree to which the landscape is modified by humans, with carnivores being especially sensitive.

Oscillatory Min protein patterns prevent abnormal bacterial cell division. Now it is shown that Min pattern formation is resource efficient and involves wavelength-invariant oscillations that are robust to physiological changes.

Melanoma cells interact with pain-mediating sensory neurons by increasing their release of the neuropeptide CGRP, which increases the exhaustion of CD8⁺ T cells and thus promotes the survival of cancer cells.

The mechanism of CGRP-evoked peripheral pain is unclear. Here, the authors show that the CGRP-mediated neuronal/Schwann cell pathway mediates allodynia associated with neurogenic inflammation, contributing to the algesic action of CGRP in mice.

A comprehensive evaluation of memorization across datasets, including training samples and patient data copies, shows that latent diffusion models can memorize a diverse set of medical images with varying properties.

HistoPlexer, a deep learning model, generates multiplexed protein expression maps from H&E images, capturing tumour–immune cell interactions. It outperforms baselines, enhances immune subtyping and survival prediction and offers a cost-effective tool for precision oncology.

Snap-tag reporter mice allow flexible yet efficient targeting of chemical indicators to genetically labeled cells in vivo. With this strategy, cells can either be labeled fluorescently or ablated using the same reporter.

Here the authors analyze data from COVAIL trial participants receiving an mRNA second COVID-19 vaccine boost and show that, while neutralizing antibody titer is correlated with Omicron COVID-19 risk, the correlation is weak in naïve individuals compared to previously infected ones.

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Sessile communities may support high species richness, despite competition for space. Here, the authors use fungal competition assays to show that intransitive competition can overwhelm pairwise competitive exclusion to facilitate biodiversity.

In the Tumor Profiler proof-of-concept observational study, a multiomics approach for profiling tumors from patients with melanoma was feasible, returning data within 4 weeks and informing treatment recommendations in 75% of cases.

This study finds that sST2 is a disease-causing factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Higher sST2 levels impair microglial Aβ clearance in APOE4⁺ female individuals. A genetic variant, rs1921622, is associated with a reduction in sST2 level and protects against AD in APOE4⁺ female individuals.

Analysis of antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccines encoding variant-specific spike, with or without ancestral spike, suggests no loss of neutralization of the ancestral virus with variant-only vaccines, which may simplify future vaccine updates.

Medulloblastoma in children is a difficult cancer to treat and the immune response to this tumour is not fully understood. Here the authors characterise and validate T cell epitopes from these cancers using an immunopeptidomics approach, comparing different molecular subtypes.

Pollinator-driven evolution of floral traits is thought to be a major driver of angiosperm speciation and diversification. Here, the authors assemble the chromosome-scale genome of the sexually deceptive orchid Ophrys sphegodes and reveal insights into sexual deception and pollinator adaptation.

A pH-responsive, soft polymeric nanoparticle targets the neurokinin 1 receptor in acidified endosomes to inhibit signalling events leading to chronic pain.

Heart rate variability (HRV) describes the individual variation in cardiac cycle duration and is a measure of vagal control of heart rate. Here, the authors identify seventeen single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with HRV, lending new insight into the vagal regulation of heart rhythm.

Activation of P2RX7 receptors by extracellular ATP is required for the generation, maintenance and function of central and tissue-resident CD8⁺ memory T cells.

PHATE, a new data visualization tool, better preserves patterns in high-dimensional data after dimensionality reduction.

Centrioles are formed from a nine-fold symmetric cartwheel structure. Using mutants of the cartwheel protein SAS-6, which alters cartwheel symmetry, Hirono, Gönczy, Steinmetz and colleagues show that the microtubule wall also determines centriole shape.

Empirical examples documenting the pace of adaptation across the whole genome in wild populations are scarce. Here the authors study wild stickleback populations from lake and stream habitats and show that there is a genome-wide signature of adaptation to stream habitats within just one generation.

Understanding membrane fusion is paramount to the fabrication of biomimetic fusion systems, but replicating membrane fusion in vitro under neutral pH conditions without prior modification of lipid vesicles remains challenging. Here, the authors use the diphtheria toxin T-domain as a fusogenic tool, showing that it spontaneously interacts with anionic nanosized unilamellar vesicles at neutral pH in a non-disruptive manner, rendering membrane modifications unnecessary.

Knock-in mice conditionally or constitutively expressing Cas12 variants enable a wide range of ex vivo and in vivo applications requiring multiplexed genome engineering.

Alzheimer’s disease is heterogeneous in its neuroimaging and clinical phenotypes. Here the authors present a semi-supervised deep learning method, Smile-GAN, to show four neurodegenerative patterns and two progression pathways providing prognostic and clinical information.