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A sequencing chemistry that separates nucleotide identification from nucleotide incorporation achieves high accuracy.

Maize residue carbon inputs in the US Corn Belt increased by 46% from 1980 to 2020, worth $14.7 billion in today’s carbon markets, but challenging the progress of conservation practices, based on field experiments combined with public surveys.

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.

Clean cooking fuels can be unaffordable. A year-long randomized control trial in Tanzania finds that a lockbox intervention along with behavioural nudging to encourage savings modestly increased liquefied petroleum gas use but did not lead to exclusive adoption, and that gendered financial constraints explain these results.

Federated learning (FL) algorithms have emerged as a promising solution to train models for healthcare imaging across institutions while preserving privacy. Here, the authors describe the Federated Tumor Segmentation (FeTS) challenge for the decentralised benchmarking of FL algorithms and evaluation of Healthcare AI algorithm generalizability in real-world cancer imaging datasets.

A sensitive Breakthrough Listen search for technosignatures towards Proxima Centauri has resulted in a viable narrowband signal. The observational approach, using the Parkes Murriyang telescope, is described here, while the signal of interest is analysed in a companion paper by Sheikh et al.

Cryo-EM often misrepresents flexible RNA molecules by averaging their conformations. Here, the authors combine cryo-EM data with all-atom simulations to refine a dynamic ensemble of complex RNA macromolecules, revealing the limits of single-structure models in flexible regions.

Economy-wide GHG emissions reductions may negatively affect food security. Stringent mitigation policies, modelled as carbon prices, are shown to lead to an increase in production costs, food prices and the population’s risk of hunger.

Hyposmocomais a diverse lineage of moths that occur across the entire Hawaiian Archipelago. Here, Haineset al. show that Hyposmocomais about 15 million years old, much older than the most recent islands, and that these moths have dispersed from remote Northwestern islands in many independent events.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias identifies new loci and enables generation of a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Dormant liver stages of Plasmodium vivax complicate malaria elimination efforts by causing relapses that obscure the efficacy of antimalarial treatments. Here, the authors develop a high-throughput amplicon sequencing assay to reconstruct P. vivax lineages, demonstrating its capacity for geospatial infection tracking, and distinguishing recurrent malaria caused by new infections versus untreated dormant liver stages.

To investigate inequalities in energy access, Kersey and co-authors conducted a mixed-method study with 25 informal settlements in Kampala, Uganda. They found that despite the expansion of electrical grids in Sub-Saharan Africa, users are connecting to the grid through a range of service arrangements that are highly differentiated and provide inequitable levels of electricity access.

Sodium-ion batteries are an appealing alternative to lithium-ion batteries because they use raw materials that are less expensive, more abundant and less toxic. The background leading to such promises is carefully assessed in terms of cell and battery production, as well as raw material supply risks, for sodium-ion and modern lithium-ion batteries.

Offshore wind and wave energy may play a key role in the energy transition. Here, authors identify cost targets for these technologies to become cost effective and show how the grid’s installed capacity decreases, and generation and transmission change as offshore energy deployment increase.

Here, the authors develop the Gut Microbiome Wellness Index 2 (GMWI2), an enhanced version of the original GMWI prototype, designed as a disease-agnostic health status indicator based on gut microbiome taxonomic profiles.

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.

A genome-wide association study including over 76,000 individuals with schizophrenia and over 243,000 control individuals identifies common variant associations at 287 genomic loci, and further fine-mapping analyses highlight the importance of genes involved in synaptic processes.

Protecting the ocean from increasing threats requires the development of high-seas marine reserve networks. An approach that optimizes biodiversity, minimizes climate change exposure and reduces fisheries conflict enables low-regret climate-smart conservation areas to be identified.

Electricity trade between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt is proposed as a mechanism for alleviating Nile water disputes. Simulations show potential benefits, including reduced water deficits, lowered emissions and increased financial returns.

The pancreatic extracellular matrix (ECM) is known to differ between species, age groups and physiological states, but its compositional changes throughout human life are not well understood. Here, the authors study how the proteome of pancreatic ECM changes during human development and maturation.

O’Regan and colleagues use deep-learning cardiac motion analysis in participants of the UK Biobank to measure diastolic functional traits and perform a genome-wide association study to generate insights into the genetic and environmental factors that influence diastolic function.

Europe is becoming increasingly dependent on battery material imports. Here, authors show that electric vehicle batteries could fully cover Europe’s need for stationary battery storage by 2040, through either vehicle-to-grid or second-life-batteries, and reduce battery material demand by up to 7.5%.

A full factorial experiment in a state-owned industrial oil palm plantation in Indonesia evaluates whether reduced management via reduced fertilization rates and mechanical weeding can decrease the negative impacts on ecosystem functions and biodiversity while maintaining profitability of the plantation.

The scale and nature of energy investments under diverging technology and policy futures is of great importance to decision makers. Here, a multi-model study projects investment needs under countries’ nationally determined contributions and in pathways consistent with achieving the 2 °C and 1.5 °C targets as well as certain SDGs.

Plunge into a profusion of brilliant summer reads suggested by regular reviewers and editors, far away from the lab and lecture hall.

European fuel tax cuts will lead to significant income transfers to Russia, thus undermining the Union’s sanction efforts against the country. EU politicians should instead consider alternative policies, such as direct income transfers to households, if they want to shield citizens from increased fuel prices without benefiting Russia.

Building decarbonization has an important role to play in achieving global emissions reductions targets. Here the authors find that stated policy scenarios are insufficient to achieve building decarbonization goals globally, while ambitious decarbonization scenarios are still not sufficient to achieve goals under the 1.5 °C scenario.

In Australia, a rapid shift to near-zero emissions electricity is key to reducing emissions and abatement costs, and from 2030 onwards, direct air capture and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage become critical options, according to an analysis that uses an integrated energy-economic model.

Hydrogen has been proposed as a fuel for widespread use since the 1970s, but uptake has repeatedly fallen below projections, primarily due to high costs. This Perspective considers hydrogen’s potential in relation to rapidly improving competitor technologies, and outlines steps for prioritising roles for clean hydrogen within the energy transition.

An investigation using various methods reports an association between adeno-associated virus 2 and paediatric hepatitis of unknown aetiology.

Integrated multi-omic analyses using samples from the TRACERx study highlight cross-talk between DNA hypermethylation and genomic lesions in non-small cell lung cancer.

Here the authors apply machine learning approaches to Alzheimer’s genetics, confirm known associations and suggest novel risk loci. These methods demonstrate predictive power comparable to traditional approaches, while also offering potential new insights beyond standard genetic analyses.

Fundamental value judgments about acceptable maximum levels of climate change and future reliance on controversial technologies can be made explicitly in climate scenarios, thereby addressing the intergenerational bias present in the scenario literature.

Producing beef sustainably at a global level is a challenge given the multiple trade-offs between the economic and environmental objectives involved. This study presents an approach that helps to identify such trade-offs at the scale needed for the beef industry to become more sustainable.

Climate change is expected to have impacts on human mortality, e.g. through increases in heat waves. Here, the author proposes a new metric to account for excess deaths from additional CO2 emissions, which allows to assess the mortality impacts of marginal emissions and leads to a substantial increase in the social costs of carbon.

Contrary to the view that urbanization is a major driver of the global rise in obesity, the global increase in body-mass index is shown to be mostly due to increases in the body-mass indexes of rural populations.

A genome-wide association study suggests 41 previously unreported loci on top of the 23 known loci that influence the disease risk for lumbar disc herniations. Many of these loci harbour genes implicated in disc structure and inflammation, as well as genes related to the nervous system and nerve function.

The bacterium Helicobacter pylori, often found in the human stomach, can be classified into distinct subpopulations associated with the geographic origin of the host. Here, the authors provide insights into H. pylori population structure by collecting over 1,000 clinical strains from 50 countries and generating and analyzing high-quality bacterial genome sequences.

Whole-genome sequencing identifies a rare missense variant in IKBKB associated with high risk of cutaneous and systemic lupus erythematosus among people with African ancestry.

The US government must make the Department of Defense a key customer for energy technologies and make greenhouse-gas reductions a public good, say John Alic, Daniel Sarewitz, Charles Weiss and William Bonvillian.