Search

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.

MOSAIC is a versatile multimodal microscope that allows seamless transition between various light-sheet, two-photon, label-free and super-resolution modalities. It is demonstrated in various systems ranging from cell culture to mice.

Epithelial–stromal interactions drive inflammation, fibrosis, immune recruitment and cancer initiation in human IBD colon-on-a-chip devices, and responses are exacerbated by peristalsis-like movements and pregnancy-associated hormones in female-derived chips.

Using inbred medaka strains, the authors mapped 59 genetic loci linked to heart rate. Gene editing validated conserved genes affecting heart rate and morphology, highlighting the power of isogenic strains in uncovering mechanisms of cardiac traits and disease.

thanks Xian-Kai Chen, Yoshio Teki, and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.

Researchers designed two-component proteins forming quasisymmetric cages via geometric frustration, enabling tunable virus-like assemblies for cargo delivery, cellular uptake and studying intracellular diffusion and protein localization.

Urban green spaces are linked to better human health, however whether lant species heterogeneity also influences better health outcomes remains unclear. Here, Zhao et al., propose the beta-diversity hypothesis, using data from 72 neighborhoods across Shanghai.

An analysis of diet-induced obesity using MouseMapper—a suite of foundation-model-based deep-learning algorithms—identifies structural alterations of the infraorbital branch of the trigeminal ganglia.

Observation-constrained climate models indicate that canopy temperatures will warm more than air temperatures by 2100, leading to underestimation of vegetation thermal stress when using air temperature alone, particularly in regions with increasing atmospheric dryness.

Quasisymmetry could arise from spontaneous symmetry breaking in a system of strongly interacting building blocks with programmed curvatures, and this principle, coupled with a design approach, can generate a rich array of quasisymmetric assemblies.

Prime editing is improved with engineered RNA-stabilizing motifs.

Although river protection is core to social and environmental well-being, the extent to which river conservation policies are effective is difficult to assess. This study reveals that, under all relevant protection mechanisms in the contiguous USA, only 12% of rivers are adequately protected.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

Given rising diabetes prevalence globally, access to diabetes treatments is gaining urgency. Here, the authors show patterns of glucose-lowering medication use for diabetes across 62 low- and middle-income countries.

The Star of David topology is an iconic symbol that has been used in religious and cultural contexts for thousands of years. Now it is assembled in molecular form through a hexameric circular helicate generated by six tris(bipyridine) ligands entwined about six iron(II) cations. The structure of the two triply-entwined 114-membered rings is revealed by X-ray crystallography.

At planets that possess strong dipole magnetic fields, charged particles can be squeezed along magnetic fields helping to deflect the solar wind flow about the planet. Here, the authors show this effect occurring in the ionosphere of Mars, a planet without a strong dipole magnetic field.

DNA-sequencing data from primary tumours and paired metastases from participants in the TRACERx lung study and PEACE autopsy programme are used to analyse the metastatic diversity of advanced non-small cell lung cancer and the seeding patterns that underpin it.

Exposome analyses across 34 countries showed that social exposures were associated with faster functional brain aging and physical exposures with faster structural brain aging.

A computational redesign strategy improves evolved prime editors.

Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

Coastal nitrogen pollution is a critical sustainability challenge with environmental, social and economic consequences. Upstream ‘sweet spots’ where interventions will have maximum mitigation effectiveness and social buy-in are attractive but may prove difficult to implement in urban stream networks.

Natural silk, mechanically strong and biodegradable, offers great potential for sustainable functional materials. Here the authors present a simple thermomechanical method for fabricating high-performance structural and optically active materials directly from silk fibres.

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.

NatD is an acetyltransferase responsible for N-α-terminal acetylation of the histone H4 and H2A and has been linked to cell growth. Here the authors show that NatD-mediated acetylation of histone H4 serine 1 competes with the phosphorylation by CK2α at the same residue thus leading to the upregulation of Slug and tumor progression.

RNA velocity is a widely used method to predict the fate of single cells. Here the authors show that the concept can be adapted to predict the fate of individual human subjects, using RNA velocity of whole blood at a single point in time to predict future clinical outcomes and treatment responses.

Grand anti-desertification schemes often fail when trees die and funding dries up — yet one project has broken the mould.

Evidence on the effectiveness of national policies against cropland degradation is limited. Using global satellite data from 2001 to 2019, this study addresses this gap and reveals which country characteristics are associated with distinct policy success levels.

The discovery of new gold deposits has declined by 45% over the past 10 years. Lintern et al.present new evidence for the occurrence of particulate gold in trees growing above buried mineral deposits, and propose vegetation sampling as a mineral exploration method.

High-resolution analyses of blood-derived whole-genome sequence data from UK Biobank detect new mosaic chromosomal alterations and identify rare protein-coding variants associated with clonal expansions of copy-neutral loss-of-heterozygosity mutations.

Succinate acts as a competitive inhibitor of mammalian aspartate transcarbamylase (ATCase), leading to impaired pyrimidine biosynthesis and reduced proliferation under SDH inhibition.

The authors investigated metabolic remodeling in response to stem cell activation and the effect of aging on this response. Aging muscle stem cells lose a key glutamine-fueled metabolic pathway that powers de novo lipogenesis needed for activation. This study shows that reductive TCA cycling helps preserve stem cell function and may offer a new target against sarcopenia.

A large-scale proteomics analysis of the dark proteome by the TransCODE Consortium reveals many translated non-canonical open reading frames to encode microproteins and peptideins.

Plant community properties affect ecosystem functioning via energy fluxes in food webs, with the leaf and root resource economics of dominant tree species controlling soil food web multifunctionality.

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.

An absolute photon upconversion efficiency of 8.2% is demonstrated using a liquid triplet fusion medium that behaves as solid on excitonic timescales. The findings may drive higher efficiencies in nanoscale solid-state photochemical upconversion devices.

Peritoneal metastasis of ovarian cancer is often accompanied by the accumulation of ascitic fluid. Here, the authors find that ascites protects ovarian cancer cells against ferroptosis, thus enabling their spread in the peritoneum.

The authors develop RO-iSCAT, which uses rotational integration of off-axis oblique-illuminated interference scattering signals to remove speckle noise in real time. It enables fast, label-free imaging of axial spatiotemporal dynamics of tubular membrane protrusions.

Different approaches to achieving Target 3 affect distinct and socially diverse populations. These contrasting socioeconomic contexts imply varying challenges and opportunities, underscoring the importance of context-specific, equitable implementation.

Researchers show that a disease-causing Tau mutation disrupts the autophagy-lysosome pathway in human neurons, leading to Tau accumulation, and that enhancing autophagy can partially restore protein clearance.

The authors conduct a national inventory on individual tree carbon stocks in Rwanda using aerial imagery and deep learning. Most mapped trees are located in farmlands; new methods allow partitioning to any landscape categories, effective planning and optimization of carbon sequestration and the economic benefits of trees.

Salladay-Perez and colleagues explore senescence induction in human and mouse macrophages using multiomic profiling. They characterize a p21⁺TREM2⁺ senescent macrophage population, which they functionally implicate in inflammaging and liver disease.

Endocrine therapies are the main adjuvant therapy for estrogen receptor positive breast cancer, but 30% of patients recur. Here, the authors discover that endocrine therapy upregulates Rac1 signalling component P-Rex1, and inhibition of Rac1 reduces tumour growth in refractory breast cancer models.

Mapping DNA variants that modulate mortality using a starting population of 6,438 young mice defined 29 distinct loci that influence lifespan and mortality with divergent age- and sex-specific effects, as well as 30 loci that specifically couple body mass with longevity.

Jena, Qu et al. show that mannadjuvant, a formulation of fungal mannan and aluminum hydroxide, increases the magnitude, durability and breadth of the response elicited by mRNA-based vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 variants in mice and non-human primates.

Kozlova et al. report a functional role for NDRG1 in regulating R-loops and DNA repair, thereby linking cancer-associated fibroblast-derived extracellular matrix to chemotherapy responses in pancreatic cancer.

Photosystem II drives photosynthesis, but how desert algae adapt to excess of light remains unclear. Here, authors present a cryo-EM structure of PSII from Chlorella ohadii, revealing structural features and antenna arrangements that may contribute to its stability.

Ancient grain DNA reveals wheat’s mosaic origin, shaped by independent mutations and hybridization of northern and southern wild lineages. Further mixing, migration and human-driven adaptation guided wheat domestication and reshaped early agriculture.

DNA hybridisation thermodynamics parameters underlie rational design of oligonucleotides for diagnostics and nanotechnology. Here, the authors present an accurate method to measure the free energy of a given DNA structure at specific temperature and buffer conditions.

The identification of cellular targets for natural products that potently inhibit the growth of cancer cell lines implicates oxysterol-binding proteins in the growth of cancer cells. These natural products, termed ORPphilins, also affect sphingomyelin biosynthesis.