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Cryptococcus neoformans is the leading cause of death by fungal meningoencephalitis. Here, the authors study the roles played by 129 putative kinases in the growth and virulence of C. neoformans, identifying potential targets for development of anticryptococcal drugs.

The genetic link between placenta function and congenital heart defects has been established, though the cellular mechanisms underlying this connection is less clear. Here they show that PIBF1 regulates syncytiotrophoblast fusion and that loss of PIBF1 also negatively impacts heart development, providing a potential link between the development of these two organs.

Light trapped in the active polymeric layer limits the total efficiency of polymer light-emitting diodes. Here, Lee et al.get round this bottleneck by enhancing light extraction in waveguide optical modes via ripple-shaped nanostructures that spontaneously form on ZnO electrode surfaces.

Increasing the activity of the proteasome can prevent the accumulation of protein aggregates within the cell. Han et al.show that nanoparticle-mediated delivery of purified proteasomes to cells reduces proteotoxic stress resulting from tau overexpression, and prevents to accumulation of tau aggregates.

Carrier injection from a metallic electrode into an oxide insulator component is made difficult by the large energy level offset between the two. Here, the authors show that an intermediary zinc-oxide layer enables an Ohmic electrical contact between a metal and an oxide insulator layer.

Microbiome-secreted proteins act as key modulators of host-microbiome crosstalk. Here, the authors show that Amuc_1409 protein, secreted from Akkermansia muciniphila, plays a key role in intestinal homeostasis by regulating intestinal stem cells through interaction with E-cadherin, indicating its potential as a biomolecule for improving gut health.

Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that causes meningoencephalitis. Here the authors describe the production of a gene-deletion mutant collection representing most C. neoformansnon-essential transcription factors, providing insight into the signalling networks that govern the biology and pathogenicity of this fungus.

Lateral flow assays are valuable rapid diagnostic tests, but low sensitivity can hinder their precision. Here, the authors report an enrichment method using nanoporous AAO and red blood cell membranes, which when applied to patient samples prior to analysis can improve sensitivity up to 20-fold.

Large-scale production of fibers from two dimensional materials opens a pathway to promising applications. Here the authors report meter-long MXene fibers with high electrical conductivity that are fabricated via continuous wet spinning and demonstrated in electrical wires.

The controlled oxidation of magnetic layers in a multilayer structure enables the spin–orbit torques to be engineered.

Virtual memory T cells have antimicrobial functions but whether they can contribute to inflammatory pathology is unclear. Here the authors show that a subset of CD8⁺ T cells that originates from virtual memory T cells upon cytokine stimulation can drive the chronic inflammatory disease alopecia areata via innate-like cytotoxic effector functions.

Multiscale design principles and empirical processing techniques are considered for the design of high-energy-density Li-based batteries using polymer electrolytes. Here, the authors demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach by assembling and testing ampere-hour-level solid-state lithium-based pouch cells.

Using silicon nitride waveguides processed by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition, full integration of ultrahigh-Q resonators with other photonic devices is now possible, representing a critical advance for future photonic circuits and systems.

Achieving uniform Li plating in solid-state batteries is key for their practical application. Here, the authors integrate a silver-doped lithium argyrodite layer in initially anode-free all-solid-state batteries, promoting uniform lithium plating and cell operation under a low stack pressure of 2 MPa through silver exsolution.

The proteasome plays a key role in proteostasis by mediating the degradation of ubiquitinated substrates. Here the authors show that an open-gate mutant of the proteasome is hyperactive towards a subset of substrates and can effectively delay the accumulation of toxic protein aggregates.

Water plays an essential role in enzyme catalysis, but direct observations linking enzyme catalysis and active-site water pose a significant challenge due to experimental difficulties. Here, the authors employ an ultraviolet photolysis technique with temperature-controlled X-ray crystallography to track the catalytic pathway of carbonic anhydrase II at 1.2 Å resolution.

2-Cys peroxiredoxin (Prx) enzymes are highly expressed in most cancers but how they promote cancer progression is unclear. Here the authors show that in colorectal cancers with APC mutation, PrxII binds to tankyrase and prevents its oxidative inactivation, thereby preventing Axin1-dependent degradation of ²b-catenin.

The mechanisms for disease progression in alcohol-related steatohepatitis are incompletely understood. Here the authors report that binge drinking on top of chronic alcohol consumption in mice triggers the release of glutamate by hepatocytes, leading to liver inflammation via mGluR5/NOX2 -mediated reactive oxygen species production in Kupffer cells.

The integration of flexible electronics with conventional devices has been hampered by the lack of suitable soldering techniques able to withstand stretching. Jeonget al. use a porous substrate to fabricate biocompatible, stretchable electronics that can be interfaced with commercial components.

The Pohang Accelerator Laboratory X-ray Free Electron Laser (PAL-XFEL) in South Korea has now entered operation with a timing jitter of just 20 fs.

Eukaryotic algae and cyanobacteria can produce hydrogen in the presence of little or no oxygen. Here, the authors show that two microalgal strains are capable of producing hydrogen under aerobic conditions, and provide new insights into the natural evolution of oxygen-tolerant hydrogenase.

Aging impairs muscle and bone health, and exercise is known to mitigate this decline, partly through secreted factors. Here, the authors show that the muscle-derived factor CLCF1, which declines with age but is restored by exercise, mediates musculoskeletal benefits in aged mice.

A transparent twistable and stretchable MoO₃/Au/MoO₃ electrode is demonstrated by Choi et al. for organic light-emitting diodes. The device fabricated on thin elastomer shows enhanced EQE with minimum efficiency roll-off owing to the improved charge injection and heat dissipation from the substrate.