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Transcription factor osr2 is identified as a specific marker and regulator of mural lymphatic endothelial cell (muLEC) differentiation and maintenance, and muLECs and border-associated macrophages share functional analogies but are not homologous, providing an example of convergent evolution.

Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

Specific pain-sensing nociceptors and chemosensory tuft cells form a circuit to promote type 2 immune responses in the intestine.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

Experiments on the embryonic chick brain reveal distinct directional growth patterns and a tripartite hypothalamus, challenging the classic segmented prosomere model and offering an updated view of how the forebrain is organised.

Here, the authors present genome-wide aDNA from 138 Early Bronze Age individuals from Lower Austria. Their findings point to a patrilocal society with non-strict female exogamic practices and long-distance genetic connections across Central Europe.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

A large genome-wide association study of more than 5 million individuals reveals that 12,111 single-nucleotide polymorphisms account for nearly all the heritability of height attributable to common genetic variants.

Birth season has been associated with differences in epigenetic, developmental and health outcomes, but associations to developing metabolome are unclear. Here the authors report a secondary exploratory analysis of The Early Life Interventions for Childhood growth and development in Tanzania (ELICIT) trial showing that in rural Tanzania, an infant’s birth season shapes their metabolism up to 18 months of life, linked to rainfall, food insecurity and breastmilk composition.

Despite often being poorly immunogenic, some subsets of patients with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative (HR + /HER2-) breast cancer benefit from immunotherapy. Here, the authors present a randomised pilot clinical trial comparing a neoadjuvant run-in of either nab-paclitaxel or pembrolizumab (anti-PD-1) monotherapy, followed by the combination, in patients with stage II-III HR + /HER2- breast cancer.

The corpus callosum is essential for coordinating sensorimotor, associative and executive functions. Here, the authors show a GWAS of corpus callosum morphology implicates prenatal growth pathways, immune-driven thinning, and genetic overlap with cortical and neuropsychiatric traits.

While anti-PD-1 therapy can be effective in patients with breast cancer, response varies and is often limited by the development of resistance. Here, the authors investigate molecular determinant of response and resistance using multiomic single nucleus sequencing of longitudinal biopsies taken from breast cancer patients on a phase II clinical trial investigating neoadjuvant chemotherapy and pembrolizumab (anti-PD-1).

A comprehensive single-cell RNA sequencing study delineates cell-type-specific transcriptomic changes in the brain associated with normal ageing that will inform the investigation into functional changes and the interaction of ageing and disease.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

A genome-wide association study of critically ill patients with COVID-19 identifies genetic signals that relate to important host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage that may be targeted by repurposing drug treatments.

The authors describe an integrated atlas of the diverse cell types in the mouse primary motor cortex.

One version of the gpt-oss large language model can run on a laptop, and performs nearly as well as the company’s most powerful models.

Whole-genome sequencing analysis of individuals with primary immunodeficiency identifies new candidate disease-associated genes and shows how the interplay between genetic variants can explain the variable penetrance and complexity of the disease.

Using well-calibrated statistical methods the authors jointly analyze Undiagnosed Diseases Network genomes, identifying known and novel disease genes. Software is publicly available to support future cross-cohort rare disease discovery efforts.

Artis and colleagues show that enteric neurons produce CGRP-related ADM2 to promote intestinal tissue-protective functions in ILC2s.

Inflammatory monocytes in the brain meninges promote stress-induced fear behaviour, and the pathways involved can be modulated using psychedelic compounds.

Lo and colleagues report that double-positive thymocytes from neonates express less Zap70 and show reduced Ca^2⁺/NFAT signaling compared to double-positive thymocytes from older thymi. This diminished Ca^2⁺ signaling alters negative selection for self-reactive TCRs, resulting in a cell-intrinsic temporal window for regulatory T versus conventional T cell development in the thymus.

A distinct population of CD4 T cells resides in specific regions of the steady-state brain, and these T cells are programmed in the periphery by the microbiome to coordinate adaptive behaviour.

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.

A large, open dataset containing parallel recordings from six visual cortical and two thalamic areas of the mouse brain is presented, from which the relative timing of activity in response to visual stimuli and behaviour is used to construct a hierarchy scheme that corresponds to anatomical connectivity data.

The BIN1 SNP rs744373 is associated with higher CSF tau and phosphorylated tau levels. Here the authors show, using PET imaging, that this SNP is associated with tau accumulation in the brain as well as impaired memory in older individuals without dementia.

Two doses of the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 boost antibody responses and functions in phase 1/2 trial participants.

A multi-cohort genome-wide association study of tau PET, a brain imaging-based marker of Alzheimer’s disease, identifies a CYP1B1-RMDN2 locus as associated with higher tau and faster cognitive decline. These results suggest a new genetic contribution to cerebral tau and target for Alzheimer’s disease research.

The antibody response to COVID-19 vaccines varies among individuals. Here the authors find that older age, male sex, smoking, higher BMI, vaccine type, and certain comorbidities are associated with lower anti-S1 antibody levels after COVID-19 vaccinations, indicating that certain groups might benefit from higher frequency or doses of vaccination.

The BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network has constructed a multimodal cell census and atlas of the mammalian primary motor cortex in a landmark effort towards understanding brain cell-type diversity, neural circuit organization and brain function.

The KL-VS haplotype of the Klotho gene has been associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Here the authors show an association between the KL-VS haplotype and amyloid-dependent tau accumulation using PET data.

Geospatial estimates of the prevalence of anemia in women of reproductive age across 82 low-income and middle-income countries reveals considerable heterogeneity and inequality at national and subnational levels, with few countries on track to meet the WHO Global Nutrition Targets by 2030.