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The somitic mesoderm is seen as the main source of brown adipose tissue, although some depots are of partially unknown origin. Here, the authors show that Osr1 labels multipotent dorsal aorta progenitors at E9.5 that contribute to cartilage, muscle, and adipose tissues, revealing a non-somitic contribution to several brown adipose depots.

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.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is key for metabolic balance. Here, the authors show that RAP250 deficiency enhances BAT activity. Under these conditions, BAT-derived neuritin-1 regulates thermogenesis and fat metabolism, showing therapeutic promise for obesity and metabolic disorders.

Omnivores like bears can switch between plant and animal diets, potentially helping them respond to changing conditions. By combining modern and fossil data, this study shows that bears shift toward carnivory in harsher climates and toward herbivory in more productive environments.

Endothermy facilitated mammalian species radiation, but the events leading to sustained thermogenesis are not clear. Here, the authors report functional brown adipose tissue in a protoendothermic mammal, linking nonshivering thermogenesis directly to the roots of eutherian endothermic evolution.

Speckle patterns are a manifestation of decoherence and can result from two-particle interference. Here, the authors image atomic speckle for guided matter waves and link this to atom bunching in the second-order correlation function, suggesting potential use in squeezed-atom interferometry applications.

A cortical premotor network in HVC, once initiated, can sustain and regulate the sequential production of zebra finch song syllables without major extrinsic inputs.

Brown dwarfs are small stars that are believed to be made of a warm dense plasma that cannot support hydrogen fusion as larger stars do. Here, the authors present a method for studying the properties, such as resistivity, of warm dense plasmas in the laboratory.

Targeting neurons that regulate energy balance may offer new approaches for obesity treatment. Here, authors show that chemogenetic and pharmacological manipulation of GABAergic neurons in the DRN/vlPAG increases adaptive thermogenesis and reduces weight gain in mice fed a highfat diet.

Heparan sulfate proteoglycans facilitate the assembly of clusters of glycoRNAs and cell surface RNA-binding proteins, which negatively modulate VEGF-A signalling and angiogenesis.

Large-effect variants in autism remain elusive. Here, the authors use long-read sequencing to assemble phased genomes for 189 individuals, identifying pathogenic variants in TBL1XR1, MECP2, and SYNGAP1, plus nine candidate structural variants missed by short-read methods.

This study detects Chlamydia pneumoniae in human retina and brain, increasing with AD severity. Retinal pathogen load with Aβ₄₂ may predict AD stage. In models, infection drives Aβ deposition and NLRP3 activation, worsening pathology and cognition.

Using a non-human primate model, the authors identified the tissue sites of initial viral rebound after discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy, demonstrating that such rebound preferentially occurs in the gastrointestinal tract-associated lymphoid tissues.

Moral-Sanz, Fernández-Carrasco and colleagues identify senolytic properties of sea anemone-derived pore-forming toxins, with selectivity mediated by senescence-associated lipid profiles. An optimized senotoxin improves the efficacy of chemotherapy in mouse models.

An alternative mating system, termed parasex, produces progeny with high levels of genotypic diversity and is able to fulfil the roles of meiosis when it is absent in the fungal pathobiont Candida albicans.

A wide survey of pesticide effects on soil biodiversity across 373 sites in Europe reveals that pesticide residues occur in 70% of sites and have major effects on soil biodiversity and functional ecology.

Individual dietary specialization is impacted by development, social learning, genetics, and environment. Here, the authors document European brown bear diet in a multigenerational female sample, finding that social learning during rearing was the most important contributor to dietary specialization.

cellSTAAR advances noncoding rare variant association analysis by integrating single-cell genomics data.

While the photoreceptor outer segments in the bird outer retina have access to oxygen, the inner retina operates under chronic anoxia, supported by anaerobic glycolysis in the retinal neurons.

The structure and functioning of soil food webs between biomes remains unknown. Here, tropical soil food webs are shown to have higher energy flux, predation and herbivory than temperate soil food webs which are based on litter and microbial biomass.

Brown adipose tissue is a promising target for the treatment of obesity with the potential to increase energy expenditure. Here, the authors use pharmacological and genetic approaches to block AXL receptor activation and show that its inhibition enhances brown adipocyte functionality and thermogenesis, leading to weight loss and metabolic improvements in mice.

Analysis of the cool brown dwarf Gliese 229 B suggests that it is actually a close binary of two less massive brown dwarfs, explaining its low luminosity and settling the conflict between theoretical predictions and measurements.

By using superconducting quantum interference device arrays as microwave impedance transformers, piezoelectric microwave–acoustic transduction operating close to the maximal efficiency–bandwidth product of lithium niobate can be achieved.

A paleogenome from an approximately 100,000-year-old polar bear shows massive prehistoric, and largely unidirectional, gene flow from polar bears into brown bears at a time of climate change-induced overlap in the ranges of the two species. This admixture event cannot be detected using genomic data from living polar bears.

β-Adrenergic signaling is a core regulator of brown adipocyte function. Here, the authors provide unbiased insight into the transcriptional network controlled by lipolysis in brown adipocytes, showing that lipolysis is required for much of the thermogenic gene program activated by β-adrenergic signals.

Chlorpyrifos is a widely-used pesticide and a common residue on vegetables and fruits. Here the authors show that at non-neurotoxic doses, chlorpyrifos reduces energy expenditure, by inhibiting diet induced thermogenesis, and promotes obesity and insulin resistance.

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.

Approved antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) remain constrained by a limited repertoire of payloads with restricted modes of action. Here, the authors present phosphoramidate-based self-immolative linker units that facilitate stable attachment in serum and traceless drug release in the target cell from aliphatic and aromatic alcohols with various modes of action.

Vertical transmission is thought to favour beneficial host–microbe interactions, but these may also be context dependent. Here Bruijning et al. show with a model that variable environments can select for bet-hedging by hosts via imperfect vertical transmission of microbes.

Palaeogenomic data from four Late Pleistocene cave bears reveals that cave bears admixed with brown bears in the Pleistocene epoch, and despite cave bears going extinct during the Last Glacial Maximum, extant brown bears maintain a genomic contribution from cave bears.

AvrPm4 is a chimeric powdery mildew effector that is recognized by the wheat kinase fusion resistance protein Pm4. The pathogen can evade Pm4 recognition by expressing the suppressor SvrPm4, an RNase-like effector with multiple roles.

This study examines long-term changes in species richness across tropical forests in the Andes and Amazon. Hotter, drier and more seasonal forests in the eastern and southern Amazon are losing species, while Northern Andean forests are accumulating species, acting as a refuge for climate-displaced species.

How heavy a person is and how much active brown fat they have depends on their father and the season in which they were conceived.

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.

Many animals change color to hide from predators or attract mates, but how this flexibility is controlled is unclear. Here, the authors show that African cichlid fish change color by modulating gene activity through DNA methylation, revealing an epigenetic switch for body color plasticity.