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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.

The real space magnetic texture of kagome materials is often complex and temperature dependent. Here, the authors demonstrate spectroscopic access to a single magnetic domain in kagome metal DyMn₆Sn₆ and provide insights into the orbital magnetization.

PTCHD1-AS, which encodes a long non-coding RNA, is associated with the aetiology of autism spectrum disorder in humans through striatal molecular and circuit-level dysregulation.

The authors present Gemini, their bifunctional replicon platform capable of functioning as either self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) or self-amplifying DNA (saDNA).

Metainterfaces that have repetitive surface unit structures, and are inspired by the mortise–tenon and finger-joint structures used in traditional woodworking, can be used to create functional interfaces with enhanced electronic and thermal transport.

High-latitude soils are future soil organic carbon loss hotspots, with losses dominated by particulate organic carbon (POC). The fraction of POC in total SOC (f_POC) is a key indicator, emphasizing the climate importance of preserving POC.

Ding et al. present a scaffold-aware foundation model for small-molecule natural products leveraging masked objectives and contrastive learning to enhance taxonomy classification, genome mining and virtual screening in drug discovery.

Interferometric scattering microscopy combined with photoluminescence imaging enables the fast, high-throughput screening of size and quantum yield for thousands of perovskite nanocubes at the single-particle level across their entire life cycle.

Bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane (BCP) boronic esters are crucial synthetic intermediates for the synthesis of a variety of BCP-containing drugs with improved pharmacokinetic properties. Here, the authors report a general approach to BCP boronic ester via direct, single-step decarboxylation of carboxylic acids.

Genome annotation typically requires costly experimental assays across diverse cell types, limiting its scalability. Here, authors introduce BioSeq2Seq, a deep learning framework that leverages DNA sequence and run-on sequencing (RO-seq) data to accurately predict histone modifications, functional elements, gene expression, and transcription factor binding sites.

Integration of data representing 35,120 brain scans from diverse global studies enables construction of reference charts that define normative microstructural and macrostructural properties across the human lifespan for research and clinical diagnosis.

The CMS experiment at CERN reports one of the highest-precision measurements of the W boson mass, finding it in line with standard model predictions and at odds with recent anomalous measurements.

An analytical pipeline called Iteratively Defined Lengths of Inaccessibility (IDLI) maps the genome-wide occupancy of a range of nucleosome types and shows that most nucleosomes exhibit programmed ‘distortion’, in which the DNA exists mainly in a partially accessible state.

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental energy release mechanism in space and laboratory plasmas. Here, the authors show persistent magnetic null-point reconnection in the solar corona at a scale of about 390 km.

The two-dimensional atomic layers of black phosphorus may be exfoliated to create devices with desirable electronic transport properties. Here, the authors observe two-dimensional quantum transport in black phosphorus quantum wells, protected from oxidation by encapsulation in a polymer layer.

Photoinduced ligand-to-metal charge transfer is used to enable abiotic cross-couplings in metalloenzymes. Engineering a 2-histidine metal site and substituting iron with nickel activates PsEFE for nickel-catalysed C(sp²)–S coupling reactions between thiols and aryl bromides. Directed evolution yielded metalloenzyme variants that can produce a range of thioethers with high efficiency.

METALoci, a new three-dimensional genome computational tool, reveals a major rewiring of regulatory interactions during sex determination. By combining this method with transgenic models, the authors identify a noncoding regulatory region at the Fgf9 locus and reveal that Meis genes are key regulators of sexual differentiation.

Emerging multidrug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a global health threat in the treatment of gonorrhoea. This study reports the discovery and characterization of a promising antigonorrhoea agent that addresses antibiotic resistance.

Graphene on boron nitride gives rise to a moiré superlattice displaying the Hofstadter butterfly: a fractal dependence of energy bands on external magnetic fields. Now, by means of capacitance spectroscopy, further aspects of this system are revealed—most notably, suppression of quantum Hall antiferromagnetism at particular commensurate magnetic fluxes.

A deep-tissue light source made from mechanoluminescent transducers stimulated by focused ultrasound enables wide imaging of live animal vasculature, and modulation of neuronal activity and behaviour.

LHAASO has detected γ-ray emission with a spectrum extending to 2 PeV from the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) powered by PSR J1849-0001, indicating an extreme particle acceleration efficiency and challenging the current particle acceleration theories.

The Perseverance rover has made the most definitive identification of Fe-phosphate minerals on Mars to date. High-resolution chemical and textural PIXL analyses suggest they originally formed after vivianite in a potentially habitable environment.

A scalable architecture that is based on a quantum dot crossbar array comprising tightly pitched spin-qubit tiles and implemented in planar germanium, can be used characterize spin qubits.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

A geological, petrographic and geochemical survey of distinctive mudstone and conglomerate outcrops of the Bright Angel formation on Mars reveals textures, chemical and mineral characteristics, and organic signatures that warrant consideration as potential biosignatures.

An analog optical computer that combines analog electronics, three-dimensional optics, and an iterative architecture accelerates artificial intelligence inference and combinatorial optimization in a single platform, paving a promising path for faster and sustainable computing.

The authors from the ALICE collaboration identify multiple species of mesons and baryons and measure the anisotropic flow with non-flow removal techniques in pp and p-Pb collisions at the LHC, identifying the hallmark of quark flow associated with an expanding quark-gluon plasma.

The spin helicity in helimagnets may be exploited in magnetic memory applications if electrically controllable and detectable. Here, helicity manipulation driven by an electric current and detection by second harmonic resistivity measurements in an itinerant helimagnet MnP is demonstrated.

Efficient electro-optic conversion is central to photonic computing, and thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) offers this capability. Here, the authors demonstrate computing circuits on the TFLN platform, enabling the next generation of photonic computing systems featuring both high-speed and low-power.

Analysis of the asexually reproducing Amazon molly Poecilia formosa and its sexually reproducing progenitors Poecilia mexicana and Poecilia latipinna reveals that it maintains a divergent mutational landscape and has evaded functional mutational decay via gene conversion.

Sand flume studies show that the distinct morphology of martian stepped deltas could only have originated from a single basin-filling event on a timescale of tens of years and may have required an amount of water comparable to that discharged by large terrestrial rivers.

Most sunlight received by photovoltaic panels is converted to and lost as heat, increasing their temperature and deteriorating their performance. Here, the authors propose a multi-energy generation photovoltaic leaf concept with biomimetic transpiration and demonstrate much improved performance.

Most of the notable properties of graphene are a result of the cone-like nature of the points in its electronic structure where its conduction and valance bands meet. Similar structures arise in 2D HgTe quantum wells, but without the spin- and valley-degeneracy of graphene; their properties are also likely to be easier to control.

Spin–orbit coupling in graphene is small, which makes controlling spin currents in this otherwise useful spintronic material difficult. Avsar et al.now demonstrate that combining graphene with few-layer tungsten disulphide increases its spin–orbit coupling by three orders of magnitude

The lowest-frequency gravitational wave background may be shaped by supermassive black hole binaries that scatter nearby stars or dark matter. In this case, the NANOGrav 15-year dataset favours dense galactic centres with 10⁶ solar masses per cubic parsec.

Discovery of a nearly complete skeleton of Huayracursor jaguensis, a Carnian dinosaur from the Northern Precordillera Basin in northwestern Argentina provides evidence of increased body size and early cervical elongation during the Late Triassic epoch.

It is thought that water flowed on the surface of Mars in the geological past during periods of high orbital obliquity. Here, the authors assess how much liquid water was present and suggest that debris flows occurred at Earth-like frequencies during high-obliquity periods in the past million years.

Reducing China’s CO₂ emissions is crucial to achieving global carbon neutrality. This Perspective synthesizes bottom-up and top-down estimates to develop a regional CO₂ budget for China and evaluate pathways and uncertainties towards net zero.

The authors present SVclone, a computational method for inferring the cancer cell fraction of structural variants from whole-genome sequencing data.

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help improve risk predictions in acute leukaemia and reduce systemic health disparities in the diagnostic process. Here, the authors assemble a diverse, international cohort of 6,206 patients with acute leukaemias and deploy an AI tool to support diagnosis based on standard laboratory results, with refinements for both adult and peadiatric leukaemias.

Substantial evolution of the Nile River over the past 11,500 years, shaping the riverine landscape and ancient Egyptian culture, is linked to climate and environmental changes, according to analyses of sediment cores near Luxor dated with optically stimulated luminescence.

Unique microorganisms of a fossil river delta in the Atacama Desert unveil the current limits of life detection on Mars.

In situ measurements of the elemental abundances in the lunar southern high-latitude regions show that the local terrain is fairly uniform and mostly composed of ferroan anorthosite, a product of lunar magma ocean crystallization.

Divergent white matter metabolic patterns reveal a mechanistic basis for cognitive resilience and enhance prediction of future cognitive decline beyond established aging and dementia biomarkers.