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The Leidenfrost effect limits high-temperature cooling. Here, the authors develop a lightweight aerogel-based vapor percolator that reconstructs vapor flow through integrated micro-nano tunnels, enabling ultra-fast cooling up to 1,000 °C.

This genome-wide association study on persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among Chinese confirms previously associated genetic loci while discovering a novel protective locus at 8p21.3. The study also demonstrates the nearby gene INST10 suppresses HBV replication in vitro.

This work demonstrates a monolithically integrated VCSEL with an embedded passive cavity, achieving an ultranarrow ~1 MHz linewidth and enabling high-stability chip-scale atomic clocks.

Optical computing, involving on-chip integrated logic units, could provide improved performance over semiconductor-based computing. Here, a binary NOR gate is developed from cascaded OR and NOT gates in four-terminal plasmonic nanowire networks; the work could lead to new optical computing technologies.

Powdery mildew is a devasting disease for both common wheat and durum wheat. Here, the authors report a pair of genetically linked nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR)-encoding genes confer powdery mildew resistance and show its potential in wheat disease-resistant breeding.

Researchers have achieved AND, OR and NOT gates, using localized exciton polaritons at room temperature. The logic is based on temporal gates, rather than relying on the usual spatial propagation approaches.

Tough hydrogels have potential in a range of applications, but achieving the required balance of properties can be challenging. Here, the authors report the use of carbon dots to induce the formation of crystalline domains in hydrogels, to give materials with favourable properties.

Light-induced degradation in ambient air hinders the long-term operational stability of tin-lead perovskite solar cells. Here, authors monitor the irreversible phase reconstruction process during perovskite degradation, guiding stability improvements for tin-lead perovskite and tandem solar cells.

Zhang et al. show that ALK phosphorylates SMAD4 at Tyr 95 to block its binding to DNA, representing a mutation-independent mechanism for blocking the tumour suppressor function of TGF-β in ALK-positive cancers.

The authors develop a quantitative probe for plasmonic near-field enhancement in a ~ 1 nm gap based on a MoS₂-spaced silver nanocube-on-mirror nanocavity. They derive an enhancement factor of ~1644, representing an upper limit for local near-field plasmonic enhancement in the visible/near-infrared.

Scientists have gained a fundamental insight into the ultrafast dynamics in nanoplasma formation and relaxations, yet the effective control on the emission behaviors of nanoplasma, is still lacking. Here, the authors report the experimental realization of well-controlled ion emission from transient nanoplasmas induced by intense femtosecond laser pulses.

A tilted plasmonic nanocavity enables shortening of the luminescence decay time of a rare-earth-doped nanoparticle to sub-50 ns. High quantum efficiency enhancement, chiral polarization and directional far-field emission are maintained.

Parasitoid wasps are rapidly developing as a model for evolutionary biology. Here, the authors analyze the genomes of two Anastatus wasps, revealing genomic innovations related to maintenance of genomic stability, and rapid turnover of venom genes.

Current food production systems are heavily dependent on synthetic inputs that threaten the environment and human wellbeing. Results from multi-site field experiments in Thailand, China and Vietnam reveal that surrounding rice fields with nectar-producing plants significantly reduces pest numbers and the need for insecticide applications, while increasing yields.

Heterologous vaccination with Convidecia, a recombinant adenovirus type 5-vectored COVID-19 vaccine, after one or two doses of CoronaVac, an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, is more reactogenic but elicits significantly higher levels of neutralizing antibodies than homologous vaccination.

An introgression platform for transferring genetic variations of Aegilops tauschii to hexaploid wheat is established based on synthetic octoploid wheat. Combined with newly generated genome resources of A. tauschii, it represents a powerful tool for wheat gene discovery and breeding.

Here, the authors demonstrate an analogue reversed Cherenkov radiation at mid-infrared frequencies in MoO₃, a natural hyperbolic material, and show that the radiation angle and the quality factor can be increased by stacking hBN layers on the MoO₃ surface.

Zhang et al. report that a non-canonical cGAS–STING pathway activates PERK–eIF2α to elaborate cap-dependent mRNA translation and contributes to senescence and fibrosis.

Zhong, Wan and Cai et al. show that deficiency of the microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-2 (mPGES-2) in pancreatic β-cells improves glucose metabolism and insulin secretion in mice by inhibiting β-cell senescence and dysfunction during diabetes.

Recent experiments with plasmonic nanostructures have found phenomena that cannot be explained classically, necessitating new theoretical models. Toscano et al. present a self-consistent hydrodynamic theory that describes both the nonlocal response and the electronic spill-out for noble and simple metals.

Current proposals suitable for experimental realization of topologically protected optical states rely on complicated structures or only operate in the microwave regime. Here, Pan et al. propose topological Dirac plasmons to be realized at infrared frequencies in a periodically patterned graphene monolayer, subject to a magnetic field of only 2 Tesla.

Plasmon rulers can be used for resolving ultrasmall material changes. Here, the authors show how cavity plasmons in a metal nanowire-on-mirror setup can be used to probe vertical dimensional changes with sub-picometer differential resolution using two carefully chosen material systems.

Long Yu and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for hepatitis B virus–related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC). They report that genetic variants in STAT4 and HLA-DQ genes confer risk of HBV-HCC.

We not only confirmed the superfluorescence effect, but also demonstrated the phase transition to cooperative exciton-polariton condensation. This was achieved by applying a regulatory dimension of light field.

A new cross-validated neuroimaging biomarker that reflects striatal dysfunctioning can be used to distinguish patients with schizophrenia from healthy controls, and is associated with treatment response to antipsychotics.

Modifying recurrent neural networks to encode working memory with transient trajectory leads to higher performance in simulated tasks, supporting the transient activity theory as a working memory mechanism from the model design point of view.

Road space rationing policies reduced traffic volume by half in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games, which in turn decreased the mean surface temperature by up to 2.4 °C, according to statistical analysis of remotely sensed thermal observations.