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Phase change materials are promising for thermal energy storage yet their practical potential is challenging to assess. Here, using an analogy with batteries, Woods et al. use the thermal rate capability and Ragone plots to evaluate trade-offs in energy storage density and power density in thermal storage devices.

A rapidly inducible, autoinhibited SpCas9 and quantitative assessment of double-strand cleavage and indel formation allow insights into Cas9 kinetics in cell lines.

Chronic pancreatitis is a risk factor for pancreatic cancer; however, the mechanisms underlying cellular susceptibility to oncogenic transformation are complex. A recent study reports a damage-associated progenitor cell state, controlled by the transcription factors KLF5 and members of the AP-1 family, that initiates tumorigenesis in mouse models of pancreatic cancer in which the proto-oncogene KRAS is altered.

An exome-wide association study of six smoking phenotypes in up to 749,459 individuals identifies associations of rare coding variants in CHRNB2 that may reduce the likelihood of smoking.

Patients with classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) respond well to PD-1 blockade, but the underlying cellular insights are still lacking. Here, the authors use single-cell transcriptome and spatial analyses to identify distinct circulating and tumor-infiltrating CD4⁺ T cell, B cell and IL1β⁺ monocyte/macrophage features associated with response to PD-1 blockade in cHL.

The molecular mechanisms that regulate intestinal Clu+ revival stem cells (revSCs) and their niche to enable regeneration in response to injury are unclear. Here, the authors show that mice without the phospholipid transport protein, TNFAIP8, causes less revSCs to be induced following injury.

Clinical evidences have demonstrated limited efficacy of HER2-targeted therapies in patients with gastric cancer (GC). Here the authors show that survival benefit to anti-HER2 antibody Trastuzumab is reduced in GC patients with high levels of the caveolin-1 and that, in preclinical cancer models, antibody drug efficacy can be improved by modulating caveolin-1 levels with cholesterol-depleting drugs, statins.

Gammaherpesviruses are DNA viruses that result in lifelong latent infections. Here Owens and colleagues show that intrinsic activation of p53 restricts gammaherpesvirus-linked germinal centre B cell expansion during the establishment of latency in a murine model.

Yuzhalin et al. report that astrocyte-mediated upregulation of Cdk5 in metastatic breast cancer cells inhibits MHC-I expression on the cell surface, thereby enabling escape from killing by CD8⁺ T cells and facilitating brain metastasis.

While cellular stress shuts down translation, how protein degradation occurs with stress is incompletely understood. The authors describe a stress-induced phase separated organelle that mediates ubiquitin-independent degradation in the proteasome.

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.

The molecular mechanisms that regulate the transition from totipotency into divergent cellular states are unclear. Two new studies show that the transcription factors TFAP2C, NR5A2 and TEAD4 (TNT) support the formation of a transient bipotent state by activating early pluripotency and trophectoderm genes and modulating HIPPO signaling.

Climate change is one of humankind’s biggest challenges, leading to more frequent and intense climate extremes, including heatwaves, wildfires, hurricanes, ocean acidification, and increased extinction rates. Nanotechnology already plays an important role in decarbonizing critical processes. Still, despite the technical advances seen in the last decades, the International Energy Agency has identified many sectors that are not on track to achieve the global climate mitigation goals by 2030. Here, a multi-stakeholder group of nanoscientists from the public, private, and philanthropic sectors discuss four high-potential application spaces where nanotechnologies could accelerate progress: batteries and energy storage; catalysis; coatings, lubricants, membranes, and other interface technology; and capture of greenhouse gases. This Comment highlights opportunities and current gaps for those working to minimize the climate crisis and provides a framework for the nanotechnology community to answer the call to action on this global issue.

Sequencing data from two large-scale studies show that most of the genetic variation influencing the risk of type 2 diabetes involves common alleles and is found in regions previously identified by genome-wide association studies, clarifying the genetic architecture of this disease.

Using the GTEx data and others, a comprehensive analysis of adenosine-to-inosine RNA editing in mammals is presented; targets of the various ADAR enzymes are identified, as are several potential regulators of editing, such as AIMP2.

Deep-learning models for the automated measurement of retinal-vessel calibre in retinal photographs perform comparably to or better than expert graders in associations of measurements of retinal-vessel calibre with cardiovascular risk factors.

A community-led randomized controlled trial in China showed that a pay-it-forward incentives increased the uptake of hepatitis B and C virus testing in men who have sex with men as compared with standard-of-care.

The latent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reservoir in patients poses a problem for HIV cure. Here, Li et al. show that a combination of compounds inducing viral reactivation and cell death, inhibiting autophagy and blocking new infections can eliminate HIV infection in 50% of humanized HIV infected mice and in blood samples from infected patients.

Cas12i is a genome editing platform with compact size that fits in AAV vector with short 43-mer gRNA, absence of tracrRNA, ability to process pre-crRNA, and high specificity. Here the authors present an unbiased mutational scanning approach to engineer Cas12i, which shows low activity in mammalian cells, and identify single substitutions that significantly improve indel activity.

Optimized ultraflexible electrode arrays enable months-long electrophysiological recordings of several thousand neurons at densities of up to 1,000 neural units per cubic millimetre.

Cryo-ET and subtomogram averaging analyses are used to determine structures of HIV-1 Env trimers on the surface of inactivated virions.

Ultrasound neuromodulation overcomes limitations of electrode-based stimulation through improved

targeting and long-term stability for treating neurological disorders. Here, authors present a hair-thin, implantable piezoelectric stimulator that selectively modulates neurons in the deep brain.

Genetic diversity in social genes is expected to be shaped by conflict. Here, the authors show that in Dictyostelium discoideum, social genes in fact exhibit diversification patterns consistent with relaxed purifying selection, likely due to their expression only in intermittent social generations.

Shapiro, Chang, et al. identify a conserved role for the iron-binding histone demethylase KDM3B in sensing iron levels and regulating mTORC1 through transcriptional repression of key mTORC1 pathway components.

UBE3A gene dysregulation is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, but predicting the function of UBE3A variants remains difficult. The authors use a high-throughput assay to categorize variants by functional activity, and show that UBE3A hyperactivity increases the risk of neurodevelopmental disease.

The MAPK pathway is an important therapeutic target in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), but success is limited by pathway reactivation, which drives resistance. Here, the authors investigate the mechanism underlying HER2-reactivation post KRAS-MAPK inhibition, identifying combination of MAPK and HER2 inhibition as a therapeutic strategy.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a highly contagious childhood pathogen of the respiratory tract for which no vaccine is currently available. Here the authors present a strategy to stabilize the RSV F protein in a prefusion conformation that can elicit a strong protective immune response in animal models.

Breaking down the endothelial barrier is a hallmark of systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Here the authors show that palmitoylation, a post-translational modification of proteins, plays a critical role in altering endothelial function during inflammation, and suggest the targeting of palmitoyl acyltransferase DHHC21 as potential disease therapy.

Mass spectrometry fragmentation patterns define analytical barcodes for the rapid, quantitative analysis of high-throughput chemical synthesis experiments.

Determining the origins of life on Earth is confounded by the fact that the sources of nutrients necessary to create early life forms remain mysterious. Here the authors show that lightning strikes could have supplied a major source of essential phosphorus on early Earth.

Strain richness of gut microbiota ecosystems is a key characteristic underpinning engraftment in faecal microbiota transplantation, and could improve the design of defined live biotherapeutic products with predictable outcomes.

NLR proteins contribute to antiviral immune responses. Lemon and colleagues show that NLRX1 promotes antiviral responses in hepatocytes by competing with the kinase PKR for viral double-stranded RNA, which allows accumulation of the transcription factor IRF1 for early control of viral replication.

The intratumoural injection of recombinantly expressed cytokines bound tightly to the common vaccine adjuvant aluminium hydroxide leads to weeks-long retention of the cytokines in the tumours with minimal side effects, as shown in multiple syngeneic mouse models.

Gaining access to medical data to train AI applications can present problems due to patient privacy or proprietary interests. A way forward can be privacy-preserving federated learning schemes. Kaissis, Ziller and colleagues demonstrate here their open source framework for privacy-preserving medical image analysis in a remote inference scenario.

Current state-of-the-art diagnostics for infectious diseases are sensitive but require extensive equipment. Here the authors develop an enhanced recombinase polymerase amplification reaction for SARS-CoV-2 that allows for inexpensive and rapid testing with minimal equipment.

Yang et al. show that transcription–replication collisions lead to large tandem duplications, which are frequent in female-enriched, upper gastrointestinal tract and prostate cancers and are associated with poor survival and mutations in specific genes, such as CDK12.

Antibiotics to treat carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infection are an urgent need. The cerastecins are potent, bactericidal and efficacious in animal models of infection, and may enable new treatment modalities targeting LOS transport.

Wang and colleagues show that in skeletal muscle cells and cardiomyocytes, the glucose transporter GLUT4 is a negative regulator of RIG-I-like receptor signaling during viral infection by redistributing RIG-I and MDA5 to the plasma membrane and attenuating interferon responses.

Kinesin motor proteins are critical for maintaining mitotic spindle integrity, which is important for chromosome stability. Here, the authors show that the kinesin motor protein, KIF18A, permits the proliferation of chromosomally unstable cells and knockdown of KIF18A induces centrosome fragmentation.

Mutations in the LaminA gene are the second most common inherited cause of Dilated Cardiomyopathy, a major form of heart failure. Here the authors show that disruption of the nuclear protein SUN1 in cardiomyocytes, by AAV mediated transduction of a SUN1 inhibitor, significantly suppress cardiomyopathy progression, providing a potential therapeutic route to treat this disease.

By evaluating model predictions with multiple geological data, the study shows that Tibetan tectonism is most consistent with the initial indentation of a cratonic terrane, followed by subduction of a buoyant tectonic plate resembling a continental margin.

Chapeau et al. develop a nonallosteric inhibitor of the interaction between YAP and all four TEAD proteins. Treatment with the inhibitor, either as monotherapy or in combination with other treatment modalities, leads to induction of cell death in several in vivo cancer models.

The global pattern of the mammalian methylome is formed by changes in methylation and demethylation. Here the authors describe a metric methylation concurrence that measures the ratio of unmethylated CpGs inside the partially methylated reads and show that methylation concurrence is associated with epigenetically regulated tumour suppressor genes.

Previous demonstrations of cloaking, where objects are rendered invisible at certain frequencies, have been limited to the microwave regime. Moving us a significant step closer to invisibility in a region that can been seen by humans, a cloaking device has now been demonstrated for a broad range of frequencies in the near-infrared.

Resistance to chemotherapy is a serious issue that can be influenced by RNA epigenetics and chromatin structure. Here, the authors show in leukaemia cells that RNA 5-methylcytosine (RNA:m⁵C) and RNA:m⁵C methyltransferases (RCMTs) mediate chromatin structures that can modulate 5-Azacitidine response and resistance.

Association analysis identifies 65 new breast cancer risk loci, predicts target genes for known risk loci and demonstrates a strong overlap with somatic driver genes in breast tumours.