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A recently developed class of magneto-sensitive fluorescent proteins are engineered to alter the properties of their response to magnetic fields and radio frequencies, enabling multimodal sensing of biological systems.

The relation between magnetooptical activity and chirality has previously been confused. Chiral polymer films are presented with state-of-the-art Verdet constants, revealing the role of chirality, and a strategy to enhance the magnetooptical B term.

The Ocean Equity Index provides a systematic, twelve-criteria framework to assess and improve equity in ocean initiatives, projects and policies, producing structured data that guide evidence-based decisions and support more equitable outcomes for coastal communities and ecosystems.

Using infant fMRI, the authors show that, by 2 months of age, representations in high-level visual cortex encode visual categories that align with deep neural networks, and lateral object-selective regions are later to develop.

This study uses single-nucleus RNA sequencing to analyze lung tissue from 141 individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Distinct patterns of spatially resolved changes in cell composition and cell states that correlate with clinical features are highlighted.

A comprehensive atlas platform integrating transcriptional and epigenetic data enables more precise engineering of T cell states, accelerating the rational design of more effective cellular immunotherapies.

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

Polymer thin films that emit and absorb circularly polarised light are promising in achieving important technological advances, but the origin of the large chiroptical effects in such films has remained elusive. Here the authors demonstrate that in non-aligned polymer thin films, large chiroptical effects are caused by magneto-electric coupling, not structural chirality as previously assumed.

T-cell–mediated rejection (TCMR) remains a major cause of kidney transplant failure with incompletely understood mechanisms. Here the authors use single-nucleus RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics and immunofluorescence to show that injured kidney epithelial cell states associate with poor transplant outcomes after T-cell–mediated rejection.

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.

DNA methylation and gene expression data integration identify aging-related genes in blood that predict health outcomes, offering new insights into aging biology and potential therapeutic targets.

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.

Li and colleagues present CellScope, a tree-structured framework that reveals multi-level cellular hierarchies and gene functions in single-cell data. This approach provides clear clustering, intuitive visualization, and deep biological views into cell types and functions.

The anterior cingulate cortex encodes affective pain behaviours modulated by opioids; targeting opioid-sensitive neurons through a new chemogenetic gene therapy replicates the analgesic effects of morphine, providing precise chronic pain relief without affecting sensory detection.

De novo and inherited dominant variants in genes encoding U4 and U6 small nuclear RNAs are identified in individuals with retinitis pigmentosa. The variants cluster at nucleotide positions distinct from those implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders.

The authors synthesize bee assemblage data from 681 crop fields across three continents, finding that local pesticide hazards and decreasing adjacent semi-natural habitats both negatively affected wild bee abundance and species richness in crop fields, while pesticides also reduced functional diversity.

Fungal parasites infect key nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria during Baltic Sea blooms, drawing on carbon and nitrogen reserves. Here, authors find up to a fifth of newly fixed nitrogen is diverted to fungi in the cyanobacterium Dolichospermum, altering the fate of new nitrogen and trophic transfer.

Royer and colleagues find a principal dimension of neural dynamic similarity dissociating unimodal and association cortices. Systematic variations in local and macroscale constraints across the cortex also followed this pattern.

Analysis of a placebo-controlled trial of a BCMA-targeting CAR-T cell therapy in patients with myasthenia gravis shows that CAR-T cell infusion selectively remodels the systemic immune environment, with elimination of BCMA-high plasma cells and activated plasmacytoid dendritic cells and changes in the autoreactive B cell repertoire.

Combining high-resolution mapping of foliar and herbivore faecal sodium concentrations across Africa, the authors show that plant-derived sodium availability constrains megaherbivore densities at a continental scale.

Streptococcal S protein activates a peptidoglycan cell wall repair and modification complex to promote resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae to lysozyme and LL-37, and increase virulence during infection.

This study reveals dissociating methane hydrate mounds on the seafloor at more than 3600 m deep in the Greenland Sea. This gas hydrate cold seep supports chemosynthetic fauna similar to Arctic hydrothermal vents at similar depth, consistent with an overlap between vent and seep fauna in the region.

An exploratory analysis of the phase 3 ECOSPOR III trial shows that a higher dosage of the oral microbiome therapeutic VOWST led to enhanced pharmacokinetics, increased species engraftment and altered microbiome and metabolite profiles, providing mechanistic insights into how it may prevent Clostridioides difficile infection recurrence.

Here they show that PPARα-dependent mitochondrial programming promotes the differentiation of pluripotent stem cell-derived β cells. Targeting mitochondria has the potential to improve β cell replacement efforts for the treatment of type 1 diabetes.

PU.1^low CD28-expressing microglia may act as suppressive cells in Alzheimer’s disease, mitigating its progression by reducing neuroinflammation and amyloid plaque load, indicating potential immunotherapeutic approaches for treatment.

This study applies a global food and land system modelling framework to quantify the impact of 23 food system measures on 15 outcome indicators related to public health, the environment, social inclusion and the economy—from today until 2050.

The early postnatal roles of dendrite-targeting interneurons in primary visual cortex (V1) remain elusive. Here, the authors find that somatostatin interneurons in mouse V1 exhibit a uniquely delayed developmental trajectory for innervation and sensory responses, highlighting a window for the emergence of a key mechanism for normalization in cortical circuits.

How is specific ribosomal RNA expression precisely controlled in the malaria parasite? Dr. Couble et al. show that a switch between distinct energy-generating pathways during parasite development directly impacts the accessibility to rDNA chromatin.

Mutations in the PBAF chromatin-remodeling complex cause various neurodevelopmental disorders. This study shows that PBAF shapes distinct motor neuron identities, revealing how its disruption impairs movement and offering insight into neurodevelopmental disorders caused by PBAF mutations.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity and plasticity due to interplay with neural developmental programs. Here, the authors develop a model of GBM by introducing sequential oncogenic mutations in human neural stem cells and using this, identify INSM1 as a driver of a neural progenitor gene network promoting tumorigenesis.

Khawaja et al. show sex-specific differences in neuronal-activity regulation by chaperone-mediated autophagy and that loss of chaperone-mediated autophagy leads to defective neuronal physiology and increased seizure susceptibility, linking chaperone-mediated autophagy to neuronal excitability.

Therapeutic gene editing in vivo is an ongoing challenge. Here, authors demonstrate Cas9 nickase guided DNA ligation as a nonviral method for installing permanent genomic corrections with favorable on target edit profiles in model animal cell types and adult mice.

Here Jaster et al., show a single psilocybin dose produce sex-specific post-acute changes in opioid reward and withdrawal via 5-HT2A receptors in frontal cortex-to–nucleus accumbens circuits, with epigenetic and synaptic changes shaping therapeutic potential.

In this study, the authors uncover how diverse inhibitory interneurons in the amygdala flexibly contribute to fear and safety learning, revealing a key role for inhibition in emotional memory and adaptive circuit plasticity.

The ability to perform operations in an indefinite causal order allows advantages for various quantum information-processing tasks, yet it’s still unclear to what extent such exotic sequences could be simulated using standard quantum circuits. Here, the authors prove that such simulations - even if approximate or probabilistic - would incur an exponential quantum query complexity overhead.

Bennu samples have abundant supernova stardust and clasts that are richer in presolar silicates and organics than other chondritic samples, suggesting that the protolith sampled material with a unique mixture of primordial components before undergoing heterogeneous aqueous alteration.

Political ecology aims to understand how politics and power influence both social and ecological dynamics. Conservation biologists and political ecologists tackle many of the same pressing environmental problems, but from quite different perspectives. In this Viewpoint, five political ecologists discuss their views on how the field can understand and tackle the biodiversity crisis.

Cryptochrome 4 from the night-migratory European robin displays magnetically sensitive photochemistry in vitro, in which four successive flavin–tryptophan radical pairs generate magnetic-field effects and stabilize potential signalling states.

Polygenic scores for body mass index and obesity constructed using data from 5 million people with different ancestries were associated with distinct weight gain trajectories from early childhood to adulthood.

Using quantitative brain imaging, the authors show opposite fMRI BOLD signal to metabolic activity due to variable oxygen extraction across the human cortex. This questions the canonical interpretation of fMRI signal in terms of neuronal activity.

Neuropathic pain is difficult to treat due to spinal cord neuroinflammation driven by harmful astrocytes. Here, the authors show that targeting a specific metabolic pathway in these astrocytes provides long-lasting pain relief.

In this work, fragments identified by 19F-NMR are optimized into submicromolar binders of the MITF transcription factor. These results support direct targeting of bHLH-LZ DNA binding domains and provide a foundation for the development of new melanoma therapies.

Here the authors report NiGa₂O_4–x(OH)_y for light-driven CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol. The surface Lewis acid–base pairs and -OH groups act as conduits for H^- /H⁺ transport to active sites, enhancing photocatalytic methanol production.

A pangenome of oat, assembled from 33 wild and domesticated oat lines, sheds light on the evolution and genetic diversity of this cereal crop and will aid genomics-assisted breeding to improve productivity and sustainability.

Here, the authors find that relative abundances of stress-sensitive gastrointestinal microbes at age 2 years predicts internalizing symptoms in middle childhood through altered emotion-related brain network connectivity.

HippoMaps provides an open-source resource for studying the human hippocampus at different scales and with different modalities such as histology, fMRI, structural MRI and EEG.

Using a new analytical method for tracking gamma band events in mouse visual cortex, flexible encoding of visual information according to behavioural context is shown.