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Thermomechanical pressing and immediate quenching of electro spun nanofibers produces transparent, poling-free piezoelectric films with nearly doubled piezoelectric output and significantly improved mechanical strength.

Targeted DNA methylation editing is critical for establishing the causal relationship between DNA methylation and its function as well as for epigenetic crop breeding. Here, the authors develop a CRISPR/dCas9-based fusion protein strategy for DNA methylation and demethylation editing in Arabidopsis.

Polymer nanofibres can be used to detect mechanical motion. Here, the authors use electrospun piezoelectric nanofibre webs to detect acoustic waves at frequencies below 500 Hz with a good sensitivity at low pressure levels, and study the impact of the fibres morphology and crystalline phase.

It is uncertain how much life expectancy of the Chinese population would improve under current and greater policy targets on lifestyle-based risk factors for chronic diseases and mortality behaviours. Here we report a simulation of how improvements in four risk factors, namely smoking, alcohol use, physical activity and diet, could affect mortality. We show that in the ideal scenario, that is, all people who currently smokers quit smoking, excessive alcohol userswas reduced to moderate intake, people under 65 increased moderate physical activity by one hour and those aged 65 and older increased by half an hour per day, and all participants ate 200 g more fresh fruits and 50 g more fish/seafood per day, life expectancy at age 30 would increase by 4.83 and 5.39 years for men and women, respectively. In a more moderate risk reduction scenario referred to as the practical scenario, where improvements in each lifestyle factor were approximately halved, the gains in life expectancy at age 30 could be half those of the ideal scenario. However, the validity of these estimates in practise may be influenced by population-wide adherence to lifestyle recommendations. Our findings suggest that the current policy targets set by the Healthy China Initiative could be adjusted dynamically, and a greater increase in life expectancy would be achieved.

The function of DNMT1 (DNA methyltransferase 1) in these subsets of immature, migrating cortical inhibitory interneurons is not fully understood. This study shows that DNMT1 regulates cortical development by orchestrating the migration of postmitotic SST+ interneurons and their signaling to cortical progenitors, with implications for proper cortical architecture and function.

An asymmetric self-assembled monolayer improves the efficiency of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells compared with symmetric self-assembled monolayers, resulting in a certified power conversion efficiency of up to 34.58%.

Study reveals coeval rapid uplift and normal faulting along the Central Anatolian Plateau’s southern margin. U-Th dating of fault-related calcites deciphers active deformation above the Cyprus Subduction, linking deep mantle and surface processes.

Here, the authors identify a copy number variation containing three enhancers (PIHEC) that drives bilateral constricted ear by co-ordinately regulating HMX1 expression, revealing how aberrant Hmx1 expression in neural crest-derived fibroblasts disrupts outer ear development.

The controllable synthesis of organometallic polymers that can be used in ultrahigh information storage and anti-counterfeiting security has been an unsolved challenge. Here, the authors show sequence-controlled electrosynthesis of organometallic polymers with exquisite insertion of multiple and distinct monomers.

The search for low-dimensional condensed matter platforms that host correlated electronic states has recently revolved around kagome lattices. Here, the authors evidence kagome-like bands in a 2D coloring-triangle lattice with a semiconducting bandgap.

The study assembled a chromosome-level genome of Cycas panzhihuaensis, the last major lineage of seed plants for which a high-quality genome assembly was lacking. The study closes an important gap in our understanding of genome structure and evolution in seed plants.

Existing isokinetic training devices are often heavy, bulky, and energy-consuming, which limits the rehabilitation opportunities only at designated hospitals. Here, the authors show a highly integrated and power-free knee rehabilitation robot that can provide home-based isokinetic training

How learning refines the coordinated activitity of neurons across multiple regions of the mouse cortex remains unclear. Here, the authors identified the emergence of cortical subnetworks during learning of a sensorimotor task.

Trained on a large corpus of medical text and patient records and tested across diseases, with specific focus on rare presentations, an open-source medical language model demonstrates higher accuracy than commercial counterparts across specialties and improves accuracy of clinicians in a reader study.

Genome-wide association analyses identify new risk loci for heart failure and its subtypes, extending understanding of the underlying biological pathways and disease mechanisms.

Heart failure is a complex syndrome that is associated with many different underlying risk factors. Here, to increase power, the authors jointly analyse cases of heart failure of different aetiologies in a genome-wide association study and identify 11 loci of which ten had not been previously reported.

Honeybee behavioral plasticity provides a model to study how brain gene networks regulate behavior. Here, authors show stripe activation in Kenyon cells links gene regulatory networks to behavioral maturation via spatial-cellular coordination.

Stereotactic needle biopsies are currently performed for diagnosis only in glioblastoma; this study highlights the depth of information available through multi-omics analysis.

Lean body mass is a highly heritable trait and is associated with various health conditions. Here, Kiel and colleagues perform a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for whole body lean body mass and find five novel genetic loci to be significantly associated.

Topoisomerases are thought to work in DNA, but not RNA, metabolism. Here Xu et al. describe that Top3A can also act as an RNA topoisomerase and find it in a complex with the fragile X syndrome protein FMRP and a binding partner of FMRP, Tudor domain–containing protein 3 (TDRD3), which together promote synapse formation in flies and mice. These data suggest that topoisomerases are needed for both DNA and RNA metabolism.

The deglaciation of Marinoan snowball Earth (~635 Myr ago) has been associated with potentially extensive CH₄ emissions in relation to transient marine euxinia. Here, the authors find that active methanogenesis occurred during the termination of Marinoan snowball Earth, fueled by methyl sulfide production in sulfidic seawater.

Astrocytes contribute to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) pathophysiology. Here, the authors show that IP3R2 conditional KO mice show ASD-like behaviours and identify astrocyte-derived ATP as a modulator of these behaviours in mice.

Waterlogging tolerance is important in direct seeding rice cultivation practice. Here, the authors identify a 14-3-3 protein-coding gene OsGF14h in weedy rice that confers anaerobic germination and anaerobic seedling development tolerance by balancing ABA signaling and GA biosynthesis.

The origin of Tibetan barley (qingke) has been a controversial issue for many years. Here, the authors conduct population genomics study to support that qingke is derived from eastern domesticated barley instead of Tibetan wild barley and suggest southern Tibetan Plateau as its introduction route.

Fibrinogen-like protein 2 (FGL2) mediates immune suppression in glioblastoma (GBM). Here, the authors show that FGL-2 expressed by GBM cancer cells acts by suppressing the differentiation of CD103+ DC cells required to activate the anti-tumor CD8+ T cell response via blocking GM-CSF signalling at NFKB, STAT1/5 and p38 level.

Jianquan Liu and colleagues report the draft genome sequence of the domestic yak, Bos grunniens. Their comparative analyses with low-altitude cattle provide insights into high-altitude adaptation in the yak.

Myocardial infarction can lead to malignant arrhythmia and myocardial remodeling. Here, the authors report a microchanneled hydrogel suture for two-way signal communication, pumping drugs on demand, and cardiac repair.

Epigenetic and genetic factors have a role in obesity but the role of epigenetics in this disease is unclear. Here, Liet al. investigated global DNA methylation patterns in three breeds of pigs that have different fat contents, providing a resource for the further analysis of differentially methylated gene promoters in obesity.

This study presents an advanced ChIP-seq method, provides a valuable epigenomics resource for 14 economically important plant organs and reveals histone modification landscape dynamics and functions during rapeseed seed dormancy and germination.

The primary source of human exposure to the highly toxic heavy metal cadmium (Cd) is diet. This study identified a gene encoding a P-type heavy metal ATPase 3 (HvHMA3) that is responsible for Cd accumulation in barley grain. A Sukkula-like transposable element was found to play an important role in upregulating the expression of HvHMA3, thereby decreasing Cd accumulation in the grain.

A new inhibitor targeting the mitochondrial complex I shows antitumor activity in preclinical models of acute myeloid leukemia and glioblastoma relying on oxidative phosphorylation.

Drug synergies impact the efficacy of combination therapies but are difficult to identify. Here Narayan et al. describe the drug atlas, a method to predict effective drug combinations from common exclusive drug effects providing a resource for exploring and understanding effective drug combinations.

In plants, RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) is a de novo DNA methylation pathway that is responsible for transcriptional silencing of repetitive elements. Here, the authors characterized a new RdDM factor, RDM15, and show that it is required for RdDM-dependent DNA methylation and siRNA accumulation at a subset of RdDM target loci.

An adjuvanted SARS-CoV-2 spike-ferritin nanoparticle vaccine can elicit antibodies with relatively broad sarbecovirus activity in non-human primates. Here, the authors isolate and structurally characterize several monoclonal antibodies providing insights into the targeted epitopes and broad reactivity.

Using highly sensitive and selective in situ techniques to investigate the dynamics of intermediates formation is key to better understand reaction mechanisms but investigating the early stages of solid-state reactions or transformations is still challenging. Here the authors use in situ fluorescence spectroscopy to observe the evolution of intermediates during a two-step [2 + 2] photocycloaddition process in a coordination polymer.

A genome-wide association study of critically ill patients with COVID-19 identifies genetic signals that relate to important host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage that may be targeted by repurposing drug treatments.

Serotonin is important in depression-like behavior. Here the authors show that dorsal raphe neurons that project to the ventral tegmental area are involved in regulating stress responses in mice.

A study shows that RNA-directed DNA methylation target loci in Arabidopsis can be classified into two groups—remethylable and non-remethylable loci—characterized by different histone and DNA methylation marks that determine the ability of these loci to form stable epialleles.

Developing stable single-atom catalysts (SACs) with a high metal loading remains a challenge due to the difficulty of creating high densities of defects on support materials. Here the authors prepare Pt SACs with high Pt loadings by virtue of strong covalent metal-support interaction, rather than support defects.

While converting water to H₂ with a catalyst offers a renewable means to produce carbon-neutral fuels, understanding the catalytic active sites has proven challenging. Here, authors show a structurally well-defined model complex with Pt-O bonding to enable efficient H₂ evolution electrocatalysis.

The Arabidopsis ROS1 is the first characterized DNA demethylase in eukaryotes. Now, an epigenomic study has revealed the features of ROS1-targeted genomic loci and identified a new class of RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) targets.

Starving animals are less likely to defend their home territory and more likely to engage in risky foraging behaviors. This work describes a circuit involving hypothalamic AgRP neurons projecting to neurons in the medial nucleus of the amygdala and their projections to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, which, when activated, mimics these behaviors in mice that are well fed.