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Upwelling within the highly productive Benguela current off the Namibian coast began in, and intensified throughout, the Neogene epoch. Model simulations indicate its development was intimately connected to evolving topography and mountain uplift in Africa.

Nickelates have been shown to host unconventional superconductivity, and recently it has been found that the choice of substrate can significantly change the superconducting critical temperature. This suggests, that like some Cuprates, strain could be important. Here Gao, Fan, Wang, and coauthors find that magnetic excitations in a parent Nickelate are insensitive to substrate choice, and therefore strain, which differs markedly from the case of Cuprates.

Nebulin-based nemaline myopathy is a heterogenous disease with unclear pathological mechanisms. Here, the authors generate a mouse model that mimics the most common genetic cause of the disease and demonstrate that muscle weakness in this model is associated with twisted actin filaments and altered tropomyosin and troponin behaviour.

Land management strategies for enhancing soil carbon sequestration need to be tailored to different soil types, depending on how much organic matter is stored in pools of mineral-associated and particulate organic matter, suggests an analysis of soil organic matter across Europe.

To define and distinguish fibroblasts from vascular mural cells have remained challenging. Here, using single-cell RNA sequencing and tissue imaging, the authors provide a molecular basis for cell type classification and reveal inter- and intra-organ diversity of these cell types.

Using highly coherent interfaces of alternating oxide layers a bismuth-oxide-based oxygen ion conductor exhibits unprecedented high chemical stability in reducing conditions and during redox cycles at high temperature.

The (seco)iridoids and their monoterpenoid indole alkaloid (MIA) derivatives are plant-derived compounds with pharmaceutical applications. Here, the authors identify the last four missing steps of the (seco)iridoid pathway, which they reconstitute in an alternative plant host to produce the complex MIA, strictosidine.

Efficient, large-scale genomic analysis is facilitated on the cloud by a computational tool with error-diagnosing and self-healing capabilities.

Forests help to sustain cities and all who live in them. This Review considers barriers to sustaining resilient forests and suggests paths for overcoming them.

Genetically identical cells can have many variable properties. A study of correlations between cells in a lineage explains paradoxical inheritance laws, in which mother and daughter cells seem less similar than cousins. See Letter p.468

The water-splitting reaction is a promising route to renewable energy. Catalytic hotspots, and the best sites for co-catalyst placement, have now been pinpointed in a water-splitting catalyst, guiding future catalyst design. See Letter p.77

Anthropogenic pressures and climate change are altering water flows worldwide. Better understanding, new economic thinking and an international governance framework are needed to stave off catastrophe.

Many predicted topological quasi-particles still await experimental discovery. Here, Horio et al. reveal the existence of two-dimensional type-II Dirac fermions in the high-temperature superconductor La_1.77Sr_0.23CuO₄, promoting layered oxides as promising topological materials.

In Sweden, dietary changes simulated under four food futures pathways reduced environmental impacts by 30 percent, but waste and fossil fuel emissions reductions are necessary to meet the climate target, according to an analysis that combines food items, nutrients, health, and environmental data.

Yu et al. report a bioluminescence- and paper-based assay for the rapid quantification of NAD⁺ levels in biological samples, such as blood and tissues.

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has substantial impacts on the global climate. This Review outlines ENSO relationships with Africa, outlining their dynamics, impacts on precipitation and projected changes in the future.

Analysis of the gut microbial gene composition in obese and non-obese individuals shows marked differences in bacterial richness between the two groups, with individuals with low richness exhibiting increased adiposity, insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia and inflammation; only a few bacterial marker species are needed to distinguish between individuals with high and low bacterial richness, providing potential for future diagnostic tools.

The surface of plant leaves — the phyllosphere — is home to many microbes. A 'community proteogenomics' approach offers a fresh look at what it takes to survive and thrive in this unique habitat.

The COSIMA mass spectrometer on the Rosetta spacecraft has analysed the solid organic matter found in dust particles emitted by comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko; this matter is similar to the insoluble organic matter extracted from carbonaceous chondrites such as the Murchison meteorite, but is perhaps more primitive.

In this era of rapidly expanding human genomics in research and healthcare, efficient data reuse is essential to maximize benefits for society. In response, the Federated European Genome–Phenome Archive (FEGA) was launched in 2022, and as of 2024, the FEGA network was composed of seven national nodes. Here we describe the complexities, challenges and achievements of FEGA, unravelling the dynamic interplay of regulatory frameworks, technical challenges and the shared vision of advancing genomic research.

A review of two decades of water science and water governance scholarship shows that how, when, where and why water is available and to whom is changing as global hydrological systems are being re-shaped across spatial and temporal scales.

Finance is a critical catalyst of food systems transformation. At the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit, the Financial Lever Group suggested five imperatives to tap into new financial resources while making better use of existing ones. These imperatives are yet to garner greater traction to instigate meaningful change.

The environmental implications of meeting the needs of the poorest are under debate. By showing substantial inequalities in natural resource claims and responsibility for ecological damage globally, this study estimates and discusses the impacts of achieving just access on the Earth system.

The landscape of forest and human activity is ever shifting, but new large-scale trends are causing exceptional changes and potential space for new conservation and development for communities dependent on forests.

Scholars develop scenarios to identify the operational margins of system Earth, but focus less on how decisions are made that affect the system one way or another. Strategy games can help increase the representation of human agency in scenario development, allowing for deliberation among diverse worldviews.

Many of the measures required to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals while complementing decarbonization efforts required to reduce long-term climate change.

Here 106 genomic loci associated with age at menarche, a marker of puberty timing in females, are identified; these loci show enrichment for genes involved in nuclear hormone receptor function, body mass index, and rare disorders of puberty, and for genes located in imprinted regions, with parent-of-origin specific effects at several loci.

Many countries are considering tax cuts on petrol and diesel in the wake of fuel price surges following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Here, the authors find that such a tax cut in the EU would increase Russian oil profits, and model the impact a cash transfer to citizens would have instead.

The world should redouble its efforts on the SDGs, not abandon them. Here’s how to progress the United Nations’ agenda towards 2050.

The discovery of a multiply imaged, probably of type Ia, supernova in a galaxy at redshift 1.95 enables a time-delay measurement with an uncertainty of <1%. The prediction that a new image will appear in the year 2037 ± 2 allows the use of this system as a cosmological probe.

Earth System Science (ESS) has emerged as a powerful tool to investigate and understand global change. This Perspective outlines the history of ESS and advocates for the full integration of human and biogeophysical dynamics necessary to build a truly unified ESS effort.

Intensifying agricultural production often imposes environmental costs. This study assesses progress towards the redesign of agricultural systems, finding that seven types of sustainable intensification now characterize an estimated 29% of farms on 9% of agricultural land worldwide.

Understanding the genetic and phenotypic architecture of health and disease is vital to the identification of novel therapeutic targets and therapies. Here, Nadeau and Auwerx review the fundamentals of genotype–phenotype relations in mouse models and discuss how the integration of human and mouse genetic research remains essential to understanding disease pathogenesis, identifying potential therapeutic targets and developing new therapies

CircRNAs have been implicated in the pathogenesis of kidney diseases, cardiovascular complications of chronic kidney disease and kidney cancer. This Review describes the roles of circRNAs in the pathophysiology of these diseases and highlights their potential as therapeutic targets and prognostic or diagnostic biomarkers.

Recent research has revealed similarities between speech and birdsong on different levels. Bolhuis et al. discuss parallels between humans and songbirds in terms of vocal learning, the neural networks underlying vocalization and the role of FOXP2, highlighting both general and species-specific principles.

In this Review, Dr. van den Borne and colleagues examine the role of myofibroblasts in beneficial and adverse myocardial remodeling after myocardial infarction. The authors also briefly discuss strategies for imaging myofibroblasts, which might be useful for the early detection of adverse remodeling events and for predicting the risk of heart failure.