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Global analysis of obesity trends from 1980 to 2024 in 200 countries and territories using data from 4,050 population-based studies reveals that framing obesity as a single global epidemic masks the highly varied dynamics across countries and age groups.

Organic solar cells need acceptor molecules with long exciton diffusion lengths, but most available materials fail in thick films. The authors design new fluorinated quinoxaline acceptors that significantly improve carrier mobilities resulting in superior efficiency in both binary and ternary devices.

Algal biomass declined while eukaryotic diversity increased and cyanobacterial diversity decreased after the 2000s as wetlands expanded, shown by reconstructing multi decadal algal communities using sedimentary ancient DNA and pigments from a glacier fed Tibetan alpine lake.

Reducing China’s CO₂ emissions is crucial to achieving global carbon neutrality. This Perspective synthesizes bottom-up and top-down estimates to develop a regional CO₂ budget for China and evaluate pathways and uncertainties towards net zero.

The DAMPE satellite observed a universal charge-dependent spectral softening in primary cosmic rays, and ruled out mass-dependent softening with >99.999% confidence.

Guo et al. report a surface-energy homogenization strategy to fabricate InP-based quantum dots with strong electron confinement, enabling green LEDs with efficiency of 23.50% and retaining a peak efficiency over 20% even at a resolution up to 8,460 PPI for active-matrix displays.

This work shows that XKR8-mediated plasma membrane lipid scrambling facilitates NET formation. Activated by caspase-3, XKR8 links ROS to downstream Ca²⁺ signaling and is essential for effective antifungal immunity.

Fibre integrated circuits created by first preparing circuitry on extremely thin and flexible substrates and then mechanically rolling them up demonstrate microdevice density reaching 100,000 transistors per centimetre and excellent stability under harsh service conditions.

Shape-changing substrates are pivotal for advancing minimally invasive, conformable bioelectronics, yet their implantation is hindered by inaccessible triggering mechanisms and complex geometric fabrication. Here, the authors report a digital 4D printing technique for fabricating customized shape memory hydrogel substrates enabling trigger-free shapeshifting with predefined onset periods.

Aerodynamic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in two hospitals in Wuhan indicates that SARS-CoV-2 may have the potential to be transmitted through aerosols, although the infectivity of the virus RNA was not established in this study.

Xia, Zhang, Peng, Chen et al. find that Leydig cells and macrophages show bidirectional mitochondrial transfer through extracellular vesicles, ensuring Leydig cells have functional mitochondria. The exchange is needed for testosterone production.

Quantum low-density parity-check error correction codes are anticipated to deliver high performance, but require long-range qubit–qubit interactions. Two of these error correction codes have now been successfully implemented on a superconducting device.

A 15-year prospective cohort study found that during times of social unrest in Hong Kong, people experienced more conflicts with family and friends and this coincided with the use of social media—these factors were also associated with higher levels of depression.

Quantum error mitigation refers to techniques that reduce, rather than correct, errors in quantum computing. Here the authors demonstrate zero-noise extrapolation applied to quantum error correction circuits on superconducting processors, effectively reducing logical errors and advancing early fault-tolerant quantum computing.

The dynamics of lattice oxygen in oxyhydroxide catalysts is crucial for water oxidation but are not fully understood. Here, the authors report that carbonate ions in the electrolyte can substantially alter the dynamics, leading to robust long-term stability with sustained lattice oxygen reactivity.

Combining chemo- and biocatalytic sites within an integrated catalyst to perform complex, multi-step reactions is highly desirable but challenging. Here, the authors present an ionic organic cage platform for such a chemoenzymatic catalyst, achieved by electrostatic complexation of cationic molecular cage-encapsulated Pd clusters (Pd@C-Cage⁺) and anionic Candida antarctica lipase B.

Soil viruses may impact soil carbon cycle. Here, the authors use metagenomic analysis of contaminated soil and 13 C labeled microcosm incubation to show that the DNA viral community enhances microbial carbon fixation capacity via auxiliary metabolic genes.

Electrochemical CO_x reduction to multi-carbon products is hindered by low energy efficiency, in part due to sluggish ion transport across charge-selective membranes used in electrolysers. Here the authors use a porous, non-charge-selective separator that enhances ion transport and improves performance for CO electrolysis.

Directly synthesizing acetic acid from CH₄ and CO₂ provides a sustainable pathway for utilizing these byproducts but remains highly challenging due to the chemical inertness of both reactants and the sluggish kinetics of C–C coupling. Here, the authors introduce a bifunctional catalyst composed of a metal and a Lewis acid, designed to activate CH₄ and CO₂, respectively, thereby facilitating asymmetric C–C coupling.

The thinness and elastic properties of graphene make it an ideal candidate for nanoelectromechanical systems. Here, the authors demonstrate the positive piezoconductive effect in suspended bi- and multi-layer graphene, showing the most pronounced response for three layer samples.

A dynamic Cu–Pt dual-atom catalyst supported on 1Tʹ-MoS₂ can be electrically switched between single- and dual-atom configurations, enabling on-demand control for alkyne semi-hydrogenation.

Most bio-derived polymers deteriorate during environmental exposure. Here, the authors report a bio-derived polyester containing aromatic p-conjugated vinylidene units, these provided self-reinforcement through [2 + 2] cycloadditions, leading to mechanical enhancements during ageing.

Lu et al. characterize cis-regulatory element dynamics at different stages of colorectal cancer progression and identify a functional variant associated with increased colorectal cancer risk because of selective transcription factor binding.

Benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs) are a diverse group of chemicals whose biosynthetic pathways are poorly described. Here, the authors show that clustering of hydroxylase and O-methylase genes suggests that reaction interdependency may be an evolutionary force of gene cluster formation in plants.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

Patients with gastric cancer often present with poor performance status, limiting both quality of life but also treatment options as they are often excluded from clinical trials. Here, the authors report a phase II trial investigating anlotinib (multi-TKI) plus toripalimab (anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody) in treatment-naïve advanced gastric cancer patients with performance status 2.

Two genetically linked TdNLR genes from wild emmer wheat are both required for YrTD121-mediated stripe rust resistance. The TdNLR1 and TdNLR2 pair lacks an integrated domain, representing an uncommon architecture for paired NLRs in plants.

Stable and robust topological edge modes are observed at finite temperatures in an array of 100 programmable superconducting qubits because of emergent symmetries present in the prethermal regime of this system.

The three-dimensional conformation of macrocycles determine their chemical and recognition properties and the factors that influence the interconversion between macrocyclic forms are poorly understood. Here the authors describe a macrocycle existing as two stable atropisomers and the mechanism behind the thermally-induced transition between them.

The role of the tumor microenvironment in immunotherapy response in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma remains unclear. Here, single cell RNA and TCR sequencing of samples before and after immunotherapy highlights the role of CD8 T-cell status conversion and exhaustion induced by Macro CD5L+ in treatment response.

Researchers show that two kinds of crystal dislocations in gallium nitride act as distinct path for electrons and holes. The discovery explains leakage and switching losses in GaN power devices and points to defect-guided design strategies.

Structural and cellular assays and molecular dynamics simulations reveal the mechanism of action of γ-glutamyl carboxylase, which involves cholesterol and vitamin K.

The authors identify feimin as a feeding-induced myokine that regulates glucose homeostasis via the MERTK–AKT signalling axis in mice and humans.

A study using a reverse genetic screen reveals that the Arabidopsis DREAM complex, including its components TCX5/6, functions as a whole in repressing DNA methylation maintenance genes and, consequently, precluding DNA hypermethylation.

SELECTIV is an efficient method for tissue-specific AAV-mediated transgene expression in mice mediated by AAV receptor overexpression.

While Bell inequalities have been violated several times—mostly in photonic systems—their violations within particle physics experiments are less explored. Here, the BESIII Collaboration showcases Bell-violating nonlocal correlations between entangled hyperon pairs.

Neovascular eye diseases cause blindness, but underlying drivers are unclear. Here, the authors show that PRL3 promotes pathological angiogenesis, and that targeting PRL3 with an antibody therapy could offer a new treatment for ocular neovascularization.

Nontrivial topologies are long believed to survive only in gapped systems, yet recent progress suggests their existence even at quantum critical points. By preparing low-lying states on a superconducting processor up to 100 qubits and applying entanglement Hamiltonian tomography, the authors experimentally observe these nontrivial topological properties and suggest low-lying states as useful quantum resources.

The authors report the transformation of an amorphous covalent organic framework to a crystalline state. This results in achieving optimum surface properties and enhances the photocatalytic production of hydrogen gas.

Superconducting qubits have been used to realize a quantum many-body state that is capable of universal topological quantum computation.

Electrochemical CO2 reduction is a promising method of producing sustainable chemicals and fuels, yet is highly energy intensive. Here, the authors couple CO2 electrolysis with hydrogen oxidation using a Ni(OH)₂/NiOOH auxiliary electrode to enhance energy efficiency.