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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.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

Here, as part of the Sherlock-Lung study, the authors profile the microbiomes of 940 lung cancers in never smokers finding no significant associations with demographic and clinical features, suggesting lung bacteria are unlikely to have a sizable role in lung cancer.

Lung adenocarcinomas bearing the ID2 mutational signature display increased LINE-1 retrotransposon activity, which contributes to their fast evolutionary dynamics and aggressive phenotype.

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction to formate with both high catalytic selectivity and stability remains challenging. Here, the authors report high-performance CO₂ electroreduction for molar-scale formate electrosynthesis at kilowatt-scale power by stabilizing bismuth subcarbonate with copper.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

The analysis of the energy spectrum of 36 million tritium β-decay electrons recorded in 259 measurement days within the last 40 eV below the endpoint challenges the Neutrino-4 claim.

It is unclear whether trait trade-offs and optimality principles observed at the individual level scale up to the ecosystem level. Here, the authors show that plant trait coordination principles also predict patterns between community-level traits and ecosystem-scale processes.

An analysis of data from the Sherlock-Lung study provides insight into the mutational processes that contribute to lung cancer in never smokers, and looks at the possible role of factors such as air pollution and passive smoking.

Although plant functional trait combinations reflect ecological trade-offs at the species level, little is known about how this translates to whole communities. Here, the authors show that global trait composition is captured by two main dimensions that are only weakly related to macro-environmental drivers.

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.

This study reveals that in people with first episode of psychosis receiving oral antipsychotic medication, switching to long-acting injectable antipsychotic therapy may reduce psychotic relapses, especially in vulnerable subgroups, such as those with prior relapses or non-adherence to antipsychotic medication.

Despite frequent AKT/mTOR pathway activation in patient’s rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), success of AKT inhibitors in the clinical has been limited. Here, using RMS patient-derived models, the authors demonstrate that the efficacy of the AKT inhibitor, ipatasertib, is in part due to its off-target effects on PRKG1, identifying PRKG1 as a potential biomarker for ipatasertib response.

Here the authors perform a trans expression quantitative trait locus meta-analysis study of over 3,700 people and link a USP18 variant to expression of 50 inflammation genes and lupus risk, highlighting how genetic regulation of immune responses drives autoimmune disease and informs new therapies.

The authors investigate the broad-scale climatological and soil properties that co-vary with major axes of plant functional traits. They find that variation in plant size is attributed to latitudinal gradients in water or energy limitation, while variation in leaf economics traits is attributed to both climate and soil fertility including their interaction.

Genotype and exome sequencing of 150,000 participants and whole-genome sequencing of 9,950 selected individuals recruited into the Mexico City Prospective Study constitute a valuable, publicly available resource of non-European sequencing data.

Analysis of soundscape data from 139 globally distributed sites reveals that sounds of biological origin exhibit predictable rhythms depending on location and season, whereas sounds of anthropogenic origin are less predictable. Comparisons between paired urban–rural sites show that urban green spaces are noisier and dominated by sounds of technological origin.

The predominant threats to pollinators vary across locations, as do perceptions of the consequences of pollinator loss. Here, the authors use formal expert elicitation methods to identify how pollination conservation experts rank the various drivers of pollinator decline and the range of risks to humans if pollination activity is lost.

The study advances the use of serological surveys to guide trachoma elimination program decisions and provides a way to set thresholds for whether or not to continue an intervention program.

Whether and how prefrontal astrocyte Ca²⁺ signaling modulates different neuronal populations in aiding or inhibiting anxiety-like behavior remains not fully understood. Here authors show that prefrontal astrocytes encode anxiogenic cues and modulate excitatory and inhibitory neurons differently. Silencing prefrontal astrocytes heightens anxiety-like behavior and induces proteomic changes in astrocytes and neurons.

The analysis of radial velocity variations of O-type stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud reveals a large fraction of close binaries, suggesting that binary physics also plays a prominent role in the low-metallicity environment of the distant Universe.

Systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease study reported that, despite global improvements from 1990 to 2021, dietary iron deficiency-associated disease burden remains high in women, children and residents in low socio-demographic index countries.

Prosthetic joint infection is a severe complication of arthroplasties, requiring effective prevention and osteoinduction strategies. Here, a bilayer coating system with antibiotics for infection prevention and dipyridamole for osteointegration showed significant infection reduction and enhanced bone mineralization.

Ultra-high-energy gamma-ray emission from the microquasar V4641 Sagittarii is reported, suggesting that large-scale jets from microquasars could be more common than previously thought and also could be a notable source of galactic cosmic rays.

What is the state of trust in scientists around the world? To answer this question, the authors surveyed 71,922 respondents in 68 countries and found that trust in scientists is moderately high.

Here, a library of more than 300,000 chemicals was screened for activity against Plasmodium falciparum growing in red blood cells. Of these chemicals, 172 representative candidates were profiled in detail; one exemplar compound showed efficacy in a mouse model of malaria. The findings provide the scientific community with new starting points for drug discovery.

Despite its impressive mechanical and electronic properties, graphene’s magnetic characteristics are poor. However, adsorbed organic molecules can give the material magnetic functionality, and the magnetic moment remains when the molecules combine to form dimers or even a continuous monolayer.

Over half the world’s rivers dry periodically, yet little is known about the biological communities in dry riverbeds. This study examines biodiversity across 84 non-perennial rivers in 19 countries using DNA metabarcoding. It finds that nutrient availability, climate and biotic interactions influence the biodiversity of these dry environments.

A horizon scan of international respondents identifies and discusses ten developing challenges in Antarctic conservation, revealing an increased emphasis on challenges related to governance, geopolitics and economics compared to a similar scan from 2012.

Using lidar over an area of 85,000 km², Inomata et al. identified 478 early ceremonial complexes in southern Mexico. These discoveries offer new information for understanding the origins of Mayan civilization and its relation with the Olmecs.

Liu et al. demonstrate that human-driven soil contamination in natural areas mirrors that in nearby urban greenspaces globally, and highlight the potential influence that soil contaminants have on ecosystem functions.

The second Global Amphibian Assessment finds that the status of amphibians is continuing to deteriorate globally, driven predominantly by climate change, disease and habitat loss.

Genetic and Structural analysis of COVID patients cohort reveals a correlation between mitochondrial haplogroup and SARS-CoV-2 severity.

In the CheckMate 7FL trial, neoadjuvant nivolumab and chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed, high-risk estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer led to an increased pathological complete response rate compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone, and this increase was associated with immune-related biomarkers and estrogen receptor expression.

Asc1/CD98hc is a key regulator of small neutral amino acid transport in the brain and adipose tissue. Here, authors report the structure of semi-occluded hAsc1/CD98hc and provide a model for Asc1 exchange and facilitated diffusion modes of transport.

The accuracy of melanoma diagnosis can vary considerably among clinicians, impacting both patient outcomes and the performance of related AI tools. Here, the authors systematically assess interrater variability among expert pathologists reviewing histopathological images and clinical metadata of melanoma-suspicious lesions collected at eight German hospitals.

Chiquihuite Cave (Zacatecas, Mexico) provides evidence of human presence in the Americas between about 33,000–31,000 and 14,000–12,000 years ago, and expands the cultural variability known from sites of this date.

Multicriteria optimization identifies global priority areas for ecosystem restoration and estimates their benefits for biodiversity and climate, providing cost–benefit analyses that highlight the importance of optimizing spatial planning and incorporating several biomes in restoration strategies.

Angiopoietin-like 4 protein (ANGPTL4) is a regulator of lipoprotein metabolism whose role in atherosclerosis has been controversial. Here the authors show that ANGPTL4 deficiency in haematopoietic cells increases atherogenesis by promoting myeloid progenitor cell expansion and differentiation, foam cell formation and vascular inflammation.

Kumar et al. show that under glucose-depleted conditions, neurons can use fatty acids as an alternative source of energy to support synaptic function.

Fine-scale geospatial mapping of overweight and wasting (two components of the double burden of malnutrition) in 105 LMICs shows that overweight has increased from 5.2% in 2000 to 6.0% in children under 5 in 2017. Although overall wasting decreased over the same period, most countries are not on track to meet the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025.

Protection afforded by inorganic minerals is assumed to make mineral-associated organic carbon less susceptible to loss under climate change than particulate organic carbon. However, a global study of soil organic carbon from drylands suggests that this is not the case.

Geospatial estimates of the prevalence of anemia in women of reproductive age across 82 low-income and middle-income countries reveals considerable heterogeneity and inequality at national and subnational levels, with few countries on track to meet the WHO Global Nutrition Targets by 2030.