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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.

A meta-analysis using the burden of proof risk function identified consistent evidence supporting harmful associations between the exposure to intimate partner violence against women and childhood sexual abuse on health outcomes.

QEPAS and LITES, collectively called quartz-enhanced laser spectroscopy technology, may bring a paradigm shift in gas sensing for applications.

Amyloid fibrils can accumulate in tissues outside the brain, yet the impact is incompletely understood. Here the researchers show that, with age, mouse bone marrow fat cells become senescent and secrete SAP/PTX2, driving amyloid buildup and bone loss. Clearing senescent fat cells or depleting SAP/PTX2 reduces marrow amyloid deposits and restores bone health.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

A systematic review using the burden of proof meta-analytic method found a significant harmful effect between high systolic blood pressure and ischemic heart disease.

Li et al. discovered that the cytotoxic synthetic small molecule BRD1732 is directly ubiquitinated in cells. Ubiquitination of BRD1732 is E3 ligase dependent and leads to inhibition of proteasomal degradation.

The study of isotopes away from the beta stability valley is crucial for the understanding of nuclear structure, especially for neutron-deficient heavy nuclei. Here, the authors report the observation of the alpha-decay isotope 210-protactinium (Pa), extending the alpha-decay systematics of underexplored regions of the nuclides chart.

Phaeocystales are ecologically significant nanoplankton whose evolutionary history and functional diversity remain incompletely characterized. Here, the authors integrate genomic and transcriptomic data to reveal their lineage diversification, metabolic plasticity, and adaptation to polar and temperate regimes.

A meta-analysis using the Burden of Proof method reported consistent evidence supporting harmful associations between exposures to secondhand smoke and nine health outcomes.

A post-translational backbone extension acyl rearrangement (BEAR) reaction has now been developed that converts a ribosomal protein product into a new product containing a β-peptide, γ-peptide or δ-peptide backbone. BEAR reactions represent a general strategy to install extended backbones into genetically encoded proteins and peptides expressed in cells.

Here, the authors perform large trans-ancestry fine-mapping analyses identifying large numbers of association signals and putative target genes for colorectal cancer risk, advancing our understanding of the genetic and biological basis of this cancer.

The authors demonstrate that UBIQUITIN SPECIFIC PROTEASE 5 (UBP5) is a major H2Aub deubiquitinase that antagonises H3K27me3, leading to transcriptional de-repression and controlling development in Arabidopsis.

The protein corona formed on nanoparticles can impact bioactivity. Here the authors show that the protein corona on lipid nanoparticles alters their function and reduces transfection efficiency, showing the importance of considering the protein corona in designing lipid nanoparticle-based therapeutics.

The semileptonic decay channels of the Λc baryon can give important insights into weak interaction, but decay into a neutron, positron and electron neutrino has not been reported so far, due to difficulties in the final products’ identification. Here, the BESIII Collaboration reports its observation in e+e- collision data, exploiting machine-learning-based identification techniques.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have improved our understanding of the genetic basis of lung adenocarcinoma but known susceptibility variants explain only a small fraction of the familial risk. Here, the authors perform a two-stage GWAS and report 12 novel genetic loci associated with lung adenocarcinoma in East Asians.

Single-cell multi-omic analysis of 300,000 cells from 29 patients representing peripheral immune cells and colon mucosal immune, epithelial and mesenchymal cells reveals crosstalk between circulating and tissue-resident immune cells with epithelial cells in checkpoint inhibitor colitis and identifies potential therapeutic targets.

Head motion is an artifact in structural and functional MRI signals, and some traits or groups are more strongly correlated with motion than others. Here the authors describe a method to attribute a motion impact score to specific trait-functional connectivity relationships.

The selectivity of a catalytic reaction is manipulated by straining a polymer support to which the catalyst is covalently bound. Enantioselective rhodium-catalysed hydrogenation of a series of 2-acetamidoacrylates is shown to increase with macroscopic strain, with enantiomeric ratios reaching twice their initial values.

Two dimensional materials are promising for electronic applications, which await the exploration of cooperative phenomena. Here, Liu et al. report switchable ferroelectric polarization in thin CuInP₂S₆film at room temperature, demonstrating good memory behaviour with on/off ratio of ∼100 based on two-dimensional ferroelectricity.

Accurate tree cover mapping is vital for fighting climate change and land degradation. This high-resolution study reveals that 17% of pan-tropical tree cover was previously undetected, with over half of recent losses linked to human activities.

The spin-orbit torque (SOT) induced magnetic switching makes metal/magnetic insulators bilayers preferred in the energy efficient spintronic applications. Here the authors show SOT switching in W/TmIG bilayers and reveal the dimension crossover of SOT as a function of TmIG thickness.

One area of interest in the field of molecular magnetism is the development of high-spin molecules. Here, the authors report a cyanide-bridged nanocage consisting of 18 high-spin iron(III) ions ferromagnetically coupled through 24 low-spin iron(II) ions, with a ground state spin of S=45.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

Cellular niches are highly heterogenous in triple negative breast cancer. Here, the authors utilise imaging mass cytometry and spatial transcriptomics to characterise the microenvironment in Black American and White American patients.

A trans-ancestry meta-analysis of GWAS of glycemic traits in up to 281,416 individuals identifies 99 novel loci, of which one quarter was found due to the multi-ancestry approach, which also improves fine-mapping of credible variant sets.

A meta-analysis using the Burden of proof method reported consistent evidence supporting harmful associations between smoking and 28 different health outcomes.

Electrocatalytic CO₂ conversion offers opportunities for producing sustainable fuels and chemicals, but achieving strong performance with realistic CO₂ sources remains a challenge. Here a system is designed to use high-pressure captured CO₂, and achieves 85% Faradaic efficiency and high-purity C₂H₄ for over 1,500 h.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.

In this study the authors consider the structural variants (SVs) present within cancer cases of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. They report hundreds of genes, including known cancer-associated genes for which the nearby presence of a SV breakpoint is associated with altered expression.

A large genome-wide association study of more than 5 million individuals reveals that 12,111 single-nucleotide polymorphisms account for nearly all the heritability of height attributable to common genetic variants.

Monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) infiltrate the brain after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and contribute to cognitive deficits. Here, the authors show that MDMs persist long-term in the brain after TBI and acquire a disease- and age-associated signature enriched in human TBI and AD brains.

Antibiotic tolerance, or the ability of bacteria to survive antibiotic treatment in the absence of genetic resistance, often involves a low metabolic state. Here, Zheng et al. show that tolerance does not readily evolve against antibiotics whose efficacy is only minimally affected by bacterial metabolism, and find that cycling of antibiotics with different metabolic dependencies interrupts evolution of tolerance.

Many tumours exhibit hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypoxic tumours often respond poorly to therapy. Here, the authors quantify hypoxia in 1188 tumours from 27 cancer types, showing elevated hypoxia links to increased mutational load, directing evolutionary trajectories.

Operation of lithium–sulphur batteries suffers from uncontrolled lithium polysulphide formation and corrosion at the anode. Huang et al.design an integrated anode structure composed of electrically connected graphite and lithium metal, which alleviates the problems and leads to high battery performance.

Mercury isotope signatures in groundwater, soil gas, solid peat, and atmosphere suggest that dark abiotic reduction of peat soil Hg^II to volatile Hg⁰ does not play a significant role in mobilizing Hg during peat mass loss

Christenson et al. describe hue-selective neurons in the fruit fly optic lobe. Using a connectomics-constrained model combined with genetic manipulations of the circuit, they show that recurrent connections are critical for hue selectivity.

Species-rich plant communities often have higher productivity than monocultures. Here, the authors analyse biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments in grasslands and forests and find that the biodiversity effects on community productivity strengthen over time thanks to shifts in contributions of species with different resource acquisition traits.

An integrated observation-driven and model-driven approach demonstrates that, from 2005 to 2021, periods of high atmospheric methane growth were linked to trends and variations in OH levels driven by fluctuations in air pollutants, especially during extreme events.

This study reveals that CO₂-concentrating mechanism (CCM) and photorespiration operate jointly in green algae, challenging the long-held belief that photorespiration is suppressed by CCM, reshaping our understanding of algal physiology and carbon metabolism.

Most genetic studies have been done on European cohorts, which affects the efficacy of polygenic risk scores in non-European populations. Here, the authors demonstrate that a colorectal cancer PRS including Asian and European ancestries has improved performance over the European-centric PRS across racial and ethnic groups.

This study reconstructs global fire methane emissions from 2003 to 2020, revealing 27% higher estimates than previous models, which is likely due to undetected small fires and underestimated emission intensity from the coarse-resolution model data.

The sterile insect technique involves the introduction of sterile males to induce sterility in females and reduce population size. Here, the authors show that sterile males may also reduce female density and inhibit female blood feeding through mating harassment.

Coal is widely used for energy generation, but has not been considered for possible functional materials. Here, the authors report the one-step formation of graphene quantum dots from coal at yields of up to 20%, which is advantageous when compared with their syntheses from sp²-type carbon structures.

Observations of SN 2021yfj reveal that its progenitor is a massive star stripped down to its O/Si/S core, which remarkably continued to expel vast quantities of silicon-, sulfur-, and argon-rich material before the explosion, informing us that current theories for how stars evolve are too narrow.

Cancers evolve as they progress under differing selective pressures. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, the authors present the method TrackSig the estimates evolutionary trajectories of somatic mutational processes from single bulk tumour data.