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Studies in zebra finches show that dopamine has a key role as a reinforcement signal in the trial-and-error process of learning that underlies complex natural behaviours.

Plasmonic effects can turn reflective metals into strong absorbers, although this is usually realized within narrow wavelength ranges near resonances. Using arrays of ultra-sharp convex grooves, Søndergaardet al. show that nonresonant absorption can lead to effective broadband light absorption.

Here, in a cross-sectional study of 209 individuals living in communities with contrasting Schistosoma mansoni endemicity in Uganda, the authors identify gut microbiome and metabolome signatures associated with S. mansoni infection and cardiovascular disease risk.

A new platform comprising large-scale 2D arrays of quantum dots patterned with sub-nanometre precision, with each quantum dot defined by tens of phosphorus atoms doped into silicon, allows for analogue simulation of quantum materials on arbitrary lattices.

Five-year survival data and biomarker analysis of the PRADO extension cohort of the phase 2 OpACIN-neo trial, in which patients with high-risk stage III melanoma received neoadjuvant ipilimumab and nivolumab and underwent pathologic response-directed surgery and adjuvant therapy, show 71% event-free survival and 88% overall survival, with tumor mutational burden, IFNγ signature and PD-L1 expression associated with favorable outcomes.

Silicon anodes promise much higher battery capacity but are limited by poor storage life. This work identifies key ageing mechanisms and suggests ways to improve long-term stability.

Functional studies of O-GlcNAcylation have often focused on individual modifications. Now, a systems-level approach has identified simultaneous O-GlcNAcylation events that coordinate cellular activities and tissue-specific functions.

CO₂-driven warming reduces phosphorus availability in rice paddies by promoting its binding with iron and organic carbon in the soil, according to a ten-year experiment using a free-air CO₂ enrichment system to simulate in situ climate warming.

Fractional Chern insulators have been observed in moiré MoTe₂ at zero magnetic field, but the expected zero longitudinal resistance has not been demonstrated. Now it is shown that improving device quality allows this effect to appear.

Voluntary deference to prestigious individuals is a unique feature of human social life. Here, the authors show that human prestige psychology can promote marked-yet-adaptive inequalities in influence while remaining non-coercive.

Genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies 58 independent risk loci for major anxiety disorders among individuals of European ancestry and implicates GABAergic signaling as a potential mechanism underlying genetic risk for these disorders.

Global Burden of Disease estimates show that between 1990 and 2023, the prevalence and burden of drug use disorders, inclusive of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and opioid use, have been increasing in high-income countries, particularly in the USA.

Genome-wide association analyses using data from 19 biobanks identify variants influencing risk of thyroid diseases and yield polygenic risk scores associated with features of aggressive thyroid cancer.

Stone tools illustrate behavioural complexities in Middle Pleistocene hominin populations. Here, the authors present small dimensional flakes and hafted tools from Xigou, central China, dated to ~160–72 thousand years ago that demonstrate early, complex technological advancements.

Understanding microwave emission from resonating spin spirals is key for on-chip magnonics. Now, real-time spin precession modes with distinct microwave patterns are captured in a helimagnet/ferromagnet heterostructure.

The authors identify a CA3 new pyramidal cell type with unique morphofunctional characteristics and distinct synaptic inputs and describe how these cells contribute to sharp-wave synchronization events, which are vital to hippocampal memory function.

Strain can lead to emergent quantum states. Here, the authors identify a strain induced topological crystalline insulator phase in bilayer SnTe on bulk 2H-NbSe₂.

The behavior of quantum magnets depends strongly on the effective dimensionality of the inter-spin interactions. Here the authors tune the influence of two- and three-dimensional couplings in Yb₂Pt₂Pb with a magnetic field and hence control the behavior of emergent one-dimensional excitations.

Anti-phased changes in Antarctic Circumpolar Current strength between the Indian and Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean occurred on orbital timescales over the past one million years, linked to glacial cycles and obliquity forcing, according to proxy records and modelling.

Analysis of transits of an ultra-hot giant exoplanet reports the precise abundance constraints of 14 major refractory elements, showing distinct deviations from proto-solar, along with a sharp transition temperature at which those elements are depleted.

A van der Waals heterostructure made from atomic layers of ferroelectric CuCrP₂S₆ and ferromagnetic Fe₃GeTe₂ can offer reversible, non-volatile ferroelectric control of two-dimensional magnetism.

JWST’s COSMOS-Web survey is used to create an ultra-high-detail dark matter map, revealing hidden filaments, clusters and distant structures. By tracing features out to z = 2, this map shows how dark and luminous matter build the cosmic web across cosmic time.

This study introduces a sediment-based method to reconstruct Antarctic fast-ice change during the late Holocene, revealing cyclic patterns linked to solar variability and offering insight into long-term cryosphere climate dynamics.

The authors study microstructured UTe₂ by high-field transport, focusing on the field-reinforced superconducting phase. They reveal a highly-directional vortex pinning force typical of quasi-2D superconductors, indicating a vortex lock-in state and consistent with a change of order parameter from the low-field superconducting phase.

The electronic behaviour of complex oxides such as LaNiO₃ depends on many intrinsic and extrinsic factors, making it challenging to identify microscopic mechanisms. Here the authors demonstrate the influence of oxygen vacancies on the thickness-dependent metal-insulator transition of LaNiO₃ films.

Here, the authors present archaeology of the Namorotukunan site in Kenya’s Turkana Basin that demonstrates adaptive shifts in hominin tool-making behaviour spanning 300,000 years and increasing environmental variability. They contextualize these findings with paleoenvironmental proxies, dating, and geological descriptions.

Behaviour changes, rather than vaccination or postinfection immunity, best explained the sudden decline of mpox cases among men who have sex with men during an outbreak in the Paris region in 2022, according to a network model and survey data.

NbN/AlN/NbN qubits prepared by atomic layer deposition allow for precise control of the tunnelling barrier and stable operation beyond the temperature limit of aluminium-based devices.

Induction of CD11b-positive regulatory B cells and low expression of CD40 in melanoma cells have been associated with resistance to agonist CD40 (aCD40) and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). Here the authors show that the addition of RAS/MEK/PI3K inhibitors to aCD40 abrogates these effects and reverses ICB resistance in preclinical melanoma models.

Glucose deprivation triggers the secretion of the cytokine LIF, which promotes angiogenesis and immune suppression in lung cancer models.

pH is a critical regulator of (bio)chemical processes and therefore tightly regulated in nature. Now, proteins have been shown to possess the functionality to drive pH gradients without requiring energy input or membrane enclosure but through condensation. Protein condensates can drive unique pH gradients that modulate biochemical activity in both living and artificial systems.

Three-component Fermi gases represent a versatile platform for quantum simulation, including quantum chromodynamics-like physics, pairing and few-body effects. Here the authors demonstrate control of spin imbalances and an unexpected asymmetric decay due to different three-body losses for each component, and whose microscopic mechanism remains to be understood.

The nature of the defects in amorphous materials, analogous to vacancies and dislocations in crystals, remains a matter of debate. Scalliet et al. show that localized and extended defects coexist in a wide range of conditions, yet are associated with distinct energy scales in a prototypical glass model.

New results indicate that rhabdodontids and the previously described Ajkaceratops are actually distinctive European ceratopsians, a group better known from Asia and North America.

The authors mapped spontaneous and choice activity across mouse prefrontal cortex. The activity maps aligned with intrinsic connectivity rather than anatomical subregions, suggesting that connectivity, not cytoarchitecture, organizes prefrontal function.

It is unclear which aspects of experience shape sleep’s contributions to learning. Here, by combining neural recordings in rats with reinforcement learning, the authors show that reward-prediction signals support sleep-dependent learning over multiple days.

Catalytic breakdown of highly persistent fluorinated pollutants is hindered by limited proton availability and catalyst degradation. This study shows that in situ proton-supplying sites enable low-temperature, long-lasting decomposition of stubborn PFAS gas.

Moral-Sanz, Fernández-Carrasco and colleagues identify senolytic properties of sea anemone-derived pore-forming toxins, with selectivity mediated by senescence-associated lipid profiles. An optimized senotoxin improves the efficacy of chemotherapy in mouse models.

CLC transporters exchange Cl⁻ for H⁻ with 2:1 stoichiometry. Here, authors integrate hydrogen-deuterium exchange, cryo-EM, MD simulations, ion binding analysis, and functional assays to establish a complete ion-exchange model, explaining how subtle dynamics enable reversible transport.

Stone tools are taken as signatures of hominin behavioural evolution, but we don’t know how exactly they conferred advantages in adaptation. Here a two-million-year dataset of stone flakes reassesses the evolutionary efficiency of this technology.

Heparan sulfate proteoglycans facilitate the assembly of clusters of glycoRNAs and cell surface RNA-binding proteins, which negatively modulate VEGF-A signalling and angiogenesis.

Wei et al. perform spatial transcriptomic profiling on synovial tissue biopsy samples from individuals with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis, finding TGFβ signaling and fibrogenic fibroblast activation drive a treatment-refractory tissue phenotype.

Genetic and isotopic analyses of samples from the northeast Atlantic reveal that suspended prokaryotic dark carbon fixation substantially fuels carbon inputs below the sunlit ocean, while particle-attached communities make an overlooked contribution to carbon demand.

When doubly-degenerate band crossings known as Kramers nodal lines intersect the Fermi level, they form exotic three-dimensional Fermi surfaces composed of massless Dirac fermions. Here, the authors present evidence that the 3R polytypes of TaS₂ and NbS₂ are Kramers nodal line metals with open octdong and spindle-torus Fermi surfaces, respectively.

Candida auris can scavenge carbon dioxide from microenvironments through Nce103 to sustain fitness when colonizing human skin.

The MOUNTAINEER phase 2 trial demonstrated the efficacy and safety of tucatinib (HER2-targeted TKI) and trastuzumab (anti-HER2 antibody) in patients with HER2 + , RAS wildtype unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer that had progressed on chemotherapy, resulting in the approval of the regimen. Here, the authors report the updated analysis of the MOUNTAINEER trial.