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Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

A streamlined blood test using mass spectrometry improves measurement of amyloid-β for early Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, requiring less sample volume and reagents while maintaining high accuracy, sensitivity and strong agreement with brain imaging.

Synthesis of decades of field, herbarium and taxonomic studies show the presumed extinct species of Ecuador’s iconic Centinela ridge have survived, revealing the complexity of tropical cloud forests and offering new optimism for their conservation.

Nitrogen fixation in oceans is facilitated by associations between marine phytoplankton and cyanobacteria such as UCYN-A. Here, Cornejo-Castillo et al. show that UCYN-A diversified in the late Cretaceous under strong purifying selection to become lineage-specific symbiont partners with different prymnesiophytes.

This study examines long-term changes in species richness across tropical forests in the Andes and Amazon. Hotter, drier and more seasonal forests in the eastern and southern Amazon are losing species, while Northern Andean forests are accumulating species, acting as a refuge for climate-displaced species.

It is unclear whether stream detritivore diversity enhances decomposition across climates. Here the authors manipulate litter diversity and examine detritivore assemblages in a globally distributed stream litterbag experiment, finding a positive diversity-decomposition relationship stronger in tropical streams, where detritivore diversity is lower.

Single-cell intracellular recordings have been used as the primary tool for estimating driving forces across inhibitory receptors within the nervous system. Here, the authors present ORCHID as an all-optical method to measure inhibitory receptor driving forces in targeted brain cell types.

Species’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. Here, the authors find that dominant tree species are taller and have softer wood compared to rare species and that these trait differences are more strongly associated with temperature than water availability.

The authors present DNA-Diffusion, a generative AI framework that designs synthetic regulatory elements with tunable cell-type specificity. Experimental validation demonstrates their ability to reactivate AXIN2 expression, a leukemia-protective gene, in its native genomic context.

Wood density is an important plant trait. Data from 1.1 million forest inventory plots and 10,703 tree species show a latitudinal gradient in wood density, with temperature and soil moisture explaining variation at the global scale and disturbance also having a role at the local level.

Phylogenomic analysis of 7,923 angiosperm species using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes produced an angiosperm tree of life dated with 200 fossil calibrations, providing key insights into evolutionary relationships and diversification.

Analysis of ground-sourced and satellite-derived models reveals a global forest carbon potential of 226 Gt outside agricultural and urban lands, with a difference of only 12% across these modelling approaches.

An initial draft of the human pangenome is presented and made publicly available by the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium; the draft contains 94 de novo haplotype assemblies from 47 ancestrally diverse individuals.

Wood density is a key control on tree biomass, and understanding its spatial variation improves estimates of forest carbon stock. Sullivan et al. measure >900 forest plots to quantify wood density and produce high resolution maps of its variation across South American tropical forests.

Analysing >1,700 inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network, the authors show that the majority of Amazon tree species can occupy floodplains and that patterns of species turnover are closely linked to regional flood patterns.

Inventory data from more than 1 million trees across African, Amazonian and Southeast Asian tropical forests suggests that, despite their high diversity, just 1,053 species, representing a consistent ~2.2% of tropical tree species in each region, constitute half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees.

The authors analyse tree responses to an extreme heat and drought event across South America to understand long-term climate resistance. While no more sensitive to this than previous lesser events, forests in drier climates showed the greatest impacts and thus vulnerability to climate extremes.

In an updated report on 70 laboratory-confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza A H5N1 cases in the USA between March 2024 and May 2025, the absence of human-to-human transmission to date was confirmed, with no known mutations of resistance to neuroaminidase inhibitors.

Tree mortality has been shown to be the dominant control on carbon storage in Amazon forests, but little is known of how and why Amazon forest trees die. Here the authors analyse a large Amazon-wide dataset, finding that fast-growing species face greater mortality risk, but that slower-growing individuals within a species are more likely to die, regardless of size.

The authors measure numerous ecosystem functions across an elevational gradient on Mt Kilimanjaro and find that species richness impacts function more than species turnover across sites. They also show that variation in species richness impacts ecosystem functioning more strongly at the landscape scale than at the local scale.

Fenofibrate has been shown to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro. Results from a randomized clinical trial show that treating patients with COVID-19 with fenofibrate has no significant effect on clinically relevant outcomes.

Screening of hundreds of nanoparticle polymers identifies an effective and low-toxicity formulation for the functional delivery of RNA to the lungs of distinct animal species.

Quantum logic inspired techniques are promising to enable tests of fundamental physics at the quantum limit in ultrahigh precision experiments using Penning traps. Here, the authors present a procedure that shortens ion transport durations via trap voltage waveforms combined with electronic filter predistortion, enabling to boost data sampling rates in current cryogenic multi-Penning trap setups.

Alternative stable states in forests have implications for the biosphere. Here, the authors combine forest biodiversity observations and simulations revealing that leaf types across temperate regions of the NH follow a bimodal distribution suggesting signatures of alternative forest states.

There is a genetic component to the risk of severe COVID-19, but the genetic effects are difficult to separate from social constructs that covary with genetic ancestry. To address this, the authors identify determinants of COVID-19 severity using admixture mapping, viral phylodynamics, and host immune and metagenomic sequencing.

Lauer and colleagues examine CD8⁺ T cells following cure of human hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. CD8⁺ T cells exposed to chronic HCV-specific activation show durable functional, phenotypic and transcriptional exhaustion that is maintained even after antigen stimulus is removed.

Using a Bayesian approach with neural networks the authors model the demographic history of gorillas, finding admixture from an archaic ‘ghost’ lineage into the common ancestor of eastern gorillas, but not western gorillas.

Comparisons within the human pangenome establish that homologous regions on short arms of heterologous human acrocentric chromosomes actively recombine, leading to the high rate of Robertsonian translocation breakpoints in these regions.

Bioelectrochemical cells have huge potential, yet incompatibilities between the microbe and abiotic catalysts can affect efficiency. Here, the authors report the development of thin silica membranes with bridging molecular wires that chemically separate yet electrically connect the two components.

Clinical evidences have demonstrated limited efficacy of HER2-targeted therapies in patients with gastric cancer (GC). Here the authors show that survival benefit to anti-HER2 antibody Trastuzumab is reduced in GC patients with high levels of the caveolin-1 and that, in preclinical cancer models, antibody drug efficacy can be improved by modulating caveolin-1 levels with cholesterol-depleting drugs, statins.

Inventory data from 90 lowland Amazonian forest plots and a phylogeny of 526 angiosperm genera were used to show that taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity are both predictive of wood productivity but not of biomass variation.

Constructing genome graphs directly from genome assemblies overcomes single-reference bias.

The mechanisms of action of the antibacterial metalloid tellurite are unclear. Here, the authors show that tellurite induces an accumulation of hydroxyl radical and intermediates of heme biosynthesis inE. coli, and that the heme precursor 5-aminolevulinic acid potentiates tellurite toxicity.

This paper reports activation patterns for fMRI tasks assessing response inhibition, working memory and reward processing obtained at baseline in the longitudinal ABCD Study, providing a reference for research into adolescent brain development.

Disease prognosis after infection with Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and Epstein-Barr Virus is highly variable. Here the authors carry out epidemiological and genetic analysis of a Ugandan cohort and suggest complex interactions may influence pathogenesis and transmission.

Nitrogen fixation by diazotrophs is critical for marine primary production. Using Tara Oceans datasets, this study combines a quantitative image analysis pipeline with metagenomic mining to provide an improved global overview of diazotroph abundance, diversity and distribution.

A study comparing the pattern of single-nucleotide variation between unique and duplicated regions of the human genome shows that mutation rate and interlocus gene conversion are elevated in duplicated regions.

Integrating inventory data with machine learning models reveals the global composition of tree types—needle-leaved evergreen individuals dominate, followed by broadleaved evergreen and deciduous trees—and climate change risks.

Sobkowiak et al., present a comprehensive genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Peru from 2020 to 2024, highlighting the emergence and spread of key variants including Lambda and Gamma P.1.12. The work provides valuable insights into regional viral transmission dynamics in a high-burden, middle-income setting, emphasizing the importance of sustained genomic surveillance.

The Amazon rainforest is dominated by relatively few tree species, yet the degree to which this hyperdominance influences carbon cycling remains unknown. Here, the authors analyse 530 forest plots and show that ∼1% of species are responsible for 50% of the aboveground carbon storage and productivity.

Li et al. show that the TFE3 driver fusion transcriptionally upregulates an OXPHOS programme in translocation renal cell carcinoma that renders this cancer vulnerable to reductive stress, induced by imbalance of reducing equivalents.

Multi-ancestry genome-wide association analyses identify new risk loci for Parkinson’s disease, and fine-mapping and co-localization analyses implicate candidate genes whose expression is associated with disease susceptibility.

Macroalgae can be transported across the open ocean, and substantial amounts can reach the seafloor at 4,000 m depth, according to analyses of metagenome data from global expeditions. Macroalgae are a potentially important oceanic carbon sink globally.