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While machine learning shows promise in expanding protein engineering efforts, its potential is limited by the challenge of gathering large datasets of sequence-function relationships. Here, authors introduce a platform that integrates cell-free DNA assembly and gene expression to accelerate enzyme engineering.

Sea butterflies, or pteropods, are often presented as being at threat from ocean acidification on account of their fragile shells being susceptible to dissolution. Here the authors show that pteropods are able to perform extensive repair to damaged shells, suggesting they may not be as vulnerable as previously thought.

Sudan faces population growth to 80 million people, rising temperatures and trebling in demand for wheat by 2050. Crop modelling under climate and socioeconomic scenarios indicates the regional rates of yield growth that must be achieved by breeding heat-tolerant varieties to adapt wheat production to climate change and increased demand.

A high-resolution, global atlas of mortality of children under five years of age between 2000 and 2017 highlights subnational geographical inequalities in the distribution, rates and absolute counts of child deaths by age.

The backbones of all natural peptides and proteins are composed of amide bonds. In the laboratory, the construction of such bonds generally relies on dehydrative approaches, although there are alternatives. It is now shown that the activation of amines and nitroalkanes with an electrophilic iodine source can lead directly to amide products.

A terahertz (THz) optical single-sideband modulator (OSSB) for direct conversion of free-space THz electromagnetic radiation to THz optical modulations is realized. The THz OSSB operates in the 0.3–1.0 THz range without any frequency-dependent tuning.

A projection of ocean surface isotherm deepening under emissions scenarios RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 reveals that the potential habitat of many marine organisms will rapidly become tightly compressed between depth levels imposed by isotherm deepening, the thickness of the photic layer and the seafloor.

Benegiamo et al. identify genetic variants of the mitochondrial supercomplex assembly factor COX7A2L in the skeletal muscle of mice and humans that promote cardiorespiratory fitness.

This Consensus Statement clarifies the existing subset-based nomenclature for T cells. Furthermore, it proposes an alternative modular nomenclature that is designed to be brief and flexible and to avoid ambiguity and unwanted implications. The authors also provide guidance on how T cell nomenclature should be described in research papers.

Genomic evolutionary rates are decomposed to identify the dominant lineages and genes driving rate variation across the phylogeny of birds.

Materials typically break down in response to the repeated mechanical forces that they experience during use. Now, it has been shown that a mechanochemically active polymer can respond to shear forces by forming more bonds than are broken, leading to improved mechanical properties under conditions that would otherwise be destructive.

Xenia effects describe the genetic contribution of pollen to seed phenotypes. Here the authors show that paternal imprinting of Ded1 contributes to the xenia effect in maize by setting the pace of endosperm development.

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.

Post-infectious myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (PI-ME/CFS) is a disabling disorder, yet the clinical phenotype is poorly defined and the pathophysiology unknown. Here, the authors conduct deep phenotyping of a cohort of PI-ME/CFS patients.

Here, the authors extend the Fabric model to accommodate correlation between a trait and covarying traits, demonstrating how inferences about the evolution of brain size change when accounting for body size across 1504 mammalian species.

Nsp15 is an endoribonuclease that helps coronaviruses evade detection of host immune sensors. Here, the authors combine biochemistry, NMR, and cryo-EM to show that spontaneous base flipping drives specificity in double stranded RNA substrates.

CRISPR technology is revolutionizing the development of therapies for genetic disorders. However, the application of CRISPR-based therapeutics is challenged by factors impacting stability, efficiency, delivery and safety. This Review focuses on chemical engineering of CRISPR–Cas systems to address these issues, it assesses next-generation CRISPR–Cas systems, and it highlights CRISPR-based therapies that are approved or in clinical development.

Independent of antigen presentation, migratory CCR7⁺ dendritic cells orchestrate the influx, proliferation and cytotoxic action of natural killer cells to control cancer cell growth in the leptomeninges.

The geographic extent of stripe rust, a fungal disease that adversely affects wheat production, has increased in recent decades. Observations and model simulations suggest that over 5 million tonnes of wheat are lost to this pathogen each year, necessitating a sustained annual investment of at least US$32 million into rust resistance research.

A speech-to-text brain–computer interface that records spiking activity from intracortical microelectrode arrays enabled an individual who cannot speak intelligibly to achieve 9.1 and 23.8% word error rates on a 50- and 125,000-word vocabulary, respectively.

Extensive disturbances of blue carbon ecosystems deplete soil carbon to 0.5-2 m, while limited disturbances affect only surface layers or cause minimal loss. This global synthesis refines greenhouse gas estimates for climate policy and reporting.

High-resolution subnational mapping of child growth failure indicators for 105 low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017 shows that, despite considerable progress, substantial geographical inequalities still exist in some countries.

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.

Proxies for evolutionary processes are widely employed to inform environmental management, conservation, and ecological restoration. This study shows that as proxies, bioregionalisations and floristic classification, do not reflect intraspecific evolutionary patterns observed in targeted genetic studies.

Ferber et al. present an autonomous artificial intelligence agent system for deployment of specialized medical oncology computational tools, validating their system across various clinical scenarios representative of typical patient care workflows.

Here, the authors introduce a computational strategy for antimicrobial discovery that addresses the scarcity of large datasets. Based on data-driven representations of molecular structures, this framework uncovers new growth inhibitors of Staphylococcus aureus.

A study finds that RUVBL2 is a conserved component of eukaryotic circadian clocks and suggests that slow ATPase activity, which was initially discovered in cyanobacteria, is a shared feature of eukaryotic clocks.

Stella, Achkar and colleagues present a bio-inspired quadruped robot that uses passive dynamics, motor synergies, variable stiffness and self-organization to achieve robust, adaptive, animal-like movement with just four actuators.

Changes in agricultural practices have led to the expansion of tree plantations across the tropics, but this expansion is poorly characterized. Nearly 7 million unique patches of observed tree cover gain are classified through satellite imagery to report on tropical tree plantation expansion between 2000 and 2012.

A diverse, multidisciplinary panel of 386 experts in COVID-19 response from 112 countries provides health and social policy actions to address inadequacies in the pandemic response and help to bring this public health threat to an end.

The first step in predicting material properties is the generation of a plausible crystal structure. Here, the authors introduce a large language model that can achieve this task given only the chemical composition of the material.

Enabled by augmented muscle afferents, a bionic leg under continuous neural control restores biomimetic adaptations to various walking speeds, terrains and perturbations.

Neurons receive their input in three dimensions via their dendrites, but how electrical activity in dendrites is organized is unknown. Here, the authors work out the distinct rules that govern activity across this 3D structure in different brain states.

Large language models (LLMs) can synthesize vast amounts of information. Luo et al. show that LLMs—especially BrainGPT, an LLM the authors tuned on the neuroscience literature—outperform experts in predicting neuroscience results and could assist scientists in making future discoveries.

The authors collate a meta-collection of ex situ living plant diversity held in 50 botanical collections worldwide, spanning a century of data and currently containing ~500,000 accessions. Their analyses examine the capacities and constraints within living plant collections, reveal the impact of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its consequences for material exchange and conservation, and call for the re-evaluation of strategic priorities.

The ability of pulsed near-infrared laser light to pace the heart beat of a quail embryo is demonstrated, suggesting that such optical pacing may become a useful tool for developmental cardiology.