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The balance between cell proliferation and cell cycle arrest is essential for liver regeneration. Here the authors report the emergence of partially reprogrammed hepatocytes persisting in plastic states during liver tissue injury, which are resistant to proliferation thereby limiting overgrowth and tumorigenesis.

Dynamic nuclear polarization is the transfer of electronic angular momentum to nuclear spins and is a potential route for coherently manipulating spin in quantum information. Here, the authors show that spin–orbit coupling can quench dynamic nuclear polarization in a gallium arsenide quantum dot.

Micron and submicron-sized magnetic platelets in a vortex configuration may be useful in micromagnetics and spintronics applications. Kammereret al. show that a fast unidirectional vortex core reversal process occurs when azimuthal spin wave modes are excited at GHz frequency.

Emission of methane from ‘point sources’—small surface features or infrastructure components—is monitored with an airborne spectrometer, identifying possible targets for mitigation efforts.

Children living with HIV face a heightened risk of iron deficiency, yet optimal prevention and treatment strategies remain elusive. In these three prospective studies in South African children living with HIV, the authors show reduced dietary iron absorption but adequate absorption from iron supplements. Prebiotics may enhance efficacy and safety of oral iron supplementation in iron-deficient children living with HIV.

In Drosophila, the physical structure of the eye has a key role in the directional tuning of motion-sensitive neurons, showing how navigational behaviour is tightly associated with anatomy.

Kraft, Murphy, Jones et al. identify extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA)-interacting elements (EIEs) enriched for transposable elements within ecDNA in colorectal cancer cells. They show that EIE 14 integrated within ecDNA acts as an enhancer to promote cancer fitness.

Low-energy structures (LES) in the photoelectron momentum distribution, typically observed in linearly polarized tunneling ionization, are caused by Coulomb effects. The authors demonstrate that the LES induced by specific recollisions persists at any laser ellipticity, provided the nonadiabatic regime is reached with sufficiently large nonadiabaticity.

A complementary analysis of DESI DR2 distance measurements along with supernova and CMB data shows consistent, moderate evidence that dark energy changes over time rather than behaving as a simple cosmological constant.

The programmability of synthetic cells, comprising lipid vesicles that are capable of imitating the structure and function of living cells, facilitates their application as drug delivery devices. Now, magnetic hyperthermia has been used to control the on-demand synthesis and release of biomolecules from within synthetic cells.

In this Perspective, the international PAINDIFF Network makes 13 recommendations for studying sex and gender as variables in preclinical, clinical and translational pain research that are applicable across the spectrum of biomedical and psychosocial research.

The International Brain Laboratory presents a brain-wide electrophysiological map obtained from pooling data from 12 laboratories that performed the same standardized perceptual decision-making task in mice.

A systematic analysis of 115 mammalian genomes, including 10 new bat genomes, reveals prevalent positive selection in immune genes in bats and shows key adaptations in the antiviral gene ISG15 that aid disease resistance in bats, including to coronaviruses.

Nuclear spin polarization and relaxation can be studied using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Here the authors demonstrate a combination of fast-field cycling and optical magnetometry techniques, to realize a NMR sensor that operates in the region of very low frequency and high relaxation rate.

Parity induces an accumulation of CD8⁺ T cells, including cells with a tissue-resident-memory-like phenotype within human normal breast tissue, offering long-term protection against triple-negative breast cancer.

Pathogenic variants in UNC13A underlie a novel neurodevelopmental syndrome, with three subtypes defined by distinct genotypes with varying clinical and functional impacts characterized in cellular and animal models.

Biological nitrogen fixation may impose stronger constraints on the carbon sink in natural terrestrial biomes and represent a larger source of agricultural nitrogen than is generally considered in analyses of the global nitrogen cycle.

Over 20 species of geographically and phylogenetically diverse bird species produce convergent whining vocalizations towards their respective brood parasites. Model presentation and playback experiments across multiple continents suggest that these learned calls provoke an innate response even among allopatric species.

Commutation relations define the limit to which two complementary properties can be simultaneously known—Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Yet it is thought that these canonical relations might be different in the quantum gravity regime. Researchers now show how quantum-optics experiments might provide a direct route for studying these effects.

Engineering structurally and functionally complex synthetic cells remains a key challenge. Here DNA condensate synthetic cells combine phase separation and DNA nanostructures to reveal how switchable artificial cytoskeletons assemble in viscoelastic confinements. These cytoskeletons improve the mechanical properties of synthetic cells and enable stable mechano-interfaces with mammalian cells.

Liu et al. show that SPIN90 dimerizes and binds two Arp2/3 complexes to nucleate two bidirectional actin filaments and the dimerization domain is conserved in multicellular animals, suggesting that the mechanism of bidirectional actin filament nucleation is conserved.

Although higher harmonic generation from solids has become of interest in many fields, its observation is typically limited to crystalline solids. Here, the authors demonstrate that higher harmonics can be generated from amorphous solids.

Mecp2 deficiency underlies Rett syndrome, a genetic disorder presenting with chronic low-grade inflammation of unknown origin. Here, the authors show that Mecp2 is a central regulator of the onset, breadth and nature of nucleic acid immunity.

Therapeutic options for patients with renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) are limited. Here the authors report the results of a phase II clinical trial of anti-PD1 nivolumab plus anti-CTLA4 ipilimumab in RMC, associating the activation of a myeloid mimicry program in tumor cells to the rapid disease progression and hyper-progression observed in treated patients.

Several moons in the outer Solar System have oceans encased beneath an ice shell. If the ice shell thins, ocean pressure decreases. Modelling shows that on Mimas, Enceladus, and Miranda, the ocean can boil. On larger bodies, instead, compressional forces form tectonic features.

Researchers demonstrate sub-picosecond steering of ultrafast incoherent emission from a light-emitting metasurface. The steering is achieved over a 70° range.

The use of robotics in cardiac surgery initially replicated components of operations, then evolved to assist with entire operations, and is now becoming the standard of care for an increasing number of cardiac procedures. Its expanded use and rapid innovation promise to combine high-precision, partially automated cardiac surgery with robotically deployed devices, thereby transforming the surgical experience for both patients and surgeons.

Electromagnetic soundings are used to map the extent of deep old aquifers beneath coastal Bangladesh. Low sea-level during the ice age and weathering shaped the distribution of freshwater. These reserves aid water security in the region.

An electron beam technique can be used to write high-resolution doping patterns in graphene and MoS₂ van der Waals heterostructures, and could allow doped circuit designs to be created.

The authors use time-resolved scanning near-field optical microscopy to probe the ultrafast excitonic processes and their impact on waveguide operation in transition metal dichalcogenide crystals. They observe significant modulation of the complex index by monitoring waveguide modes on the fs time scale, and identify both coherent and incoherent manipulations of WSe₂ excitonic resonances.

Spatial transcriptomic analysis of cells in intestinal fistulae of patients with Crohn’s disease reveals the existence of specialized fistula-associated cell states with distinct signalling profiles and extracellular matrix architecture.

Here they perform a systematic dissection of OCT4 and reveal how intrinsically disordered regions can be used to serve specific functions during reprogramming and embryonic development. This can be exploited to engineer more efficient and specific reprogramming factors.

Plasmonic excitations of electrons in metallic nanostructures are promising for the enhanced conversion of light in semiconductor solar cells. Here, the authors are able to experimentally distinguish the absorption phenomena of plasmonic carrier generation and excitation of carriers by light absorption.

Quantum Hall phases in two-dimensional systems have chiral edges, along which electrons propagate in one direction without backscattering. Here, the authors use nuclear magnetic resonance to demonstrate how chiral modes establish dynamical nuclear polarization in a quantum Hall ferromagnet.

High-performance MoS₂ transistors can be created using 2-nm-thick CaF₂ as a gate insulator, which forms a quasi van der Waals interface with the 2D semiconductor.

Fishmeal and oil derived from forage fish are critical vulnerabilities for stable aquaculture feed supply. A shortfall impact model and scenario analysis explores options for bridging forage fish deficits with alternative aquaculture feeds.

Hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe gas is used as a contrast agent in nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. Here, the authors demonstrate a microfluidic chip that optically polarizes ¹²⁹Xe gas for compact nuclear magnetic resonance imaging applications.

Whilst superlattices containing thin films of 5d transition metal oxides are expected to yield strong interfacial coupling, only weak effects have been observed. Here, the authors report strong coupling between 3d SrMnO₃ and 5d SrIrO₃due to the interplay of strong Coulomb and spin orbit interactions.

Hybrid quantum systems combine efficient high-quality quantum dot sources with atomic vapours that can serve as precise frequency standards or quantum memories. Here, Portalupi et al. demonstrate an optimized atomic Cs-Faraday filter working with single photons emitted from a semiconductor quantum dot.

Quantum state preparation of mesoscopic objects is a powerful tool for the study of physics at the limits. Here, Arita et al. realise the optical trapping of a microgyroscope rotating at MHz rates in vacuum where the coupling between the rotational and translational motion cools the particle to 40 K.