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Global Burden of Disease analysis found that in 2023, suboptimal diet was estimated to be responsible for 4 million deaths and 97 million morbidity burdens from ischemic heart disease.

In this study, the authors identify inhibitory brainstem neurons that innervate the entire spinal cord as parts of a descending pain-inhibits-pain circuit. Their activation causes body-wide analgesia, while silencing induces pain in response to innocuous stimuli.

When 100 social and behavioural science claims were examined, 34% of reanalyses closely matched the original results, with 74% reaching the same conclusion, revealing limited robustness of single-path analyses and the need to address analytical uncertainty.

In a randomized trial enrolling 354 patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia on maximally tolerated lipid-lowering therapy, treatment with the cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitor obicetrapib was well tolerated and significantly lowered low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 36.3% as compared to placebo.

The authors have applied an eight-tissue rat multi-omic dataset to analyze the gene regulatory landscape of endurance exercise training, identifying tissue-specific regulatory patterns involved in muscle function, metabolism and immune response.

Longitudinal metatranscriptomics in a prospective cohort of 1,164 adults hospitalized for COVID-19 reveals that azithromycin offered no apparent anti-inflammatory benefit but enriched the respiratory microbiome with potential pathogens and antimicrobial resistance genes.

Analysis of sequencing data from rare disease cohorts identifies biallelic variants in RNU2-2 underlying a developmental and epileptic encephalopathy associated with reduced U2-2 abundance and clinically distinct from the dominant RNU2-2 disorder.

Single-variant and ultrarare variant burden analyses leveraging exome sequencing data from 22 cohorts identify new risk genes for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and show cumulative effects of several rare variants on disease risk.

Czernilofsky et al. identified factors that reprogram stromal cells into an inflammatory, dysfunctional state, leading to the structural disorganization of lymph nodes in B cell lymphoma at single-cell and spatial resolutions.

Managing hydrocephalus relies on non-specific symptoms. Here, the authors report a 0.28-gram implant that measures intracranial pressure long term, tested in pediatric and adult patients.

Analyses of snRNA genes in a French cohort of people with rare disorders, with validation through international collaboration, identify monoallelic and biallelic variants in RNU2-2 as frequent causes of neurodevelopmental disorders with epilepsy.

It remains unclear why some BRCA-deficient high-grade serous carcinomas (HGSC) do not respond to platinum-based therapy. Here, multi-omic analysis of BRCA1- and BRCA2-deficient HGSC attributes co-occurring mutations, DNA repair deficiency and tumor microenvironment features to short survival in these patients.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

A tissue-engineered esophageal segment is functional in minipigs.

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.

Vertical transmission is thought to favour beneficial host–microbe interactions, but these may also be context dependent. Here Bruijning et al. show with a model that variable environments can select for bet-hedging by hosts via imperfect vertical transmission of microbes.

Cancer associated fibroblast subpopulations are identified by single cell and spatial sequencing as relevant components of the brain metastasis tumor microenvironment, where they participate in the tissue architecture and intercellular communication.

HOM formation from a same VOC can vary by over a factor of three depending on chemical conditions. A RO₂ oxidation fraction concept explains this variability and cautions against directly applying lab yields to the atmosphere.

As presented at the 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium: results from a phase 1 trial of a first-in-class small-molecule inverse agonist of PPARγ in solid tumors show an acceptable safety profile and preliminary tumor activity in urothelial carcinoma.

ATF6α activation in human and preclinical models of hepatocellular carcinoma is significantly associated with an aggressive tumour phenotype characterized by reduced survival, glycolytic reprogramming and local immunosuppression.

Smyth et al. demonstrate that a cellular inhibitor of apoptosis, cIAP2, exacerbates inflammation and cardiac injury after myocardial infarction and that its inhibition, either genetically or via Smac mimetics, offers a promising immunotherapeutic strategy to reduce post-MI damage and progression to heart failure.

A star in a primordial dwarf galaxy has preserved the elements produced by the first generation of stars. The star lacks heavy elements but exhibits an extreme amount of carbon, suggesting that low-energy explosions can seed the initial chemistry of early galaxies.

Improved red and green indicators for norepinephrine and their characterization are reported. These indicators allow detection of norepinephrine release in awake behaving mice in dual-color fiber photometry and two-photon imaging applications.

Transition metal oxides are interesting for advancing technology as they can combine ease of synthesis, resilience to defects, and high environmental stability, yet few exhibit semiconducting properties, limiting their engineering potential. Here, the authors transform insulating oxides into semiconductors with ultra-low thermal conductivity by introducing configurational entropy, offering a generalizable approach to designing advanced thermoelectric materials with tailored electronic and thermal properties.

The Amazon faces worsening droughts, yet little is known about large-scale variation in the physiological limits of Amazon trees. Here, the authors reveal family-level conservatism in embolism resistance and estimate that Brazilian and Guiana shield forests are more resistant than Western Amazonia forests.

The existence of multi-centennial natural variability in the North Atlantic is demonstrated over the last millennia by compiling proxy data. This variability mode will potentially amplify northern Europe warming by up to 30% over 2000-2035.

Evo 2 is an artificial intelligence-based biological foundation model trained on 9 trillion DNA base pairs spanning all domains of life that predicts functional properties from genomic sequences and provides a rich generative model for researchers in biology.

The engagement of immunological memory is a key component to the protective anti-SARS-CoV-2 B and T cell responses. Here the authors assess the B and T cells of a cohort of UK healthcare workers in response to infection and longitudinally track the compartment showing distinct trajectories following early priming.

Sticky-ended cohesion has historically been the driving force for DNA self-assembly and was employed for self-assembled crystals to avoid unpredictable packing; however, this limits the diversity of resulting architectures. Here, the authors employ composable DNA tiles to form complex 3D architectures using blunt-ended motifs with single duplex interfaces, leveraging the geometry of the tile and the terminal nucleobase identity to control self-assembly outcomes.

From 2014–2017, marine heatwaves caused global mass coral bleaching, where the corals lose their symbiotic algae. The authors find, this event exceeded the severity of all prior global bleaching events in recorded history, with approximately half the world’s reefs bleaching and 15% experiencing substantial mortality.

It is unclear whether the harsh abiotic conditions of drylands hinder biological invasions. This global analysis shows that drylands are vulnerable to non-native plants and are likely to become more so as native plant diversity declines and grazing pressure intensifies.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

Humans rely on both learned value and action affordances to decide how to act. This study shows that these systems compete under a dynamic brain controller, with the presupplementary motor area and anterior cingulate cortex guiding which system dominates.

A bookkeeping approach shows that disturbed tropical humid forests experienced net aboveground carbon loss during 1990–2020, primarily driven by small but persistent deforestation clearings owing to persistent land-use conversion without forest regrowth.

The lowest-frequency gravitational wave background may be shaped by supermassive black hole binaries that scatter nearby stars or dark matter. In this case, the NANOGrav 15-year dataset favours dense galactic centres with 10⁶ solar masses per cubic parsec.

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.

Respiratory virus genomic surveillance output is unevenly distributed globally. Here, the authors show that addressing this imbalance could substantially reduce the time to first detection of novel (variant) viruses, enhancing surveillance effectiveness and efficiency.

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome is characterized by premature aging with cardiovascular disease being the main cause of death. Here the authors show that inhibition of the NAT10 enzyme enhances cardiac function and fitness, and reduces age-related phenotypes in a mouse model of premature aging.

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.

Cationic amino acids are essential to protein synthesis and cellular signaling. Here, authors determine the structure of the cationic amino acid transporter 1 and determined how it is co-opted as a receptor for leukemia-causing animal viruses.