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Trends in global H₂ sources and sinks are analysed from 1990 to 2020, and a comprehensive budget for the decade 2010–2020 is presented.

Soil carbon loss from human agriculture-related land use in the dry tropics largely offsets gains in northern lands, leading to a small net sink of 0.34 ± 0.30 PgC yr⁻¹ at a global scale.

Despite the important role that NAD plays in axon maintenance and degeneration, an understanding of how NMNAT2 expression, a terminal enzyme for NAD production, influences retinal ganglion cell degeneration is lacking. Here the authors demonstrate epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) drives NAD production in neurons through an NMNAT2 dependent mechanism and provides neuroprotection against retinal ganglion cell injury ex vivo.

Here they show that C. elegans can transmit diet-induced, sperm- or oocyte-specific reproductive traits non-genetically, enabling rapid and flexible adaptation to ecologically relevant changes in environmental conditions.

Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) plays a key role in soil carbon storage. Here, the authors show that CUE declines with soil depth across 60 forest sites, driven by microbial diversity in topsoil and by physicochemical protection in deeper layers.

Particle radiation studies have been one of the elementary keystones since the dawn of the nuclear physics. Here, the authors discovered the heaviest proton emitting isotope to date, ¹⁸⁸At, that points to a trend change in binding energy systematics, further implying a novel interaction in heavy nuclei.

Membrane trafficking is essential for organelle biogenesis. Here, the authors discover an alternative assembly of the Commander trafficking complex and show its role in melanosome biogenesis and in a subtype of albinism.

Long-period seismicity at volcanoes may be generated by deformation of weak material in the subsurface, not solely by fluid movement, according to rock deformation experiments.

This study used AI to map ~29,000 CDR studies—3–4 times more than expected—showing rapid but uneven growth. The map supports stronger evidence synthesis for climate goals and the IPCC. #CDR

N fertilization increases N₂O emissions over time by raising soil N availability, lowering pH, and stimulating N₂O-producing microbes, making global fertilizer induced N₂O emissions from cropland ~110% higher than IPCC estimates.

Peer review information

Nature Communications thanks the anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.

Here the authors define an inter-protomeric mechanism of deglycosylation of human IgG antibodies for corynebacterial IgG-specific ENGases and demonstrate that in vivo CU43 treatment preserve the neutralizing capacity of anti-influenza IgG antibodies.

In analysis of physically embedded complex networks, their nodes are usually considered as localized spheres connected by links, neglecting possible differences of nodes spatial shapes. The authors develop a representation of physical networks that captures arbitrary node shapes to characterize structural and dynamical network properties.

Understanding how global changes affect both aboveground plants and belowground soil organisms is essential for preserving ecosystem functions and biodiversity. This study synthesizes extensive data, revealing decoupled responses in plant and soil biota to global changes across different biomes.

Rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (RR-TB) requires longer, more toxic therapy than rifampicin-sensitive disease and is associated with a higher occurrence of long-term sequelae. In this mathematical modeling study, the authors estimate that incident RR-TB in 2020 will be responsible for ~6.9 million disability-adjusted life years; 44% due to post-tuberculosis sequelae.

This manuscript evaluates forecasts of laboratory-confirmed influenza hospital admissions, a new target for influenza forecasting in the United States. Across two influenza seasons, the FluSight ensemble is robust compared to submitted models.

Here, the authors warn of the declining stability of soil carbon associated with climate change and human activities. The unprotected soil carbon fraction dominates decadal soil carbon increases.

Machine learning accelerates protein engineering by predicting sequence-function relationships. Here, authors evaluate neural network architectures’ ability to extrapolate beyond training data, finding simpler models excel in local design while convolutional models explore deeper sequence spaces.

It’s not always clear whether blood biomarkers are differentially expressed in the time course of viral infections. In this SARS-CoV-2 human challenge study, the authors identify distinct single-gene blood transcriptional biomarkers for early stages of infection or for symptomatic infection.

This study provides a continent-wide assessment of surface meltwater area in Antarctica between 2006 and 2021, highlighting recent increases in magnitude and variability in East Antarctica, with indications that the ice-sheet surface is becoming increasingly prone to further meltwater ponding.

The endosomal retrieval subdomain organizes recycling of endocytosed proteins. Here, using proximity proteomics, the authors reveal that this recycling subdomain regulates switching of specific RAB GTPases, a feature likely important in neuroprotection.

The human gut microbiome has a substantial impact on human health. Here, the authors find that prominent human gut microbes express functionally distinct surface endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases encoded by different polysaccharide utilization loci to optimally metabolize the same oligomannose N-glycan substrate in the gastrointestinal tract.

China’s large-scale tree planting could sequester 5.9 ± 0.5 PgC by planting 44.7 billion trees. Tree densification in existing forests may be a more cost-effective strategy than afforestation.

Effective solutions for food systems transformation must be designed in a participatory way. This study illustrates the application of an integrated assessment framework to explore stakeholder-driven scenarios towards climate-smart nutrition security in Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

Here, Kioko et al. describe a putative posttranscriptional RNA regulation mechanism involving secreted extracellular vesicles to maintain the intracellular steady-state RNA levels during the asexual blood stage of malaria parasites.

Reduced mitochondrial respiration in peripheral blood cells is associated with faster vision loss in glaucoma patients with controlled intraocular pressure.

Dietary zinc and plant-derived aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) agonists are involved in maintaining intestinal epithelium integrity. The authors show that combined supplementation with AHR ligands and zinc might be effective in preventing inflammatory gut disorders.

Modern life depends on the petrochemical industry — most drugs, paints and plastics derive from oil. But current processes for making chemical products are not sustainable in terms of resources and environmental impact. Green chemistry aims to tackle this problem, and real progress is being made.

Quantum light sources, especially single-photon emitters, are key for advancing quantum communications and computing, yet face challenges with low excitation efficiency. Here, the authors enhance GaAs quantum dots using a 3D AlGaAs charge-carrier funnel, significantly boosting emission efficiency and paving the way for efficient electrically driven single-photon emitters in quantum systems.

Diet diversity across northern hemisphere ecosystems affects seabird responses to climate change, with breeding productivity declining in the Arctic and North Atlantic but not in the Pacific from 1993 to 2019, based on 138 time series of breeding success and linear mixed effects models.

The response of CO₂ release from soils to warming is enhanced at thermokarst sites due to the lower soil substrate quality and higher microorganism abundance than non-thermokarst locations, according to in situ warming experiments at an upland thermokarst on the Tibetan Plateau.

A manufacturable platform for quantum computing with photons is introduced and a set of monolithically integrated silicon-photonics-based modules is benchmarked, demonstrating dual-rail photonic qubits with performance close to thresholds required for operation.

How cargo proteins are selected for endosomal recycling by the Commander complex is unclear. Here the authors report that the cargo adaptor SNX17 interacts with the Retriever sub-complex to facilitate cargo entry into the Commander endosomal recycling pathway and show that cargo relieves an autoinhibited conformation of SNX17 to promote SNX17-Commander coupling.

While accounting for intrinsic differences between short- and long-lived greenhouse gases, solely relying on soil carbon sequestration in grasslands to offset warming effect of emissions from current ruminant systems is not feasible

The Shaxi non-arc porphyry copper deposit in China was produced by the injection of oxidised mafic melts through a Neoproterozoic root zone from which copper and gold were extracted and transported, according to geochemical and petrological analyses

The peak in Antarctic ice core isotope values, 128,000 years before present, was concurrent with a significantly warmer-than-present Antarctic climate. Here, the authors show that this isotope maximum was associated with a major retreat of sea ice and not a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Managing natural systems to mitigation climate change is a key strategy for limiting warming. In China, such natural climate solutions could offset 6% of CO₂ emissions during 2020–2030, contributing to mitigation goals but highlighting the importance of emissions reductions.

The discovery of a distant blazar J0410−0139 at z = 7 suggests that many similar sources existed in the early Universe, supporting the hypothesis that the rapid growth of black holes is driven by jet-enhanced or obscured accretion.

RMC-7977, a compound that exhibits potent inhibition of the active states of mutant and wild-type KRAS, NRAS and HRAS variants has a strong anti-tumour effect on RAS-addicted tumours and is well tolerated in preclinical models.

Satellite imagery, vessel GPS data and deep-learning models are used to map industrial fishing vessel activities missing from public tracking systems and changes in offshore energy infrastructure in the world’s coastal waters during 2017–2021.

Total aboveground biomass in wetlands of China has gradually increased from 2000 to 2023, indicating notable vegetation greening, and is projected to continue rising under future scenarios, based on complied wetland aboveground biomass data and machine learning models.

Chinese agricultural production is key to achieve the country’s 2060 carbon neutrality target. Combining meta-analysis and life-cycle assessment, this study estimates the climate change mitigation potential of straw, biochar, and an integrated biomass pyrolysis and electricity generation system.

Efficiency improvements that cause price decreases and consumption increases may offset the benefits of avoided food loss and waste (FLW), hindering progress towards SDG 12. Based on published income-group- and food-type-specific price elasticities of supply and demand, this study quantifies the direct rebound effects from large reductions in FLW of six types of food.

The International Barley Genome Sequencing Consortium reports sequencing and assembly of a reference genome for barley, Hordeum vulgare.

Food demand is increasing, while climate change is impacting the magnitude and stability of crop yields. High-quality soils are able to buffer the negative impacts of climate change and lead to smaller yield reduction and higher yield stability, indicating a potential adaptation strategy.

A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.