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Li-metal batteries suffer from sluggish kinetics at low temperatures. Here, authors propose a guideline for rational electrolyte solvent screening and design a class of asymmetric ethers, which bestows the Li metal pouch cell with a high specific energy of 345.3 Wh kg⁻¹ over 40 cycles at −40 °C.

The blocking layer atop perovskite film cannot completely prevent ion movement due to trade-off with carrier transport. Here, authors develop a composite layer and use poly(N-vinylcarbazole) as the hole transport material, achieving certified steady-state efficiency of 25.7% for stable solar cells.

Controlling the doping depth in perovskites allows the creation of a depletion region that inhibits the migration of iodide ions under illumination. Solar cells exhibit a power conversion efficiency of 24.6% and maintain 88% of the initial efficiency after 1,900 h of continuous operation.

Chemo-immunotherapy regimens are now recommended as first-line treatment for patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), however survival outcomes remain unsatisfactory. Here the authors report the results of a phase 2 trial of toripalimab (anti-PD1) plus chemotherapy and radiotherapy in patients with treatment-naïve advanced ESCC.

It is difficult to control the geometric phase of particles as they undergo quantum tunnelling. Now tuning of the geometric phase of electron spin is demonstrated in tunnelling in a multilayer van der Waals antiferromagnet.

Sample priors enable point spread function decoupling in computational fluorescence microscopy, improving system characterization and imaging quality.

Two-dimensional multiferroics with effective magnetoelectric coupling has not been realized. Here, the authors find a magnetoelectric coupling mechanism in two-dimensional CuCrP₂S₆ interlocked with heterogeneous ferrielectric state.

Light field prints displaying 3D information often appear pixelated due to limited resolution and misalignment between lenses and colour pixels. Here, the authors present a one-step process via two-photon polymerization lithography to fabricate light field prints with high spatial and angular resolution.

Optical elements fabricated with a 3D printing technique generate beams carrying orbital angular momentum under incoherent white light illumination.

The Internet-of-Things era desiderates miniature spectrometers. Here, the authors present a chip-scale spectrometer through synergizing MEMS modulation and autoencoder denoising, achieving accurate, broadband, and energy-efficient spectral analysis.

Disseminated tumor cells often become dormant before awakening for metastatic growth. Here, the authors report that the lncRNA, NR2F1-AS1, is upregulated in dormant mesenchymal-like breast cancer stem-like cells and promotes dissemination but inhibits proliferation, leading to metastatic dormancy.

Zhou et al. show that palmitoylation of GPX4 via ZDHHC8 sustains ferroptosis resistance in melanoma and other cancer cells and propose targeting ZDHHC8 with a small molecule to boost CD8⁺ T cell-induced ferroptosis, thereby improving immunotherapy.

The instability of contact layers for perovskite solar cells under operating conditions limits the deployment of the technology. Now, Lin et al. develop a Cu–Ni electrode sandwiched between in situ-grown graphene protective layers, enabling solar cells with improved stability under light, humidity and high temperature.

CQ31 inhibits the M24B aminopeptidases prolidase and Xaa-Pro aminopeptidase 1 leading to increased proline-containing peptides that block dipeptidyl peptidases 8 and 9 activity resulting in the activation of the CARD8 inflammasome.

A wax-aided immersion methodology is developed to yield graphene rolls with tunable chiral angles; these graphene rolls exhibit promising chiral electronic properties beyond those of other carbon allotropes.

Acute stress activates autophagy in the lateral habenula, whereas chronic stress suppresses it, with this autophagy having a causal role in maintaining emotional homeostasis against stress, and its restoration through autophagy enhancers offers a novel antidepressant strategy.

Sun and colleagues identify lnc-CTHCC, a cancer-testis lncRNA that binds to hnRNP K, activates YAP1 transcription and promotes hepatocellular carcinogenesis.

Understanding the active sites is essential for advanced catalyst design. Here, the authors report a bifunctional mechanism for the methanol electrooxidation reaction using NiMn hydroxide with Ni^III and oxygen active sites which work in a cooperative manner to promote either spontaneous or non-spontaneous methanol oxidation.

The synthesis of topological molecular carbons with persistent chirality is challenging. Here, a triply twisted Möbius carbon nanobelt was synthesized and its two enantiomers were isolated, showing a large absorption dissymmetry factor.

PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are ~25–33 nt small RNAs expressed in animal germ cells. Here, the authors develop a single-cell small RNA sequencing method and report that a class of ~20-nt piRNAs lacking 3′ end 2′-O-methylation are associated with PIWIL3 protein and predominantly expressed in human and monkey oocytes.

It remains challenging to characterise somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) in tumors and the surrounding tissues with spatial and single-cell resolution. Here, the authors develop the scCUTseq approach to characterise SCNAs from single cells in multi-region prostate cancer samples and identify pseudo-diploid cells and subclones.

Living organisms are able to grow structures on their surface for specific applications. Here, the authors report on a force-triggered polymerisation mechanism of double-network hydrogels which allows for the growth of structures on polymer surfaces within seconds and demonstrate the creation of different functionalities.

The reasons for why hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unresponsive to anti-PD-1 inhibition in some patients is not fully understood. Here the authors use human samples and mice tumour models to implicate serum amyloid A and STAT3 signalling involvement in the resistance to anti-PD1 immunotherapy in HCC.

Carbocations are useful synthetic intermediates which enable direct functionalization of carbon centers, but their generation in a manner that uses mild conditions and enables stereoselective interception remains a longstanding goal of organic chemists. Here, the authors use electrochemical enamine oxidation to synthesize chiral scaffolds from racemic α-branched aldehydes.

AMPK and Parkin keep the necrosome in check. Lee et al. show that AMPK activates Parkin and prevents RIPK1−RIPK3 complex formation by promoting RIPK3 ubiquitination, thereby negatively regulating necroptosis, inflammation and tumour initiation.

Identifying readers of epigenetic marks is a critical step for understanding the role of epigenetic marks in biology. Here, the authors applied DAPPL, an all-to-all approach to profile the interactions between TFs and epigenetic modified DNA libraries.

Cong et al. show that MTSS1 suppresses breast cancer initiation by promoting ubiquitin-mediated suppression of the NF-κB pathway. Loss of this regulatory mechanism promotes the activation and expansion of tumor-initiating cells.

Multiple ecosystem states are identified in a typical dryland, with high ecosystem quality sustained by water resources and anthropogenic activity, as revealed by potential-landscape and resilience diagnostics and regression models.

Deep learning methods can provide useful predictions for drug design, but their hyperparameters need to be carefully tweaked to give good performance on a specific problem or dataset. Li et al. present here a method that finds appropriate architectures and hyperparameters for a wide range of drug design tasks and can achieve good performance without human intervention.

Knowledge of the electronic structure of group-IV monochalcogenides is essential for their application in high-performance thermoelectric energy harvesting. Here, using photoemission spectroscopy, the authors reveal the impact of doping, and the anisotropic nature of the band structure of SnSe.

Skeletal muscles are impressive as they can achieve reversible, macroscopic, anisotropic motion in soft materials. Here the authors show a bottom-up design of macroscopic hydrogel tubes containing supramolecular nanofibers that can undergo anisotropic actuation by thermal stimuli.

Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma require regular follow-up. Here, using Cox-based feature selection to identify key prognostic features, the authors convert time-series follow-up data into a cascading survival map, and show that the approach improves dynamic prognosis prediction for patients.

Triple-negative breast cancer is an aggressive form of the disease. Here, the authors identify EGFL9 as a mediator of metastasis in TNBC through interactions with cMET.

Semiconducting covalent organic frameworks (COF) with conjugated structures are desired for optoelectric conversion but poor reversibility of bond forming reactions hampers the formation of crystalline structures. Here, the authors synthesise COFs with disubstituted C = C linkages which enable water splitting under visible light irradiation.