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For electrochemical CO₂ reduction to CO, there exists a trade-off between selectivity and activity for noble metal catalysts. Here, authors report a Cu-based trimetallic catalyst that is selective to CO, challenging the monopoly of noble metals in CO₂-to-CO conversion.

The elevation and high heat flow of Southern South Africa has controversially been attributed to a mantle plume. Here, the authors link degassed CO₂ to a non-degassed mantle source rather than the convecting upper mantle, confirming plume-related mantle melting.

While inducing strain to noble metal nanomaterials can modulate catalytic activities, the strain is often spatially dependent. Here, authors manipulate the planar strain in noble metal nanosheets for hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis by constructing amorphous–crystalline phase boundaries.

Barium tagging is a key ingredient for future detectors of neutrinoless double beta decay in low-background environments. Here, the authors demonstrate fluorescence imaging of single Ba2+ ions in high pressure Xenon gas, by comparing activity between Ba2+ chelated and unchelated samples of crown-ether chemosensors.

Noble gas concentrations in the deep North Pacific indicate that sea-level pressure in Antarctic Bottom Water formation regions has changed over the past 2,000 years.

In this study, a new analytical technique is employed to measure Kr and Xe isotopes in groundwater at high precision. These measurements indicate that gravitational signals of past water-table depth are preserved in ancient groundwater, representing a novel proxy for past terrestrial hydroclimate.

The model alloy of Au–Ag is studied to decouple the role of stress and corrosion in intergranular cracking caused by metal dissolution. Nanoporous corrosion layers can mechanically inject a crack into grain boundaries of the parent phase.

How noble gases are recycled from the atmosphere back into the mantle has been unclear. High-pressure experiments demonstrate that noble gases are highly soluble in an important hydrous mineral in altered oceanic crust, suggesting that subduction of this type of crust may be a significant pathway for noble gas flux back into the mantle.

The nuclear spins of noble gases are isolated from sources of decoherence but also from external control fields. Optically addressable alkali-metal atoms can couple strongly to noble-gas spins, potentially providing a mechanism for coherent control.

There are several semiempirical models to predict which elements will form stable compounds, but their applicability is limited. Here, the authors develop a simple model to this aim throughout the periodic table requiring only two parameters fitting.

The sub-continental lithospheric mantle passively degasses volatiles to Earth’s surface, including from regions unaffected by volcanism, according to a study of helium and argon isotopes in young groundwater.

Analysis of a placebo-controlled trial of a BCMA-targeting CAR-T cell therapy in patients with myasthenia gravis shows that CAR-T cell infusion selectively remodels the systemic immune environment, with elimination of BCMA-high plasma cells and activated plasmacytoid dendritic cells and changes in the autoreactive B cell repertoire.

Genomes evolve with time but the molecular mechanisms that underlie this process are poorly understood. Gontijoet al. describe a protein that was generated by the retention of an intron in the Drosophila melanogaster Rieske iron sulphur proteingene and show that the resulting protein is translated.

Bennu comprises components of intra- and extra-Solar System origins. The parent bodies of Bennu, Ryugu and CI chondrites likely formed from a shared but heterogeneous reservoir in the outer parts of the solar protoplanetary disk.

2023 CX1 is the only L-chondrite-like asteroid analysed from space to ground. It catastrophically fragmented in the atmosphere, depositing 98% of its energy in one burst—an unusual, high-risk fragmentation mode with implications for planetary defence.

A dual-gate structure in bilayer MoS₂ FETs is reported, allowing a high carrier density by compensating for the fringing field, which holds promise for 2D semiconductor logic applications.

Developing high-current-density catalysts is key to efficient water splitting. Here, the authors report a single-atom Ru-doped amorphous Ni–Mo oxide that dynamically self-reconstructs to retain high activity at industrial current densities in an anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzer.

Dry reforming of methane (DRM) offers a promising route to convert greenhouse gases into valuable syngas, yet its industrial application is limited by catalyst deactivation and carbon deposition under severe conditions. Here, the authors introduce a Ce-modified, Ni-exsolved perovskite catalyst that exhibits synergistic effects, enabling highly efficient and durable DRM performance.

The kinetic pathways driving morphological changes in core-shell metallic nanowires are crucial for their functional properties. Here authors reveal a three-step deposition process, and influence nanoparticle size and surface roughness.

It is highly desired to explore cheap, non-toxic transition metals catalysts for semihydrogenation of acetylene. Here, isolated Cu atoms anchored onto a defective nanodiamond-graphene support exhibit robust catalytic performance in acetylene semihydrogenation in comparison with supported Cu clusters.

Copper silicate catalysts have attracted increasing attention as earth-abundant, inexpensive, and relatively benign alternatives to noble metal catalysts for nitroarene hydrogenation, however, they pose limitations such as requiring harsh reaction conditions, high catalyst loading and poor recyclability. Here, the authors report a copper silicate catalyst prepared through an ammonia evaporation method under controlled conditions with exceptional activity and stability in hydrogenating nitroarenes to anilines, achieving yields exceeding 99% under mild reaction conditions.

Metal nanoclusters exhibit size-dependent photoluminescence, but a quantitative link between structure and emission is rare. Here, the authors tune Cu-Cu bond distances in Cu₆(SR)₆ clusters and show a direct exponential relationship to quantum yield.

The temporal characterization of few-femtosecond vacuum ultraviolet pulses bring new opportunities for investigating ultrafast light-matter interactions.

Proton-exchange membrane water electrolysers rely on iridium to catalyse their anodic reaction, and while ruthenium is a less costly alternative due to its similar activity, it is not as stable. Now, a hierarchical machine-learning catalyst discovery workflow, termed mixed acceleration, is put forward to predict catalyst synthesis, activity and stability, and identify promising RuO_x-based water oxidation catalysts.

Limited charge separation is a major challenge in creating efficient semiconductor photocatalysis. This work introduces a superlattice interface and S-scheme heterojunction for ultrafast charge separation and transfer in photocatalytic H₂ evolution.

The 4D Nucleome Project demonstrates the use of genomic assays and computational methods to measure genome folding and then predict genomic structure from DNA sequence, facilitating the discovery of potential effects of genetic variants, including variants associated with disease, on genome structure and function.

Controllable supply of hydrogen during electroreduction reactions on conventional catalysts is hindered by pH-dependent hydrogen species formation. Here the authors present a lattice-hydrogen cycling mechanism that decouples hydrogen intermediate availability from electrolyte pH.

Direct photocatalytic oxidation of methane into valuable oxygenated products remains highly challenging due to the inevitable overoxidation of the desired products. Here the authors report TiO₂ anchored with subnanometric MoO_x clusters for efficient oxidation of methane to C1 oxygenates with a high yield and selectivity.

The development of robust catalysts that could work under industrial-scale current densities remains a challenge for chlor-related reactions. Here, the authors report an activation method for designing efficient ruthenium single-atom catalysts that enhance chlor-related production and recycling.

Analysis of the longest-lived mammal, the bowhead whale, reveals an improved ability to repair DNA breaks, mediated by high levels of cold-inducible RNA-binding protein.   

Mitigating the deactivation of noble metal-based catalysts caused by self-oxidation and toxic adsorption poses a considerable challenge in organic electro-oxidation. This study addresses the issue by employing a pulsed potential electrolysis approach to selectively electrocatalyze the oxidation of glycerol to glyceric acid using a Pt-based catalyst.

Harsh reaction pathways make transition metal nitride (TMN) grains susceptible to sintering. Here, the authors report a general route to synthesize multilayered TMN hollow spheres with high specific surface area from a single-source precursor.

The reductive coupling of alcohols and nitro compounds typically yields amine products. Here the authors show that MgO nanoclusters catalyse this reaction, giving unsaturated C = N containing products.