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Global analysis of obesity trends from 1980 to 2024 in 200 countries and territories using data from 4,050 population-based studies reveals that framing obesity as a single global epidemic masks the highly varied dynamics across countries and age groups.

This study finds that the most dangerous tick-borne viruses infect many tick and animal species, boosting their chances of reaching humans. Bird migration helps spread them worldwide, and genetic adaptation may increase their ability to infect people.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) screening in southern China uses EBV serology, but its positive predictive value is low. Here, the authors introduce a swab-based E-CpMQ method in high-risk individuals, achieving better specificity.

Gate residues, acting in concert with distal dynamic networks, are important yet underexploited regulators of enzymatic catalysis. Here, the authors report conformational dynamics analysis of fluoroacetate dehalogenase RPA1163, which reveals a gate-based allosteric pair (K181–W185) that governs substrate access and reactivity, and engineer this pair to obtain a highly active variant for turnover of α-fluorophenylpropionic acid.

PI3K has emerged as a potential therapeutic target for serious endometrial cancer but efficacy and duration of response is limited. Here, the authors develop a serous endometrial cancer murine model driven by PIK3CA mutation, TP53 loss and MYC overexpression, identifying FGFR pathway activation as a driver of PI3K-targeted therapeutic resistance and immune suppression.

Polymeric nanoparticles are promising non-lipid-based drug delivery vehicles. However, their clinical translation is limited by poor drug loading capacity and suboptimal delivery efficiency. Here, the authors address these issues by developing Polymeric Coacervate Core Micelles that can efficiently self-assemble and load drug candidates via a “Mix-and-Go” approach.

Sorbic acid is a widely used food preservative, yet its industrial production lacks a sustainable microbial route. Here the authors identify the biosynthetic pathway of sorbic acid and engineer yeast for its efficient production.

Ketogenic diet (KD) generates β-hydroxybutyrate metabolites and has been shown to have context-dependent immunomodulatory effects. However, the effects of KD on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are controversial. Here, the authors investigate the pathogenic effects of KD in a preclinical model of DSS-induced colitis and identify a β-HB-Thomasclavelia spiroformis-γδ17 T cell axis that exacerbates inflammation and mucosal damage.

This study found COVID-19 vaccination offers added protection against reinfection in children and adolescents with prior infection but variable effectiveness across variants. Findings support vaccination benefits beyond infection-acquired immunity.

Ma et al. report a laser polishing and surface reconstruction strategy to improve the surface quality of micron-thick Pb-Sn narrow-bandgap perovskites, enabling single-junction and all-perovskite tandem solar cells with efficiencies of 23.47% (certified) and 29.80%, respectively, by the antisolvent-free method.

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.

The CMS experiment at CERN reports one of the highest-precision measurements of the W boson mass, finding it in line with standard model predictions and at odds with recent anomalous measurements.

High-resolution satellite data enables a unique verification of national methane emissions worldwide. Global estimates are 63 Tg a⁻¹ for oil-gas, 30% higher than the UNFCCC reports due to under-reporting by four largest emitters, and 33 Tg a⁻¹ for coal, consistent with previous estimates.

High-latitude soils are future soil organic carbon loss hotspots, with losses dominated by particulate organic carbon (POC). The fraction of POC in total SOC (f_POC) is a key indicator, emphasizing the climate importance of preserving POC.

Anion-mixing strategy is gaining attention for the development of amorphous halide solid electrolytes. Here, authors investigate the structure evolution of nitrochloride amorphous solid electrolyte, Li_3x ZrCl₄ N_x (0.17 ≤ x ≤ 1), demonstrating ionic conductivities of up to 3.21 mS cm⁻¹ at 30 °C, suggesting that the formation of nitrogen-containing frameworks is crucial for enhancing ionic conductivity.

A tunable artificial crystal in a shallow GaAs quantum well is shown to enable interaction-driven insulating behaviour. Electrostatic control tunes the band structure from graphene-like to kagome-like bands.

This work develops laser-engraved Janus microcavity surfaces to overcome the angular limitation of photothermal de-icing. The structure enables ice removal under oblique or weak sunlight and sustains superhydrophobicity, offering a thermal management solution for nonplanar infrastructures in extreme environments.

Researchers have found that extreme hot-wet weather in 2024 triggered a spike in ecosystem respiration, mainly in tropical non-forests, significantly reducing the year’s land carbon sink and pushing the atmospheric CO2 growth rate to a record high.

Kirchoff’s law of thermal radiation relies on Lorentz reciprocity. Here, authors theoretically and experimentally demonstrate a breakdown of Lorentz reciprocity — and its implication on the control of thermal radiation — with spatiotemporally modulated metasurfaces, in the mid-infrared spectral range.

The unclear pathogenesis of cancer-related lymphedema (CRL) impedes therapeutic development. The authors here identify T-cell mesenchymal transition (TcMT) in CRL, where T cells acquire a fibrotic phenotype, offering a potential therapeutic target.

Measures of hyperglycaemia are risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Here the authors report that glycaemic variability is also a driver of cardiac vulnerability in diabetes, integrating population genetics, clinical data and experimental models to show how glucose fluctuations worsen heart injury and cardiovascular risk.

Rapid methods to identify antigen-specific T cells are essential for developing targeted immunotherapies. Here the authors present a high-throughput MHC class II single-chain trimer platform for the comprehensive profiling of CD4⁺ T cells, enabling the rapid identification and characterization of virus- and tumour-specific T cell receptors (TCR) at single-cell resolution.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis owes its success partly to its ability to enter a ‘dormant’, non-replicative state, reactivating years or even decades after initial infection. In this work, authors find that a key alteration in a gene involved in this dormancy response has evolved, or is evolving, in parallel in human-adapted lineages across the globe.

LHAASO has detected γ-ray emission with a spectrum extending to 2 PeV from the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) powered by PSR J1849-0001, indicating an extreme particle acceleration efficiency and challenging the current particle acceleration theories.

Selective iodoplumbate cold casting enables kinetically stabilized hybrid perovskites through control of precursor chemistry and crystallization kinetics. This strategy produces uniform 2D layers that enhance out-of-plane charge transport in 3D:2D bilayer devices, achieving power conversion efficiencies of 25.14% in small-area devices and 22.36% in mini-modules.

Ribonuclease P (RNase P) is an essential metallonuclease found in all three domains of life. Here, the authors present cryoEM structures of Geobacillus stearothermophilus RNase P aporibozyme (apoE) in various states of the catalytic cycle.

Bacterial therapies for cancer face safety and complexity challenges. Here, the authors develop an engineered Serratia marcescens platform that leverages natural pigment biosynthesis to trigger antitumor immunity and enable rapid bacterial clearance, controlled by near-infrared light.

In NIID, toxic polyG from NOTCH2NLC GGC repeats disrupts nucleoli and chromatin, causing DNA damage and senescence. Here, the authors show that ASOs targeting the repeats reduce polyG buildup and reverse damage, suggesting a new treatment.

Li et al. conduct a multi-omics analysis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and identify three molecular subtypes with distinct immune profiles and responses to induction chemotherapy.

Multi-ancestry and ancestry-stratified genome-wide analyses identify genetic variants associated with refractive error and enable construction of an enhanced polygenic predictor incorporating functional annotations.

Flexible batteries often fail under harsh conditions. Here, authors developed a hydrogel electrolyte via synergism of nanophase separation, hydrated eutectic solvation, and hydrogen-bond networks, enabling flexible Zn||I₂ batteries with high specific energy and long lifespan across −40 to 80 °C.

The experimental observation of a fundamentally new type of anomalous Hall effect that couples both in-plane and out-of-plane orbital magnetizations in multilayer rhombohedral graphene is reported.

The cellular origin and developmental trajectory of DICER1 syndrome-associated tumors are currently unknown. Here, the authors employ a lineage-traceable genetically modified mouse model for DICER1 syndrome to identify universal fibroblasts as the likely cellular origin of mouse Dicer1 sarcoma and map their developmental trajectory, findings that are validated in human DICER1 mesenchymal tumors.

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.

Authors demonstrate layer-selective conductor–insulator transitions in twisted bilayer graphene driven by hydrogenation, realising an electrochemical interface with two decoupled 2D electron gases that enables configurable logic gates.

The genomewide meta-analysis of lumbar spinal stenosis LSS identifies 73 previously unreported loci in addition to 15 known loci and highlights spinal degeneration as a key pathogenic mechanism. Overall, the findings expand knowledge of the genetic background of LSS.

This study develops a platform that enables simultaneous, multiplexed tracing of 30 nitrogen isotope-labelled metabolites, uncovering differences in pyrimidine synthesis pathway choice between primitive and differentiated cells.

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.

A transferrin receptor-associating polyplex formed by complexing mRNA with modified polyethylenimine enables monocyte trafficking and lymph node targeting for potent and selective cancer vaccination.

The mechanisms driving reversible dedifferentiation events towards a drug-tolerant persister (DTP) state remain to be explored. Here, multi-omics, information-theoretic approaches and dynamic systems modelling highlight the role of the oxidative-stress–mediated NF-κB/RelA axis in driving the transition towards DTP across multiple cancer types.

An Sb₂O₃ interlayer at the perovskite/electron transport layer interface increases the reverse-bias resistance of the cells to −22.3 V. Modules with an area of 62.37 cm² achieved a certified power conversion efficiency of 23.1%, 96% of which was maintained after 1,000 h of operation at 65 °C.

Simulations performed using Quantinuum’s H2 trapped-ion quantum computer for observing thermalization on challenging timescales demonstrate the usefulness of digital quantum computers for investigating continuous-time dynamics in regimes that classical simulation methods find difficult.

This study reports on engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum capable of converting glycerol, a major biodiesel byproduct, into 1,3-propanediol at industrially relevant titers. Through integrated strain design, optimization of fed-batch conditions, implementation of antibiotic-free systems and validation in pilot-scale fermentation, this study establishes a scalable blueprint for sustainable 1,3-propanediol biomanufacturing.

This study explores the clonal architecture of aplastic anemia across age using single-cell approaches. Somatic inactivation of specific human leukocyte antigen risk alleles is a frequent event and often occurs in multiple independent events.

Turning PET plastic waste into useful chemicals usually takes several steps and makes mixtures. This study uses a cobalt catalyst to directly convert PET into high yields of two valuable products, with good stability and lower emissions.

New predictions for how temporal stability and resilience depend on their resistance and recovery components are explored.

Triplet excitons in OPVs can redissociate via the charge-transfer state into free carriers, reducing losses and improving efficiency, enabled by molecular design controlling singlet–triplet energetics through exciton delocalization.