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CRISPR-Cas12a catalyses RNA-guided DNA cleavage. Here, authors present structure-function studies of a high-fidelity Cas12a variant that reveal how helical transition of a conserved “bridge helix” facilitates R-loop propagation and DNA cleavage.

This study finds that native tree extinctions and alien naturalizations are pushing forests towards fast-growing, resource-demanding species. This global shift could affect carbon storage and ecosystem stability, highlighting the need to protect slow-growing trees.

Wei et al. perform spatial transcriptomic profiling on synovial tissue biopsy samples from individuals with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis, finding TGFβ signaling and fibrogenic fibroblast activation drive a treatment-refractory tissue phenotype.

Generative large language models (for example, ChatGPT and Claude) were used to score Big-Five traits from open-ended thoughts and video diaries. Large language model scores aligned with self-reports and predicted behaviour, showing personality’s expression in everyday language.

The authors leverage experimental and phylogenetic data to propose that anammox bacteria during the Archaean period could have harvested photoholes from cyanobacterial mats for use as an electron acceptor prior to the availability of nitrite.

This study detects Chlamydia pneumoniae in human retina and brain, increasing with AD severity. Retinal pathogen load with Aβ₄₂ may predict AD stage. In models, infection drives Aβ deposition and NLRP3 activation, worsening pathology and cognition.

In a phase 2 trial evaluating healthy donor fecal microbial transplantation plus either anti-PD-1 in patients with non-small cell lung cancer or anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 in patients with melanoma, encouraging efficacy was seen in both cohorts, with responses linked to significantly greater loss of baseline bacterial species.

The authors find that Ag-rich nanoprecipitates with sizes up to tens of nanometers can be formed in metallic Ag/Ag₂Se composite flexible films after spark plasma sintering. Moreover, Ag-rich nanoprecipitates play a positive role in increasing the carrier concentration, enhancing the density-of-states effective mass, and mitigating carrier scattering.

Electrochemical CO reduction to multi-carbon products offers a carbon-negative approach to produce chemicals, but the intricate reaction pathways lead to a broad spectrum of products. Now it has been shown that alkali cations alter the mechanistic pathways that govern the reaction selectivity involved in the formation of hydrocarbons versus oxygenates.

Engineered mucus-tethering bispecific nanobodies neutralize and entrap viruses to enhance mucosal immunity, preventing influenza infection and limiting SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Light-driven enzymatic catalysis has enabled important abiological transformations in vitro. Now a cellular ene-reductase photoenzyme is integrated with a de novo-designed olefin biosynthetic pathway for photoinduced hydroalkylation, hydroamination and hydrosulfonylation reactions within cells.

Affinity-proteomics platforms often yield poorly correlated measurements. Here, the authors show that protein-altering variants drive a portion of inter-platform inconsistency and that accounting for genetic variants can improve concordance of protein measures and phenotypic associations across ancestries.

This study shows how SARS-CoV-2 fusion peptides assemble and reshape membranes, revealing cooperative mechanisms that lower barriers to viral entry and offering principles for designing antiviral and membrane-responsive nanomaterials.

Authors develop MuPPE, which enables integrated proteome, phosphoproteome, and glycoproteome profiling from a single sample, providing deeper biological insights into aging and drug-response mechanisms.

Natural products populate areas of chemical space not occupied by average synthetic molecules. Here, an analysis of more than 180,000 natural product structures results in a library of 2,000 natural-product-derived fragments, which resemble the properties of the natural products themselves and give access to novel inhibitor chemotypes.

Via high-throughput imaging and tracking over 140 million single mycobacteria, the authors show that drug- and strain-specific killing predict treatment outcomes, with potential to improve drug development and personalized therapy.

Authors show that Antarctic glaciers deliver high particle loads to the ocean, rich in iron that is potential food for marine algae. Microscopy techniques reveal this iron interacts with carbon. Ocean tracers show this glacial iron reaches far offshore.

STING–type-I interferon pathway regulates the immunogenicity of several cancer types, including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Here the authors describe that glutamine metabolism in the tumour microenvironment dampens the STING–type-I interferon pathway by epigenetically silencing the expression of BATF2, which functions as a tumour suppressor.

Bathymetric radar measurements of several lacustrine features on Titan’s northern polar region were obtained during the last Cassini flyby in April 2017. These 100-m-deep and methane-dominated lakes are probably carved and replenished by local rainfall and regulated by subsurface flows.

High-resolution 3D simulations reveal that rotation dramatically amplifies wave-driven mixing in red giant stars, providing a natural explanation for observed changes in surface chemistry that have long puzzled astronomers.

A national classification system of wetland hydrologic connectivity to streams, which could be applied globally, demonstrates and advances current understanding of how wetland connectivity affects surface water quality.

In a mouse model, environmental immunostimulation in early life led to cross-reactive adaptive immune memory and reduced type II immune responses to allergens, indicating a mechanistic relationship between environmental antigen exposure and subsequent allergy.

With rich, multi-layered baseline data and long-term follow-up through linkage, the HELIOS Study provides a resource to investigate the behavioural, environmental, genomic, and molecular factors impacting health in Asian populations.

Bacteriophages play a pivotal, yet poorly understood, role in shaping antibiotic resistance dynamics in natural environments. A global analysis of 840 groundwater metagenomes reveals that phage–host interactions constrain ARG acquisition via enhanced phage defence.

Achieving precise control over the active layer morphology remains a significant challenge for efficient organic solar cells. Here, authors establish a vertical solvent gradient by diffusing benzene vapor into toluene through layer-by-layer fabrication, achieving maximum device efficiency of 20.71%.

Bacteria secrete polysaccharides essential for colonization and infections. Here, the authors reveal the structure and mechanism of WzaB, a Class-3 OPX protein, uncovering a distinct trans-envelope secretion complex driving critical polysaccharide export in diderm bacteria.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries are promising for sustainable energy storage but challenged in low temperatures. Here, authors develop a gradient chaotropic ionic liquid-based aqueous electrolyte design that enables dendrite-free operation and robust low-temperature performance (to −40 °C).

Single-crystalline layered oxides can reduce capacity decay in nickel-rich cathodes, but controlling both the particle size and cation disorder is challenging. This work reports cation-disorder-free ~10-μm single-crystalline cathodes that deliver high volumetric capacity and cycle stability as well as improved safety.

GluFormer, a generative foundation model, uses continuous glucose monitoring data to accurately forecast glycaemia-related health responses, particularly for long-term outcomes.

Gas evolution severely limits the performance of LiFe_xMn_1−xPO₄ batteries, yet its mechanisms remain unclear. Now it has been shown that CO₂ originates mainly from the cathode and H₂ from Mn/Fe-catalysed reactions at the anode, while a uniform carbon coating effectively suppresses metal dissolution and stabilizes cycling.

Aluminum-rich float rocks at Jezero crater display geochemical characteristics that are more similar to terrestrial weathered palaeosols than to hydrothermal deposits, according to a comparison of Perseverance rover elemental data with terrestrial analogues

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.

Human impacts on marine ecosystems are increasing the likelihood of pathogenic outbreaks, harmful algal blooms and coral stress. Here the authors develop a CRISPR biomonitoring tool that can help detect key marine species that are important to public health, the aquaculture sector and marine ecosystems.

N-acetyltransferase 10 (NAT10) is an N⁴‐acetylcytidine (ac⁴C) writer, which catalyzes RNA acetylation at cytidine N⁴ position on RNAs. Here, the authors show that NAT10 catalyzes ac⁴C addition to a long non-coding RNA encoded by the oncogenic DNA virus Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), triggering viral lytic reactivation from latency, which promotes NAT10 recruitment of IFI16 mRNA, resulting in inflammasome activation.

Sivanandan, Leitmann, and colleagues present the CellPaint-POSH platform, which combines pooled CRISPR screening with Cell Painting. Using self-supervised deep learning on cell images, the method enables discovery of gene function and biological networks.

In this study, the authors model the current mechanical properties of the seafloor of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, and find those rocks to be too strong to allow the kind of fracturing that, on Earth, enables rock–water chemical reactions on which chemosynthetic life relies.

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet responded to different natural forcing mechanisms than the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the mid-Pliocene due to a greater sensitivity to oceanic feedbacks, according to iceberg-rafted debris records and ice-sheet modelling experiments.

Active movement drives neural activity throughout cortex, but it is unclear how different cortical systems might use such signals. Here, the authors shed light on this by mapping how sensory and motor cortical areas encode naturalistic 3D behavior.