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New hominin fossils from the Grotte à Hominidés at Thomas Quarry I (ThI-GH) in Casablanca, Morocco, dated to around 773 thousand years ago are similar in age to Homo antecessor, yet are morphologically distinct.

Early results from the phase 2b VIBRANT-HD trial of the oral splicing modulator branaplam in Huntington’s disease suggested reduced cerebrospinal fluid huntingtin levels, but safety monitoring revealed signs of peripheral neurotoxicity, prompting early termination of the study.

Long COVID has heterogeneous presentation and clinical trajectories are not well defined. Here, the authors define trajectories using data from a prospective cohort study in the United States involving symptom questionnaires from acute infection up to 15 months.

Accurate projections of heating and cooling needs are vital for planning energy use and achieving the sustainable development goals. A global dataset now maps global heating and cooling degree days, finding future hotspots, rising cooling demand and early shifts in energy needs with major global impacts.

Genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders identifies five underlying genomic factors that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders.

The impact of tumour heterogeneity on metastatic potential in prostate cancer remains poorly understood. Here, the analysis of single nuclei RNA sequencing and whole-genome sequencing from samples from five patients suggests an interplay between clonal evolution and cellular plasticity driving metastatic seeding.

High-depth sequencing of non-cancerous tissue from patients with metastatic cancer reveals single-base mutational signatures of alcohol, smoking and cancer treatments, and reveals how exogenous factors, including cancer therapies, affect somatic cell evolution.

In this multicenter phase 1 trial of patients with advanced solid tumors resistant to anti-PD-1 therapy, treatment with the anti-latent TGFβ1 antibody linavonkibart with or without pembrolizumab was safe, and encouraging clinical response rates were associated with T cell infiltration and immune activation.

Replication-dependent histone mRNA decay involves the RNA helicase UPF1, the histone stem-loop binding protein SLBP and the exoribonuclease 3’hExo. Here, the authors present evidence for assembly of a degradosome-like complex involving the three proteins and delineate the mechanism that drives their concerted action to achieve histone mRNA decay.

Recently published results from a Phase I trial showed the blood brain barrier could be transiently opened in glioblastoma patients using low-intensity ultrasound and microbubbles. Here, the authors develop a microfluidic chip to capture tumour-derived extracellular vesicles and particles in response to paclitaxel treatment.

Biopolymers can couple to membrane lipids and condense to prewet membranes. Here a range of membrane perturbations in reconstituted systems and cells show that the prewetting is sensitive to membrane composition and phase transitions and can drive interorganelle contact.

The timing of respiratory syncytial virus seasonal epidemic peaks in Japan shifted in 2016-17. Here, the authors use mathematical modelling to evaluate the hypothesis that this change in timing may be due to an increase in use of childcare facilities following a policy change

Saito et al. identify sphingosine kinase 1 as a critical regulator of physiological ductus arteriosus closure and pathological supravalvular aortic stenosis through its role in smooth muscle cell proliferation and propose potential therapeutics.

Here, the authors show that methylphenidate alters brain organization by compressing the hierarchy between sensory and association areas. This dopamine-driven shift predicts improved attention, revealing how stimulants reorganize brain networks to enhance cognitive function.

Researchers applied high resolution inversions of satellite methane observations to estimate methane emissions from 161 countries, finding that global anthropogenic emissions are 15% larger than Paris Agreement reporting.

IL-17 signalling restricts C. albicans pathogenicity in the colonized oral cavity. Lack of IL-17 is associated with overt filamentation due to impaired zinc nutritional immunity and over time leads to the evolution of pathogenic strain variants.

After spinal cord injury, lesion-remote astrocytes acquire heterogeneous, spatially restricted reactivity states that shape neuroinflammation, neural repair and neurological recovery.

An investigation using various methods reports an association between adeno-associated virus 2 and paediatric hepatitis of unknown aetiology.

Comprehensive large-scale studies of multi-national populations identified microbiome species consistently associated with favourable and unfavourable health markers, informing future studies of the human gut microbiome and its association with diet and cardiometabolic conditions.

A correlation between fault dynamics and fault gouge structure is only striking when investigating gouge structures at the nanoscale. Granite fault gouges undergo extensive amorphization and partial melting during the early stages of seismic slip.

Evolutionary and ecological insights into marine SAR11 bacteria require whole genome data. Here, the authors expand the number of complete SAR11 isolate genomes by 81 new strains from the tropical Pacific Ocean, combining their sequence analysis with metagenomics to further resolve SAR11 evolution.

Organisms vary in their nitrogen and phosphorus content, shaping ecological and evolutionary processes. This study shows that nitrogen deposition is a consistent global factor associated with plant and animal stoichiometry.

The role of structural variants (SVs) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been understudied. In this study, the authors leverage 859 high-quality, diverse, long-read assemblies to construct pangenome reference graphs (PRGs).

Initiating aripiprazole antipsychotic monotherapy versus olanzapine, quetiapine or risperidone might reduce cardiovascular event risk in severe mental illness. Here, the authors show patients initiating aripiprazole had similar 5-year risk as the comparators, but risk was higher in those continuing risperidone versus aripiprazole

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

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) variability and its phenotypic consequences aren’t well studied in relation to viral replication fitness and disease severity. Here, the authors identify a replication-enhancing domain in non-structural protein 5A, linking high replication fitness to severe disease outcomes, with implications for understanding HCV pathogenesis in immunocompromised patients.

By unifying data from engineered β-barrel nanopores and supported by modelling, it is demonstrated that the lumen charge in a β-barrel nanopore governs rectification and voltage-driven gating, with applications in computing using nanofluidic synapses.

Walmsley and colleagues report that systemic hypoxia induces persistent loss of histone H3K4me3 marks and epigenetic reprogramming in neutrophil progenitors, resulting in long-term impairment of subsequent neutrophil effector functions.

Currently, there is no licensed vaccine for Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis. Here, the authors evaluate the efficacy and safety of an outer-membrane vesicle vaccine in macaques and demonstrate that it prevents lung pathology.

The discovery that CD8⁺ T cells divide asymmetrically has generated considerable speculation regarding how such divisions regulate the fate of these cells. Excitingly, a recent study links the inheritance of a fate determinant to divergence in CD8⁺ T cell fate among the daughters of an asymmetric division.

Here the authors provide an explanation for 95% of examined predicted loss of function variants found in disease-associated haploinsufficient genes in the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD), underscoring the power of the presented analysis to minimize false assignments of disease risk.

Modern pyrite burial in seafloor sediments exceeds pyrite oxidation on land, indicating that the sulfur cycle is out of balance, and acts to increase atmospheric oxygen levels, according to a diagenetic model validated by sediment cores.

There are limited vaccines available for Ebola virus and none for broad protection from filoviruses. Here, the authors rationally design vaccines using nanoparticles and stabilized Ebola virus and other filovirus glycoproteins, characterize antibody epitopes and profile lymph node and antibody responses in mice.

Geminin regulates DNA replication by binding CDT1 and preventing MCM helicase loading. Using a reconstituted system and structural modelling, the authors find geminin inhibits via steric clash with MCM, not by blocking the CDT1–MCM interface. Combined with CDK activity, it fully halts licensing.

Human challenge studies with SARS-CoV-2 have shown changes in the innate and adaptive immune response. Here the authors are examining potential correlates of infection in virus challenged recipients by assessing baseline immune parameters and how this predicts virus control.

Here, combining structural, proteomics and biochemical analyses, the authors elucidate how the keystone gut bacterium Ruminococcus bromii assembles a specialized enzyme complex, the amylosome, to efficiently break down resistant starch, a cardinal dietary fiber that influences gut microbiome function and health.

Understanding tumor heterogeneity and its impact on prostate cancer progression remains elusive. Here, single nucleus snATAC and snRNA sequencing of a multi-loci sampled cohort of advanced prostate cancer patients identifies an inflammatory-like state underlying metastatic dissemination to the lymph nodes.

Paul and colleagues report the development and characterization of an antibody–drug conjugate targeting TRBC2 for the treatment of T cell malignancies.

Blood biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease, including p-tau217, are linked with faster progression from mild cognitive impairment to dementia, supporting their potential for risk stratification at the stage of mild cognitive impairment in the community.

Simulated heatwaves shifted carbon fluxes in estuarine flats, with stronger effects after longer heatwave durations. Findings reveal that degradation state will influence heatwave effects on carbon dynamics including changes in source/sink status.

The origin and dispersal of Homo erectus, a long-lived and geographically widespread human ancestor, are unclear despite a rich fossil record. Here, the authors reconstruct the face from a Homo erectus cranium from Gona, Ethiopia, dated to 1.5-1.6 million years ago, providing insights into the evolutionary transition from early Homo to H. erectus.

A combination of high-resolution spatial imaging, spatial proteomics and transcriptional data reveals sparse and heterogeneous bacterial signals in gliomas and brain metastases.

Jails are high-risk settings for transmission of pathogens. Here, the authors use genomic and epidemiological data to investigate the bacterial and clinical factors affecting transmission of MRSA in jails and impacts on wider community transmission dynamics.