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How the numerous neuron subpopulations in the lateral (CeL) and medial (CeM) subdivisions of the central amygdala regulate appetitive behavior is poorly understood. Here, the authors report that appetitive neurons are confined to the CeM with separate subpopulations driving water only, versus water or food consumption.

An improved structure of the TRPV3 pentamer, together with molecular dynamics simulations, provides insights into its conformation, subunit interfaces, permeability to large cations, and the mechanism of transition to the canonical tetrameric state.

This study reports that nuclear speckle constituents have two expression states in cancer correlating with patient survival and HIF-2α functional programs. HIF-2α mediates nuclear speckle association of key genes activated in renal cancer.

Although marine protected areas are designed to conserve biodiversity, they typically do not account for the conservation status of species within them. Here, the authors identify hotspots of extinction risk among the world’s sharks and rays that require targeted conservation action.

Widespread global occurrence of roads break up the landscape and may be a powerful driver of increasing fire activity and intensity in less populated and less frequently burned regions, such as tropical forests, while decreasing fire on average at global scale.

Inherited mutations in MUTYH have been shown to predispose patients to colorectal cancers. Here, the authors show that MUTYH mutations lead to an increased somatic base substitution mutation rate in normal intestinal epithelial cells, which is the likely cause for the increased cancer risk.

Jiang et al. trace two embryonic fibroblast lineages in the mouse, one that does not express engrailed and mediates early dermal development and one that expresses engrailed and mediates scar tissue formation.

The Cambrian is known as a period of rapid animal diversification, but the development of these animals is not well characterized. Here, Steiner et al. describe a new assemblage of Cambrian eggs, embryos and early postembryonic stages from Mongolia that provides insight into ancient bilaterian development and evolution.

The efficacy of epidural electrical stimulation (EES) to engage arm muscles and improve movement after spinal cord injury is still unclear. Here, the authors investigated how EES can recruit upper-limb motor neurons by combining computational modelling with experiments in non-human primates.

Creating large-area horizontally aligned arrays of purely semiconducting tubes is one of the most daunting technical challenges in carbon nanotube electronics. Here, the authors introduce an approach using microwave radiation with microstrip antenna structures and demonstrate its effectiveness.

Lung fibrosis development involves alveolar macrophages, with mechanisms that are incompletely understood. Here, the authors show that alveolar macrophages mediate the disassembly of pleuro-alveolar junctions, driving fibrosis via connective tissue transfer, and demonstrate that targeting this process can reverse chronic fibrosis in mice.

Using microscopy and Hi-C techniques, Leidescher et al. report that when transcribed, highly expressed genes form open-ended loops, which are decorated by elongating polymerases carrying nascent RNAs and can extend out of chromosome territories.

The Class 2 family of CRISPR nucleases named Cas12j, which shares only low sequence identity with other CRISPR nucleases was recently identified in the biggiephage clade of phages. Here, the authors present the cryo-EM structure of a functional Cas12j3−crRNA complex in the post-catalytic state and discuss Cas12j3 PAM recognition, hybrid stabilisation and the activation mechanism.

A human neural organoid cell atlas integrating 36 single-cell transcriptomic datasets shows cell types and states and estimates transcriptomic similarity between primary and organoid counterparts, showing potential to assess organoid fidelity and facilitate protocol development.

Decoding the role of inter-chromosomal DNA-DNA interactions remains challenging. Here, the authors use Micro-C to study the T. brucei genome architecture at high resolution and reveal an intricate network of inter-chromosomal transcription hub structures.

The clinical application of new sequencing techniques is expected to accelerate pathogen identification. Here, Bradley et al. present a clinician-friendly software package that uses sequencing data for quick and accurate prediction of antibiotic resistance profiles for S. aureus and M. tuberculosis.

Ceramics are very brittle and hard to be plastically deformed. Here, the authors report a unit-cell scale disturbance mechanism to improve the deformation ability of ceramics and ultimately achieve large mechanical property enhancement.

MASLD is a growing global health concern. Here, the authors define a senescent hepatocyte gene signature (SHGS), demonstrate its clinical relevance, and identify senolytic therapies that selectively eliminate SHGS+ hepatocytes to improve MASLD and systemic health.

Local-level analyses show that, despite marked progress in educational attainment from 2000 to 2015 across Africa, substantial differences persist between locations and sexes that have widened in many countries.

Tectonomagmatic conditions in the Precambrian were hypothesized to be unfavorable for porphyry Cu deposit formation. Here, the authors show that metallogenic processes typify Phanerozoic porphyry Cu deposits operated by ~1.88 Ga, reflecting modification of mantle lithosphere by oxidized slab-derived fluids at that time.

Age-associated myometrial dysfunction can cause complications during pregnancy and labor. Here, the authors report that aging myometrium is characterized by diminished contractile capillary cells, altered gene expression, and disrupted cellular communication leading to impaired angiogenesis, increased fibrosis and inflammation.

Baccin, Al-Sabah, Velten et al. use single-cell and spatially resolved transcriptomics to map the cellular, molecular and spatial organization of the endosteal, sinusoidal and arteriolar bone marrow niches.

Fat culturing remains a challenging task in the process of producing optimal cultivated meat. Here, using antibiotic-free culture conditions, the authors establish bovine adipose-derived stem cell spheroids as building blocks for the fabrication of cultured fat.

The three-dimensional architecture of genome-reduced bacteria is poorly understood. Here the authors combine Hi-C with super-resolution microscopy inMycoplasma pneumoniaeand provide evidence of how supercoiling and local organization influences gene regulation.

A high-resolution local palaeoclimatic archive is correlated to the early Holocene human behavioural record at the British Mesolithic site of Star Carr. Despite environmental stresses at this time, intensive human activity persisted over centuries, suggesting resilience to climate change.

This study investigated how ecological mechanisms and large-scale oceanic current systems shape prokaryotic microbial community patterns. They show that prokaryotic communities in the upper 200 m of the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, the southern Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea have a modular structure of co-occurring taxa with similar environmental preferences.

Data from 1,279 time series across 29 taxonomic classes analysed with a Bayesian phylogenetic model shows that species phenology has advanced by 3.1 days per decade on average, with the timing of events varying by phylogeny but no evidence of differences in phenological shifts by trophic level.

Here the authors use positron emission tomography to visualize fibroblasts in patients with arthritis and combined with spatial transcriptomic data show that these cells undergo a phenotypic shift upon resolution of inflammation. A CD200⁺DKK3⁺ fibroblast subset promotes this resolution by inhibiting tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-17A.

RBM10 is the most mutated splicing factor in lung cancer. The authors reveal a non-canonical role of RBM10 in regulating DNA replication stress response. They also identify an arsenal of RBM10 synthetic lethal genes, such as WEE1, that can be therapeutically harnessed with immediate applicability.

Bone marrow-derived cells can rapidly enter the systemic circulation, but how this is achieved is unclear. Grüneboom et al. identify tiny capillaries, termed trans-cortical vessels (TCVs), that connect the bone marrow cavity to the systemic vasculature, and show that the majority of blood in long bones passes through TCVs.

Liver resident CD8 T cells have an essential role in immunopathology in a mouse model of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, by becoming auto-aggressive following sequential transcriptional and metabolic activation steps .

How climate services support on-farm management is not well understood. Here research shows that multi-decadal projections help farmers better identify future climate risks through reducing complexity and psychological distance, although this may be impeded by lack of confidence in data.

The densities of blood vessels and of tumour-associated macrophages are key predictive features of the degree of accumulation of polymeric and liposomal nanomedicines, as shown for specimens of mouse and human tumours.

The 2023 monkeypox outbreak was caused by a subclade IIb monkeypox virus (MPXV). Here, using advanced sequencing techniques, the authors identify variations on low-complexity regions of the MPXV genome and describe their potential as evolutionary drivers.

The authors combined optical traps and frequency combs to create new acoustic technology – a mechanical frequency comb. The generation of this comb does not require any precision control, making it uniquely positioned for sensing, metrology, and quantum technology.

In mice, a strong aversive experience drives offline ensemble reactivation of not only the recent aversive memory but also a neutral memory formed 2 days before, linking fear of the recent aversive memory to the previous neutral memory.

Tertiary lymphoid structures play important roles during homeostatic but also immunopathological conditions including autoimmune disorders. Here the authors integrate single cell sequencing with spatial proteomics and transcriptomics to define a cellular and spatial map of tertiary lymphoid structures in salivary glands of patients with Sjogren’s syndrome.

In addition to its role in suppressing MDA5 and PKR activation, ADAR1 is a negative regulator of ZPB1-mediated apoptosis and necroptosis, providing insights into the pathology of Aicardi–Goutières syndrome.

Here, the authors show in a cohort of people with HIV, COVID mRNA vaccination is followed by a transient boost in a particular profile of HIV-specific T-cell responses and a corresponding decrease in residual HIV RNA – suggesting productive immune engagement with infected cells.

Metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) provide insights into microbial dark matter, but contamination remains a concern for downstream analysis. Zou et al. develop a multi-modal deep language model that leverages microbial sequences to remove ‘unexpected’ contigs from MAGs. This approach is compatible with any contig binning tools and increases the number of high-quality bins.

Evolutionarily conserved gene modules mediate neurodegenerative dementia in a variety of mouse models and in postmortem brain tissue from patients.

Saçma, Pospiech and co-workers show that sinusoidal niches are uniquely preserved on ageing, that they are the predominant niche for label-retaining (LR)-HSCs in aged mice and display higher reconstitution capacity compared with non-LR HSCs.

Single-nucleus and single-cell RNA sequencing plus spatial profiling with four methods of core biopsies from 60 patients with metastatic breast cancer reveal patient-specific gene expression programs of breast cancer metastases that are maintained across time, site of metastasis and spatial profiling method, with spatial phenotypes correlating with microenvironmental features.

Analysis of 43,191 genomes obtained from publicly available marine bacterial and archaeal metagenome data provides insights into marine bacterial evolution, CRISPR–Cas defence and antibiotic resistance genes, and demonstrates the potential of marine metagenomes for biotechnological applications.

Schizophrenia risk has been associated with the complement component 4 (C4) genes. Here the authors show that C4A is elevated in individuals with schizophrenia.

It is not fully understood how XPA interacts with a DNA lesion during nucleotide excision repair. Here, the authors use single molecule analysis to study XPA–DNA interactions, including the DNA bend angle, protein stoichiometry, and diffusive properties during damage search.

The success of surgical kidney stone removal is limited by the ability to efficiently retrieve stone fragments, resulting in incomplete stone clearance and subsequent morbidity. Here, the authors show the efficacy and biocompatibility of a magnetic hydrogel that selectively coats human kidney stone fragments in vitro allowing their total extraction using a magnetic wire.

Diet intervention is emerging as an option to improve cancer therapy. Here, the authors show that a diet with restrictive cysteine and methionine synergizes with a ferroptosis inducer to increase cell death and survival in glioma preclinical models.