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Across 21 societies, people alter their speech and song when interacting with infants. These infant-directed vocalizations are recognized by listeners. This suggests that forms of human vocalizations may be shaped by their functions.

The differential cholinergic modulation of two different premotor inputs to projection neurons in the vocal motor pallial nucleus RA provides a mechanism for adult songbirds to stabilize their songs.

Birdsong learning in avian species has strong similarities with speech acquisition in human infants. Recent research on the song system has shed fresh light on the neural substrate of song memory and sensorimotor learning in both male and female songbirds.

Amorphous chalcogenides enable ultrafast threshold switching, yet their switching mechanism remains debated between electronic and structural models. Song et al. reveal an electric field induced atomic displacement and dipolar ordering, which exhibit a non-Arrhenius structural transition and guide conductive filament formation.

Attention fluctuates over time and across contexts—how is this reflected in the brain? Fitting a dynamical systems model to fMRI data, Song and colleagues show that the geometry of neural dynamics along the attractor landscape reflects changes in attention.

Recent research has revealed similarities between speech and birdsong on different levels. Bolhuis et al. discuss parallels between humans and songbirds in terms of vocal learning, the neural networks underlying vocalization and the role of FOXP2, highlighting both general and species-specific principles.

Both excitons and free particle-hole excitations comprise electrons and holes in the conduction and valence bands. Here, the authors show that excitonic electron-hole interactions drive a correlated excitonic quantum geometry that is distinct from free particle-hole excitations.

Realising the potential of DNA nanomaterials for biomedical applications requires efficient manufacturing approaches. Here the authors develop a scalable bacteriophage-based method to directly produce stable, reproducible DNA nanoassemblies with minimal purification, enabling low-cost production.

Using a health-augmented macroeconomic model, this study finds that diabetes could reduce output by INT$5.2 trillion across 190 countries (2021–2050), with substantial cross-country heterogeneity in GDP losses.

Whether large language models (LLMs) process language in a human-like manner remains unclear. Here, the authors re-examine prior LLM-to-brain mapping results, demonstrating that LLM-brain alignment can result from non-robust methods.

Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with Vp4 portal vein tumour thrombus (PVTT) have poor prognosis and are underrepresented in clinical trials. Here, the authors report a phase 2 clinical trial evaluating first-line durvalumab (anti-PD-L1) plus HAIC-FOLFOX (hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy) in patients with HCC with Vp4 PVTT, along with biomolecular and preclinical analysis.

After deep-space flight, rice seeds show increase in mutations and alteration in DNA and RNA modifications. Multi-omics and single-cell analyses suggest a transcription factor named SVT1 suppresses the differentiation of mutation-carrying cells via the MAPK pathway.

A hierarchical Al₃Ti/Al composite with high strength and modulus at elevated temperatures is developed incorporating high-energy ball milling-controlled in-situ reaction between Ti₂AlC and Al, through activating the internal decomposition in Ti₂AlC.

Atherosclerotic carotid stenosis leads to stroke, but how perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) drives plaque instability is poorly understood. Here the authors show that PVAT harbours distinct ADSC subsets, with CD55⁺ADSCs promoting plaque angiogenesis via FGF2 and CXCL14⁺ADSCs enhancing inflammation, driving plaque destabilization.

Li–S batteries typically rely on static internal modifications. Here, authors apply dynamic external acoustic modulation to create a non-equilibrium entropy-driven electrolyte, enhancing mass transfer and Li-ion desolvation to accelerate sulfur conversion and stabilize lithium negative electrode.

Ancestral state inference methods are used to reconstruct host species transmission histories over time; however, these methods are biased by uneven sampling. The authors develop SAASI, a new ancestral state inference method that accounts for sampling bias.

High endothelial venules (HEVs) are an underexplored metastatic route. The authors show that breast cancer cells spreading via HEVs are less immunogenic due to ALOX12-driven immune evasion.

ZAT-DNA encodes data in A/Z base patterns that PCR erases, ensuring molecular non-replicability. It enables secure 32/64-bit key storage and nanopore retrieval, blocks copying, and protects NFTs. The Babel-DNA hybrid allows selective access to multiple encrypted datasets from a single DNA pool using unique ZAT-DNA keys.

A wearable optical–electrical skin sensing platform enables real-time in situ correlation of microscopic sweat gland dynamics with skin conductance and sweat rate, revealing how individual glands modulate burst frequency and sweat volume production during rest and exercise.

Lipoprotein transport is a promising target for combating multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Here, authors determine the structural cycle of the homodimeric LolDF transporter and reveal the mechanism of its selective inhibition by abaucin.

Electronic skins are promising for wearable electronics, though existing fabrication methods have unfavorable processes and mechanical properties. Here the authors utilize a dipping-dipping molecular assembly to fabricate an E-skin in seconds.

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.

Maternal obesity is a risk factor for developing chronic kidney disease in the offspring later in life. Here the authors study male offspring in a mouse model of maternal obesity and identify dysregulated metabolism due to disrupted crosstalk between proximal tubules and macrophages as an important mechanism.

Stimuli-responsive catalysts offer routes to on-off controlled polymerizations. Here, the authors report a pH-responsive organo-photoredox catalyst which enables dual regulation by light and pH for the atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate under mild conditions.

Here they show that planar cell polarity signaling orients epithelial cells via protein clustering at opposite sides of cells. Quantitative photobleaching in Drosophila wings is used to show that clustering amplifies weak and noisy inputs into robust polarity signals.

Spindle neurons in the human cortex are morphologically distinct. Here, authors show that they also possess distinctive electrophysiological and transcriptomic features, establishing them as a functionally specialized cell type in the human brain.

The sustainable recycling of platinum group metals requires task-specific adsorbents that offer both high extraction efficiency and environmental compatibility. Here, the authors report porous organic polymer-based nanotraps for rhodium extraction, functionalized with pincer-type chelators, whose installation was realized by mechanochemical imine bond formation.

Small and stable supported high-entropy alloy nanoparticles show great promise in catalysis, but their synthesis remains challenging. Here, the authors report a reducing flame aerosol route to highly dispersed high-entropy alloy nanoparticles on diverse supports with good catalytic performance.

Earth’s energy imbalance has risen sharply. Observation-based functions of cloud adjustment to aerosols are applied to satellite data. Decreasing aerosol emissions reduces cloud droplets, lowers reflectivity and retains energy in the climate system.

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.

Hypoxia-driven dysregulated lactate metabolism is a feature of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD), but biological metabzymes and most biomimetic counterparts are ineffective under hypoxic conditions and often yield harmful metabolites. Here, the authors report a biogenic Fe-N-C artificial metabzyme for IDD metabolic therapy that reprograms lactate metabolism and corrects metabolic dysfunction.

Comprehensive, multinational validation of the PREVENT and SCORE2 cardiovascular risk scores, used in the United States and Europe, respectively, in 44 observational studies and 18 randomized trials, shows similar performance for the two risk scores and generally good performance across geographical regions.

Designing high performance elastomers are promising for multifunctional materials, though existing materials have unfavorable mechanical properties. Here the others design a cellulose based liquid crystal elastomer system affording a biodegradable material with mechanochromic properties.

Metal walking is a well-established strategy to enable remote alkene C–H functionalization, yet alkyne walking and remote alkyne hydrofunctionalization remain underdeveloped. Here, the authors report migratory hydroalkylation and hydroamination of alkynes, achieving stereocontrolled asymmetric activation of three consecutive C(sp3)–H bonds.

Skeletal editing has emerged as a powerful strategy to enable scaffold interconversion in organic synthesis. However, atom swap reactions on aliphatic frameworks remain rare compared with aromatic systems. Here, the authors report an oxygen-to-nitrogen atom swap converting tetrahydrofurans into N-acyl pyrrolidines.

Immune checkpoint blockade has revolutionized cancer therapy, yet resistance and immune-related toxicities remain major challenges. This group reveals that tumors hijack immune-privileging regulons (IMPREG) via distinct cell types to confer T-cell desertion, and validates IMPREG as an orthogonal pan-cancer biomarker predicting both immunotherapy resistance and sensitivity to specific targeted therapies.

A multiphase-flow-guided solar evaporator integrates water replenishment, vapor dissipation, salt reflux, and heat management, enabling ultrahigh-efficiency solar desalination with stable operation in ~15 wt.% saline water and high daily freshwater production under natural sunlight.

Perovskite solar cells lose efficiency due to defect driven recombination, while solvent based passivation undermines stability and scalable manufacturing. Liu et al. use a solvent-free vapor deposited organic salt to create a conductive interface and passivate defects, boosting device performance.

A randomised trial in metformin-treated type 2 diabetes found once-weekly efsubaglutide improved HbA1c and fasting glucose, reduced weight, and enhanced meal-stimulated insulin secretion with mainly mild GI side effects.

AI image generation is limited by conflicting needs for stochastic sampling and deterministic decoding. Koo et al. present a ferroelectric tunnel junction array using controllable random telegraph noise and nonvolatile multilevel conductance to unify both functions, enabling high-quality digit and facial image synthesis.

The authors propose a 3D holographic method that generates physically consistent complex-valued light fields from multi-layer RGB-D data, achieving photorealistic defocus effects in scenes with transparency and reflection.