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The crystal structure of xyloglucan xylosyltransferases XXT2 and XXT5 reveals an obligate heterodimer, in which XXT2’s flexible stem binds the catalytic domain of XXT5. Heterodimer assembly is also mediated through stem-stem interactions in vivo.

Programmed cell death receptor-1 (PD-1) has been implicated in thymic regulation of T cell development and function. Here, the authors characterize CD8⁺ T cell development in PD-1–deficient mice and show that PD-1 constrains the emergence of an effector-like program during thymic development, thereby shaping peripheral T cell responses and exhaustion in tumours.

Overcoming the tradeoff between mechanical stretchability and emitting efficiency for stretchable organic light emitting diodes (OLED) is a challenge. Here, the authors use small-molecule plasticizers as molecular spacers in TADF polymers, enabling approaching-unity PLQY and improved efficiency in stretchable OLEDs.

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.

Here the authors report that a high fat diet causes renal cortical insulin resistance via insulin receptor T1160 phosphorylation. They also identify elevated renal gluconeogenesis as a potential driver of dysregulated whole-body glucose homeostasis.

Thymoproteasomes expressed in cortical thymic epithelial cells are essential for the generation of CD8⁺ T cells, but the mechanism requires further exploration. By engineering a mouse strain ectopically expressing thymoproteasomes in various antigen-presenting cells including medullary TECs, the authors identify that thymoproteasomes specifically expressed in cortical TECs but not hematopoietic cells facilitate positive selection of CD8⁺ T cells.

DNA replication initiation requires precise MCM2-7 assembly. Here, the authors reveal cryo-EM structures of human MCM2-7 showing unique roles of its C-terminal extensions, defining how flexible yet accurate helicase loading ensures genome-wide replication initiation.

Removing perchlorate from water is difficult without harsh conditions or precious metals. A defective MoS₂ catalyst paired with iron rapidly converts perchlorate to chloride near neutral pH by channeling electrons to active molybdenum sites.

Bacteria use diverse immune systems to defend against viral infection. Here, Hooper et al. show that the Hna system is an ATP-regulated DNA nuclease activated by phage proteins. They further reveal how viruses can both trigger and evade this bacterial immune response.

Accumulation of abnormal tau protein selectively affects specific brain cell populations in tau-related dementias. Here, the authors use single nuclei data to show how genetic risk is linked to regional vulnerability across tau dementias.

Relativistic jets launched from stellar-mass black holes (BHs) in our galaxy have been observed in less relativistic regime than those seen in the extra-galactic supermassive BHs named active galactic nucleus (AGN). Here, the authors show two relativistic jets from galactic BH X-ray binary 4U 1543−47, which are comparable to those seen in AGN.

McManus et al. define the molecular mechanism by which XMAP215 and γTuRC cooperate to promote microtubule nucleation and identify a sixth TOG domain (TOG6) in the C-terminal region of XMAP215 conserved from worms to humans.

Strain-resilient, self-healing conductors are needed for wireless e-skin but usually face a trade-off between conductivity and flexibility. Hou et al. design a polymer-based conductor with ultralow sheet resistance and use it to build a high-performance, self-healing flexible antenna.

This study identifies a mitochondrial protection pathway that safeguards mitochondrial DNA integrity and limits liver damage. Disrupting this pathway triggers inflammation and fibrosis, while restoring protection or inhibiting DNA sensing markedly ameliorates fatty liver disease.

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.

Most PRS models focus on common variants, overlooking rare variant contributions. Here, the authors present RICE, a PRS framework that integrates common and rare genetic variants to strengthen polygenic risk prediction across ancestries.

Protein synthesis is tightly regulated by the integrated stress response, but therapeutic activation remains challenging. Here, the authors identify a drug‑like allosteric inhibitor, an ISRAC, that stabilises inactive eIF2B, mimicking stress‑induced eIF2α phosphorylation to activate the ISR, establishing eIF2B as a tractable target for ISR modulation.

Here the authors demonstrate intravital synchrotron radiation-based hard X-ray micro computed tomography for monitoring of CNS fluid dynamics in vivo in mice. They demonstrate its use for vivo imaging of the entire mouse brain at micrometer-scale resolution, bridging the gap between optical microscopy and MRI for studying CNS fluid and solute dynamics.

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.

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) regulate gene expression, but predicting RBP–RNA interactions across species is challenging. Here, the authors introduce MuSIC, a deep learning framework leveraging label smoothing and evolutionary conservation across 11 species to predict cross-species RBP–RNA interactions.

The collinearity between the architectures of modular polyketide synthases (PKS) and the structures of their polyketide products would suggest these biosynthetic machineries are excellent platforms for designer biosynthesis, yet reliable strategies to reprogram these assembly lines without diminishing their activities have not been identified. Here, the authors demonstrate the reprogramming of the mediomycin PKS without significant loss of productivity, and reconstruct an inaccessible drug lead of the fibrinogen receptor, tetrafibricin, at 82 mg/L yield.

Mixed urinary incontinence troubles many patients worldwide but lacks effective therapies. Here, the authors present a wireless-powered soft bioelectronic implant to provide on-demand stimulation of the urethral sphincter, leading to improvement in both urge and stress urinary incontinence.

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.

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.

The potential similarities in the superconductivity in nickelates and cuprates is a topic of debate. Now a distinct likeness is observed in the electronic properties of these materials, which hints that the microscopic mechanisms may be related.

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.

Rhombohedral pentalayer graphene shows quantum anomalous Hall states with Chern numbers C=-3 and C=-5 yet the origin of C=-3 and the C=-3 to -5 transition is unclear. Here, the authors show that trigonal warping together with staggered layer order and displacement field drives an asynchronous mass inversion mechanism, which explains the observations in rhombohedral pentalayer graphene and more generally clarifying quantum anomalous Hall states with Chern numbers that do not match layer number in stacked graphene.

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.

Here, using multi-omics, the authors show that MASLD is associated with alterations in gut bacteria, viruses, and fungi, and identify potential disruptions in phage-bacteria-metabolite interactions, highlighting microbial signatures and ecological changes linked to disease.

A genome-to-genome association study identifies host and viral risk factors that interact to drive nasopharyngeal carcinoma endemicity in southern China.

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.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

Antibody mediated prevention (AMP) trials with the broadly neutralizing antibody VRC01 showed protection against VRC01-sensitive viruses. Here, by deep sequencing plasma samples from 172 participants of the AMP trials, the authors show a high frequency of multilineage HIV infections (38%), including coinfection with both sensitive and resistant viruses, and demonstrate that VRC01 doesn’t alter the transmission bottleneck.

This paper identifies the ‘master regulators’ that maintain cell transcriptional states in diffuse midline gliomas and shows that targeting them in combination could represent a promising therapeutic avenue for the disease.

An ALMA polarization survey towards 30 massive star-forming regions reveals that chaotic turbulence, rather than ordered magnetism, governs the formation of stellar cluster seeds, reshaping our understanding of how the most massive stars are born.

Neighborhood social determinants of health influence cardiovascular risk, but early-life exposure effects remain unclear. Here the authors show that higher early adulthood neighborhood social determinants of health indices are associated with higher middle-aged coronary artery calcification.

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.

Cas12a2 enables RNA-triggered, sequence-specific killing of eukaryotic cells via widespread DNA shredding, allowing selective elimination of cells on the basis of gene expression, including virus-infected or mutation-bearing cells.

The authors from the ALICE collaboration identify multiple species of mesons and baryons and measure the anisotropic flow with non-flow removal techniques in pp and p-Pb collisions at the LHC, identifying the hallmark of quark flow associated with an expanding quark-gluon plasma.

Quantum twisting microscopy is used to directly image the interacting energy bands of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, allowing characterization of the dual nature of its electrons at the magic angle.

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.

Humanized glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP1R) mouse models are used to investigate the neural circuitry through which small-molecule GLP1R agonists modulate feeding, with implications for how these orally delivered weight-loss drugs engage brain reward circuits.

The study presents CLUES, an open-source workflow that automates linking global environmental data with geolocated biomedical data, enabling scalable research while supporting FAIR data practices and privacy-aware integration.

Using two-photon imaging in mice, Garborg et al. show that brain movement within the skull is driven by abdominal muscle contractions through mechanical coupling with the abdomen. Simulations suggest that this brain motion could contribute to cerebrospinal fluid circulation.

Deviations from the textbook current–phase relationship of a Josephson junction can arise from the intrinsic physics of the junction, but also from the inductance of metallic traces. Now a scheme has been developed to distinguish these cases.

The radiative impact of microplastic and nanoplastic particles in the atmosphere is not well understood. Here the authors quantify their radiative forcing, finding that they can exceed that of black carbon regionally.

Promiscuous interactions underpin natural protein evolution, but ways to harness such promiscuity to design new functions remain underexplored. Now it is shown that mapping this promiscuity with geometric precision in a de novo protein can guide its redesign into a fluorophore binder and an efficient enzyme approaching the diffusion limit.

DNA-sequencing data from primary tumours and paired metastases from participants in the TRACERx lung study and PEACE autopsy programme are used to analyse the metastatic diversity of advanced non-small cell lung cancer and the seeding patterns that underpin it.