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Short-circuiting during fast charging through lithium dendrite intrusion into electrolytes is a major challenge in solid-state batteries. Here, using thermally annealed 3-nm-thick Ag coatings, lithium penetration into brittle electrolyte Li_6.6La₃Zr_1.6Ta_0.4O₁₂ is inhibited at local current densities of 250 mA cm⁻² due to an increase in surface fracture toughness.

Large-effect variants in autism remain elusive. Here, the authors use long-read sequencing to assemble phased genomes for 189 individuals, identifying pathogenic variants in TBL1XR1, MECP2, and SYNGAP1, plus nine candidate structural variants missed by short-read methods.

Lithium-ion battery cathode lifetime is limited by large expansion and contraction during cycling. This study uses electrochemical activation to suppress collapse in LiNi_0.9Mn_0.1O₂ cathodes, achieving improved capacity and cycle life.

Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

Climate change is altering how plants balance carbon gain and water loss. This study maps global leaf-level water-use efficiency over the past two decades, showing it is highest in regions that are cold or dry, increasing worldwide, and strongly influenced by atmospheric dryness.

Bioactivity-guided isolation of specialized metabolites is an iterative process. Here, the authors demonstrate a native metabolomics approach that allows for fast screening of complex metabolite extracts against a protein of interest and simultaneous structure annotation.

Molecular bilayer crystals of an organic semiconductor can exhibit metallic charge transport down to 8 K with an electrical conductivity of up to 245 S cm⁻¹, as well as charge carrier mobility values of more than 100 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ at 20 K.

The performance of Li-ion batteries deteriorates at elevated temperatures due to increased activity of electrode materials and parasitic reactions. Here Yi Cui and colleagues report much-improved battery cyclability at 60 °C and use cryo-electron microscopy to shed light on the origin of the phenomenon.

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.

Optical control of integer and fractional Chern insulators is demonstrated by circularly polarized optical pumping in tMoTe₂.

Global Burden of Disease estimates show that between 1990 and 2023, the prevalence and burden of drug use disorders, inclusive of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and opioid use, have been increasing in high-income countries, particularly in the USA.

An Fe^III/V redox mechanism in Li₄FeSbO₆ on delithiation without Fe^IV or oxygen formation with resistance to aging, high operating potential and low voltage hysteresis is demonstrated, with implications for Fe-based high-voltage applications.

The inability of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells to shift the circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus during daytime is caused by light-dependent depolarization block of these cells.

Bohlen and colleagues report that the E3 ubiquitin ligase CBL is necessary for the development, tolerance and activation of B cells in humans, unlike in mice where CBL deficiency results in loss of T cells.

Twisted bilayer (tb) MoTe₂ is an ideal platform for investigating the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect but issues related to air sensitivity make the study of its electronic structure experimentally challenging. As a solution, the authors prepare hBN encapsulated tb-MoTe₂ and using micro-angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy determine the band structure. Furthermore, through in-situ alkali metal deposition, they obtain evidence indicating a direct band gap.

Constructing an artificial solid electrolyte interphase to protect the lithium metal electrode is promising but challenging. Here, authors report a facile approach to form a layer to simultaneously overcome diffusion and advection-limited ion transport to achieve dendrite-free Li plating/stripping.

Reversible high-voltage redox is a key component for electrochemical technologies from electrocatalysts to lithium-ion batteries. A point defect explanation for why anion redox occurs with local structural disordering and voltage hysteresis is proposed.

Oxygen release in Li-rich layered oxides is of both fundamental and practical interest in batteries, but a varied mechanistic understanding exists. Here the authors evaluate the extent of oxygen release over extended cycles and present a comprehensive picture of the phenomenon that unifies the current explanations.

The short Argonaute-based bacterial defence system SPARDA exhibits collateral nuclease activity during phage infection. Here, the authors show that target DNA-induced filament assembly of SPARDA leads to tetramerization and activation of the DREN nuclease domain.

The 4D Nucleome Project demonstrates the use of genomic assays and computational methods to measure genome folding and then predict genomic structure from DNA sequence, facilitating the discovery of potential effects of genetic variants, including variants associated with disease, on genome structure and function.

Vassy, Dornisch and colleagues developed a genomics-based prostate cancer risk model to support a randomized clinical trial of precision screening in a national healthcare system.

Parasitic reactions between Li metal and electrolytes need to be mitigated in Li-metal batteries. Here, the authors report the use of a fluorinated orthoformate-based electrolyte, leading to a monolithic solid–electrolyte interphase and subsequently a high-performance Li-metal battery.

A randomized controlled trial found that eliminating opioids after minimally invasive gynecologic surgery did not compromise pain control at postoperative day 1, with similar pain scores and recovery outcomes between opioid-free and restrictive opioid groups up to day 7.

Stable solid–electrolyte interphases on Li anodes are crucial for reliable Li metal batteries. A suspension electrolyte design that modifies the Li⁺ solvation environment in liquid electrolytes and creates inorganic-rich interphases on Li is now reported.

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) reversibly modifies low molecular weight and protein thiols to form persulfides (RSS⁻) and polysulfides (RS(S)nS⁻) for antioxidant defence and regulation of activity. Here, the authors report a sensitive LC-MS/MS procedure that separately traps and quantifies the sulfur atom of H₂S, the terminal sulfur atom of RSS and RS(S)nS-, and the internal sulfur atoms of RS(S)nS ⁻ as diagnostic products in biological samples.

Stereogenic-at-sulfur compounds are important biologically active small molecules, with many drugs featuring chiral sulfur atoms. Here, the authors report that unspecific peroxygenases catalyse the biocatalytic oxygenation of sulfilimines and sulfenimines to form enantiomerically enriched sulfoximines and sulfinimines, respectively, on preparative scale.

The galvanostatic intermittent titration technique (GITT) is the state-of-the-art method for determining the Li+ diffusion coefficients in battery materials. Here, authors propose the intermittent current interruption method as a reliable, accurate and faster alternative to GITT-based methods.

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.

The realization of the full potential of Li metal batteries requires high-performance electrolytes. Here Z. Bao and colleagues develop low-concentration electrolytes with a single-solvent and single-salt formulation, offering promise for high-energy and long-cycling batteries.

METTL3 promotes healthy placenta function by regulating m⁶A methylation and histone epigenetics. Deficiency in METTL3 leads to premature senescence, inflammation activation of trophoblasts, contributing to pregnancy complications like preeclampsia.

Isotropic tissue magnification is integrated with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging to enable untargeted spatial proteomics at micrometre resolution and with high protein identification rates in multiple tissue types.

IL-17A, a cytokine important for tissue repair, can impair healing when increased, contributing to keratinocyte dysfunction in type 2 diabetic wounds. Here, the authors show that IL-17A drives this dysfunction via JMJD3-mediated epigenetic changes, and that blocking this pathway improves wound healing.

A neuron-specific isoform of PGC-1α is regulated independently from other isoforms and is repressed with age. Here, the authors show PGC-1α is central in a growth and metabolism networks directly relevant to brain aging.

Batteries keep degrading even when they are not in operation, but their calendar life is rarely studied in advanced batteries that are still in the development stage. Here the authors quantify the calendar ageing of Li metal anodes and report its underlying mechanisms.

Pilcher et al. present a single-cell transcriptomics-based immune atlas of participants with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, reporting on the association of cell types, gene expression and intercellular interactions with disease progression phenotypes.

Phase transformations driven by compositional change require mass flux across a phase boundary. Lithium migration in Li_XFePO₄ along the solid/liquid interface now suggests that surface diffusion contributes to tuning phase transformation in anisotropic solids.

Li-rich oxides were found to slowly release considerable quantities of oxygen at varying states of charge. These observations point to the intrinsic instability of oxygen in partially charged oxides and highlight the need for degradation studies.

De novo design of Ca²⁺ channels with ion selectivity that can assemble appropriately and mediate Ca²⁺ conductance when expressed in cells is described.

Asymmetrical distribution of tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease is linked to asymmetrical amyloid-beta deposition, not reduced brain connectivity, suggesting regional vulnerability plays a key role in determining the distribution of tau pathology.

Influenza virus ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) are essential for replication and transcription. Here, authors solve the cryo-EM structure of influenza mini-vRNP to reveal detailed FluPol–NP–RNA coupling and suggest a conformational shift in RNPs during the viral life cycle.

Developing a stable metallic lithium anode is necessary for next-generation batteries; however, lithium is prone to corrosion, a process that must be better understood if practical devices are to be created. A Kirkendall-type mechanism of lithium corrosion has now been observed. The corrosion is fast and is governed by a galvanic process.

Mapping of the neutrophil compartment using single-cell transcriptional data from multiple physiological and patological states reveals its organizational architecture and how cell state dynamics and trajectories vary during health, inflammation and cancer.

Although layered oxides electrodes in lithium-ion batteries are designed under conditions avoiding phase transitions, phase separation during delithiation has been observed. This apparent phase separation is shown to be a dynamical artefact occurring in a many-particle system driven by autocatalytic electrochemical reactions.

How chemotherapeutic nucleoside 6-thio-2’-deoxyguanosine (6-thiodG) targets telomerase to inhibit telomere maintenance in cancer cells and tumors was unclear. Here, the authors show that telomere length and telomerase status determine 6-thio-dG sensitivity and uncover the molecular mechanism by which 6-thio-dG selectively inhibits telomerase synthesis of telomeric DNA.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

Magnesium is an ideal rechargeable battery anode material, but coupling it with a low-cost sulphur cathode, requires a non-nucleophilic electrolyte. Kimet al. prepare a non-nucleophilic electrolyte from hexamethyldisilazide magnesium chloride and aluminium trichloride, and show its compatibility with a sulphur cathode.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

Cardiac ryanodine receptors (RyR2) are critical for heart contraction. Here, the authors use 3D MINFLUX microscopy to image receptor subunits and RyR2 orientation with nanometre resolution, thereby providing a molecular view of the organisation and clustering of these cardiac muscle receptors.