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This study finds that plastic mulch substantially increases crop yields but also contaminates soils and pollutes the environment. The authors propose biodegradable films, AI-driven farming, and policy reforms to address the productivity–sustainability trade-offs.

Identifying jets originating from heavy quarks plays a fundamental role in hadronic collider experiments. In this work, the ATLAS Collaboration describes and tests a transformer-based neural network architecture for jet flavour tagging based on low-level input and physics-inspired constraints.

This study finds that native tree extinctions and alien naturalizations are pushing forests towards fast-growing, resource-demanding species. This global shift could affect carbon storage and ecosystem stability, highlighting the need to protect slow-growing trees.

A universal, non-destructive and scalable method to precisely characterize loss and gain of optical components inside photonic integrated circuits is discussed.

Symmetry breaking is key to tissue formation. Now it is shown that symmetry breaking of epithelial spheroids is controlled by an interplay of collective migration with curvature and matrix remodelling.

Engineered mucus-tethering bispecific nanobodies neutralize and entrap viruses to enhance mucosal immunity, preventing influenza infection and limiting SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

The CMS Collaboration reports the measurement of the spin, parity, and charge conjugation properties of all-charm tetraquarks, exotic fleeting particles formed in proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider.

Affinity-proteomics platforms often yield poorly correlated measurements. Here, the authors show that protein-altering variants drive a portion of inter-platform inconsistency and that accounting for genetic variants can improve concordance of protein measures and phenotypic associations across ancestries.

Researchers studied the blood-based metabolome of over 23,000 people from ten ethnically diverse cohorts. They identified 235 metabolites associated with future risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). By integrating genetic and modifiable lifestyle factors, their findings provide insights into T2D mechanisms and could improve risk prediction and inform precision prevention.

The ALICE Collaboration provides details on the microscopic mechanism that ends up creating antideuteron in high-energy proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider.

Alternative polyadenylation is involved in plant responses to various stresses. Here, the authors show how a cis-natural antisense RNA promotes proximal polyadenylation of its cognate SlSPX5 gene in response to phosphate starvation in tomato.

Two-dimensional poly(arylene vinylene) frameworks are promising polymer semiconductors, yet obtaining highly crystalline materials is a major challenge. Now a series of 11 highly crystalline or single-crystalline 2D poly(arylene vinylene)s have been prepared—from 2D imine-linked covalent organic frameworks through a Mannich-elimination strategy—with diverse lattices, enhanced conjugation and specific surface areas up to 2,000 m² g⁻¹.

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XEC variant, a recombinant of JN.1 progeny, shows increased viral fitness and pathogenicity. Here, the authors show that the nucleocapsid mutation R204P enhances inflammation and suggest a growing role of non-spike mutations in viral evolution.

Most of the world’s food relies on nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers, but how efficiently crops use these nutrients has remained unclear globally. This study provides global-scale evidence of persistently low nutrient use efficiency with clear crop- and region-specific patterns, offering insights to guide sustainable fertilizer management.

Here the authors report NiGa₂O_4–x(OH)_y for light-driven CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol. The surface Lewis acid–base pairs and -OH groups act as conduits for H^- /H⁺ transport to active sites, enhancing photocatalytic methanol production.

This study shows that oxygen-vacancy planar defects greatly enhance polarization in (Bi, Na)TiO₃-based thin films via local flexoelectric effects, enabling strong performance and thermal stability for low-power electronic applications.

Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of cells and matrix along the fibrotic trajectory in mouse lung identified PI16 as an anti-fibrotic factor with potential for therapeutic application in humans.

Modulation of random heteropolymers results in globular polymer clusters with catalytic activity mimicking proteins.

Here, the authors reveal how twisting MoSe₂/WS₂ layers controls exciton behaviour. Combining theory and ultrafast spectroscopy, they show that lattice reconstruction creates distinct bright and long-lived excitons without hybridization effects.

Here authors report that mutations in the neurodevelopmental risk gene ZMYND11 disrupt human cortical neuron development by altering chromatin regulation and RNA splicing.

The phase transitions of rare earth nickelates have attracted intensive study as they arise from the complex interplay of charge, spin and lattice degrees of freedom. Here Guo et al. present evidence that LaNiO₃ has an unanticipated magnetically ordered metallic phase.

Planar oxygen-doped carbon quantum rings (OD-CQRs) are prepared through one-pot solid-state reactions. The synthesized OD-CQRs exhibit a fluorescence peak centre at 393 nm, a full-width at half-maximum of 18 nm and a photoluminescence quantum yield of 95%. Electroluminescent light emitting diodes based on OD-CQRs demonstrate high-colour-purity violet emission.

The Einstein Probe has discovered a fast X-ray transient, EP240414a, associated with a broad-lined type Ic supernova. Its unusually soft spectrum and weak jet add to the diversity of stellar deaths and suggest a previously unknown Wolf–Rayet star explosion mechanism.

Previous ophthalmic foundation models have struggled to generalize effectively to diverse and rare fundus diseases, restricting their clinical applicability. Here, the authors introduce a vision-language foundation model that demonstrates superior performance in diagnosing both common and rare fundus conditions.

DeepRETStroke is a deep learning system using retinal photographs to detect silent brain infarction and predict future stroke events.

While Bell inequalities have been violated several times—mostly in photonic systems—their violations within particle physics experiments are less explored. Here, the BESIII Collaboration showcases Bell-violating nonlocal correlations between entangled hyperon pairs.

Analysis of the longest-lived mammal, the bowhead whale, reveals an improved ability to repair DNA breaks, mediated by high levels of cold-inducible RNA-binding protein.   

A genome-wide association meta-analysis study of blood lipid levels in roughly 1.6 million individuals demonstrates the gain of power attained when diverse ancestries are included to improve fine-mapping and polygenic score generation, with gains in locus discovery related to sample size.

The authors find that TDP-43 loss of function—the pathology defining the neurodegenerative conditions ALS and FTD—induces novel mRNA polyadenylation events, which have different effects, including an increase in RNA stability, leading to higher protein levels.

Multi-omics can be used to characterise tumour and immune cell populations. Here the authors use multi-omics to characterise CLL blood and tissue samples and use prediction models for CLL TCR specificity and implicate interactions between galectin-9 and TIM3 as involved in CLL immune escape and propose galectin-9 as a possible immunotherapy target.

This Review highlights fundamental optical phenomena that have been redefined at the nanoscale by anisotropic polaritons, including anomalous cases of refraction, reflection and focusing.

A new artificial intelligence model, DeepSeek-R1, is introduced, demonstrating that the reasoning abilities of large language models can be incentivized through pure reinforcement learning, removing the need for human-annotated demonstrations.

Multielectron molecular CO₂ reduction in acid is challenged by weak CO binding and competing hydrogen evolution. Here a methanol Faradaic efficiency of 62% is achieved in acid by tuning the microenvironment with cationic, hydrophobic and aerophilic layers.

Polygenic scores for body mass index and obesity constructed using data from 5 million people with different ancestries were associated with distinct weight gain trajectories from early childhood to adulthood.

Stable and robust topological edge modes are observed at finite temperatures in an array of 100 programmable superconducting qubits because of emergent symmetries present in the prethermal regime of this system.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

Together with a companion paper, molecular details of immune responses in a pig-to-human xenotransplantation are identified through dense longitudinal multi-omics profiling of the xenograft and the host recipient, across the 61-day procedure.

Developing high-current-density catalysts is key to efficient water splitting. Here, the authors report a single-atom Ru-doped amorphous Ni–Mo oxide that dynamically self-reconstructs to retain high activity at industrial current densities in an anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzer.

Artificial spin ices are composed of a honeycomb lattice of nanoscale magnets. Depending on the orientation of the magnets in the lattice, the spin ice can host high or low effective magnetic charge at each vertex. Here, Guo et al use neutron spin echo spectroscopy to show that these magnetic charges exhibit sub-ns relaxation times, analogous to bulk spin-ices.

Polyamide reverse osmosis membranes are widely used for desalination and wastewater treatment, though it is challenging to remove toxic micropollutants. Here the authors use a thermal-intensified interfacial polymerization method affording a membrane removing micropollutants.

Entanglement was observed in top–antitop quark events by the ATLAS experiment produced at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN using a proton–proton collision dataset with a centre-of-mass energy of √s  = 13 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 140 fb⁻¹.

Investigating the inner structure of baryons is important to further our understanding of the strong interaction. Here, the BESIII Collaboration extracts the absolute value of the ratio of the electric to magnetic form factors and its relative phase for e + e − → J/ψ → ΛΣ decays, enhancing the signal thanks to the vacuum polarisation effect at the J/ψ peak.

The Verwey transition of magnetite is complex due to the coexistence of strong correlations and electron-phonon coupling. Here, the authors use resonant inelastic X-ray scattering to show evidence for magnetic polarons in magnetite and provide insight into the nature of the transition.

The semileptonic decay channels of the Λc baryon can give important insights into weak interaction, but decay into a neutron, positron and electron neutrino has not been reported so far, due to difficulties in the final products’ identification. Here, the BESIII Collaboration reports its observation in e+e- collision data, exploiting machine-learning-based identification techniques.

The joint analysis of datasets from NOvA and T2K, the two currently operating long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, provides new constraints related to neutrino masses and fundamental symmetries.

A stable plasma state with a high ratio of plasma to magnetic pressures is likely to be a key requirement for any future magnetic fusion reactor. Here, the authors create such a plasma using a field reversed configuration and active plasma boundary control and demonstrate its stability.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

Inbreeding depression has been observed in many different species, but in humans a systematic analysis has been difficult so far. Here, analysing more than 1.3 million individuals, the authors show that a genomic inbreeding coefficient (FROH) is associated with disadvantageous outcomes in 32 out of 100 traits tested.