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Genome-wide analyses identify genetic loci and plasma proteins associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This study highlights the hormonal and metabolic foundations of the disease and explores the impact of polygenic risk for PCOS in both sexes.

Glycerol is an allosteric activator of tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP), activating the futile creatine cycle.

The authors reveal entorhinal cortex dopaminergic and behavioral dysfunction in Alzheimer’s model mice, suggesting the possibility that entorhinal dopamine loss may contribute to aspects of Alzheimer’s disease.

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.

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.

The STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory demonstrates evidence of spin correlations in \(\Lambda \bar{\Lambda }\) hyperon pairs inherited from virtual spin-correlated strange quark–antiquark pairs during QCD confinement.

The authors resolve 63 structurally diverse haplotype structures for the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome region. Deletion risk differs depending on structure; individuals of African ancestry are enriched for inverted repeats that predispose to inversion.

Radiocarbon analyses show that dryland soils store organic carbon with a mean age of ~2100 years and release carbon averaging ~520 years old, suggesting that long-stored carbon in drylands is vulnerable to environmental change.

This study is a small RNA genomics survey from global Aedes aegypti mosquito samples, and detected replicating viruses. This study then isolated several mosquito viruses into cell cultures to show that viral small RNA are active in gene silencing.

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.

Robustness checks and reproduction of analyses with existing and updated data based on 110 articles in economics and political science journals with data and code-sharing requirements found high levels of robustness and reproducibility and determined that robustness was not dependent on author characteristics or data availability.

Atomic-scale engineering of MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions enables coherent spin-dependent tunnelling and large tunnelling magnetoresistance for advanced spintronic functionality. This Primer outlines materials, fabrication and characterization approaches, linking interfacial structure to magnetic behaviour while highlighting emerging tunnelling magnetoresistance technologies.

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.

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.

Introducing superconductivity in magnetic topological systems is a key challenge in condensed matter physics. Here, the authors demonstrate that high pressure induces superconductivity in MnBi₈Te₁₃, revealing a complex interplay between magnetism and superconductivity, and offering a unique platform to explore these phenomena in correlated magnetic materials.

Federated learning (FL) algorithms have emerged as a promising solution to train models for healthcare imaging across institutions while preserving privacy. Here, the authors describe the Federated Tumor Segmentation (FeTS) challenge for the decentralised benchmarking of FL algorithms and evaluation of Healthcare AI algorithm generalizability in real-world cancer imaging datasets.

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.

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.

Native AMPA receptors are heteromeric complexes of GluA1-4 and auxiliary subunits. Here, authors report structures of the most abundant GluA1/A2 core in the closed, open, and desensitized states, allowing to decipher the role of auxiliary subunits in different synaptic complexes.

A new platform making use of hexagonal boron nitride interfaced with the molecular superconductor κ-(BEDT-TTF)₂Cu[N(CN)₂]Br is demonstrated for realizing cavity-altered materials, confirmed by magnetic force microscopy and nano-optical measurements.

Two-dimensional (2D) metal halide perovskites exhibit efficient photoinduced emission at room temperature, but control over charge carrier transport remains limited. Here formamidinium-based layered 2D perovskites are developed with high predicted symmetry. The absence of octahedral distortion results in an exciton diffusion length of 2.5 µm.

This study shows that rising incomes and hotter climates are driving a boom in air conditioning use, which adds to global warming. This highlights the need for clean, efficient and equitable cooling solutions.

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 priming effect (PE) predicts soil carbon across croplands. Using soils from European long-term experiments, we show that low-intensity management enhances PE, whereas intensive fertilization and tillage reduce it.

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.

Caloric restriction mitigates cognitive decline and synaptic deficits in a forebrain-specific Apex1 knockout mouse, revealing a key role for DNA base-excision repair in protecting the aging brain from neurodegenerative changes.

A photoexcited Fe–Al dual-site catalyst enables nitrogen spillover, decoupling activation and subsequent reaction steps for efficient ammonia synthesis.

Nonlinear optical micropolarimetry and atomistic Monte Carlo simulations of monolayer NiPS₃ evidence a Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless phase that, with decreasing temperature, gives way to long-range order consistent with a six-state clock model.

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.

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.

Heusler compounds have been predicted to host topological order with other emergent properties, which yet awaits for experimental evidence. Here, Liu et al. report a direct observation of topological surface states on half-Heusler compounds LnPtBi.

Researchers demonstrate a photonic quantum reservoir computing platform that uses spectral and temporal multiplexing in a continuous-variable setting. Real-time memory is implemented, and nonlinear temporal tasks are enabled.

Vascular smooth muscle cells undergo complex transitions to multiple disease-related phenotypes in coronary artery disease. Using vascular smooth muscle lineage-traced single-cell RNA and ATAC sequencing, the authors map molecular spatiotemporal patterns of murine atherosclerosis and discover molecular mechanisms of TCF21-mediated coronary artery disease risk.

Taniuchi and colleagues show that differential phosphorylation of the terminal Y residue in Runx proteins connect MHC restriction with the helper versus cytotoxic T cell lineage choice.

A high-resolution spectroscopic analysis reveals ultralow amounts of heavy elements in the star SDSS J0715−7334. The star originates from the Large Magellanic Cloud and probably formed directly after the first stars through dust cooling.

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.

Phosphorus locked in carbonate rocks from seven global sites shows simultaneous marine phosphorus spikes during major mass extinctions. Modelling ties high marine phosphorus to eutrophication, CO2 drawdown, and global cooling.

Integrative analyses of transcriptome and whole-genome sequencing data for 1,188 tumours across 27 types of cancer are used to provide a comprehensive catalogue of RNA-level alterations in cancer.

Many vascular‑disease risk loci lack defined causal genes. Here, the authors integrate functional genomics and CRISPR screens to identify genes influencing smooth muscle cell behaviour, validating roles for FES, BCAR1, CARF and SMARCA4, with Fes loss promoting atherosclerosis and hypertension.

Osteoarthritis is driven by epigenetic dysregulation, yet targeted therapies remain elusive. Here, the authors develop a cartilage-targeting hydrogel delivering BRD4-degrading PROTACs to suppress the BRD4- Nav1.7 axis and alleviate osteoarthritis.

Natural products have historically made a major contribution to pharmacotherapy, but also present challenges for drug discovery, such as technical barriers to screening, isolation, characterization and optimization. This Review discusses recent technological developments — including improved analytical tools, genome mining and engineering strategies, and microbial culturing advances — that are enabling a revitalization of natural product-based drug discovery.

Pregnant women exposed to cumulative days of high temperature saw a twofold-increased risk of gestational diabetes in a time-series study of 8,796 such cases in Barcelona between 2011 and 2022.

It is unclear whether the harsh abiotic conditions of drylands hinder biological invasions. This global analysis shows that drylands are vulnerable to non-native plants and are likely to become more so as native plant diversity declines and grazing pressure intensifies.

An artificial intelligence system can produce research papers with minimal human involvement, even passing the first round of peer review for the workshop of a main machine learning conference.

Raam, Li, Gu and colleagues identify neural mechanisms underlying group huddling in mice during cold exposure. They find that the prefrontal cortex encodes decisions to huddle and that silencing neural activity in some animals causes partners to compensate in response.