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This study finds that sST2 is a disease-causing factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Higher sST2 levels impair microglial Aβ clearance in APOE4⁺ female individuals. A genetic variant, rs1921622, is associated with a reduction in sST2 level and protects against AD in APOE4⁺ female individuals.

Enveloped viruses encased within a lipid bilayer membrane are highly contagious and cause diseases like influenza and COVID-19, so strategies for their prevention and inactivation are needed. Here, the authors develop a diatomic iron nanozyme with lipoxidase-like activity for the inactivation of enveloped viruses, where the diatomic iron sites destroy the viral envelope via lipid peroxidation.

Direct contact between tumour cells and fibroblasts influences tumour cell behaviour. Here the authors show that pancreatic cancer cells and fibroblasts directly interact via homophilic ATP1A1 binding, which induces fibroblasts to secrete activin A to promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition of tumour cells and myofibroblast activation.

While many treatments for prostate cancer suppress the androgen receptor it becomes reactivated during disease progression. Here, the authors show that a KLF5 transcriptional programme is also activated during treatment and promotes migration and the appearance of a basal cell phenotype.

Non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented to mitigate COVID-19 transmission are likely to have impacted spread of other infectious diseases. Here, the authors investigate changes in the incidence of 31 notifiable infectious diseases using surveillance data from China.

Abnormal functions of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) contribute into the pathogenensis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Here, the authors show that TNF-α at high concentration induces enhances migration of AS-MSC through METTL14 mediated m6A modification of the ELMO1 3′ UTR.

The SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant has spread rapidly worldwide. Here, the authors characterise a single chain of transmission of Delta in China, and find evidence that it is more infectious and replicates faster during early infection compared to early pandemic lineages.

All-perovskite tandem solar cells hold the promise of high efficiencies whilst safeguarding the ease of fabrication intrinsic to perovskites. Here, Zhao et al. present a certified 17% efficient tin and lead perovskite solar cell, which is integrated as the low-bandgap component of a tandem device with 21% efficiency.

Creating fluorescent defects in single-walled carbon nanotubes is a promising way to modify their optical properties, but defect generation is still difficult to control. Here, the authors report an efficient method to incorporate high-quality oxygen defects in carbon nanotubes using only hypochlorite and light.

Hao, Shen and colleagues identify and characterize two distinct types of myeloid–B cell interaction that may signal solid tumour-induced immunosuppression and can correlate with complete responses to immunotherapy in patients with breast cancer.

The interplay of magnetism, various symmetries and correlations can lead to intriguing physics in the solid state. Here, the authors report signatures of a Hund nodal line in the antiferromagnet YMn₂Ge₂.

Here, the authors report large photothermal nonlinearity mediated by anapole states within subwavelength Si nanodisks, offering a mechanism for dynamic tuning of far-field radiation from multipolar modes. Nonlinear scattering is used to demonstrate the potential for far-field optical localization of Si nanostructures.

ESCAPE-seq (enhanced single-chain antigen presentation sequencing) is a massively parallel platform for screening of class I HLA–peptide combinations for antigen presentation. The authors assess more than 75,000 peptide–HLA combinations, revealing presented epitopes from oncogenic driver mutations and fusions across diverse HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-C alleles.

The hypersensitivity of sulfide solid-state electrolytes to moisture are not compatible with today’s manufacturing infrastructure. Here, authors present a reversible surface modification strategy using 1-undecanethiol, that enables the processability of sulfide SSEs under humid ambient air.

Temporal multi-omic analysis of tissues from rats undergoing up to eight weeks of endurance exercise training reveals widespread shared, tissue-specific and sex-specific changes, including immune, metabolic, stress response and mitochondrial pathways.

The tailored synthesis of heterostructured intermetallic nanomaterials (iNMs) is challenging. Now, a galvanic replacement strategy is reported for the construction of a library of iNMs. Layered interfacial growth produces intermetallic heterostructures with controllable compositions, structures and interfaces.

The extent of problems in quantum chemistry for which quantum algorithms could provide a speedup is still unclear, as well as the kind of speedup one should expect. Here, the authors look at the problem of ground state energy estimation, and gather theoretical and numerical evidence for the fact that an exponential quantum advantage is unlikely for generic problems of interest.

The ATLAS Collaboration reports a measurement of the ratio of the decay rates of W bosons to τ leptons and muons, in agreement with universal lepton couplings as postulated in the standard model of particle physics.

The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider reports a search for charged-lepton-flavour violation in decays of Z bosons into a τ lepton and an electron or muon of opposite charge.

Accurate short-term wind speed prediction is crucial for wind power systems. Authors propose a machine learning-based short-term wind prediction network using CNN-Transformer architecture, demonstrating strong transferability and robustness for predicting wind speeds in various climatic regions.

Olivine iron phosphate (FePO₄) is widely proposed for electrochemical lithium extraction, but particles with different physical attributes demonstrate varying Li preferences. Here, the authors characterize the electrochemical lithiation and sodiation behavior of a series of FePO₄ particles with different morphology to identify critical features that enhance Li selectivity.

Integrating atomic force microscopy with time-domain two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy provides insights into molecular structures, mode coupling and energy transfers with high spatial resolution.

Tumor-resident intracellular microbiota (TRIM) could be a potential target for anticancer treatment. Here the authors report Au@Ag2Se nano-assemblies enabling bacterial killing, tumor inhibition and immune regulation in tumor microenvironment.

The biosynthesis of membrane-spanning lipids in archaea is poorly understood. Here, Li et al. identify an archaeal enzyme that forms a C(sp³)–C(sp³) linkage between isoprenoid chains for the synthesis of membrane-spanning GMGT lipids, and show that the corresponding gene is exclusively found in obligate anaerobic archaea and in metagenomes from oxygen-deficient environments.

Invertebrate-derived eDNA (iDNA) is an emerging tool for taxonomic and spatial biodiversity monitoring. Here, the authors use metabarcoding of leech-derived iDNA to estimate vertebrate occupancy over an entire protected area, the Ailaoshan Nature Reserve, China.

The mechanisms by which changes in local geometries of receptor sites lower activation reaction barriers in electronically uncoupled, remote reaction moieties remain relatively unexplored. Here, the authors demonstrate allosteric acceleration in the thermal isomerization of an alkene triggered by the binding of a metal ion to a remote receptor site.

Understanding the pathways of nanoparticle removal from the body is important for nanomedicine applications and safety. Here the authors report the elimination of gold nanoparticles from the proximal tubules in the kidney via a newly described elimination pathway.

A computational pipeline identifies tumor antigen post-translational modifications guiding immune responses.

Developing heat-resistant dielectric polymers for electrification is challenging due to the inverse relationship between thermal stability and electrical insulation. Using a machine learning-driven approach, the researchers identify and validate high-performance polymers that demonstrate promising thermal resilience and energy density for high-temperature applications.

Cell membrane interface is mostly studied using synthetic bilayers and reconstituted cell membranes. Here the authors present a new cell fixation method in which the cytoskeleton is replaced by a synthetic hydrogel polymer network assembled inside the cell, thereby preserving the fluid membrane properties after cell death.

Experiments performed in the CERN CLOUD chamber show that, under upper-tropospheric conditions, new atmospheric particle formation may be initiated by the reaction of hydroxyl radicals with isoprene emitted by rainforests.

The coevolution of the animal gut mucosa and the gut microbiota is poorly understood. Here, Nakashima et al. identify intestinal chitinous membranes in basal chordates and ray-finned fish, and propose that the loss of this chitin barrier allowed mucus layers to become colonized by microbes in mammals.

Wang et al. show that Akt methylation by SETDB1 is recognized by demethylase JMJD2A, which then recruits E3 ligases to induce K63-linked Akt ubiquitination, leading to Akt activation and tumorigenesis.

The mechanism of peroxidase-like Fe₃O₄ nanozymes remains elusive. Here, the authors show the electron transfer mechanism of Fe(II) ions to regenerate surface Fe(II) and the related phase transformation and depletion of activity.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are attractive for encapsulating enzymes for industrial purposes because they can increase selectivity, stability, and/or activity of the enzymes. Here, the authors developed an economical solid-state mechanochemical method to encapsulate enzymes during MOF synthesis.

An antibody, IY-2A, identified from a panel of class-4 SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies isolated from convalescent and vaccinated individuals, targets and induces partial unfolding of a conserved epitope within the RBD. IY-2A retains activity against BA.4/5 subvariants and neutralizes diverse sarbecoviruses.

Polygenic risk scores predict the likelihood that an individual will develop a certain cancer, however these are often specific for a given population. Here, the authors show that a risk score developed to assess the risk of breast cancer in European women can also predict risk in Asian populations.

Magnons—quanta of spin waves—have potential applications in signal processing technology. But it is challenging to obtain coupling between different magnons. Now a study achieves this by demonstrating nonlinear magnon mixing in an antiferromagnet.

Inducing coherent interactions between distinct magnon modes—collective excitations of magnetic order—has been challenging. A canted antiferromagnet has demonstrated coherent magnon upconversion induced by terahertz laser pulses.

Nanometre-sized ‘nanoglue’ islands of CeO_x on high-surface-area SiO₂ are shown to suppress sintering and confine on average one Pt atom per island, leading to stable single-atom catalysts under oxidizing and reducing environments.

Using a multi-layer metasurface array in which each meta-atom of the metasurface acts as an active artificial neuron, a programmable diffractive deep neural network can be created that directly processes electromagnetic waves in free space for wave sensing and wireless communications.

Additive manufacturing methods at the macroscale have seen significant advances in recent times, but advances for the bottom-up formation of nanoscale polymeric features are yet to be realized. Here, the authors demonstrate that rapid crosslinking of an AFM delivered norbornene crosslinker in presence of a surface-tethered metathesis catalysts facilitates the curing of delivered material in an extremely rapid fashion

Evidence for balancing selection acting on loci that control complex traits is limited. Here, the authors show evidence for past selection on chemical profile in a perennial wildflower by two ecological drivers, herbivory and drought, consistent with balancing selection on this trait.