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Surface reconstruction during reactions often generates unique active sites that boost catalytic performance. Here, the authors show that supported Ni₃InC₀.₅ nanoparticles undergo CO₂-induced surface oxidation, forming defective In₂O₃₋ₓ layers and inverse In₂O₃₋ₓ/Ni interfaces during CO₂ hydrogenation.

Recycling lithium-ion batteries is crucial for sustainability. Here, authors develop a “Three-in-One” strategy using mechanochemical treatment to recover over 95% lithium, upgrade transition metals into catalysts, and sequester CO₂, offering an efficient and environmentally friendly recycling solution.

The irreversible sintering of Cu catalyst for deactivation remains a persistent challenge under thermal or photothermal reverse water-gas shift reaction process. Now, a hydroxyl-engineered CuNi nanocatalyst, derived from CuNiMgAl-LDH, achieves high and stable CO evolution under solar light by preventing sintering through dynamic hydroxyl anchoring of the nanoparticles.

Transition metal-catalyzed C−H cyclization for medium-ring synthesis has been limited to reactive C−H bonds, the activation of unreactive C−H bonds still remains a challenge. Here the authors show the direct construction of 7-membered rings via Ni−Al co-catalyzed unreactive C−H cyclization of benzoimidazoles with alkenes, providing a series of tricyclic imidazoles.

Lignin refining continues to face major challenges in achieving selective depolymerization and breaking resistant C–C bonds. In this work, the authors design a robust atomically dispersed Cu/Ni-SA@HNC catalyst that enables highly selective hydrogenolysis of lignin and model compounds through an unconventional pathway involving preferential Cα–Cβ bond cleavage in β-O-4 linkages.

The development of 3d-metal-catalyzed β-C–H bond activation via 4-membered metallacycles remains an elusive challenge. Here, the authors report a Ni-Al bimetal-catalyzed β-C(sp3)–H bond activation of formamides via 4-membered nickelacycles.

The dilute CO₂ electrocatalysis suffers from low selectivity in membrane electrode assembly. Here, the authors report the design of self-reinforced CO₂ concentration gradient that breaks CO₂ mass transport limit, realizing direct and selective conversion of simulated flue gas in membrane electrode assembly.

Turning CO2 into useful fuels is promising for cleaner energy but remains hard due to low efficiency. This study shows that a spinel-engineered catalyst boosts ethanol formation by promoting C–C coupling while suppressing further carbon-chain growth.

Strong paramagnetism is generated in hydrogels rich in carbon–oxygen double bonds simply by coupling with diamagnetic Ca cations. These paramagnetic hydrogels are applied as magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents and magnetic drug carriers.

Single-atom catalysts are promising for water treatment but remain difficult to produce at scale. This work presents a cascade fixation strategy that delivers kilogram-scale, high-loading single-atom catalysts with near 100% singlet-oxygen selectivity, providing efficient and stable antibiotic degradation.

A nickel-catalysed vicinal diborylation method is described, which can install two different boron functional groups on aromatic rings in a regioselective and site-selective manner, enabling the rapid synthesis of complex molecular building blocks.

Psychedelics and their non-hallucinogenic analogues were compared, revealing that serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT_2AR)-mediated G_i signalling is essential for hallucinogenic effect, with the functional mechanisms underlying this providing insights for designing therapeutic drugs without hallucinogenic effects.

The synthesis of polymers with diverse properties is often limited by the lack of methods to produce the required monomers. Now, the regio- and diastereoselective synthesis of 5,6-diaryl cyclooctene monomers is reported using nickel catalysis. The monomers can be used in ring-opening metathesis polymerization reactions to form polymers with head-to-head styrene dyads.

Nutrient intake and threat avoidance interact adaptively. Here, authors show a molecularly defined hypothalamus-to-hindbrain circuit responsible for the regulation of fear by feeding in male mice, representing a novel coordination mechanism.

Enantioconvergent sp³–sp³ coupling methods are of interest for drug development. Now a visible-light-induced Ni-catalysed ring-opening alkylation of aziridines with olefins is presented to obtain enantioenriched amine-containing sp³–sp³ architectures.

The development of seawater electrolysis for green hydrogen production is crucial to addressing energy shortages. Here, the authors report that integrating NiFe sulfides with MXene enhances oxygen evolution reaction efficiency and stability, achieving 1000 hours of durability in seawater electrolysis.

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.

The synthesis of P-stereogenic allenylphosphine derivatives is often long or requires preformed P-stereogenic substrates. Now, a one-step enantioconvergent synthesis of allenylphosphines with both P and axial chirality is reported. The process proceeds through a Ni^II-catalysed propargylic substitution of secondary phosphines, without racemization or symmetrization of the racemic propargylic carbonates, to give P-stereogenic allenylphosphines.

The authors study the pressure evolution of the density waves and their interplay with superconductivity in La₄Ni₃O₁₀ using ultrafast optical pump-probe spectroscopy. At low pressure, they quantify the density-wave gap. After the density wave collapses above 17 GPa, they find a small gap, likely due to the superconductivity.

Li et al. report the cryo-EM structures of type-I and type-II Lamassu systems in apo and double-stranded DNA-bound states, revealing the unique architecture and mechanisms of this prokaryotic antiphage system.

Fibre integrated circuits created by first preparing circuitry on extremely thin and flexible substrates and then mechanically rolling them up demonstrate microdevice density reaching 100,000 transistors per centimetre and excellent stability under harsh service conditions.

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.

Yue et al. show that a histone acetyltransferase and a pyruvate kinase mutually stimulate histone modification, gene expression, and metabolite accumulation, revealing a synergism between metabolism and chromatin dynamics for stress tolerance.

Unveiling structure-activity correlations is essential in catalysis science. Here, the authors report the structural evolution of Ni-based pre-catalysts during the reaction and demonstrate how sub-nanometric variations affect catalytic performance in the electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction.

The cycling performance of Li-ion batteries based on silicon and Ni-rich oxide electrodes is limited by undesired phenomena including Si pulverization, cross talk, and interfacial instability. Here, the authors report in-situ polymerization to improve the stability of gel polymer Li-ion batteries.

Hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells operating in alkaline electrolyte are more cost-effective than their proton exchange membrane counterparts, but their performance is still considerably lower. Now, a Ni–Mo–Nb metallic glass is put forward as a hydrogen oxidation reaction catalyst with high activity and stability in alkaline electrolyte.

Efficient catalysts are key to advancing the hydrogen economy, particularly for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Here, the authors report that ultra-low coordinated hollow PtRuNi-Ox nanocages offer comparable catalytic performance and stability in both freshwater and wastewater conditions.

Selective C–H alkenylation of pyridines at the C3 position, with the pyridine as the limiting reagent, is a long-standing synthetic challenge. Now, it has been shown that this can be achieved using a bifunctional N-heterocyclic carbene-ligated Ni–Al catalyst that overrides the intrinsic C2/4 selectivity of pyridines and enables the selective late-stage functionalization of a range of complex pyridyl-containing motifs.

By digitizing a large lexical dataset of Chinese dialects and comparing it to genetic profiles, Yang et al. reveal a hybrid model of language diffusion, consisting of both population migrations and social learning across different regions of China.

Adipic acid is an important building block of polymers, although its production relies on harmful reagents. Here, authors examined surfactant-modified nickel hydroxide for adipic acid electrosynthesis coupled with hydrogen gas evolution.

Synergizing metal–support interactions and spatial confinement through atomic copper grippers boost the dynamics of highly loaded atomic nickel for high activity, high thermal/chemical stability and unprecedented coke inhibition in hydrogenation reactions.

The lack of efficient and cost-effective catalysts for H₂ oxidation reaction (HOR) hinders the application of anion exchange membrane fuel cells. Here, authors report a ternary nickel-tungsten-copper nanoalloy with marked HOR activity and stability that rivals the benchmark platinum catalyst.

Lampreys are jawless vertebrates that can offer unique insights into vertebrate evolution. Here they generate a comprehensive cell atlas of the lamprey, uncovering 70 distinct cell types across 14 tissues, and identify pancreas-like cells in the lamprey small intestine.

Severe Ni/Li antisite disorder in nickel-rich layered oxides leads to structural degradation and performance decay in Li-ion batteries. Here, authors report a noninvasive strategy of magnetoelectrochemical synergistic activation to realize ordered cation rearrangement and recovery battery capacity.

Alphaherpesvirus infections pose a health challenge due to the lack of effective broad-spectrum antiviral strategies. Here, the authors identify a broadly neutralizing antibody, 16F9, which targets glycoprotein B, offering cross-protection against multiple viruses and demonstrating robust efficacy in mouse models, paving the way for antiviral interventions.

In comparison to the well-developed electrochemical transformations of thiophenols, the electrochemical modification of peptides and proteins through cysteine remains rather underdeveloped. Here the authors report an electro-induced umpolung approach that enables the efficient functionalization/macrocyclization of cysteine-containing peptides.

Most current antidepressants target SERT and NET but often have limited efficacy or side effects. Here, authors reveal how five triple reuptake inhibitors bind to DAT, offering structural insights to guide development of more effective antidepressants.

Understanding the role of active sites in electrooxidation reactions is important yet challenging. Here, the authors use operando spectroscopies to monitor the effect of methanol concentration on Ni₃B/Ni heterostructures during formate production.

The development of effective, earth-abundant cocatalysts is critical for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction. Here, authors report the assembly of transition metal hydroxides on graphene to act as cocatalyst ensembles for efficient CO₂ photoreduction.

Low activity of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells is a barrier for commercial applications. Here the authors report a nickel boride membrane-coated Pt-Ni catalyst, achieving 27-fold enhancement in mass activity for ORR relative to commercial Pt/C.

Researchers identified a unique “latch bulge” in yeast mitofusin Fzo1. This fungi-specific structure allows Fzo1 to dimerize and remain locked after catalyzing GTP hydrolysis, enabling efficient mitochondrial fusion with minimal energy consumption.

High-throughput chemical ligand discovery is challenged by false positives. Here, authors introduce a scalable enantioselective affinity-selection mass spectrometry approach for proteome-wide ligand discovery with high sensitivity and selectivity

The stability of PEM water electrolysers is severely affected by the purity of the water employed. Here a cobalt-doped RuO₂ catalyst is developed to operate with water treated with reverse osmosis, which contains a significant amount of residual ions, achieving a degradation rate of only 10 μV h⁻¹ after 2,000 h of continuous operation at 1 A cm⁻².

Multicomponent cross-coupling of alkenes with silicon reagents is used to yield complex silicon-containing compounds from readily accessible feedstock chemicals but the reaction with simple alkenes remains challenging. Here, the authors report a regioselective silylalkylation of simple alkenes, which is enabled by using a stable Ni(II) salt and an inexpensive trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane ligand as a catalyst.

Creating glycoside building blocks with multiple diversifiable positions from readily available sugar precursors remains a challenging task. Herein, the authors present a regio- and stereoselective nickel-catalyzed carboboration of glycals, which offers a platform for generating glycoside diversity with diverse C1 and C2 modification potential.

Metal–support interfaces play a crucial role in dictating the catalytic behavior of heterogeneous systems. Here, the authors reveal a unique looping metal–support interaction in NiFe–Fe₃O₄ catalysts, where spatially separated yet coupled redox cycles boost hydrogen oxidation, providing new insights for the design of efficient heterogeneous catalysts.