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Worldwide, the number of only-child families is increasing. This research examines how growing up without siblings affects adult brain structure, function and connectivity, cognition, personality and mental health.

Chromosome-level genome assemblies of allotetraploid Nicotiana tabacum and its ancestors, along with their transcriptomes, epigenomes and genotype and phenotype data for 5,196 N. tabacum germplasms, provide insights into genome evolution and complex trait regulation.

Socioeconomic status is multidimensional and can change over time. Xu, Lui, Ji et al. found dimension-specific, late-stage-specific and change-specific socioeconomic effects on brain, cognition, personality and emotion.

While SNAP25 is critical for neural electrical communication, its cardiac role is unknown. Here the authors show that it governs atrial electrical stability by directing Kv1.5 channel trafficking, with therapeutic implications for atrial fibrillation.

Cross-ancestry and sex-stratified genome-wide association analyses for 21 amygdala volumetric traits in East Asian and European individuals provide insight into the genetic architectures of amygdala and subnucleus volumes.

Depression affects millions of people worldwide. Here, the authors show a substantial polygenic overlap between depression and brain subcortical volumes, identifying 44 shared loci.

Empathy and aggression are essential to well-being and survival, but its circuit mechanism remains unclear. Here, authors show two specific pathways from the medial amygdala as brain switches that control the consolation or attacking respectively.

Cross-ancestry genome-wide association studies of 3,414 brain imaging phenotypes in Chinese Han and white British participants identify autosomal and X-chromosomal associations in more diverse populations.

Genome-wide association meta-analyses in populations of East Asian and European ancestries identify variant–trait associations for 44 hippocampal traits and provide insight into the genetic architectures of hippocampal and subfield volumes.

Hydrogel fibres have potential in a range of applications such as flexible electronics, but achieving the desired mechanical properties can be challenging. Here, the authors report spider silk-inspired hydrogel fibres with tuneable mechanical properties suitable for flexible electronics.

This study uses complex networks to identify atmospheric teleconnections driving summer heatwaves in the Northern Hemisphere. The results show that changes in certain teleconnections drive the spatial differences in heatwave variability and trends.

Renal tubular atrophy is a hallmark of chronic kidney disease. The study by Zhu et al. reveals the protective role of tubular polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPT1) against renal atrophy by blocking the leakage of mitochondrial dsRNAs into cytoplasm where they activate the PKReIF2α axis and terminate translation.

Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia has emerged as an alternative strategy for effluent treatment and ammonia production. Here, the authors report a pulsed potential approach to overcome the sluggish reaction kinetics caused by the limited distribution of negatively charged nitrate near the working electrode and the competing side reactions.

Mice can be generated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) but the impact of accumulated mutations on the developmental potential of the cells remains to be determined. Here the authors show that mice generated from iPSCs tolerate the accumulation of somatic mutations for up to six generations, but their viability decreased with increasing generations.

A high-quality draft genome assembly of Musa balbisiana (the banana B-genome) is reported. Comparative genomic and gene functional analyses provide insights into the subgenome evolution and functional divergence between the A- and B-subgenomes.

Xuejun Zhang, Jun Wang, Liangdan Sun, Lennart Hammarström and colleagues sequence the MHC region in 20,635 Han Chinese individuals. Their Han-MHC database allows identification of new susceptibility loci for psoriasis and could serve as a tool for investigating the role of the MHC region in other complex diseases.

Light penetration and overheating are major issues facing the application of photothermal therapy. Here, the authors develop a temperature responsive hydrogel optical waveguide for controlled delivery of light to deep tumours and demonstrate biocompatibility and temperature responsive phototherapy in vivo

The electrons that contribute to the Mott insulator state in single-layer 1T-TaSe2 are shown to also have a rich variation in their orbital occupation. As more layers are added, both the insulating state and orbital texture weaken.

Defect engineering of topological materials provides an avenue for the controllable manipulation of optoelectronic properties. Here, the authors introduce a defect gradient into a Dirac semimetal to control the Berry curvature dipole-driven THz emission in the material.

Psoriasis is a common inflammatory skin disease with complex genetics and different degrees of prevalence across ethnic populations. Here Yin et al. conduct a large trans-ethnic genome-wide meta-analysis and identify novel loci that contribute to population-specific susceptibility.

The gut microbiome regulates behaviour in a number of species. Here the authors show that depletion of the gut microbiome in Drosophila reduced aggressive behaviour, in an octopamine-dependent manner.

While hydrogels find applications in wearable sensors and electronic skins, they are prone to fatigue fractures upon deformation cycling. Xiong et al. report the synthesis of conductive polymerizable rotaxane hydrogels, exhibiting large fatigue resistance, for 3D printable flexible sensors.

The X-ray crystal structure of the human glucagon receptor, a potential drug target for type 2 diabetes, offers a structural basis for molecular recognition by class B G-protein-coupled receptors.

P1 neurons integrate sensory cues to initiate male courtship in Drosophila. Here the authors identified inhibitory Drosulfakinin-expressing neurons that interact with P1 neurons in an experience-dependent manner, and oppositely regulate male sex drive.

Increasing the selectivity of desalination membranes is of crucial importance for advancing membrane desalination technologies. Here the authors demonstrate a plasticizing-extracting process for tuning the permselectivity of polymeric membranes and achieving desired desalination performance.

Highly efficient catalysts are demanded to realize selective hydrogenation of ketone/aldehydes to alcohols under mild conditions. Here, the authors report a TiO₂ supported Pd single-atom/nanoparticles synergistic catalyst with outstanding hydrogenation performance at room temperature.

Nanoparticles can be used for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. Here, the authors report that nanoparticles made of a single chemical building block, called nanoporphyrins, incorporate eight different functionalities, including various types of imaging, drug delivery and cancer therapy.