Search

Natural hydrogen is generated through chemical and radioactive processes in the Earth’s crust, and could be an important future clean chemical feedstock and energy resource. This Review examines the processes of geological hydrogen generation, migration, accumulation and preservation that enable the development of exploitable reserves.

Phytochrome photoreceptors are master regulators of plant development. This paper describes 3D structures of soybean phytochrome A in both Pr (inactive) and Pfr (signalling) states, revealing changes that might transmit the light signal to the cell.

Tissue-resident macrophages (TRM) are important mediators of local immunity. Here the authors show that the deficiency or inhibition of a kinase, WNK1, unlinks macrophage colony-stimulating factor signaling and resulted macropinocytosis with the downstream, potentially IRF8-mediated genetic program to bias progenitor differentiation to neutrophil instead of TRM.

CRISPR-TO, a system for programmable control of spatial localization of cellular RNAs, is presented and enables functional investigation of endogenous RNA localization in diverse living cells.

An expert-elicitation process identifies current methodological barriers for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity, and how technological and procedural development of robotic and autonomous systems may contribute to overcoming these challenges.

Noel et al. show aberrant updating of expectations in three distinct mouse models of autism spectrum disorder. Brain-wide neurophysiology data suggest this stems from excess units encoding deviations from prior mean and a lack of sensory prediction errors in frontal areas.

Goel et al. examine why some factually correct news articles are often shared by users who also shared fake news articles on social media.

Here the authors present a local ancestry inference algorithm with superior accuracy, and use it to shed light on the demographic histories of Latin Americans and the Askenazi Jewish, and to map a candidate Viking immune locus under selection in the British population.

Authors show that Antarctic glaciers deliver high particle loads to the ocean, rich in iron that is potential food for marine algae. Microscopy techniques reveal this iron interacts with carbon. Ocean tracers show this glacial iron reaches far offshore.

Engineered polypeptide cleavage in vivo demonstrates that the loss of titin tension induces severe muscle atrophy.

How lung epithelial and endothelial cells develop into alveoli is a major knowledge gap, with implications for lung repair in preterm infants. Here, the authors establish a transcriptomic atlas of human neonatal lung disease, identifying semaphorins as pivotal mediators of organogenesis and injury.

Cao et al. show that human amygdala and hippocampus neurons encode visual facial features, bridging perception-driven representations with mnemonic semantic representations.

Single-cell RNAseq can struggle to capture cellular heterogeneity due to the relatively low expression of biologically meaningful transcripts. Here the authors present an approach called scCLEAN, which uses CRISPR/Cas9 to target and remove certain ubiquitous transcripts, thereby enhancing the detection of low-abundance transcripts.

Shocked compression experiments support the melt line of nickel above that of iron, as recently theorised, which helps to constrain the behavior of nickel at conditions relevant to Earth’s core where it makes up 5-20 wt %

The fetal globin gene repressors BCL11A and ZBTB7A directly bind γ-globin gene promoter regions. Repressor binding is disrupted by naturally occurring point mutations located upstream of the transcriptional start site that are associated with hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin.

Here, the authors have mapped the antibody response of the adeno-associated virus 9 (AAV9) gene therapy vector Zolgensma. AAV9 capsid variants were designed to escape this response while preserving manufacturing and biodistribution properties.

Analysis of data from multiple instruments reveals a giant exoplanet in orbit around the 0.2-solar-mass star TOI-6894. The existence of this exoplanetary system challenges assumptions about planet formation and it is an excellent target for atmospheric characterization.

Hyperfine splitting was measured using the laser spectroscopy of accelerator-produced hydrogen-like bismuth ions. This demonstrates the feasibility of such measurements with other exotic ions with low production yields in a storage ring.

Exposure of mice to high fructose during gestation or early postnatal life causes decreased microglial phagocytosis during brain development and leads to anxiety-like behaviour in adolescence.

Actin is crucial for nervous system function yet the role of microexons in its modulation is unclear. Here, the authors show that a microexon in DAAM1 has a role in actin dynamics, neuronal function and memory formation in mice.

Analysis of genomic data from 981 colorectal cancers from participants in 11 countries reveals variations in mutational signatures of microsatellite-stable cancers that are dependent on geographical origin and age at which the cancer was diagnosed.

Interventions to increase resilience to misinformation work but decay over time. Here, the authors show that memory—which can be strengthened—is a key predictor for the longevity of intervention effects, more so than motivation.

Integrative anatomical, molecular, behavioral, and modeling evidence suggests that higher dopamine D1 receptor expression in prefrontal cortical parvalbumin neurons in marmosets likely contributes to their higher distractibility relative to macaques.

Human, mouse and iPSC-derived microglia demonstrate that interaction between GRN and phagocytic receptors can rescue (MERTK) or worsen (AXL) FTD-disease features. CSF MERTK maybe a biomarker of symptomatic disease conversion in genetic FTD.

Five scholars share their science-policy priorities for the incoming government as it faces urgent challenges in tackling climate change, health, inequality and more.

The authors find the human red nucleus is functionally connected with action and motivated behavior networks, instead of motor-effector networks. They argue the red nucleus implements goal-directed behavior, integrating behavioral valence and action plans.

Here the authors use mRNA display to discover peptide inhibitors of BamA, an essential factor that catalyzes the membrane insertion of bacterial outer membrane proteins. They show that three peptides are antibacterial and inhibit BamA activity by a unique mechanism.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.

Understanding how the brain processes and remembers visual objects is a fundamental question in neuroscience. Here, the authors reveal a neural code for general visual objects that predicts memory performance.

Colloidal self-assembly at liquid interfaces has important emulsion applications, for food, household or personal care products, and drug encapsulation. Here, the authors develop a method of forming patchy heterogeneous capsules by electro-coalescence of multiple liquid drops.

The authors report subnanosecond thermal transport on a gold–hexagonal boron nitrite interface governed by hyperbolic phonon–polariton coupling, demonstrating a cooling mechanism orders of magnitude faster than those relying on phonon-mediated processes.

The properties of materials can be drastically modified under extreme pressure. Here the authors investigate ramp-compressed sodium to 5 million atmospheres with in situ X-ray diffraction and optical reflectivity, revealing a complex temperature-driven polymorphism and suggesting the formation of a previously predicted electride phase.

Analyses of genome and exome sequencing data identify rare coding and structural variants associated with atrial fibrillation and highlight genetic links between atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathies.

Degradation of the recalcitrant polysaccharide fucoidan, produced by marine brown algae, is carried out by some bacteria through unclear mechanisms. Here, the authors provide insights into fucoidan processing mechanisms by studying two alga-associated bacterial strains, using microscopy, multi-omic, biochemical and structural techniques.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

TILT-123 is an oncolytic adenovirus encoding TNFα and IL-2. Here the authors report the results of a phase 1a trial of TILT-123 combined with anti-PD1 pembrolizumab in patients with platinum resistant or refractory ovarian cancer.

MASLD is a growing global health concern. Here, the authors define a senescent hepatocyte gene signature (SHGS), demonstrate its clinical relevance, and identify senolytic therapies that selectively eliminate SHGS+ hepatocytes to improve MASLD and systemic health.

Crossing the blood–brain barrier in primates is a major obstacle to gene delivery in the brain. Here an adeno-associated virus variant (AAV.CAP-Mac) is identified and demonstrated for crossing the blood–brain barrier and delivering gene sequences to the brain of different non-human primates species.

In preclinical research, there is a persistent sex bias where research is conducted with a single sex. Here, the authors present a Sex Inclusive Research Framework that provides a traffic light classification of research proposals to facilitate robust assessment and promote equitable sex inclusion

Viral pathogen load in cancer genomes is estimated through analysis of sequencing data from 2,656 tumors across 35 cancer types using multiple pathogen-detection pipelines, identifying viruses in 382 genomic and 68 transcriptome datasets.

Imaging of the mantle transition zone beneath the Lesser Antilles shows a basalt-rich region within the subducting slab near the proposed ___location of a subducted extinct spreading ridge, implying ancient tectonics play a role in influencing slab trajectories.

Burden testing in three large European ancestry cohorts identifies new risk genes for a number of common cancer types, including pan-cancer protective variants in AURKB and breast cancer protective variants in PPP1R15A.

The Verwey transition in magnetite was reported 80 years ago but identifying the underlying mechanism has been difficult. Here the authors show that structural distortions associated with the Verwey transition emerge as local fluctuations at the Curie temperature, confirming their link with magnetic order.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are clinically useful for detecting and monitoring cancer, but they are rare in blood. Here, the authors use a highthroughput microfluidic device to massively enrich CTCs from leukapheresis products to uncover single cell molecular features in prostate and other cancers.

Simanek et al. discovered variants that arise in the protein responsible for synthesizing a molecule required for bacterial communication, which mediates the progression of virulence in the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

While multiple resistance-to-Phytophthora sojae loci/alleles have been mapped in soybean, many of them have become ineffective to newly evolved isolates. Here, the authors show that a 27.7-kb nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat gene confers broad-spectrum resistance to P. sojae in soybean.

The future challenges and potential opportunities of robotics and autonomous systems in urban ecosystems, and how they may impact biodiversity, are explored and prioritized via a global horizon scan of 170 experts.