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A reinforcement learning-based virtual reality system, implementing a series of sport sessions with coaching, was as effective as standard physical activity in reducing fat mass in adolescents, with positive effects on cognition.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

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.

Single-atom catalysts commonly present a random distribution of the active metal centres. Now a series of Mg-rich intermetallic compounds is introduced to enable ordered dispersed active metals. Furthermore, a cascade process is demonstrated on Mg₂₉Pd_1.3Rh_2.7, where Pd sites catalyse the semihydrogenation of phenylacetylene with subsequent hydroformylation on Rh sites.

Solvent engineering by the addition of 1,4-butane sultone in a perovskite precursor solution simultaneously enhances the crystallization of the perovskite and passivates defects, resulting in a power conversion efficiency of 26.5%.

It is generally more difficult to modify the buried interfaces compared to top interfaces in tin-lead perovskite subcells. Here, the authors employ a mercapto-functionalized mesoporous silica layer as a superstructure, realizing maximum efficiency of 29.6% for double-junction tandem solar cells.

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.

Fullerenes possess unique electronic property influenced by their real space topology and gauge field. Here, the authors construct an acoustic C₅₄₀ fullerene metamaterial, allowing observation of 3D topological pentagon states using sound waves, and offering new insights into classical wave manipulation.

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.

Liver transplantation can be an effective treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma, however, outcomes can be variable. Here, the authors use multi-omics to develop subgroups and identify a CAF-related classification.

How D-type cyclins become dysregulated in cancer remains to be understood. Here, the authors identify that F-box protein FBXO32 catalyzes the K27-linked polyubiquitination and subsequent stabilization of D-type cyclins, contributing to cancer progression in both liver and pancreatic tumor models.

Tuning the b-axis length of silicalite-1 crystals allows control over the migration–agglomeration–lockup of active metal species in zeolites, which enables the creation of stable and durable catalysts for propane dehydrogenation in industrial applications.

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.

The Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei is an important aquaculture species and a promising model for crustacean biology. Here, the authors provide a reference genome assembly, and show that gene expansion is involved in the regulation of frequent molting as well as benthic adaptation of the shrimp.

Diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas exhibit a characteristic mutation of lysine 27 to methionine (K27M) in genes encoding histone H3.3. Here the authors show that the H3.3K27M mutation imposes a specific pattern of H3.3K27 methylation by altering the target search dynamics of PcG proteins.

The treatment of poorly differentiated thyroid cancer and anaplastic thyroid cancer remains challenging. Here, the authors perform multi-omic analysis of thyroid samples and identify proteomic clusters associated with distinct tumour microenvironment features.

Metamaterial analogues of electromagnetically-induced transparency provide interesting optical components and applications. By actively tuning the dark mode of a metamaterial, Guet al. optically control its electromagnetically-induced transparency, showing tunable group delay of terahertz light.

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.

The important tuberculosis drug pyrazinamide (PZA) is converted to its active form pyrazinoic acid (POA) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Here the authors identify the pantothenate biosynthesis pathway enzyme aspartate decarboxylase (PanD) as the target of PZA and determine the POA bound Mtb PanD crystal structure.

The acetylene hydrogenation activity and stability of a palladium single-atom catalyst are both controlled by the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the oxide support.

The interplay among hybrid self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) during deposition has not been well studied. Here, authors mix co-adsorbents with carbazole-based SAM material to improve the buried interface, achieving efficiency of 20.67% for wide-bandgap solar cells and 28.94% for all-perovskite tandem devices.

Electrochromic displays that are stable in the coloured state for up to 52 h with no applied voltage are fabricated using molecules hosting concerted intramolecular proton-coupled electron transfer processes.

If one adds a (pseudo-) magnetic field to a system involving Weyl points, the Weyl points split into the so-called chiral Landau levels, among which the zeroth chiral Landau level has linear band dispersion. This paper reports an experimental realization of the zeroth chiral Landau level using an acoustic metamaterial in a synthetic dimension.

Many aspects of the tumourigenesis of endometrioid endometrial cancers (EEC) are still poorly understood. Here, the authors use single-cell transcriptomics to characterise EEC tumours and their microenvironment across different stages, and reveal potential cells of origin for EEC.

Two-dimensional materials could be good platforms to study the extremely subtle mechanical behaviors. Here, the authors measure an anomalous isotope effect on the mechanical properties of boron nitride monolayers, originated from ultrafine isotopic nuclear charge.

Single-wall carbon nanotubes are made of carbon with diameters less than 100 nanometers. Here, the authors engineer an analogue tube with a diameter 1,000,000 times larger with the aim to explore topological properties including unusual acoustic edge states.

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1 (Pck1) is an enzyme involved in glucose production that also regulates lipogenesis and has been linked to liver steatosis. Here the authors report that deficiency of Pck1 in the liver leads to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease via activation of the RhoA/PI3K/AKT pathway in a study with male mice.

Typically, sending sound from transmitter to receiver requires pre-amplification and disturbs the surrounding sound environment. Here, the authors present a metamaterial designed to enable transmission of weak sound that can be recovered even in the presence of strong noise

Solitary fibrous tumours are mesenchymal tumours with an unpredictable progression and current medical treatments for relapsed SFTs remain ineffective. Here, the authors identified potential therapeutic targets and risk factors for SFTs and created an integrated risk model using 101 patients, and validated in 3 independent cohorts to successfully predict tumour progression.

The synthesis of giant molecule acceptors with more than two subunits was challenging. Here, the authors present a stepwise precise synthetic method for acceptors of this type, explore and compare their photovoltaic performance to those of polymerized small molecule acceptor for organic solar cells.

Minimizing the non-radiative energy loss without sacrificing the charge collection efficiency is the key to improve the performance of organic solar cells. Here, the authors develop hybrid side chain-based asymmetric small molecule acceptors and achieve maximum power conversion efficiency of 19.76%.

The genome of the tropical blue-petal water lily Nymphaea colorata and the transcriptomes from 19 other Nymphaeales species provide insights into the early evolution of angiosperms.

Developing high-performance and mechanically robust active-layer systems is crucial to commercializing flexible organic solar cells. Here, authors design small molecule acceptors with ethyl ester side chains and achieve certified efficiency of over 19% for mechanically robust devices.

This study focuses on the role of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in the evolution of the genomes of two penaeid shrimp species, Fenneropenaeus chinensis and Litopenaeus vannamei. They observed a significant expansion in SSRs in the genomes of these species (~23%) compared what is seen in other animal genomes (~1%) and suggest a possible mechanistic relationship between SSRs and transposable elements.

Chromosome-scale genome assemblies of triploid Cavendish and Gros Michel reveal the banana cultivars’ origins, disease resistance and fruit ripening mechanism.

The non-coding genome of T-ALL has not been extensively studied. Here, the authors conduct RNA-seq, ATAC-seq and Hi-C seq analyses and find that T-ALL associated neo-loops may regulate key transcription factors including HOXA13; the aberrant expression of which is associated with poor prognosis.

Immunosuppression as a result of severe infection impairs pathogen clearance and can increase susceptibility to secondary infection. Here, the authors dissect how T cell aging and the thymic involution that occurs during this process contribute to immunosuppression and find a key role for IL-33.

Active translocation of DNA through nanopores usually needs enzyme assistance. Here authors present a nanopore derived from helicase E1 of bovine papillomavirus (BPV) which acts as a conductive pore embedded in lipid membrane to allow the translocation of ssDNA and unwinding of dsDNA.