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Torpor is an adaptive hypometabolic state in response to energy scarcity. Here, Cheng et al. show that catecholaminergic neurons in the ventrolateral medulla induce torpor in mice by lowering body temp and heart rate (heart rate decline precedes cooling).

An icing forecast hydrogel device encapsulating ice-nucleating proteins colorimetrically predicts ice formation with high accuracy. The device successfully activated a wind turbine deicing system 70 min before ice accumulation.

Using multi-omics analysis, Zuo, Zhao, Wu, Wang, Wang and colleagues report disrupted branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolism in skeletal muscle samples from patients with sarcopenia. In mouse models, they causally link BCAA catabolic dysfunction to impaired muscle mass and demonstrate the translational potential of enhancing BCAA catabolism.

Early and accurate clinical assessment of disease severity in COVID-19 patients is essential for planning the allocation of scarce hospital resources. An explainable machine learning tool trained on blood sample data from 485 patients from Wuhan selected three biomarkers for predicting mortality of individual patients with high accuracy.

A foundation model learns transcriptional regulatory syntax from chromatin accessibility and sequence data across a range of cell types to predict gene expression and transcription factor interactions, with generalizability to unseen cell types.

The genomic epidemiology of Acinetobacter baumannii, which is rising in virulence and multidrug resistance, was explored. This study examined bloodstream infection isolates from Chinese patients in 2011–2021, revealing increased genetic diversity and dominance of highly virulent ST208.

Light-induced azobenzene cis/trans isomerization has been extensively investigated, but the mechanical strength of its cis/trans structure is not well understood. Now it has been shown that cis azobenzene is mechanically less stable than the trans isomer due to its regiochemical structure, as revealed by single-molecule force spectroscopy.

In this phase 3 trial, first-line treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with anti-PD-1 finotonlimab plus cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil (C5F) prolonged overall survival compared with placebo plus C5F.

Understanding the fundamental nano–bio interactions of nanomaterials intended for biomedical use might unlock potential alternative applications. Here the authors reveal a tumoricidal mechanism of black phosphorus nanomaterials where these nanomaterials directly affect the mitotic centrosome machinery by suppressing polo-like kinase 1, suggesting that nanomaterials can be applied in targeted cancer therapy with their intrinsic nano–bio properties.

Tumour heterogeneity in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) remains to be investigated. Here, the integration of spatial omics, transcriptional and chromatin accessibility profiling at the single-nucleus level and bulk proteogenomics data reveal markers and pathways important for ccRCC.

Crop rotation helps preventing pathogen infestations compared to monocultures, which may be partly due to root-associated microbes. Here, the authors show that rhizosphere microbiomes in monocultures are less able to suppress fungal pathogens compared to crop rotations, and that inoculating certain microbes can mitigate it.

Most crops are farmed under high transpiring environments, but our understanding of transpiration-dependent salt tolerance (TDST) remains limited. Here, the authors report a dirigent family protein is responsible for TDST by affecting lignin deposition at Casparian strip barrier and transportation of Na⁺ across the endodermis.

A spatial multi-omics method with high decoding capacity and reduced sequencing and imaging costs enhances the high-throughput detection of gene mutations, allele-specific expression and RNA modifications in tissue samples.

Compact genome editors were discovered by mining a transposon library.

Phase gradient metagratings suffer from limits on conversion efficiency. Here, the authors show a refractive-type metagrating which can enable anomalous reflection and refraction with almost unity efficiency over a wide incident range and uncover how integer parity plays a role in higher order diffraction.

The role of aggresomes in tumorigenesis and cancer progression remains to be explored. Here, the authors perform multi-omics and reveal that aggresome formation supports ovarian cancer stem cell properties via OTUD1 and ASK1/JNK signalling activation.

2D materials with Kagome lattices have attracted significant interest due to their exotic electronic properties. Here, the authors report the synthesis and characterization of a 2D MoTe₂ phase characterized by a colouring-triangular lattice (a Kagome variant), showing evidence of Dirac-like and flat electronic bands.

Non-coding cancer driver mutations that induce splicing variants exist, but are largely unexplored. Here, the authors find these non-coding mutations in known pan-cancer driver genes and show that they create new exons and might interact with pre-existing potential splice sites.

Esters can be used as fuels and specialty chemicals for food flavoring, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Here, the authors systematically engineer clostridia, including discovery and deletion of prophages to increase strain stability, for the production of butyl acetate and butyl butyrate from corn stover at low cost.

HPCA1, a member of a previously uncharacterized subfamily of leucine-rich-repeat receptor-like kinases, is the hydrogen-peroxide sensor at the plasma membrane in Arabidopsis.

Genetic ablation of EF4 in mice leads to male sterility due to mitochondrial translation defects, which can be compensated for in somatic tissues by mTOR-mediated upregulation of cytoplasmic translation.

PI3K is a central component of the insulin signalling pathway. Here, the authors reveal that miR-378 expression in the liver changes dynamically in response to fasting or refeeding, and show that miR-378 regulates hepatic insulin signalling by targeting the P110a subunit of PI3K.

White adipocytes can be stimulated to express thermogenic genes in a process known as beiging. Here, the authors show that miR-327 is downregulated during beiging, which releases FGF10 from inhibition and supports beige adipocyte formation via signaling through FGFR2.

An operando mass spectrometry technique, along with molecular dynamics simulations, unveils the evolution of the solid–electrolyte interphase chemistry and structure in lithium-ion batteries during the first cycle.

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.

The kinase PI3K is crucial for insulin signalling in the liver but the roles of individual PI3K isoforms are largely unclear. Using mice that lack class II PI3K isoform γ (PI3K-C2γ), the authors here show that PI3K-C2γ selectively activates endosomal Akt2 by regulating the localized production of PIP2.

A report of RNA 5-methylcytosine oxidation by mammalian Tet2, showing that Tet2 promotes infection-induced myelopoiesis in mice via a mechanism involving the repression of Socs3 mRNA, a previously unknown regulatory role of Tet2 at the epitranscriptomic level.

Stable single-atomic and noble-metal free catalysts are crucial in light driven hydrogen evolution but their behavior upon visible light irradiation remains unclear. Here the authors develop and analyze atomic palladium on graphitic carbon nitride with enhanced catalytic activity under visible light.

High speed data transmission using orbital angular momentum beams has been recently demonstrated. Here, Yan et al. demonstrate a 32 Gbit/s millimetre-wave communication link using eight coaxially propagating independent orbital angular momentum beams with four orbital angular momentum states on two orthogonal polarizations.

A new transplantation site in the abdomen, the subanterior rectus sheath, is shown to allow for functional maturation of stem-cell-derived islet cells and improved glycemic control in a proof-of-principle study involving four nonhuman primates.