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Treating rheumatoid arthritis remains challenging as the pathological development involves multiple cells. Here, the authors develop an engineered microalgae to combat rheumatoid arthritis by suppressing osteoclasts for bone remodeling, and inhibiting macrophages for restoring immune homeostasis.

Neoadjuvant cancer therapeutic strategy has been explored in phase I/II clinical studies for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Here this group reports a single-arm, phase II clinical trial evaluating the neoadjuvant radiotherapy plus PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab combined with paclitaxel and cisplatin, followed by radical surgical resection on 28 patients with untreated stage III-IVB head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

The interfaces in perovskite solar cells are critical to the device performance. Li et al. tune the bond strength of the interfacial molecule with the perovskite and the electron transport layer, increasing the power conversion efficiency of the cells.

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.

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.

The researchers showcase an exciting surface metallic Dirac-vortex cavity design with enhanced power capabilities for electrically pumped Topological Lasers in the THz spectral range.

Wang et al. reveal that epigenetic changes driven by zinc finger MYND-type containing 8 promote the transition from adenocarcinoma to antiandrogen-resistant neuroendocrine prostate cancer and offer a therapeutic approach by targeting the histone reader with a small molecule.

Self-adaptive thermal management over large areas is highly attractive for radiative cooling materials, however it is challenging to fabricate dual-mode switchable materials. Here, the authors report a dual mode coating for both hot and cold weather temperature regulation.

Genetic variants can affect protein function and promote tumour progression by driving aberrant subcellular localization. Here, the authors characterise potential shuttling-attacking mutations (SAMs) across cancers using a deep learning model and experimental validation, and find how SAMs disrupt critical signalling interactions involved in cancer progression.

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.

Solid electrolytes are promising for enabling the use of Li metal anodes but Li infiltration along grain boundaries can lead to battery failure. Li infiltration in a model solid oxide electrolyte is now found to be strongly associated with local electronic band structure.

DNA hydrogels have received considerable attention in analytical science but limitations still exist in the applications of intelligent hydrogels. Here, the authors describe a DNA hydrogel sensor for quantitative detection of cocaine based on the permeability change in a DNA hydrogel film.

The authors synthesize cubic GeSe through the alloying of the metavalent compound Sb₂Te₃ and vacancy engineering, achieving a record ZT of 1.38 at 723 K and an energy conversion efficiency of 6.13% in a single-leg thermoelectric device.

Understanding interfacial proton transport in an excited state is crucial for catalytic and diagnostic applications of nanomaterials. Here, the authors combine ultra-low-field NMR relaxometry with a light source to study the light-induced proton dissociation of graphene quantum dots.

Egg-laying performance is an important phenotype for breeding chicken. Here, the authors explore the regulatory networks driving phenotypic differences in egg-laying, and identify laying-related variants and endocrine factors.

Endohedral fullerenes are known to stabilize reactive radicals; however, the external magnetic manipulation of these species’ remains challenging. Here, the authors link a nitroxide radical to a paramagnetic fullerene system and are able to alter the spin behaviour of the fullerene via spin–spin interactions.

A study examines functional human endogenous fatty acid synthase and characterizes its structural dynamics using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy, providing insights into its dynamics during the fatty acid synthesis condensing cycle.

Nitrogen oxides are major air pollutants; capture and abatement technologies exist but they typically involve toxic species or precious-metal catalysts. Now, a metal–organic framework has been shown to store NO₂ dimers selectively, and to separate NO₂ from other gases under wet conditions. Treatment with water in air leads to conversion of NO₂ into HNO₃—an important feedstock for fertilizer production—with full recovery of the host.

Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) are global soil-borne parasites that damage most plants. Here, the authors show that native root-associated bacterial consortium exhibit general suppression of RKN infections by offering protective functions.

Zhong et al. show that the protein GP73 stimulates hepatic glucose production and is induced in response to infection with SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and in vivo, thus proposing a molecular mechanism underlying hyperglycemia associated with COVID-19.

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.

Population analysis of 516 wild and domesticated broomcorn millet genomes and a graph-based pangenome based on de novo assemblies of 32 representative accessions identify genomic variations associated with domestication traits.

The challenging synthesis of thermodynamic-unfavored cis-olefins through catalytic cross-coupling reactions requires the synergistic interaction of substrate activating units and configuration-regulating catalysts. Herein, the authors report a photoredox access to Z-alkenes from alkynes and light alkanes with a bifunctional iron-catalyzed system.

TMEM63s are mechanosensitive ion channels activated by hypo-osmolality. Here, the authors determine the cryo-EM structure of mouse TMEM63C confirming its predominant monomeric state and the significance of TM0-TM6 coupling in channel activity.

Direct air capture of CO₂ suffers from high energy consumption. Here, the authors use co-harvested water as in situ vapor purge to regenerate the sorbents, achieving over 98% recovery of the adsorbed CO₂, more than 20% reduction in energy penalty, and synergistic production of CO₂ and water.

Benzene is a genotoxic carcinogen with no safe level of exposure. Here, by creating and decorating a structural defect in a metal–organic framework to form MIL-125-Zn, a benzene uptake of 7.63 mmol g^–1 at 1.2 mbar is observed due to binding to Zn(II) sites.

In this prespecified analysis of the ongoing TORCHLIGHT phase 3 trial, first-line treatment with toripalimab and nab-paclitaxel in patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer led to significantly longer progression-free survival in the PD-L1-positive population compared to nab-paclitaxel alone.

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.

A transformer-based approach that predicts drug–drug interactions in polypharmacy has been shown, which also identifies perpetrator drugs and the chemical mechanisms causing the interactions. The method could facilitate high-throughput optimization of drug combinations and mitigate adverse drug–drug interaction risks.

Using data from long-term nationwide observations and multi-level rainfall manipulative experiments, this study reveals that rice yield reductions due to extreme rainfall in China were comparable to those induced by extreme heat over the past two decades. Further projections highlight the increasing risk of rice yield reductions induced by extreme rainfall by the end of this century.

The development of new methodologies to convert plastics into fuels without relying on noble metal-based catalysts is desirable. Now it is shown that a layered self-pillared zeolite enables the conversion of polyethylene to gasoline with a selectivity of 99% and yields of >80% without the need to use external hydrogen.

In this study, the authors present a virtual node graph neural network to enable the prediction of material properties with variable output dimensions. This method offers fast and accurate predictions of phonon band structures in complex solids.

Xu et al. show that satellite-measured urbanicity (living in a densely populated area) is correlated with brain volume, cortical surface area and brain network connectivity in a sample of 3,867 people from China and Europe.

Pei and colleagues report that the oncogene c-Jun acts as a somatic cell reprogramming barrier, and that its truncated dominant-negative form can substitute for Oct4 in reprogramming.

Light-harvesting applications require dyes with efficiently formed long-lived charge separated electronic states. Here the authors achieve this through aggregation in fullerene dyads and reveal their excited-state dynamics mechanism.

Wei et al. identify the HDL receptor SR-B1 as a host factor that enhances infection of cultured cells with SARS-CoV-2 in the presence of ACE2, thus providing a possible molecular connection between lipoprotein metabolism and COVID-19.

Photo-crosslinking polymerization facilitates precise control of hydrogel formation for various applications including tissue engineering, but most existing photo-crosslinking methods fail to achieve deep-tissue penetration, especially within bone structures. Here the authors report a strategy of low-dose X-ray-activated polymerization that enables deep-tissue hydrogel formation.

Some patients present with multiple lung tumours but it is unclear whether these are metastases or individual lesions. Here, the authors use genomics techniques to demonstrate in six patients that multiple tumours have individual genetic profiles and represent separate tumours.

Submicrometre-sized amorphous silicon samples show an unusually large tensile strength relative to the compressive strength, which is due to the reduced shear modulus and the activation energy barrier for shear transformations under compression.

Our combined large-scale neuroimaging and brain transcriptome study demonstrates genetic substrates underlying cortical functional abnormalities in depression, suggesting transcriptomic decoding of regional cortical vulnerability to depression.