Seven days of complete caloric restriction in humans leads to profound adaptations of the plasma proteome. The illustration is an artistic representation of changes in the proteome after prolonged fasting in humans.

See Pietzner et al.

Bone-derived sclerostin accelerates the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by deregulating the Wnt–β-catenin signalling pathway in the brain. The image is a staining of the enzyme β-secretase (essential for AD pathogenesis) in a hippocampus section from a mouse model of AD.

See Shi et al.

Using a zinc-based fluorophore with spinning-disc confocal microscopy, Peng et al. visualize insulin secretion in intact mouse islets, thereby revealing a subpopulation of β cells that make a disproportionally large contribute to overall insulin release. Each coloured dot indicates an exocytosis event against the backdrop of stained β cells of a mouse islet.

See Peng et al.

In this issue of Nature Metabolism, Wei et al. identify a non-fatty acid synthesis function for FASN in suppressing diverse aspects of stress responses through a mechanism that involves FASN cleavage. Depicted are anesthetized C. elegans following stressful conditions.

See Wei et al.