The electrocatalytic oxidation of propane fuel is slow on Pt. By analyzing the rate of its individual steps, the authors show that slow propane oxidation is caused by a mismatch between the electrode potentials that promote propane adsorption, conversion of intermediates, and oxidation to CO₂.

A scanning electron microscope operated at 20 keV with distortion corrected ptychography achieves sub-ångström resolution, thus offering a compact and lower-cost alternative TEM imaging method that is well-suited to 2D materials and small proteins.

Origin of abundant noble gases in presolar silicon carbide (SiC) grains is under debate. Here, the authors measure 3D maps of helium within the SiC grains and reveal that these noble gases are evidence of hot stellar wind irradiation from central stars of planetary nebulae.

Bio-hybrid photoelectrochemical systems integrate microbial components with abiotic conductors/semiconductors for solar fuels and chemical conversion. Here, the authors analyze the bottlenecks related to catalytic efficiency, stability and scalability, and propose strategies to address these challenges.

Designing monovalent anion-selective membranes is challenging due to the need to balance trade-offs between flux and selectivity, membrane stability, and cost-effective fabrication. Here, the authors synthesized a polymer via superacid polymerization and designed a membrane using in-situ interfacial polymerization to optimize membrane properties.

Geological evidence from the North Qilian paleo-subduction channel shows that strong blocks deform by dislocation creep, sustain >100 MPa stresses, and their interactions transiently tighten plate coupling, shedding light on deep slow-slip dynamics.

Reliable prediction of bacterial abundance dynamics in microbial communities is still unresolved. Here, the authors built a graph neural network-based model trained on historical relative abundance data to predict species abundance dynamics for weeks to months for any longitudinal microbial dataset.

This work highlights a sharp warming contrast within the Southern Ocean: the Atlantic-Indian sector warms faster than the Pacific due to wind-driven heat transport. The contrast is projected to persist, shaping future climate and ocean change.

Europe is rapidly warming but summer days have cooled in North America. Shuman and Stefanescu find parallel patterns during North Atlantic cooling events in the past 8000 years. Similar underlying processes may explain regional differences today.

Eastern Taiwan’s double-vergence suture hosts frequent M ≥ 6 earthquakes and widespread aseismic slip, offering a natural laboratory to study earthquake triggering. The study shows that 24 years of repeating earthquake and earthquake swarm data reveal an aseismic slip acceleration beginning ~3 years before the April 3, 2024 Mw 7.3 Hualien earthquake.

Proteins in the fungal plasma membrane are key antifungal targets but their native structure and spatial distribution are poorly understood. Here, Jiang et al. use proteomics and cryo-electron tomography to investigate the organisation of membrane proteins in the fungal plasma membrane and how this is affected by antifungal drugs.

Acetyl-CoA synthetases have been proposed as targets for development of new antimicrobial drugs. Here, Jezewski et al. identify isoxazole-based compounds with activity against the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, and describe their mechanism of action as inhibitors of fungal acetyl-CoA synthetases.

Embedding is a key step in single-cell Hi-C analysis to identify cell states. Here, the authors benchmark 13 embedding methods in 10 scHi-C datasets. They find that data representation, preprocessing options, and biological settings are often more important considerations than the actual methods.

HIV infection and substance use disorders converge in human midbrain. Here, authors show transcriptional impacts using single-nucleus RNA sequencing, linking dopaminergic vulnerability and microglial dysregulation, and in viremia, GABAergic deficits.

Here the authors reveal how an incoherent feedforward C/EBPα–Notch circuit times lung cell fate, guiding alveolar development, repair after injury, and shifts between protective and reparative states.

The authors assessed echocardiographic parameters in adults from rural areas endemic for loiasis in the Republic of Congo. They report significant differences in the Congolese adults from existing standard measurements, which highlights need for population-specific reference values and a standardized approach to their establishment to improve comparability across studies.

Neutralising antibody levels are an important correlate of protection for pre-exposure prophylaxis against COVID-19, but it can be difficult to account for immune evasion of emerging virus variants. Here the authors present a variant-adjusted threshold of protection model, developed and validated with data from two clinical trials, which can be used to infer efficacy against any SARS-CoV-2 variant.

This study shows that restoring mitochondrial respiration in atherosclerotic macrophages reopens their chromatin, enabling phenotype reprogramming. Using targeted liposomes to deliver miR-10a, researchers successfully reduced atherosclerosis in mice by reprogramming macrophage phenotypes. The findings offer a promising epigenetic therapy for atherosclerosis

Reduced placental angiogenesis is suspected to cause preeclampsia. Using placental in vitro models and an in vivo model, the authors uncover the key role of an amino acid transporter and related molecular interactions that together induce an anti-angiogenic state, as observed in preeclampsia.

HIV infection and substance use disorders converge in human midbrain. Here, authors show transcriptional impacts using single-nucleus RNA sequencing, linking dopaminergic vulnerability and microglial dysregulation, and in viremia, GABAergic deficits.

The impacts of antimicrobial resistance are unequally distributed and are more severe in lower- and middle-income countries. Here, the authors perform a critical interpretive synthesis of the evidence on intersectional inequities driving antimicrobial resistance and present a conceptual framework of their findings.

This study supports uncertainty-aware energy transition planning by identifying key uncertainty sources. In Puerto Rico, hurricane frequency and institutional inefficiency emerge as the two main drivers.

Opportunities for green hydrogen-based steelmaking arise globally. Without sufficient investments in green steel, the EU loses competitiveness to countries with low-cost renewable energy through the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

The authors model regional electricity grid coordination, which enables access to geographically dispersed resources. Results suggest grid integration can reduce planning uncertainty region-wide but may impact individual countries differently.

This study reports widespread loss of mountain vegetation worldwide from 2000 to 2020, with ∼89% attributable to human expansion, primarily agriculture. Over half of this loss occurred within protected areas and other biodiversity-rich areas, threatening conservation efforts.