The nucleation of calcium silicate hydrate is a crucial step in cement hydration, but is still a poorly understood process. Here the authors use atomistic simulations to study primary particles and their aggregation, revealing a potential C-S-H “basic building block”.

A good understanding of the mechanism behind organic electrooxidation is crucial for the development of efficient energy conversion technology. Here, the authors find that trivalent nickel is capable of oxidizing organics through a nucleophilic attack and electron transfer via a non-redox process.

By contacting a solid oxide fuel cell to a microelectromechanical system inside an environmental electron microscope, the authors establish links between environmental conditions (gas atmosphere, temperature), cell voltage and atomic-scale structure.

Research into the dynamics of chemical reactions at the single-molecule level is a pivotal undertaking. Here, the authors present a direct investigation of the chemiluminescent reaction dynamics of single molecules in solution, providing spatiotemporally resolved insights into chemical reactions.

In this work, authors demonstrate a low-force and energy-efficient elastocaloric air cooling approach based on coil-bending of NiTi ribbons/wires. The device achieves continuous cold outlet airflow with a temperature drop of 10.6 K and a specific cooling power of 2.5 W g⁻¹ at a low specific driving force of 26 N g⁻¹.

Factors behind interspecific variation in masting are unclear. Here, the authors show that, in 517 species of terrestrial perennial plants, masting is more frequent in species that have high stem tissue density, suggesting that stronger stress resistance may buffer against missed reproductive opportunities.

External cycling regenerates nitrogen oxides from the NO_x oxidative reservoir, NO_z. Aircraft observations reveal NO_x external cycling compensates for NO_x aging, sustaining NO_x distribution and production of OH radicals far from NO_x emission sources

Two different styles of orogenesis during the Neoarchean and Paleoproterozoic are recorded in the depositional-to-deformational evolution of the orogenic foreland of the North China Craton, and would have differently changed the surface environment.

How and via which mechanism the energy transfers between scales in imbalanced Alfvénic turbulence is an open question. Here, the authors show that the energy transfer of imbalanced Alfvénic turbulence is completed by coherent interactions between Alfvén waves and co-propagating anomalous fluctuations.

High-resolution 2-km Antarctic maps reveal higher snowfall and surface melt than low-resolution products, reconciling satellite-observed ice sheet mass change. Projected higher surface melt near grounding lines threatens future ice shelf stability.

The early stages of viral fusogen conformational change required for enveloped viruses to infect cells is unclear. Here, authors capture the herpesvirus fusogen, glycoprotein B, in early transitional states by cryo-EM.

Simanek et al. discovered variants that arise in the protein responsible for synthesizing a molecule required for bacterial communication, which mediates the progression of virulence in the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Protein serial crystallography at X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) is a powerful technique for structure determination. Here, authors present a device for sample delivery designed to abate challenges to non-specialists allowing for compound screening.

Convergent strains, those containing characteristics of both multidrug-resistant & hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae, are a global threat to public health. In this work, authors analyse convergent isolates from the United States and reveal unexpectantly low virulence.

Innate immune responses to mRNA vaccines are less well understood than adaptive immunity. Here, the authors comprehensively characterize the innate and adaptive immune responses to mRNA-1273 vaccinations in rhesus macaques and show how the vaccine activates interactions among components of the two systems.

Here, Swarte et al. use metagenomics to investigate the association between the gut microbiome and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in kidney transplant recipients, showing evidence for the association of multiple taxonomic, metabolic and neuroactive pathways (gut brain modules) with lower HRQoL, together suggesting potential modifiable gut microbial factors to improve HRQoL.

Antivirals are now available for treating COVID-19 but must be used early in the course of infection to be effective. Here, the authors use mathematical modelling to assess the potential public health impacts of antiviral use considering different levels of testing and country sociodemographic characteristics.

Aortic aneurysms have a heritable basis. Here, the authors report that a selenoprotein deficiency disorder due to mutations in SECISBP2, causes oxidative stress-mediated aortic cell death, predisposing to thoracic aortic aneurysm formation.

Our understanding of the infant immune responses to routine vaccines remains limited. Here, the authors show that administration of routine vaccines to 2-month-old infants is associated with highly variable but limited antibody responses and mostly naïve-like immune cells with robust and transient expression of interferon genes.

Manganese is an essential trace element for the activity of arginase in the process of urea generation and ammonia disposal in the liver. Here, the authors show that fructose overconsumption impairs hepatic Mn homeostasis and ammonia disposal in male mice.

Risk of isolation is expected to disproportionately affect racial minority populations in the U.S. as sea level rise increases. Communities with more renters, older adults, and lower-income populations will also be impacted.

A new study explores the global feasible supply of steel and cement within Paris-compliant carbon budgets, explicitly considering uncertainties in the deployment of infrastructure and it shows that feasible supply may fall short of expected global demand.

Social networks often segregate based on political identities. We show that such segregation is reduced when people know how others behave towards those from their outgroup and ingroup

The estimates of the societal costs of carbon currently used for policy evaluations may be too low due to an insufficient representation of tropical cyclone damage. Accounting for them substantially increases the estimated benefits of climate change mitigation measures.

While accounting for intrinsic differences between short- and long-lived greenhouse gases, solely relying on soil carbon sequestration in grasslands to offset warming effect of emissions from current ruminant systems is not feasible