Hypersonic vehicles experience extreme temperatures, high heat fluxes, and aggressive oxidizing environments. Here, the authors highlight key materials design principles for critical vehicle areas and strategies for advancing laboratory-scale materials to flight-ready components.

Efficient charge transfer in sulfur electrodes is a crucial challenge for sodium-sulfur batteries. Here, the authors developed a machine-learning-assisted approach to quickly identify effective single-atom catalysts that enhance selectivity for short-chain sodium polysulfides, leading to improved battery performance.

Oscillating neural networks promise ultralow power consumption and rapid computation for tackling complex optimization problems. Here, the authors demonstrate VO₂ oscillators to solve NP-complete problems with projected power consumption of 13 µW/oscillator.

Many volatile elements are depleted in the bulk silicate Earth. Here, the authors found that these volatile elements tend to react with Fe under pressure and may be sequestered within Earth’s core by forming substitutional Fe alloys.

Nearly a century after dark matter was proposed, yet its nature remains elusive. Here, authors present their dark photon dark matter search results using two atomic magnetometer arrays 1700 km apart in large magnetic shields and offer the strongest terrestrial constraint in this mass range to date.

Hueholt et al. find that considering how the rate of temperature change contributes to ecosystem risk helps inform future hypothetical design of climate intervention scenarios

Many volatile elements are depleted in the bulk silicate Earth. Here, the authors found that these volatile elements tend to react with Fe under pressure and may be sequestered within Earth’s core by forming substitutional Fe alloys.

River sediments play a critical role in sustaining coastal ecosystems. This study examines patterns of coastal suspended sediment concentration (SSC) for 349 deltas worldwide via satellite images and investigated the possible driving factors.

Challenges in obtaining empirical trait data hinder the development of trait-based frameworks for soil microbes. Here, the authors analyse traits of saprobic fungal isolates from a grassland site to propose a fungal economics spectrum, suggesting a general trait framework for soil fungi.

The authors show that the influence of the western Indian Ocean on Antarctic sea ice variability in austral spring has been weakening under greenhouse global warming.

Mitochondrial fission, performed by Drp1, is carefully regulated, particularly in neurons. Here, the authors examine Drosophila Cdk8/CDK19 function in mitochondrial fission and uncover a role phosphorylating Drp1 in the cytoplasm and show overexpression suppresses a Parkinson’s disease model.

Pei et al. applied Gaussian process-based machine learning to capture dynamic spatial covariance relationships managed by proteostasis to mediate cooperative folding on a residue basis as a standard model for precision disease management.

Import of proteins into peroxisomes depends on PEX5, PEX13 and PEX14. Here the authors obtain crystal structures and NMR data to show the recognition of diaromatic peptide motifs on a noncanonical surface of the PEX13 SH3 domain, revealing a dynamic network which modulates peroxisomal matrix import.

Here, Schwartz, Bravo, and Ahsan et al. show how multi-subunit fusion proteins are arranged around a crRNA in a type III CRISPR-Cas effector to cleave target RNA. Structures and molecular dynamics of this complex show three distinct active sites that can be used for programmable RNA cleavage.

Age has an impact on circadian rhythm. Here, the authors report that LKRSDH-dependent H3R17me2 and H3K27me3 at insulin-like peptide sites contribute to age-related circadian rhythm change in Drosophila.

Viral infection is a common risk for immune-compromised individuals, particularly pediatric patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplants. Here the authors report a phase II trial testing adoptive transfer of third party, virus-specific T cells on the feasibility, safety, clinical responses, as well as homeostasis of antiviral immunity in the recipients.

The pancreatic islets of Langerhans play a pivotal role in regulating blood glucose homeostasis through the regulated secretion of the hormones insulin and glucagon. Here, the authors use deep tissue 3D imaging to re-construct the entire human pancreas at microscopic resolution and display previously unrecognized heterogeneities in the islet’s cellularity with pre-clinical and clinical implications.

The 2023 monkeypox outbreak was caused by a subclade IIb monkeypox virus (MPXV). Here, using advanced sequencing techniques, the authors identify variations on low-complexity regions of the MPXV genome and describe their potential as evolutionary drivers.

SV2A is a receptor for botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) and new generation antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Here the authors report cryo-EM structures of SV2A in complex with BoNT receptor binding domain and AEDs highlighting the difference in the binding affinity between AEDs.

Childhood malnutrition in Africa is a glaring example of global inequality, and mortality remains high. Here, the authors report the results of the TAME randomized phase II clinical trial, in which intestinal healing was the target of four potential interventions in malnourished children in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The study introduces a method of integrating gridded estimates of social vulnerability into high-resolution global flood risk maps demonstrating new insights into the geography of flood risk within and between countries.

Collective cooperation is found across many social and biological systems. Here, the authors find that infrequent hub updates promote the emergence of collective cooperation and develop an algorithm that optimises collective cooperation with update rates.

The authors test whether social values have become converged or diverged across national cultures over the last 40 years using a 76-country analysis of the World Values Survey. They show that values have diverged, especially between high-income Western countries and the rest of the world.

This meta-analysis compares the performance of hard, hybrid, soft and natural coastal defence measures. Results show that all measures have a positive economic return over 20 years yet hybrid measures perform best for climate adaptation and mitigation.

Current desalination technologies are energy intensive and suffer from membrane degradation and fouling. Here, authors propose and explore the potential of thermodiffusion as a means of membrane-free, single-phase thermal desalination. A pathway towards a feasible thermodiffusive desalination is provided.