Articles in 2024

Small inland water bodies are widely seen as important sources of methane to the atmosphere. This study demonstrates that hardwater ecosystems emit less of this potent greenhouse gas than predicted due to complex biogeochemical controls

The authors report ferroelectric tunnel junctions based on samarium-substituted layered bismuth oxide, which show tunnelling electroresistance of 7 × 10⁵ and high endurance over 5 billion cycles, even when the film is down to one nanometer.

Here, using single molecule FRET, the unfolding and folding of a discontinuous two-domain protein was studied. The authors find that a dynamic, intermediate population entropically limits the rate of folding while the order of domain folding is kept in a slow-folding mutant.

Realization of stable and industrial-level hydrogen peroxide electroproduction still faces great challenge due large partly to the easy decomposition of this product. Here the authors report a strategy to achieve superior performance by promoting an increased electron density of Co center due to the introduction of sulfur atoms in the linking units of 2D CoPc-S-COF

This study demonstrates the energy use of US pump irrigation produced 12.6 million tonnes CO₂e in 2018, with spatial variability modulated by water source and fuel choice. These county-level estimates can inform strategic irrigation expansion and emissions reduction efforts.

Strongly correlated and topological phases of matter can be often described using the tools of quantum field theory. Here the authors report the thermal Hall effect in the antiferromagnetic skyrmion lattice of MnSc₂S₄, revealing transport features that can be attributed to an emergent SU(3) gauge field.

The heterogeneity of whole-exome sequencing (WES) data generation methods presents a challenge to joint analysis. Here, the authors present a bioinformatics strategy to generate high-quality data from processing diversely generated WES samples, as applied in the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project.

Tetrodotoxin and congeners are specific voltage-gated sodium channel blockers that exhibit remarkable anesthetic and analgesic effects but total synthesis procedures are often limited by the scale. Here, the authors present a scalable asymmetric syntheses of Tetrodotoxin and 9-epiTetrodotoxin from the abundant chemical feedstock furfuryl alcohol.

Neutrophils play critical roles in response to infection, and the limit of available neutrophils in neonates and young infants can impact responses to infections, including sepsis. Here the authors identify that the IL-10/DEL-1 axis is involved in emergency granulopoiesis in neonates and suggest a link to sepsis survival in early life.

Coffea arabica is an allotetraploid hybrid of C. eugenioides and C. canephora and contributes to approximately 60% of world coffee production. Here, the authors report its chromosome-level genome assembly and identify that chromosomal abnormalities and introgression from C. canephora may contribute to diversity and pathogen resistance.

How mechanisms of single-cell plasticity lead to task-dependent cognitive maps remains unclear. Here, the authors show that this model of hippocampus shows that cooperation between local plasticity and reinforcement learning of behavior can lead to task-specific latent representations.

The metabolic switch of tumours to aerobic glycolysis can allow them to meet their increasing energetic demands. Here, the authors show that AKT1 regulates this switch through the phosphorylation of malic enzyme 2 (ME2) preventing mitochondrial translocation. In turn this pushes the cell from mitochondrial metabolism to glycolysis, promoting tumour growth.

In this work, authors report on SCIMP-positive exosomes secreted by macrophages, that play a crucial anti-inflammatory role in pneumonia. Exosomal SCIMP primarily achieves bacterial clearance by the SCIMP-FPRs-neutrophils chemotaxis.

Recent studies have reported miniaturized spectrometers based on van der Waals heterostructures. Here, the authors demonstrate multifunctional SnS₂/ReSe₂ heterojunction spectrometers providing photodetection, spectrum reconstruction, spectral imaging, long-term image memory, and signal processing capabilities.

Response rates to immune-checkpoint inhibitors in patients with advanced sarcoma remain modest. Here the authors report the results of a phase 2 study of durvalumab (anti-PD-L1) in combination with the anti-VEGF receptor tyrosine-kinase inhibitor pazopanib in unselected advanced sarcomas with correlative genomic analysis.

Bacterial viruses (phages) are generally recognised as rapidly evolving biological entities. Here, Rozwalak et al. analyse DNA sequence datasets generated from ancient palaeofaeces and identify 298 phage genomes from the last 5300 years, including a 1300-year-old phage genome nearly identical to a present-day virus that infects human gut bacteria.

How speech sounds come to be understood as language remains unclear. Here, the authors find that brain responses to speech in part reflect abstraction of phonological units specific to the language being spoken, mediated through relationships between acoustic features.

Global challenges demand global solutions. Here, the authors show a distributed self-driving lab architecture in The World Avatar, linking robots in Cambridge and Singapore for asynchronous multi-objective reaction optimisation.

This study reveals the spatial and temporal patterns of temperature buffer inside the tropical forests. It provides insights into the forests’ microclimate that controls the functioning of living organisms residing under the forest canopy.

The offshore heat supplied to the Antarctic continental shelves by warm eddies has a potential impact on the melting of ice shelves. Here, how warm eddies form and intrude onto the continental shelf and play an important role in ice shelf melting is shown.