Research articles

Chronic loneliness was associated with poorer physical and mental health, while loneliness onset showed similar but weaker associations. Social isolation primarily affected mental health, while remission may confer cognitive benefits.

Feeding can be regulated by sensory cues. This study identifies a multi-layer circuit that mediates food sight-promoted feeding and food-related memory in mice.

Environmental cues, such as pH, determine cellular differentiation and function, including that of immune cells. Here the authors identify SLC4A7, a Na + /HCO3–cotransporter as a critical and specific regulator of plasmablast differentiation genetic deletion of which in mice impairing antibody responses.

Preterm birth poses severe risks to mothers and newborns. Here, the authors identify an oxytocin receptor antagonist nanobody with tocolytic effects in mice, offering a potential roadmap for developing next generation tocolytic drugs.

In a deterministic, non-chaotic system, the initial state fixes the future completely, yet that future may be impossible to forecast from it. Using a cellular automaton of communicating cells, this study shows that predictability is instead built by the dynamics: collective topological structures self-organize as the system evolves, and only once they exist does the eventual outcome become legible.

Group 3 (G3) medulloblastoma is an aggressive paediatric brain tumour with limited treatment options. Here, the authors show that CReP phosphatase maintains eIF2α activity, thereby protecting G3 MB cells from apoptosis, and that these cells are sensitive to eIF2α inactivation.

Anti-IgLON5 disease is a rare neuro-immunological disorder characterized by the production of autoantibodies against the cell adhesion molecule, IgLON5. Here, the authors examine the B cell receptor repertoire of an individual with this condition and present a cryo–electron microscopy structure of a patient-derived antibody clone in complex with IgLON5.

The study presents a selective oxidation strategy using ozone and sodium percarbonate to transform recalcitrant aromatics in pesticide wastewater into biodegradable nutrients. The process enables self-sufficient biological treatment and lowers the carbon footprint by 40%, advancing sustainable remediation.

Mycorrhizal associations with trees help regulate nutrient cycling in forests. This study found that the dominance of arbuscular mycorrhizal trees across Japan is associated with climate warming and tree diseases and may influence forest nitrogen cycling.

The authors combine computer simulation and experimental fabrication to co-design living muscle and its scaffold, optimizing the range of motion of bioactuators to power biohybrid robots that can jump, swim, walk and grip.

The buried interface in perovskite solar cells is vulnerable to light-induced degradation but difficult to probe. Yang et al. reveal a role of tin migration in accelerating degradation and use polymer interlayers to reinforce the interface, improving device performance and stability.

Mass spectrometric detection of Pd-containing ions in complex mixtures poses a challenge due to overlapping spectral features. Here, the authors employ a machine-learning-based graph algorithm to distinguish between various multicharged Pd ions, enabling automatic detection in multicomponent samples.

Mechanical stress induces LGR5+ fibroblasts that promote adaptive tissue remodeling by limiting fibrosis through JAK1 modulation. The study reveals a conserved mechanism of adaptation to mechanical stress and suggests a strategy for regenerative therapy.

The authors show how boron and scandium reshape phonon scattering in aluminum nitride ferroelectrics, linking optical phonon lifetimes to thermal conductivity and revealing a key tradeoff between switching behavior and heat transport.

DNMT3A regulates the anti-tumor activity of CAR-T cells. Here, based on in vivo CRISPR screens, the authors identify tumor cell-intrinsic DNMT3A as a mediator of immune evasion, showing that DNMT3A modulates TNF signalling and cholesterol biosynthesis to impair CD8 T cell anti-tumor immunity.

Investigations of the surface dynamics of polymers focused on polymers with a narrow molecular weight distribution and do not account for polydisperse polymers found in most polymer products. Here, the authors investigate the surface dynamics of glassy polymers with a bimodal molecular weight distribution using a droplet wetting-dewetting experiment.

Auxetic liquid crystal elastomers are tunable, scalable, and transparent materials. Here the authors report acrylate based liquid crystal elastomers, which exhibit smectic phases with low correlation lengths, and thus evidence of layer frustration. The elastomers show auxetic behaviour and anisotropic adhesive properties.

There, the authors develop a tracheal reconstruction strategy using 3D-printed minichannels with stem cell–cartilage composites in preclinical models. Bypassing cell expansion, these tough grafts achieve rapid vascularization and repair segmental airway defects.

Alternative splicing is regulated by RNA-binding proteins, but measuring their regulatory activity remains challenging. Here, the authors develop RAISE, a computational framework that integrates multimodal data to construct splicing regulatory networks and quantify activity from transcriptomic data.

Using density functional theory (DFT) densities in coupled-cluster theory dramatically improves its accuracy for strongly correlated transition-metal molecules, providing a simple way to generate beyond-DFT benchmark data for machine learning models.