We checked 7 multidisciplinary journals on Friday, June 27, 2025 using the Crossref API. For the period June 20 to June 26, we retrieved 25 new paper(s) in 6 journal(s).

Nature

GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Publisher Correction: The P-loop NTPase RUVBL2 is a conserved clock component across eukaryotes
Meimei Liao, Yanqin Liu, Zhancong Xu, Mingxu Fang, Ziqing Yu, Yufan Cui, Zhengda Sun, Ran Huo, Jieyu Yang, Fusheng Huang, Mingming Liu, Qin Zhou, Xiaocui Song, Hui Han, She Chen, Xiaodong Xu, Ximing Qin, Qun He, Dapeng Ju, Tao Wang, Nirav Thakkar, Paul E. Hardin, Susan S. Golden, Eric Erquan Zhang
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Rescuing dendritic cell interstitial motility sustains antitumour immunity
Haichao Tang, Zongfang Wei, Bei Zheng, Yumeng Cai, Peihan Wu, Lulu Wu, Xiaohe Ma, Yanqin Chen, Si Su, Jinmin Xu, Yu Qiao, Ying Zhang, Juju Miao, Zijing Yu, Yaodong Zhao, Zhen Xia, Rongjing Zhou, Jian Liu, Jufeng Guo, Zhaoyuan Liu, Qi Xie, Florent Ginhoux, Luming Zhao, Xu Li, Bing Xia, Huanwen Wu, Yongdeng Zhang, Ting Zhou
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Addendum: Unravelling cysteine-deficiency-associated rapid weight loss
Alan Varghese, Ivan Gusarov, BegoĂąa Gamallo-Lana, Daria Dolgonos, Yatin Mankan, Ilya Shamovsky, Mydia Phan, Rebecca Jones, Maria Gomez-Jenkins, Eileen White, Rui Wang, Drew R. Jones, Thales Papagiannakopoulos, Michael E. Pacold, Adam C. Mar, Dan R. Littman, Evgeny Nudler
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Interactions between TTYH2 and APOE facilitate endosomal lipid transfer
Anastasiia Sukalskaia, Andreas Karner, Anna Pugnetti, Florian Weber, Birgit Plochberger, Raimund Dutzler
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The Tweety homologues (TTYHs) constitute a family of eukaryotic membrane proteins that, on the basis of structural features, were recently proposed to contribute to lipid transfer between soluble carriers and cellular membranes 1 . However, in the absence of supporting data, this function was hypothetical. Here through pull-down of endogenous proteins, we identify APOE as the interaction partner of human TTYH2. Subcellular fractionation and immunocytochemistry assays showed that both proteins colocalize in endosomal compartments. Characterization of the specific interaction between APOE and TTYH2 through binding assays and structural studies enabled us to identify an epitope in an extended domain of TTYH2 that faces the endosomal lumen. Structures of complexes with APOE-containing lipoprotein particles revealed a binding mode that places lipids in a suitable position to facilitate their diffusion into the membrane. Moreover, in vitro studies revealed that lipid transfer is accelerated by TTYH2. Collectively, our findings indicate that TTYH2 has a role in the unloading of APOE-containing lipoproteins after they are endocytosed. These results define a new protein class that facilitates the extraction of lipids from and their insertion into cellular membranes. Although ubiquitous, this process could be of particular relevance in the brain, where APOE is involved in the transfer of lipids between astrocytes and neurons.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
An aspirational approach to planetary futures
Erle C. Ellis, Yadvinder Malhi, Hannah Ritchie, Jasper Montana, Sandra Díaz, David Obura, Susan Clayton, Melissa Leach, Laura Pereira, Emma Marris, Michael Muthukrishna, Bojie Fu, Peter Frankopan, Molly K. Grace, Samira Barzin, Krushil Watene, Nicholas Depsky, Josefin Pasanen, Pedro Conceição
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
A cation-exchange approach to tunable magnetic intercalation superlattices
Jingxuan Zhou, Jingyuan Zhou, Zhong Wan, Qi Qian, Huaying Ren, Xingxu Yan, Boxuan Zhou, Ao Zhang, Xiaoqing Pan, Wuzhang Fang, Yuan Ping, Zdenek Sofer, Yu Huang, Xiangfeng Duan
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Mechanism of cytarabine-induced neurotoxicity
Jia-Cheng Liu, Dongpeng Wang, Elsa Callen, Chuanyuan Chen, Santiago Noriega, Yafang Shang, David Schßrmann, Yawei Song, Gokul N. Ramadoss, Raj Chari, Nancy Wong, Yongge Zhao, Yuan He, Peter D. Aplan, Michael E. Ward, Nathaniel Heintz, Anjana Rao, Peter J. McKinnon, Keith W. Caldecott, Primo Schär, Fei-Long Meng, Ferenc Livak, Wei Wu, AndrÊ Nussenzweig
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
The dynamics and geometry of choice in the premotor cortex
Mikhail Genkin, Krishna V. Shenoy, Chandramouli Chandrasekaran, Tatiana A. Engel
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The brain represents sensory variables in the coordinated activity of neural populations, in which tuning curves of single neurons define the geometry of the population code 1,2 . Whether the same coding principle holds for dynamic cognitive variables remains unknown because internal cognitive processes unfold with a unique time course on single trials observed only in the irregular spiking of heterogeneous neural populations 3–8 . Here we show the existence of such a population code for the dynamics of choice formation in the primate premotor cortex. We developed an approach to simultaneously infer population dynamics and tuning functions of single neurons to the population state. Applied to spike data recorded during decision-making, our model revealed that populations of neurons encoded the same dynamic variable predicting choices, and heterogeneous firing rates resulted from the diverse tuning of single neurons to this decision variable. The inferred dynamics indicated an attractor mechanism for decision computation. Our results reveal a unifying geometric principle for neural encoding of sensory and dynamic cognitive variables.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
A cost-effective all-in-one halide material for all-solid-state batteries
Jiamin Fu, Changhong Wang, Shuo Wang, Joel W. Reid, Jianwen Liang, Jing Luo, Jung Tae Kim, Yang Zhao, Xiaofei Yang, Feipeng Zhao, Weihan Li, Bolin Fu, Xiaoting Lin, Yang Hu, Han Su, Xiaoge Hao, Yingjie Gao, Shutao Zhang, Ziqing Wang, Jue Liu, Hamid Abdolvand, Tsun-Kong Sham, Yifei Mo, Xueliang Sun
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Soft magnetic hysteresis in a dysprosium amide–alkene complex up to 100 kelvin
Jack Emerson-King, Gemma K. Gransbury, Benjamin E. Atkinson, William J. A. Blackmore, George F. S. Whitehead, Nicholas F. Chilton, David P. Mills
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Lanthanides have shown magnetic memory at both the atomic 1,2 and molecular 3,4 level. The magnetic remanence temperatures of lanthanide single-molecule magnets can surpass d -transition metal examples 5,6 , and since 2017, energy barriers to magnetic reversal ( U eff ) from 1,237(28) cm –1 to 1,631(25) cm –1 and open magnetic hysteresis loops between 40 K and 80 K have typically been achieved with axial dysprosium(III) bis(cyclopentadienyl) complexes 7–17 . It has been predicted that linear dysprosium(III) compounds could deliver greater m J (the projection of the total angular momentum, J , on a quantization axis labelled z ) state splitting and therefore higher U eff and hysteresis temperatures 18–21 , but as lanthanide bonding is predominantly ionic 22,23 , so far dysprosium bis(amide) complexes have shown highly bent geometries that promote fast magnetic reversal 24,25 . Here we report a dysprosium bis(amide)–alkene complex, [Dy{N(Si i Pr 3 )[Si( i Pr) 2 C(CH 3 )=CHCH 3 ]}{N(Si i Pr 3 )(Si i Pr 2 Et)}][Al{OC(CF 3 ) 3 } 4 ] ( 1-Dy ), that shows U eff = 1,843(11) cm –1 and slow closing of soft magnetic hysteresis loops up to 100 K. Calculations show that the U eff value for 1-Dy arises from the charge-dense amide ligands, with a pendant alkene taking a structural role to enforce a large N–Dy–N angle while imposing only a weak equatorial interaction. This leads to molecular spin dynamics up to 100 times slower than the current best single-molecule magnets above 90 K.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
The expanding repertoire of ESCRT functions in cell biology and disease
James H. Hurley, Alyssa N. Coyne, Marta Miączyńska, Harald Stenmark
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Author Correction: Regulatory genomic circuitry of human disease loci by integrative epigenomics
Carles A. Boix, Benjamin T. James, Yongjin P. Park, Wouter Meuleman, Manolis Kellis
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Nerve-to-cancer transfer of mitochondria during cancer metastasis
Gregory Hoover, Shila Gilbert, Olivia Curley, ClĂŠmence Obellianne, Mike T. Lin, William Hixson, Terry W. Pierce, Joel F. Andrews, Mikhail F. Alexeyev, Yi Ding, Ping Bu, Fariba Behbod, Daniel Medina, Jeffrey T. Chang, Gustavo Ayala, Simon Grelet
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Broadband transient full-Stokes luminescence spectroscopy
Antti-Pekka M. Reponen, Marcel Mattes, Zachary A. VanOrman, Lilian Estaque, GrĂŠgory Pieters, Sascha Feldmann
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Materials emitting circularly polarized light (CPL) are highly sought after for applications ranging from efficient displays to quantum information technologies 1–7 . However, established methods for time-resolved CPL (TRCPL) characterization have notable limitations 8–17 , generally requiring a compromise between sensitivity, accessible timescales and spectral information. This has limited the acquisition of in-depth photophysical insight necessary for materials development. Here we demonstrate a high-sensitivity (noise level of the order of 10 −4 ), broadband (about 400–900 nm), transient (nanosecond resolution, millisecond range) full-Stokes (CPL and linear polarizations) spectroscopy setup. The achieved combination of high-sensitivity, broad wavelength response and flexible time ranges represents a substantial advancement over previous TRCPL approaches. As a result, TRCPL measurements are shown to be applicable to hitherto inaccessible material systems and photophysical processes, including systems with low (10 −3 ) dissymmetry factors and luminescence pathways spanning nanosecond to millisecond time ranges. Finally, full-Stokes measurements allow tracking the temporal evolution of linear polarization components, of interest by themselves, but especially relevant in the context of controlling for associated CPL artefacts 18,19 in the time domain.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Structural and functional characterization of human sweet taste receptor
Zongjun Shi, Weixiu Xu, Lijie Wu, Xiaolei Yue, Shenhui Liu, Wei Ding, Jinyi Zhang, Bing Meng, Lianghao Zhao, Xiaoyan Liu, Junlin Liu, Zhi-Jie Liu, Tian Hua
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Modular arene functionalization by differential 1,2-diborylation
Jingfeng Huo, Yue Fu, Melody J. Tang, Ya Su, Shengkun Hu, Peng Liu, Guangbin Dong
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Decoding 4-vinylanisole biosynthesis and pivotal enzymes in locusts
Xiaojiao Guo, Lei Gao, Shiwei Li, Jing Gao, Yuanyuan Wang, Jing Lv, Jiayi Wei, Jing Yang, Han Ke, Qi Ding, Jun Yang, Fusheng Guo, Haowen Zhang, Xiaoguang Lei, Le Kang
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Spin-qubit control with a milli-kelvin CMOS chip
Samuel K. Bartee, Will Gilbert, Kun Zuo, Kushal Das, Tuomo Tanttu, Chih Hwan Yang, Nard Dumoulin Stuyck, Sebastian J. Pauka, Rocky Y. Su, Wee Han Lim, Santiago Serrano, Christopher C. Escott, Fay E. Hudson, Kohei M. Itoh, Arne Laucht, Andrew S. Dzurak, David J. Reilly
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A key virtue of spin qubits is their sub-micron footprint, enabling a single silicon chip to host the millions of qubits required to execute useful quantum algorithms with error correction 1–3 . However, with each physical qubit needing multiple control lines, a fundamental barrier to scale is the extreme density of connections that bridge quantum devices to their external control and readout hardware 4–6 . A promising solution is to co-locate the control system proximal to the qubit platform at milli-kelvin temperatures, wired up by miniaturized interconnects 7–10 . Even so, heat and crosstalk from closely integrated control have the potential to degrade qubit performance, particularly for two-qubit entangling gates based on exchange coupling that are sensitive to electrical noise 11,12 . Here we benchmark silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS)-style electron spin qubits controlled by heterogeneously integrated cryo-complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (cryo-CMOS) circuits with a power density sufficiently low to enable scale-up. Demonstrating that cryo-CMOS can efficiently perform universal logic operations for spin qubits, we go on to show that milli-kelvin control has little impact on the performance of single- and two-qubit gates. Given the complexity of our sub-kelvin CMOS platform, with about 100,000 transistors, these results open the prospect of scalable control based on the tight packaging of spin qubits with a ‘chiplet-style’ control architecture.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Computer-vision research powers surveillance technology
Pratyusha Ria Kalluri, William Agnew, Myra Cheng, Kentrell Owens, Luca Soldaini, Abeba Birhane
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Efficient near-infrared harvesting in perovskite–organic tandem solar cells
Zhenrong Jia, Xiao Guo, Xinxing Yin, Ming Sun, Jiawei Qiao, Xinyu Jiang, Xi Wang, Yuduan Wang, Zijing Dong, Zhuojie Shi, Chun-Hsiao Kuan, Jingcong Hu, Qilin Zhou, Xiangkun Jia, Jinxi Chen, Zhouyin Wei, Shunchang Liu, Haoming Liang, Nengxu Li, Ling Kai Lee, Renjun Guo, Stephan V. Roth, Peter MĂźller-Buschbaum, Xiaotao Hao, Xiaoyan Du, Yi Hou
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Controlling diverse robots by inferring Jacobian fields with deep networks
Sizhe Lester Li, Annan Zhang, Boyuan Chen, Hanna Matusik, Chao Liu, Daniela Rus, Vincent Sitzmann
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Mirroring the complex structures and diverse functions of natural organisms is a long-standing challenge in robotics 1–4 . Modern fabrication techniques have greatly expanded the feasible hardware 5–8 , but using these systems requires control software to translate the desired motions into actuator commands. Conventional robots can easily be modelled as rigid links connected by joints, but it remains an open challenge to model and control biologically inspired robots that are often soft or made of several materials, lack sensing capabilities and may change their material properties with use 9–12 . Here, we introduce a method that uses deep neural networks to map a video stream of a robot to its visuomotor Jacobian field (the sensitivity of all 3D points to the robot’s actuators). Our method enables the control of robots from only a single camera, makes no assumptions about the robots’ materials, actuation or sensing, and is trained without expert intervention by observing the execution of random commands. We demonstrate our method on a diverse set of robot manipulators that vary in actuation, materials, fabrication and cost. Our approach achieves accurate closed-loop control and recovers the causal dynamic structure of each robot. Because it enables robot control using a generic camera as the only sensor, we anticipate that our work will broaden the design space of robotic systems and serve as a starting point for lowering the barrier to robotic automation.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Evidence for a sub-Jovian planet in the young TWA 7 disk 
A.-M. Lagrange, C. Wilkinson, M. Mâlin, A. Boccaletti, C. Perrot, L. Matrà, F. Combes, H. Beust, D. Rouan, A. Chomez, J. Milli, B. Charnay, S. Mazevet, O. Flasseur, J. Olofsson, A. Bayo, Q. Kral, A. Carter, K. A. Crotts, P. Delorme, G. Chauvin, P. Thebault, P. Rubini, F. Kiefer, A. Radcliffe, J. Mazoyer, T. Bodrito, S. Stasevic, M. Langlois
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
RNA codon expansion via programmable pseudouridine editing and decoding
Jiangle Liu, Xueqing Yan, Hao Wu, Ziqin Ji, Ye Shan, Xinyan Wang, Yunfan Ran, Yichen Ma, Caitao Li, Yuchao Zhu, Ruichu Gu, Han Wen, Chengqi Yi, Peng R. Chen
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
In-line NMR guided orthogonal transformation of real-life plastics
Mei-Qi Zhang, Yida Zhou, Ruochen Cao, Shuheng Tian, Yuchen Jiao, Zhenbo Guo, Maolin Wang, Hongpeng Peng, Bo Sun, Bingjun Xu, Meng Wang, Shutao Xu, Ding Ma
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Gating and noelin clustering of native Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors
Chengli Fang, Cathy J. Spangler, Jumi Park, Natalie Sheldon, Laurence O. Trussell, Eric Gouaux
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Spatiotemporal orchestration of mitosis by cyclin-dependent kinase
Nitin Kapadia, Paul Nurse
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Mitotic onset is a critical transition for eukaryotic cell proliferation. The commonly held view of mitotic control is that the master regulator, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK), is first activated in the cytoplasm, at the centrosome, initiating mitosis 1–3 . Bistability in CDK activation ensures that the transition is irreversible, but how this unfolds in a spatially compartmentalized cell is unknown 4–8 . Here, using fission yeast, we show that CDK is first activated in the nucleus, and that the bistable responses differ markedly between the nucleus and the cytoplasm, with a stronger response in the nucleus driving mitotic signal propagation from there to the cytoplasm. Abolishing cyclin–CDK localization to the centrosome led to activation occurring only in the nucleus, spatially uncoupling the nucleus and cytoplasm mitotically, suggesting that centrosomal cyclin–CDK acts as a ‘signal relayer’. We propose that the key mitotic regulatory system operates in the nucleus in proximity to DNA, which enables incomplete DNA replication and DNA damage to be effectively monitored to preserve genome integrity and to integrate ploidy within the CDK control network. This spatiotemporal regulatory framework establishes core principles for control of the onset of mitosis and highlights that the CDK control system operates within distinct regulatory domains in the nucleus and cytoplasm.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Coherent bunching of anyons and dissociation in an interference experiment
Bikash Ghosh, Maria Labendik, Vladimir Umansky, Moty Heiblum, David F. Mross
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Barcoded viral tracing identifies immunosuppressive astrocyte–glioma interactions
Brian M. Andersen, Camilo Faust Akl, Michael A. Wheeler, Zhaorong Li, Martin Diebold, Michael Kilian, Joseph M. Rone, Aditya Misra, Jessica E. Kenison, Joon-Hyuk Lee, Hong-Gyun Lee, Carolina M. Polonio, David Merrell, Jakob H. Weiss, Lillie Godinez, Gavin Piester, Tomer Illouz, Jessica J. Ye, Arianna Ghia, Jazmin Martinez, Elizabeth N. Chung, Lena Srun, Daniel Farrenkopf, Lucas E. Flausino, Anton M. SchĂźle, Liliana M. Sanmarco, Federico Giovannoni, Luca Fehrenbacher, Marc Charabati, Cristina GutiĂŠrrez-VĂĄzquez, Margaret M. Cusick, Prem S. Prabhakar, Connor C. Bossi, Emily Lapinskas, Roni Nowarski, Gad Getz, Keith L. Ligon, Marco Prinz, E. Antonio Chiocca, David A. Reardon, Francisco J. Quintana
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Engrafted nitrergic neurons derived from hPSCs improve gut dysmotility in mice
Homa Majd, Ryan M. Samuel, Andrius Cesiulis, Jonathan T. Ramirez, Ali Kalantari, Kevin Barber, Sina Farahvashi, Zaniar Ghazizadeh, Alireza Majd, Angeline K. Chemel, Mikayla N. Richter, Subhamoy Das, Jacqueline L. Bendrick, Matthew G. Keefe, Jeffrey Wang, Rahul K. Shiv, Samyukta Bhat, Matvei Khoroshkin, Johnny Yu, Tomasz J. Nowakowski, Kwun Wah Wen, Hani Goodarzi, Nikhil Thapar, Julia A. Kaltschmidt, Conor J. McCann, Faranak Fattahi
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Gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders represent a major medical challenge, with few effective therapies available. These disorders often result from dysfunction of inhibitory nitric oxide (NO)-producing motor neurons in the enteric nervous system, which are essential for regulating gut motility. Loss or dysfunction of NO neurons is linked to severe conditions, including achalasia, gastroparesis, intestinal pseudo-obstruction and chronic constipation 1,2 . Here we introduce a platform based on human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for therapeutic development targeting GI motility disorders. Using an unbiased screen, we identified drug candidates that modulate NO neuron activity and enhance motility in mouse colonic tissue ex vivo. We established a high-throughput strategy to define developmental programs driving the specification of NO neurons and found that inhibition of platelet-derived growth factor receptors (PDGFRs) promotes their differentiation from precursors of the enteric nervous system. Transplantation of these neurons into NO-neuron-deficient mice led to robust engraftment and improved GI motility, offering a promising cell-based therapy for neurodegenerative GI disorders. These studies provide a new framework for understanding and treating enteric neuropathies.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Evidence of Coulomb liquid phase in few-electron droplets
Jashwanth Shaju, Elina Pavlovska, Ralfs Suba, Junliang Wang, Seddik Ouacel, Thomas Vasselon, Matteo Aluffi, Lucas Mazzella, ClÊment Geffroy, Arne Ludwig, Andreas D. Wieck, Matias Urdampilleta, Christopher Bäuerle, Vyacheslavs Kashcheyevs, Hermann Sellier
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Emergence of universal collective behaviour from interactions within a sufficiently large group of elementary constituents is a fundamental scientific concept 1 . In physics, correlations in fluctuating microscopic observables can provide key information about collective states of matter, such as deconfined quark–gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions 2 or expanding quantum degenerate gases 3,4 . Mesoscopic colliders, through shot-noise measurements, have provided smoking-gun evidence on the nature of exotic electronic excitations such as fractional charges 5,6 , levitons 7 and anyon statistics 8 . Yet, bridging the gap between two-particle collisions and the emergence of collectivity 9 as the number of interacting particles increases 10 remains a challenging task at the microscopic level. Here we demonstrate all-body correlations in the partitioning of electron droplets containing up to N = 5 electrons, driven by a moving potential well through a Y-junction in a semiconductor device. Analysing the partitioning data using high-order multivariate cumulants and finite-size scaling towards the thermodynamic limit reveals distinctive fingerprints of a strongly correlated Coulomb liquid. These fingerprints agree well with a universal limit at which the partitioning of a droplet is predicted by a single collective variable. Our electron-droplet scattering experiments illustrate how coordinated behaviour emerges through interactions of only a few elementary constituents. Studying similar signatures in other physical platforms such as cold-atom simulators 4,11 or collections of anyonic excitations 8,12 may help identify emergence of exotic phases and, more broadly, advance understanding of matter engineering.
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Early grant success attracts more funding: study of 100,000 applicants hints at why
Holly Else
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First images from world’s largest digital camera leave astronomers in awe
Davide Castelvecchi
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Missile defence won’t prevent the health crises that rock global security
Nelson Evaborhene
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AI, peer review and the human activity of science
Carl T. Bergstrom, Joe Bak-Coleman
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We need to predict the people disasters will hit, not just the places
Jonathan Colmer
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The shattered statues of Queen Hatshepsut: the reasons for the wreckage
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Droplets of three electrons behave like a liquid
Masaya Kataoka
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Plagues of locusts could be avoided by using compounds that suppress swarming
Markus Knaden
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Sensors pinpoint the exact time of a Yellowstone explosion
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Daily briefing: Space shots from the largest digital camera in the world
Flora Graham
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Is AI watching you? The hidden links between research and surveillance
Benjamin Thompson, Shamini Bundell
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Hormone helps mice live longer and avoid obesity
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Trump team vows to improve kids’ health: scientists are sceptical
Heidi Ledford
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Will Gates and other funders save massive public health database at risk from Trump cuts?
Mariana Lenharo
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These are the top companies and countries for industry research
Bec Crew
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Africa’s chief diplomat for vaccine manufacturing
Abdullahi Tsanni
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‘Harm’ must not be redefined by US conservation agencies
Jonathan A. Czuba
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Revealed: how the brain turns stress into a bad night’s sleep
Katie Kavanagh
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Where is the best place to hold a scientific conference right now?
Katie Kavanagh
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‘I didn’t know someone could pursue astronomy as a career’
Sarah Wild
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Daily briefing: Which is the perfect conference country?
Flora Graham
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Single-celled organisms set for greater role in gut health
Anthony King
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Daily briefing: Some moths can navigate using starlight
Jacob Smith
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Three science-led start-ups making their mark
Starre Vartan, Sandy Ong
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Everyday painkiller made from plastic — by E. coli
Rita Aksenfeld
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Is AI powering Big Brother? Surveillance research is on the rise
Nick Petrić Howe
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Does using ChatGPT change your brain activity? Study sparks debate
Nicola Jones
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‘Natural history museums can save the world’: anti-colonialism, conservation and climate change
Davide Castelvecchi
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‘Wildest thing’: solar-powered slug steals chloroplasts and stores them for emergencies
Humberto Basilio
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Daily briefing: The most-energetic molecule ever made
Flora Graham
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Tardigrade-obsessed: meet the researchers trying to turn water bears into neuroscience models
Benjamin Plackett
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Mixed plastics turned into valuable chemicals
Matthew Jones
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The economic effects of federal cuts to US science — in 24 graphs
Christine Ro
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Here’s why China’s science and innovation model is thriving
Jacob Dreyer
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Bringing men into conversations about parenting in academia
Amanda Heidt
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These scientists re-enacted Stone-Age voyage to Japan’s remotest islands
Katie Kavanagh
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How to make America healthy: the real problems — and best fixes
Helen Pearson
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What incentives do companies need to publish research?
Brian Owens
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Wake up call for AI: computer-vision research increasingly used for surveillance
Elizabeth Gibney
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How many PhDs does the world need? Doctoral graduates vastly outnumber jobs in academia
Diana Kwon
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Happy birthday Jaws! How the movie changed shark science
Katie Kavanagh
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Adversarial collaborations: all theories must be subject to critical evaluation
Joel S. Snyder, Tony Cheng, Michał Klincewicz, Michael Schmitz, Miguel Ángel Sebastián
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Change of venue: fission-yeast cell-division cues actually initiate in the nucleus
Julia Kamenz, James E. Ferrell Jr
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DeepMind’s new AlphaGenome AI tackles the ‘dark matter’ in our DNA
Ewen Callaway
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Can industry fill the gap left by US research funding cuts?
Bec Crew
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Make the study of human flourishing a global priority
Maggie Yue Zhao
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Flight simulator for moths reveals they navigate by starlight
Benjamin Thompson, Nick Petrić Howe
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In the face of anti-science politics, silence is not without cost
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Nanoscale heat transport tracked at interface between semiconductor materials
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Computer-vision research is hiding its role in creating ‘Big Brother’ technologies
Jathan Sadowski
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A guide to the Nature Index
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This tiny robot moves mini-droplets with ease
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Pioneering but overlooked 1938 fusion experiment is recreated at last
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Celebrating the anniversary of Michael Faraday’s discovery of benzene
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Did the US wipe out Iran's nuclear programme? What researchers know
Davide Castelvecchi
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Family recipe
P. K. Hoffmann
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Daily briefing: How to make America healthy — the real problems and how to fix them
Flora Graham
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Medical AI can transform medicine — but only if we carefully track the data it touches
Akhil Vaid
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‘Super-healing’ animals inspire human treatments
Smriti Mallapaty
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Neuronal transfer of mitochondria to tumour cells promotes cancer spread
Anand K. Singh, Yuan Pan
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Stories that are out of this world: Books in brief
Andrew Robinson
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RFK’s vaccine advisers vote down flu-shot ingredient — but back some jabs
Mariana Lenharo
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Can a pill replace exercise? Swigging this molecule gives mice benefits of working out
Heidi Ledford
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Developing astronomers in Africa: ‘We wanted to create a discipline’
Sarah Wild
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Ice society: looking for life at unlikely altitudes
James Mitchell Crow
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Don’t sleepwalk from computer-vision research into surveillance
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Obesity drugs show promise for treating a new ailment: migraine
Mariana Lenharo
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Boys surpass girls in maths in the first year of school
John A. List, Andrew Simon
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AI slashes time to produce gold-standard medical reviews — but sceptics urge caution
Helen Pearson
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Eureka! The brain science behind lightbulb moments
Humberto Basilio
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Nature Human Behaviour

GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
In silico discovery of representational relationships across visual cortex
Alessandro T. Gifford, Maya A. Jastrzębowska, Johannes J. D. Singer, Radoslaw M. Cichy
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Human vision is mediated by a complex interconnected network of cortical brain areas that jointly represent visual information. Although these areas are increasingly understood in isolation, their representational relationships remain unclear. Here we developed relational neural control and used it to investigate the representational relationships for univariate and multivariate functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses of areas across the visual cortex. Through relational neural control, we generated and explored in silico fMRI responses for large numbers of images, discovering controlling images that align or disentangle responses across areas, thus indicating their shared or unique representational content. This revealed a typical network-level configuration of representational relationships in which shared or unique representational content varied on the basis of cortical distance, categorical selectivity and position within the visual hierarchy. Closing the empirical cycle, we validated the in silico discoveries on in vivo fMRI responses from independent participants. Together, this reveals how visual areas jointly represent the world as an interconnected network.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Publisher Correction: Evidence of organized but not disorganized attachment in wild Western chimpanzee offspring (Pan troglodytes verus)
ElĂŠonore Rolland, Oscar NodĂŠ-Langlois, Patrick J. Tkaczynski, CĂŠdric Girard-Buttoz, Holly Rayson, Catherine Crockford, Roman M. Wittig
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A practical guide to interdisciplinary work in public health
Naja Hulvej Rod, Tibor V. Varga
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Cultural tendencies in generative AI
Jackson G. Lu, Lesley Luyang Song, Lu Doris Zhang
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How belief in conspiracy theories could harm sustainability
Jan-Willem van Prooijen, Jakub Šrol, Marina Maglić
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Capturing the complexity of human strategic decision-making with machine learning
Jian-Qiao Zhu, Joshua C. Peterson, Benjamin Enke, Thomas L. Griffiths
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Social network cognition among isolated villagers reveals distinct patterns of bias
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A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis of co-offending characteristics
Ruslan Klymentiev, Dayle Harvey, Luis E. C. Rocha, Christophe Vandeviver
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Repeated occurrences of marine anoxia under high atmospheric O 2 and icehouse conditions
Jitao Chen, Shihan Li, Shuang Zhang, Terry Isson, Tais W. Dahl, Noah J. Planavsky, Feifei Zhang, Xiang-dong Wang, Shu-zhong Shen, Isabel P. MontaĂąez
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The Late Paleozoic Ice Age (~340 to 260 Ma) occurred under peak atmospheric O 2 (1.2 to 1.7 PIAL, pre-industrial atmospheric levels) for Earth history and CO 2 concentrations comparable to those of the preindustrial to that anticipated for our near future. The evolution of the marine redox landscape under these conditions remains largely unexplored, reflecting that oceanic anoxia has long been considered characteristic of carbon cycle perturbation during greenhouse times. Despite elevated O 2 , a 10 5 -y period of CO 2 -forced oceanic anoxia was recently identified, but whether this short-term interval of widespread oceanic anoxia was anomalous during this paleo-ice age is unexplored. Here, we investigate these issues by building a high-resolution record of carbonate uranium isotopes (δ 238 U carb ) from an open-marine succession in South China that permits us to reconstruct the global marine redox evolution through the deep glacial interval (310 to 290 Ma) of near peak O 2 . Our data reveal repeated, short-term decreases in δ 238 U carb coincident with negative C isotopic excursions and rises in paleo-CO 2 , all superimposed on a longer-term rise in δ 238 U carb . A carbon–phosphorus–uranium biogeochemical model coupled with Bayesian inversion is employed to quantitatively explore the interplay between marine anoxia, carbon cycling, and climate evolution during this paleo-glacial period. Although our results indicate that protracted, enhanced organic carbon burial can account for the long-term O 2 increase, seafloor oxygenation, and overall low CO 2 , episodic pulses of C emissions had the potential to drive recurring short-term periods of marine anoxia (with 4 to 12% of seafloor anoxia) despite up to 1.7 times higher atmospheric O 2 than present day.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Roughness-dependent scaling of the contact area and separation gap with pressure for glassy polymers
Utkarsh Patil, Shubhendu Kumar, Stephen Merriman, Ali Dhinojwala
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The contact between two rough surfaces has been a topic of significant interest since early studies on Coulombic friction and remains crucial for numerous technological applications. However, theoretical progress has outpaced experiments due to the challenges in measuring contact areas across scales ranging from subnanometers to macroscopic dimensions. Here, we demonstrate the use of commonly available infrared-based (IR) spectroscopy in combination with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) optical simulations to measure separation gaps and contact areas for glassy polymers ranging in roughness over two orders in magnitude. With the combined IR and FDTD simulations, we can overcome the optical diffraction limits and take advantage of the chemical specificity of IR spectroscopy to overcome limitations due to scattering. The scaling of the contact area ratio as a function of pressure illustrated the limitations of using pure elastic or plastic deformation in explaining the results. At both low and high pressures, the contact area ratios scale linearly with pressure as expected for purely elastic deformations at low pressures or plastic deformations at high pressures. However, if analyzed over a broad range of pressure, the power laws we observe are much larger than 1, exemplifying the need to consider elastoplastic models in explaining results for softer polymer contacts compared to other brittle, glassy materials. In comparison, the separation gaps scale exponentially with pressure, as expected. These results have important implications for the interpretation of properties such as friction, adhesion, and conductivity for softer, glassy contact interfaces.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
PLAA/UFD-3 regulates P-bodies through its intrinsic disordered domain
Alakananda Das, Yanping Qiu, Trevor J. Wolf, Ella Brissett, Jaehyoung Cho, Heenam Park, Eugene C. Chen, Tsui-Fen Chou, Paul W. Sternberg
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Regulation of proteome homeostasis is crucial for the survival and adaptation to changing environments for all species. In eukaryotes, this process is finely tuned through regulation at the level of transcription, translation, protein modification, and protein degradation. The phospholipase A2 activating protein (PLAA) is present in all eukaryotes and believed to be a key player in ubiquitin-dependent protein sorting and degradation via its interactions with ubiquitin and/or the AAA+ ATPase, valosin-containing protein (VCP/p97). PLAA’s molecular targets and interaction network remain unclear. We used Caenorhabditis elegans and unbiased proteome-scale approaches to investigate neuronal specific interactors of the C. elegans PLAA ortholog UFD-3 (ubiquitin fusion degradation 3), its effect on ubiquitinated proteins, and global protein expression changes in an ufd-3 mutant. We found that PLAA may play a unique role in cytoplasmic messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) processing bodies (P-bodies). Using biochemical analysis in vitro and fluorescence imaging in C. elegans , we show that UFD-3 directly interacts with the mRNA decapping complex regulatory subunit DCAP-1. UFD-3's intrinsic disordered region (IDR), which contains conserved amino acid motifs, is important for the recruitment of DCAP-1 to P-bodies. Finally, we show that loss of the IDR does not affect UFD-3's role in sorting ubiquitinated proteins through the multivesicular body pathway. Collectively, our results suggest that UFD-3's role in P-bodies is distinct from its role in the ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation pathway and the IDR is only critical for UFD-3-regulated P-bodies pathways. Thus, PLAA/UFD-3 might regulate the proteome via two distinct pathways: ubiquitinated protein turnover, as well as mRNA regulation through P-bodies.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Not only self-views but also any ratings converge without conversations due to reduced noise bias
Keise Izuma, Kyosuke Kakinuma
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
A bioinspired and degradable riboflavin-containing polypeptide as a sustainable material for energy storage
Shih-Guo Li, Khirabdhi T. Mohanty, Alexandra D. Easley, Yohannes H. Rezenom, Soon-Mi Lim, Leyla P. Gillett, Stone D. Naquin, David K. Tran, Tan P. Nguyen, Jodie L. Lutkenhaus, Karen L. Wooley
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Inspired by Nature, we present a polypeptide-based organic redox-active material constructed from renewable feedstocks, L-glutamic acid (an amino acid) and riboflavin (vitamin B 2 ), to address challenges with start-to-end-of-life management in energy storage systems (ESSs). The amino acid was utilized to establish a degradable polymer backbone, along which many copies of riboflavin were incorporated to serve as the redox-active pendant groups that enabled energy storage. The overall synthesis involved the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of an l -glutamic acid-derived N- carboxyanhydride (NCA) monomer, followed by side chain activation with azides and, finally, click coupling to achieve installation of alkyne-functionalized riboflavin moieties. The steric bulkiness and rich chemical functionality of riboflavin resulted in synthetic complexities that required reaction optimization to achieve the desired polymer structure. Electrochemical characterization of the resultant riboflavin polypeptide, in organic electrolyte, showed quasireversible redox activity with a half-wave potential (E 1/2 ) of ca. −1.10 V vs. ferrocene/ferrocenium (Fc/Fc + ). Cell viability assays revealed biocompatibility, as indicated by negligible cytotoxicity for fibroblast cells. The polypeptide design, consisting of labile amide backbone linkages and side-chain ester functionalities that tethered the riboflavin units to the backbone, enabled hydrolytic degradation to recover building blocks for future upcycling or recycling. This bioinspired strategy advances the development of degradable redox-active polymers and promotes sustainable materials design for circular energy storage technologies.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
EIAV encodes an accessory protein that antagonizes the host restriction factor equine tetherin
Bowen Bai, Xiangmin Zhang, Mengmeng Zhang, Weiwei Ma, Jiwei Li, Haili Zhang, Lei Na, Xing Guo, Yuezhi Lin, Xue-Feng Wang, Xiaojun Wang
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Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is an important model for the study of pathogenesis in lentiviruses. Studies of viral genome organization and replication mechanisms are fundamental to the understanding of virus pathogenicity. In this study, we identified an unique transcript from EIAV in vivo and in vitro by Sanger sequencing and Northern blotting. The transcript contains a complete open reading frame and has length 369 nt. We named the protein encoded by this transcript S4 and demonstrated its expression in EIAV-infected cells. An S4-deficient EIAV infectious clone displayed obviously impaired virion release and attenuated virus replication in vitro, demonstrating that S4 plays a role in the release step of EIAV. The host restriction factor tetherin has broad-spectrum antiviral activity and prevents the release of a wide range of enveloped viruses, including lentiviruses. Here, we demonstrated that S4 enhances the release of the EIAV-like particle by counteracting the equine tetherin (eqTHN). S4 interacts with the eqTHN and sequesters it within intracellular membrane compartments, attenuating eqTHN expression on the cell surface and thereby disrupting its antiviral activity. Further investigation revealed that S4 retains eqTHN in the endoplasmic reticulum and trans-Golgi network through impacting its anterograde transport to the cell surface and may interfere with the posttranslational modification of this membrane protein. Collectively, our findings uncover an accessory protein, S4, of EIAV and reveal its ability to promote virion release by antagonizing the antiviral activity of the host restriction factor tetherin.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Correction for Zhang et al., Dancr-BRG1 regulates Nfatc1 transcription and Pgc1β-dependent metabolic shifts in osteoclastogenesis
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Reply to Izuma and Kakinuma: Conversation aligns self-views above and beyond noise reduction
Christopher Welker, Thalia Wheatley, Meghan Meyer
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Fluid dynamics model of the cerebral ventricular system
Haritosh Patel, Yu Xuan Huang, Duygu Dengiz, Mariya Pravdivtseva, Olav Jansen, Eckhard Quandt, Joanna Aizenberg
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Hydrocephalus, a neurological condition characterized by an excessive buildup of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain, affects millions worldwide and leads to severe consequences. Current treatments, such as ventriculoperitoneal shunts, divert excess CSF from the brain but often face complications, mainly due to shunt obstructions caused by biological matter accumulation. While previous shunt designs aimed to improve fluid flow and reduce occlusion, they often lacked the precision needed for real-world applications due to simplified simulation models that did not fully capture the dynamics of the cerebral ventricular system. Here, we introduce BrainFlow, a computational model that integrates detailed anatomical and physiological features to simulate CSF dynamics in the presence of shunt implants. BrainFlow incorporates patient-specific medical imaging data, pulsatile flow to mimic cardiac cycles, adjustable parameters for various hydrocephalus conditions, and a biomolecule tracking feature to evaluate the long-term risk of shunt occlusion due to flow-mediated biomolecular transport. This model provides a more nuanced understanding of the factors contributing to shunt obstruction, offering insights into optimal shunt placement, design, and materials choice. Through validation against four-dimensional MRI flow data, BrainFlow demonstrates robust accuracy across multiple flow metrics. Our work lays the groundwork for the development of next-generation shunts tailored to individual patient anatomy and pathology, ultimately aiming to improve hydrocephalus treatment through informed, patient-specific design strategies.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Testicular somatic and germ cell maturation during rhesus macaque development
Enrique Sosa, Sissy E. Wamaitha, Fei-man Hsu, Mary Jasmine D. Lara, Kiana Oyama, Maggie Custer, Melinda Murphy, Jon D. Hennebold, Young Sun Hwang, Amander T. Clark
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The formation of bilateral testes in animals is critical for puberty, reproductive capacity, and testosterone production across the life course. In humans, testis development begins in embryonic life in the first trimester, with considerable effort focused on the cell and developmental events associated with testis cell specification, leaving limited knowledge on testicular organogenesis during the second and third trimesters. To fill this knowledge gap, we evaluated testicular cell maturation at weeks 5 (W5), W6, W8, W15, and W19 postconception using a rhesus macaque model. Our data identify a major transcriptional change in the somatic cells of the testis (Sertoli cells, interstitial cells and fetal Leydig cells) between W8 and W15, and this is associated with the maturation of seminiferous cords and maturation of PGCs into fetal spermatogonia. Through this work, we identified cellular changes and differential protein expression between W5 and W19 that can be used to holistically define testis development across the time course of embryonic and fetal life. This study provides important insights necessary to recreate the testicular niche from stem cells for biomedical research.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Spatial metabolomics informs the use of clinical imaging for improved detection of cribriform prostate cancer
Nikita Sushentsev, Gregory Hamm, Roido Manavaki, Mary A. McLean, Jonathan Birchall, Dmitry Soloviev, David Y. Lewis, Luigi Aloj, Lucy Flint, Aleksandr Zakirov, Ian G. Mills, Vincent J. Gnanapragasam, Anne Y. Warren, Simon T. Barry, Richard J. A. Goodwin, Ferdia A. Gallagher, Tristan Barrett
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Cribriform prostate cancer (crPCa) is associated with poor clinical outcomes, yet its accurate detection remains challenging due to the poor sensitivity of standard-of-care diagnostic tools. Here, we use untargeted spatial metabolomics to identify fatty acid biosynthesis as a key metabolic pathway enriched in crPCa epithelium. We also show that imaging tumor lipid metabolism using [1- 11 C]acetate PET/CT and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy differentiates cribriform from noncribriform intermediate-risk prostate cancers in two prospective patient cohorts. These findings support the feasibility of using clinical metabolic imaging techniques as adjunctive tools for improving crPCa detection in clinical practice, with prospective studies in larger cohorts warranted to obtain definitive results.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Cenozoic geoclimatic changes drove the evolutionary dynamics of floristic endemism on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
Guan-Long Cao, Xiao-Qian Li, Jun Zhang, Huan-Wen Peng, Hong-Lei Li, Andrey S. Erst, Florian Jabbour, Rosa del C. Ortiz, Pamela S. Soltis, Douglas E. Soltis, Wei Wang
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The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) harbors extraordinarily high levels of biodiversity and endemism. The region is warming at a rate twice the global average, yet the evolutionary dynamics of its unique biota are poorly understood. Here, we used the endemic land plant genera of the QTP to investigate how its floristic endemism was shaped over time by Cenozoic geoclimatic changes. We first clarified that the QTP hosts 82 endemic land plant genera; we found that the origins of these endemic genera were most likely driven by ecological niche and elevation differentiation, caused by the uplift of the QTP and associated climate change. By sampling 37 land plant clades that together encompass 1,740 species, covering all 82 endemic genera, we show that QTP floristic endemism had emerged by the Early Eocene. Furthermore, the unique biodiversity of the QTP comprises a mix of indigenous elements and immigrants. Among the three subregions of the QTP (Plateau Platform, Himalaya, and the Hengduan Mountains), the processes associated with floristic endemism are asynchronous, reflecting different geoclimatic events with the Miocene as a particularly critical period. The relative contributions of in situ speciation and immigration to the unique biodiversity of the three subregions are also markedly different; in situ speciation dominated in the Hengduan Mountains, which hosts the oldest endemic components of the flora and has served as an important “pump” and “sink” of unique biodiversity. These findings provide insights into how past geoclimatic events may have shaped floristic endemism on the QTP and also have important conservation implications.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Global overlooked multidimensional water scarcity
Wenfeng Liu, Zhonghao Fu, Michelle T. H. van Vliet, Kyle Frankel Davis, Philippe Ciais, Yuzhuang Bao, Yawei Bai, Taisheng Du, Shaozhong Kang, Zun Yin, Yu Fang, Yoshihide Wada
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Freshwater resources are fundamental to supporting humanity, and measures of water scarcity have been critical for identifying where water requirements and water availability are imbalanced. Existing water scarcity metrics typically account for blue water withdrawals (i.e., from surface-/groundwater), while the contribution of green water (i.e., soil moisture) and water quality—dimensions with important implications for multiple societal sectors—to water scarcity remains unclear. Here, we introduce the concept of multidimensional water scarcity that explicitly assesses all three of these dimensions of water scarcity and evaluates their individual and combined effects. We find that 22 to 26% of the global land area and 58 to 64% of the global population are exposed to some form of water scarcity annually, with multidimensional (i.e., blue, green, and quality) water scarcity particularly high in India, China, and Pakistan. Examining seasonal water scarcity, we estimate that 5.9 billion people (or 80% of the world’s population in 2015) were exposed to at least one dimension of water scarcity for at least 1 mo per year and that 1-in-10 people (10%) were exposed to multidimensional water scarcity at least 1 mo per year. Our findings demonstrate that the challenges of water scarcity are far more widespread than previously understood. As such, our assessment provides a more holistic view of global water scarcity issues and points to overlooked scarcity where action needs to bring human pressure on freshwater resources into balance with water quantity and quality.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Pressure-driven electronegativity inversion in alkali liquids
Chenxu Han, Hongxiang Zong, Xiangdong Ding, Jun Sun, Graeme J. Ackland
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Liquid–liquid phase transitions (LLPTs) are typically characterized as two-state systems, where transitions occur between two distinct liquid phases driven by local structural rearrangements. In this study, we observed a continuous LLPT with an inversion of electronegativity in a K–Rb binary alloy. This uniquely exhibits a three-state system behavior. The transition, induced by pressure-driven reordering of electronic orbital energies, progresses through a sequence from s -metal to electride to d -metal, accompanied by a valence reversal: Potassium transitions from a negative to a positive valence, while rubidium undergoes the opposite shift. This process is marked by two successive anomalies in the alloy’s optical, thermodynamic, and dynamic properties over a broad pressure range. The observation of similar LLPT phenomena in other alkali and alkaline earth metal liquids suggests that this three-state system mechanism may provide broader insights into the nature of continuous phase transitions.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Peeling tape produces strong electric fields via stick–slip friction that drive chemical reactions
Xufeng Gao, Peng Zhou, Xu Yuan, Xiaoxu Li, Bowen Li, Yu Xia, Yifan Meng, Richard N. Zare, Tingting Zheng, Xinxing Zhang
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Adhesive interfaces store significant energy due to interlocking molecular chain entanglement and van der Waals forces. When two adhesive surfaces are separated, triboelectric effects induce charge transfer, generating a strong electric field at the peeling interface. This effect offers different opportunities for initiating chemical reactions. Here, we report that the stick–slip friction involved in peeling tape produces electric fields on the order of 10 9 V/m, as measured by the vibrational Stark shift observed by confocal Raman spectroscopy during tape peeling. This field is sufficiently strong to ionize water and produce the H 4 O 2 + cation, a hydroxyl radical adduct with a hydronium ion. We further demonstrate that this electric field can drive a variety of electron transfer reactions. Our findings suggest that tribocharging presents a promising, energy-efficient avenue for electric-field-driven green chemistry.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Make forensic case reports required legal and scientific documents
Leon Higley, David O. Carter, Christian Elowsky, Christine Haskell, Neal Haskell, John Obanfunwa, Karl Reinhard, Amanda Roe, Ken Schoenly, Tal Simmons, Jeffrey Wells
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
The adaptive state determines the impact of mutations on evolving populations
Malgorzata Tyczynska Weh, Pragya Kumar, Viktoriya Marusyk, Andriy Marusyk, David Basanta
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Darwinian evolution results from an interplay between stochastic diversification of heritable phenotypes, impacting the chance of survival and reproduction, and fitness-based selection. The ability of populations to evolve and adapt to environmental changes depends on rates of mutational diversification and the distribution of fitness effects of random mutations. In turn, the distribution of fitness effects of stochastic mutations can be expected to depend on the adaptive state of a population. To systematically study the impact of the interplay between the adaptive state of a population on the ability of asexual populations to adapt, we used a spatial agent-based model of a neoplastic population adapting to a selection pressure of continuous exposure to targeted therapy. We found favorable mutations were overrepresented at the extinction bottleneck but depleted at the adaptive peak. The model-based predictions were tested using an experimental cancer model of an evolution of resistance to a targeted therapy. Consistent with the model’s prediction, we found that enhancement of the mutation rate was highly beneficial under therapy but moderately detrimental under the baseline conditions. Our results highlight the importance of considering population fitness in evaluating the fitness distribution of random mutations and support the potential therapeutic utility of restricting mutational variability.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Calcineurin targets that mediate Cryptococcus thermotolerance
Aaron P. Mitchell
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
PIK3CA gain-of-function mutation in Schwann cells leads to severe neuropathy and aerobic glycolysis through a non-cell autonomous effect
Quitterie Venot, Marina Firpion, Sophia Ladraa, Charles Bayard, Sato Magassa, Roberta Di Guardo, Antoine Fraissenon, ClĂŠment Hoguin, Sanela Protic, Gabriel Morin, Franck Mayeux, Genevieve Gourdon, Sylvie Fraitag, Estelle Balducci, Sophie Kaltenbach, Patrick Villarese, Vahid Asnafi, Thomas Viel, Gwennhael Autret, Bertrand Tavitian, Nicolas Goudin, Laurent Guibaud, Alessandra Bolino, Guillaume Canaud
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PIK3CA -related disorders are rare genetic disorders due to somatic gain-of-function mutations in PIK3CA during embryonic development, a pathway involved in cell growth, proliferation, and metabolism. Accumulating evidence from patients with PIK3CA -related disorders indicates that peripheral nerves are frequently affected, leading to severe neurological symptoms. However, the exact underlying mechanism of these disorders remains unclear. To address this, we developed a mouse model with a PIK3CA gain-of-function mutation specifically in Schwann cells, which successfully mirrored the clinical features observed in patients. In this model, we observed that PIK3CA -mutated cells communicate with neighboring healthy cells, such as adipocytes and hair follicles, through a unique crosstalk mechanism that triggers their growth, proliferation, and anagen phase expansion. Additionally, we demonstrated that PIK3CA mutation in peripheral nerves leads to a metabolic shift through glycolytic activation. We investigated the effects of alpelisib, an approved pharmacological inhibitor of PIK3CA, in the model. Early administration of alpelisib significantly improved the signs and symptoms in the mice. However, when treatment was delayed, its efficacy was diminished due to the drug’s inability to penetrate the myelin sheath effectively. In summary, our study offers a valuable mouse model for studying PIK3CA -related neuropathy, uncovers a unique communication between healthy and affected tissues, and highlights the potential benefits of early pharmacological intervention using alpelisib.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Participation bias in the estimation of heritability and genetic correlation
Shuang Song, Stefania Benonisdottir, Jun S. Liu, Augustine Kong
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It is increasingly recognized that participation bias can pose problems for genetic studies. Recently, to overcome the challenge that genetic information of nonparticipants is unavailable, it is shown that by comparing the IBD (identity by descent) shared and not-shared segments between participating relative pairs, one can estimate the genetic component underlying participation. That, however, does not directly address how to adjust estimates of heritability and genetic correlation for phenotypes correlated with participation. Here, we demonstrate a way to do so by adopting a statistical framework that separates the genetic and nongenetic correlations between participation and these phenotypes. Crucially, our method avoids making the assumption that the effect of the genetic component underlying participation is manifested entirely through these other phenotypes. Applying the method to 12 UK Biobank phenotypes, we found eight that have significant genetic correlations with participation, including body mass index, educational attainment, and smoking status. For most of these phenotypes, without adjustments, estimates of heritability and the absolute value of genetic correlation would have underestimation biases.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Comparative performance of viral landscape phylogeography approaches
Simon Dellicour, Fabiana GĂĄmbaro, Maude Jacquot, Sebastian Lequime, Guy Baele, Marius Gilbert, Oliver G. Pybus, Marc A. Suchard, Philippe Lemey
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The rapid evolution of RNA viruses implies that their evolutionary and ecological processes occur on the same time scale. Genome sequences of these pathogens therefore can contain information about the processes that govern their transmission and dispersal. Landscape phylogeographic approaches use phylogeographic reconstructions to investigate the impact of environmental factors and variables on the spatial spread of viruses. Here, we extend and improve existing approaches and develop three novel landscape phylogeographic methods that can test the impact of continuous environmental factors on the diffusion velocity of viral lineages. In order to evaluate the different methods, we also implemented two simulation frameworks to test and compare their statistical performance. The results enable us to formulate clear guidelines for the use of three complementary landscape phylogeographic approaches that have sufficient statistical power and low rates of false positives. Our open-source methods are available to the cientific community and can be used to investigate the drivers of viral spread, with potential benefits for understanding virus epidemiology and designing tailored intervention strategies.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Synergetic hydrogen-bond network of functionalized graphene and cations for enhanced atmospheric water capture
Xiaojun Ren, Xiao Sui, Amir Karton, Yuta Nishina, Tongxi Lin, Daisuke Asanoma, Llewellyn Owens, Dali Ji, Xinyue Wen, Vanesa Quintano, Komal Tripathi, Kamal K. Pant, Liming Dai, Daria V. Andreeva, Tobias Foller, Kostya S. Novoselov, Rakesh Joshi
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Water molecules at the solid–liquid interface display intricate behaviors sensitive to small changes. The presence of different interfacial components, such as cations or functional groups, shapes the physical and chemical properties of the hydrogen-bond network. Understanding such interfacial hydrogen-bond networks is essential for a large range of applications and scientific questions. To probe the interfacial hydrogen-bond network, atmospheric water capture is a powerful tool. Here, we experimentally observe that a calcium ion on a calcium-intercalated graphene oxide aerogel (Ca-GOA) surface captures 3.2 times more water molecules than in its freestanding state. From experimental Van’t Hoff estimation and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we uncover the synergistically enhanced hydrogen-bond network of the calcium ion–epoxide complex due to significantly larger polarizations and hydrogen bond enthalpies. This study reveals valuable insights into the interfacial water hydrogen-bond network on functionalized carbon–cation complexed surfaces and potential pathways for future atmospheric water generation technologies.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Gut microbiome and host TOR pathway interact to regulate predator-induced aversive memory in Drosophila melanogaster
Hao-Yu Chen, Po-Sheng Wu, Zong-You Li, You-Cheng Liu, Sheng-Rong Yeh, Bi-Chun Duan, Kai-Wen Cheng, Cheng-Chih Hsu, Yen-Ling Chiu, Wang-Tso Lee, Shou-Zen Fan, Pei-Yu Wang
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The gut microbiome has emerged as a key factor influencing a wide range of host physiological processes and behaviors, though the mechanisms behind these effects remain only partially understood. In this study, we explored the role of the gut microbiome in memory regulation using a parasitoid wasp-induced oviposition depression paradigm in Drosophila melanogaster . Our findings show that flies with depleted gut microbiota, either through axenic culture or antibiotic treatment, exhibited significant memory impairments. However, reintroducing the commensal bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum alone was sufficient to restore memory, while coinoculation with Acetobacter pomorum further enhanced memory performance. Hemolymph metabolomic analyses revealed reduced amino acid levels in antibiotic-treated flies, which were linked to impaired Drosophila target of rapamycin (dTOR) signaling. Additionally, genetic manipulation of dTOR or dietary supplementation with branched-chain amino acids either mimicked or rescued the memory deficits caused by antibiotic treatments. These results suggest that the gut microbiome is essential for regulating memory function by maintaining amino acid homeostasis and proper dTOR signaling, with profound implications for advancing knowledge of cognitive regulation.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Diffusion-limited settling of highly porous particles in density-stratified fluids
Robert Hunt, Roberto Camassa, Richard M. McLaughlin, Daniel M. Harris
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The vertical transport of solid material in a stratified medium is fundamental to a number of environmental applications, with implications for the carbon cycle and nutrient transport in marine ecosystems. In this work, we study the diffusion-limited settling of highly porous particles in a density-stratified fluid through a combination of experiment, analysis, and numerical simulation. By delineating and appealing to the diffusion-limited regime wherein buoyancy effects due to mass adaptation dominate hydrodynamic drag, we derive a simple expression for the steady settling velocity of a sphere as a function of the density, size, and diffusivity of the solid, as well as the density gradient of the background fluid. In this regime, smaller particles settle faster, in contrast with most conventional hydrodynamic drag mechanisms. Furthermore, we outline a general mathematical framework for computing the steady settling speed of a body of arbitrary shape in this regime and compute exact results for the case of general ellipsoids. Using hydrogels as a highly porous model system, we validate the predictions with laboratory experiments in linear stratification for a wide range of parameters. Last, we show how the predictions can be applied to arbitrary slowly varying background density profiles and demonstrate how a measured particle position over time can be used to reconstruct the background density profile.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Fine structural design of 3βHSD1 inhibitors for prostate cancer therapy
Dongyin He, Luyao Zhang, Leiye Yu, Yuhang Zhang, Jingjing Chen, Leibo Wang, Haoran Hu, Hongyu Liu, Hong Zheng, Jixin Xia, Jiahui Chen, Chenhui Li, Xin Li, Huiru Tang, Jia Liu, Ruobing Ren, Youhong Hu, Zhenfei Li
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Prostate cancer is a global health challenge, particularly for patients resistant to the second-generation anti-androgen receptor pathway inhibitors. The steroidogenic enzyme 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (3βHSD1) has emerged as a promising therapeutic target and the corresponding inhibitors, biochanin-A (BCA) and its derivatives, suppress tumor growth in preclinical models and patients. However, the poor oral bioavailability of BCA hinders its clinical application. Here, we employed a sophisticated computational approach to refine the structural design of 3βHSD1 inhibitors. AlphaFold2 was utilized to construct detailed models of 3βHSD1 binding to various substrates. These models, in conjunction with the elucidated enzymatic mechanism of 3βHSD1, guided the optimization of a series of BCA-related compounds. Our structure–activity relationship studies identified HEAL-116 as a potent 3βHSD1 inhibitor. HEAL-116 exhibited enhanced binding specificity to the substrate-binding pocket of 3βHSD1 and effectively neutralized the local charge environment. The incorporation of hydrophilic groups in its structure also markedly enhanced its oral bioavailability. HEAL-116 robustly inhibited 3βHSD1 activity and exerted pronounced antitumor effect in biochemical, cellular, and mouse models. Our findings lay the foundation for the clinical translation of 3βHSD1 inhibitors, offering a promising therapeutic strategy for the management of prostate cancer and potentially other diseases.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Trichomonas vaginalis extracellular vesicles suppress IFNÎľ-mediated responses driven by its intracellular bacterial symbiont Mycoplasma hominis
Joshua A. Kochanowsky, Emma L. Betts, Gabriel Encinas, Johnson Amoah, Patricia J. Johnson
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Trichomonas vaginalis is a common, extracellular, sexually transmitted parasite which is often found in symbiosis with the intracellular bacterium Mycoplasma hominis (Mh), an opportunistic pathogen of the female reproductive tract. How this symbiosis affects infection outcomes and the host cell innate immune response is poorly understood. Here, we show that infection with T. vaginalis in symbiosis with M. hominis or M. hominis alone triggers a noncanonical type I interferon, interferon-epsilon (IFNÎľ), but infection with T. vaginalis alone does not. We also demonstrate that extracellular vesicles (TvEVs) produced by the parasite downregulate host cell IFNÎľ, counteracting this symbiont-driven response and elevating infection. We further demonstrate that IFNÎľ, a hormonally regulated cytokine produced in the human reproductive system, is protective against T. vaginalis cytoadherence and cytolysis of host cells. These studies provide insight into how a parasite and its bacterial symbiont work in concert to regulate host cell innate immune responses to drive infection.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Correction for Smith et al., A twist grain boundary phase in aqueous solutions of the nucleic acid tetramer GTAC
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Crystal structure and catalytic mechanism of drimenol synthase, an unusual bifunctional terpene cyclase–phosphatase
Kristin R. Osika, Matthew N. Gaynes, David W. Christianson
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Drimenol synthase from Aquimarina spongiae (AsDMS) is a highly unusual chimera that integrates two distinct, sequential isoprenoid processing activities within a single polypeptide chain. AsDMS catalyzes the class II cyclization of farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) to form drimenyl diphosphate, which then undergoes enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis to yield drimenol, a bioactive sesquiterpene alcohol with antifungal and anticancer properties. Here, we report the X-ray crystal structures of AsDMS and its complex with a sesquiterpene thiol. The AsDMS structure exhibits a didomain architecture consisting of a terpene cyclase β domain and a haloacid dehalogenase-like phosphatase domain, with two distinct active sites located on opposite sides of the protein. Mechanistic studies show that dephosphorylation of the drimenyl diphosphate intermediate proceeds through stepwise hydrolysis such that two equivalents of inorganic phosphate rather than inorganic pyrophosphate are coproducts of the reaction sequence. When the AsDMS reaction is performed in H 2 18 O, 18 O is not incorporated into drimenol, indicating that the hydroxyl oxygen of drimenol originates from the prenyl oxygen of FPP rather than a water molecule from bulk solution. These results correct a mechanistic proposal previously advanced by another group. Surprisingly, AsDMS exhibits substrate promiscuity, catalyzing the conversion of the slowly reactive substrate mimic farnesyl- S -thiolodiphosphate into cyclic and linear sesquiterpene products. Structural and mechanistic insights gained from AsDMS illustrate the functional diversity of terpene biosynthetic enzymes and provide a foundation for engineering “designer cyclase” assemblies capable of generating a wide variety of terpenoid products.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Editorial Expression of Concern for Fries et al., Early experience in humans is associated with changes in neuropeptides critical for regulating social behavior
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Structural mechanism for the recognition of E2F1 by the ubiquitin ligase adaptor Cyclin F
Peter Ngoi, Xianxi Wang, Sivasankar Putta, Ricardo F. Da Luz, Vitor Hugo B. SerrĂŁo, Michael J. Emanuele, Seth M. Rubin
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Cyclin F, a noncanonical member of the cyclin protein family, plays a critical role in regulating transitions in the cell division cycle. Unlike canonical cyclins, which bind and activate cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), Cyclin F functions as a substrate receptor protein within the Skp1–Cullin-F-box E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, enabling the ubiquitylation of target proteins. The structural features that distinguish Cyclin F as a ligase adaptor and the mechanisms underlying its selective substrate recruitment over Cyclin A, which functions in complex with CDK2 at a similar time in the cell cycle, remain largely unexplored. We utilized single-particle cryoelectron microscopy to elucidate the structure of a Cyclin F–Skp1 complex bound to an E2F1 peptide. The structure and biochemical analysis reveal important differences in the substrate-binding site of Cyclin F compared to Cyclin A. Our findings expand on the canonical cyclin-binding motif (Cy or RxL) and highlight the importance of electrostatics at the E2F1 binding interface, which varies between Cyclin F and Cyclin A. These results advance our understanding of E2F1 regulation and may inform strategies for selectively targeting Cyclin F in cancer or neurodegeneration.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Widespread thiamine deficiency in California salmon linked to an anchovy-dominated marine prey base
Nathan J. Mantua, Heather Bell, Anne E. Todgham, Miles E. Daniels, Jacques Rinchard, Jarrod M. Ludwig, John C. Field, Steven T. Lindley, Freya E. Rowland, Catherine A. Richter, David Walters, Bruce Finney, Haskell Anne R. Distajo, Donald Tillitt, Dale C. Honeyfield, Taylor Lipscomb, Kevin Kwak, Jason Kindopp, Dennis Cocherell, Abigail Ward, Thomas H. Williams, Jeff Harding, Nann A. Fangue, Carson Jeffres, Rocio I. Ruiz-Cooley, Steven Y. Litvin, Scott Foott, Mark Adkison, Brett Kormos, Peggy Harte, Frederick Colwell, Christopher P. Suffridge, Kelly C. Shannon, Amanda Cranford, Charlotte Ambrose, Aimee Reed, Rachel C. Johnson
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Thiamine (vitamin B 1 ) deficiency in marine systems is a globally significant threat to marine life. In 2020, newly hatched Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) fry in California’s Central Valley (CCV) hatcheries swam in corkscrew patterns and died at unusually high rates due to a lack of this essential vitamin. We subsequently investigated the impacts and causes of thiamine deficiency in California’s anadromous salmonids. Our laboratory studies defined the relationship between thiamine concentrations in Chinook salmon eggs and early life-stage survival in offspring; we used these data to develop a model that estimated 26 to 48% thiamine-dependent fry mortality across consecutive years (2020–2021) for winter-run Chinook salmon. We established an egg surveillance effort that found widespread thiamine deficiency in CCV Chinook salmon in 2020 and 2021, and emerging thiamine deficiency in Klamath River and Trinity River coho salmon ( Oncorhynchus kisutch ) in 2021. We determined that thiamine injections into adults raised egg thiamine concentrations above levels found to impact early life-stage survival and swimming behavior. Ocean surveys, prey nutrition, salmon gut contents, and stable isotope data link thiamine deficiency to an ocean diet dominated by a booming population of northern anchovy ( Engraulis mordax ). This forage fish had low thiamine, high lipid, and high thiaminase activity levels consistent with both a thiaminase and oxidative stress hypothesis for causing thiamine deficiency in California salmon. Our research suggests California’s already stressed anadromous salmonids will continue to be impacted by thiamine deficiency as long as their ocean forage base and diet are dominated by northern anchovy.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
S-adenosylmethionine metabolism buffering is regulated by a decrease in glycine N-methyltransferase via the nuclear ubiquitin–proteasome system
Soshiro Kashio, Masayuki Miura
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Metabolic homeostasis is essential for survival; however, many studies have focused on the fluctuations of these factors. Furthermore, while metabolic homeostasis depends on the balance between the production and consumption of metabolites, there have been limited investigations into the mechanisms regulating their consumption. S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) metabolism has diverse functions, including methylation, polyamine biosynthesis, and transsulfuration, making its regulation and control crucial. Recent studies have revealed the feedback regulation of SAM production; however, the mechanisms governing its consumption are still poorly understood. In this study, we focused on the stability of SAM levels in the fat body (FB) of Drosophila , which serves as a functional equivalent of the mammalian liver and adipose tissue, under conditions of SAM shortage, including nutrient deprivation. We found that glycine N-methyltransferase (Gnmt), a major SAM-consuming methyltransferase in the FB, decreased via the nuclear ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS), along with the inhibition of SAM synthesis and starvation. The inhibition of Gnmt level reduction by suppression of the nuclear UPS causes starvation tolerance. Thus, the regulation of Gnmt levels through nuclear UPS-mediated reduction helps maintain SAM levels under SAM shortage conditions.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
In situ NMR reveals a pH sensor motif in an outer membrane protein that drives bacterial vesicle production
Nicholas A. Wood, Alyssa Kraft, Kyungsoo Shin, Tata Gopinath, Francesca M. Marassi
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The outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) produced by diderm bacteria have important roles in cell envelope homeostasis, secretion, interbacterial communication, and pathogenesis. The facultative intracellular pathogen Salmonella enterica Typhimurium (STm) activates OMV biogenesis inside the acidic vacuoles of host cells by upregulating the expression of the OM protein PagC, one of the most robustly activated genes in a host environment. Here, we used solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron microscopy (EM), with native bacterial OMVs, to demonstrate that three histidines, essential for the OMV biogenic function of PagC, constitute a key pH-sensing motif. The NMR spectra of PagC in OMVs show that they become protonated around pH 6, and His protonation is associated with specific perturbations of select regions of PagC. The use of bacterial OMVs is a key aspect of this work enabling NMR structural studies in the context of the physiological environment. PagC expression upregulates OMV production in Escherichia coli , replicating its function in STm. Moreover, the presence of PagC drives a striking aggregation of OMVs and increases bacterial cell pellicle formation at acidic pH, pointing to a potential role as an adhesin active in biofilm formation. The data provide experimental evidence for a pH-dependent mechanism of OMV biogenesis and aggregation driven by an OM protein.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Global kinetic model of lipid-induced Îą -synuclein aggregation and its inhibition by small molecules
Alisdair Stevenson, Roxine Staats, Alexander J. Dear, David Voderholzer, Jesper E. Dreier, Georg Meisl, Raphael Guido, Tuomas P. J. Knowles, CĂŠline Galvagnion, Alexander K. Buell, Michele Vendruscolo, Thomas C. T. Michaels
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The aggregation of α -synuclein into amyloid fibrils is a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. This process has been shown to directly involve interactions between proteins and lipid surfaces when the latter are present. Despite this importance, the molecular mechanisms of lipid-induced amyloid aggregation have remained largely elusive. Here, we present a global kinetic model to describe lipid-induced amyloid aggregation of α -synuclein. Using this framework, we find that α -synuclein fibrils form via a two-step primary nucleation mechanism and that lipid molecules are directly involved in both the nucleation and fibril elongation steps, giving rise to lipid–protein coaggregates. To illustrate the applicability of this kinetic approach to drug discovery, we identify the mechanism of action of squalamine, a known inhibitor of lipid-induced α -synuclein aggregation, revealing that this small molecule reduces the rate of lipid-dependent primary nucleation. Our work will likely guide the rational design of α -synuclein aggregation inhibitors.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Heritable symbiont producing nonribosomal peptide confers extreme heat sensitivity and antifungal protection on its host
Gerald P. Maeda, Vy Dang, Mary Katherine Kelly, Aadhunik Sundar, Ryan L. W. Arnott, Edward M. Marcotte, Nancy A. Moran
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Insects frequently form associations with maternally transmitted symbiotic bacteria. This transmission mode ensures that symbiont-conferred effects, both beneficial and negative, are passed onto offspring. Here, we report an extreme example of symbiont-mediated temperature sensitivity imposed by a vertically transmitted, defensive symbiont. Pea aphids infected with the bacterial endosymbiont, Fukatsuia symbiotica, resist infection by fungal pathogens but produce few or no offspring when moved from cool (15 °C) to mildly warmer temperatures (20 °C). This temperature-dependent reduction in host fitness is associated with increased symbiont abundance, disordered symbiont localization, and high expression of a horizontally acquired nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) locus. This NRPS operon is syntenic with the locus responsible for the production of Herbicolin A, a known antifungal produced by some plant-associated Erwiniaceae . Activity of chemical extracts from infected aphids is predictive of in vivo protection against entomopathogenic fungi, indicating that an Herbicolin A–like molecule is the likely source of Fukatsuia’s protective effects against fungal pathogens. Injection of the same chemical extracts into naive aphids partially recapitulates developmental defects observed in natural infections at 20 °C, suggesting that increased levels of this compound contribute to disrupted embryonic development. Finally, the purification of the causal agent revealed Fukatsuia produces a compound similar but not identical to Herbicolin A, that exhibits both antifungal and hemolytic activity. These results suggest that F. symbiotica infection imposes a trade-off between antifungal defense and disrupted embryonic development, mediated by a single genetic locus.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Population structure limits the use of genomic data for predicting phenotypes and managing genetic resources in forest trees
Gancho T. Slavov, David Macaya-Sanz, Stephen P. DiFazio, Glenn T. Howe
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There is overwhelming evidence that forest trees are locally adapted to climate. Thus, genecological models based on population phenotypes have been used to measure local adaptation, infer genetic maladaptation to climate, and guide assisted migration. However, instead of phenotypes, there is increasing interest in using genomic data for gene resource management. We used whole-genome resequencing and common-garden experiments to understand the genetic architecture of adaptive traits in black cottonwood. We studied the potential of using genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genomic prediction to detect causal loci, identify climate-adapted phenotypes, and inform gene resource management. We analyzed population structure by partitioning phenotypic and genomic (single-nucleotide polymorphism) variation among 840 genotypes collected from 91 stands along 16 rivers. Most phenotypic variation (60 to 81%) occurred among populations and was strongly associated with climate. Population phenotypes were predicted well using genomic data (e.g., predictive ability r > 0.9) but almost as well using climate or geography ( r > 0.8). In contrast, genomic prediction within populations was poor ( r < 0.2). We identified many GWAS associations among populations, but most appeared to be spurious based on pooled within-population analyses. Hierarchical partitioning of linkage disequilibrium and haplotype sharing suggested that within-population genomic prediction and GWAS were poor because allele frequencies of causal loci and linked markers differed among populations. Given the urgent need to conserve natural populations and ecosystems, our results suggest that climate variables alone can be used to predict population phenotypes, delineate seed zones and deployment zones, and guide assisted migration.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Multistage nucleation pathway in LiF molten salt mirrors the crystal–melt interface structure
Zhao Fan, Deepak Rawat, Piotr Zarzycki, Michael L. Whittaker, Mark Asta
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Despite over a century of studies, fundamental questions remain about the processes governing crystal nucleation from melts or solutions. Research over the past three decades has presented mounting evidence for kinetic pathways of crystal nucleation that are more complex than envisioned by the simplest forms of classical theory. Such observations have been presented for colloidal and elemental systems with covalent and metallic bonding. Despite the technological and geochemical importance of molten salts, similar studies for these ionically bonded systems are currently lacking. Here we develop a machine learning interatomic potential for a model ionic system: LiF. The potential features quantum-level accuracy for both liquid and multiple solid polymorphs over wide temperature and pressure ranges and accurately reproduces experimentally measured properties. Thanks to the efficiency of the potential, which enables microsecond-scale molecular dynamics simulations, induction times for nucleation of LiF solids from their melts are computed over a range of undercoolings. With the aid of a set of robust local order parameters established here, the simulations reveal that homogeneous crystal nucleation in undercooled melts preferentially initiates from liquid regions showing slow dynamics and high bond orientational order simultaneously, and the second-shell order of both precritical nuclei and the surface of postcritical nuclei is dominated by hexagonal close packing and body-centered cubic local structure, even though the nucleus core is dominated by face-centered cubic structure corresponding to the stable rocksalt crystal structure. Finally, we establish a connection between the crystallization pathway and the equilibrium crystal–melt interface structure.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
The importance of small-island populations for the long-term survival of endangered large-bodied insular mammals
Sabhrina Gita Aninta, Rosie Drinkwater, Alberto Carmagnini, Nicolas J. Deere, Dwi Sendi Priyono, Noviar Andayani, Nurul L. Winarni, Jatna Supriatna, Matteo Fumagalli, Greger Larson, Peter H. A. Galbusera, Alastair Macdonald, Deborah Greer, Kusdiantoro Mohamad, Wahono Esthi Prasetyaningtyas, Abdul Haris Mustari, John Lewis Williams, Ross Barnett, Darren Shaw, Gono Semiadi, James Burton, David J. I. Seaman, Maria Voigt, Matthew J. Struebig, Selina Brace, Stephen J. Rossiter, Laurent Frantz
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Island populations of large vertebrates have experienced higher extinction rates than mainland populations over long timescales due to demographic stochasticity, genetic drift, and inbreeding. While being more susceptible to extinction and as such potentially targeted for conservation interventions such as genetic rescue, small-island populations can experience relatively less anthropogenic habitat degradation than those on larger islands. Here, we determine the consequences and conservation implications of long-term isolation and recent human activities on genetic diversity of island populations of two forest-dependent mammals endemic to the Wallacea archipelago: the anoa ( Bubalus spp.) and babirusa ( Babyrousa spp.). Using genomic analyses and habitat suitability models, we show that, compared to closely related species, populations on mainland Sulawesi exhibit low heterozygosity, high inbreeding, a high proportion of deleterious alleles, and experience a high rate of anthropogenic disturbance. In contrast, populations on smaller islands occupy higher-quality habitats, possess fewer deleterious mutations despite exhibiting lower heterozygosity and higher inbreeding. Site frequency spectra indicate that these patterns reflect stronger, long-term purging in smaller-island populations. Our results thus suggest that conservation efforts should focus on protecting small-island high-quality habitats and avoiding translocations from mainland populations. This study highlights the crucial role of small offshore islands for the long-term survival of Wallacea’s iconic and indigenous mammals in the face of development on the mainland.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Overcoming toxicity: How nonantagonistic microbes manage to thrive in boom-and-bust environments
MingYi Wang, Alexander Vladimirsky, Andrea Giometto
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Antagonistic interactions are critical determinants of microbial community stability and composition, offering host benefits such as pathogen protection and providing avenues for antimicrobial control. While the ability to eliminate competitors confers an advantage to antagonistic microbes, it often incurs a fitness cost. Consequently, many microbes only produce toxins or engage in antagonistic behavior in response to specific cues like quorum sensing molecules or environmental stress. In laboratory settings, antagonistic microbes typically dominate over sensitive ones, raising the question of why both antagonistic and nonantagonistic microbes are found in natural environments and host microbiomes. Here, using both theoretical models and experiments with killer strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae , we show that “boom-and-bust” dynamics—periods of rapid growth punctuated by episodic mortality events—caused by temporal environmental fluctuations can favor nonantagonistic microbes that do not incur the growth rate cost of toxin production. Additionally, using control theory, we derive bounds on the competitive performance and identify optimal regulatory toxin-production strategies in various boom-and-bust environments where population dilutions occur either deterministically or stochastically over time. Our mathematical investigation reveals that optimal toxin regulation is much more beneficial to killers in stochastic, rather than deterministic, boom-and-bust environments. Overall, our findings show how both antagonistic and nonantagonistic microbes can thrive under varying environmental conditions.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Early warning signs of salt marsh drowning indicated by widespread vulnerability from declining belowground plant biomass
Kyle D. Runion, Merryl Alber, Deepak R. Mishra, Mark A. Lever, Christine M. Hladik, Jessica L. O’Connell
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Salt marshes provide valuable ecosystem services but are vulnerable to drowning with accelerated sea-level rise (SLR). Marsh belowground biomass (BGB) production helps avoid drowning by building marsh surface elevation. Reductions in BGB can serve as an early warning sign of marsh deterioration, as they often precede decreases in aboveground biomass (AGB). However, landscape-scale BGB assessments to predict broad trends in marsh deterioration have not been previously available. We applied the Belowground Ecosystem Resiliency Model (BERM) to assess standing stocks and trends in both BGB and AGB over the past decade (2014–2023) across US Georgia coast Spartina alterniflora marshes (691 km 2 ). Over this time period, BGB and AGB averaged 841 ± 323 and 221 ± 14 g m −2 , respectively, but showed opposite trends. BGB decreased on average by 0.94% per year and over most of the marsh area (72%), while AGB increased on average by 0.66% per year and showed a net increase across most of the marsh area (88%). This disconnect suggests that AGB is not a good indicator of marsh resilience, and we highlight two areas with similar AGB but different BGB. Inundation intensity, an important predictor of BGB, rose through time and was negatively related to BGB. SLR trends suggest continuing increases in inundation, which will result in further declines in BGB followed by widespread marsh drowning. Landscape BGB assessments are a valuable tool to identify ecosystem vulnerability and proactively manage salt marshes and the services they provide under rising sea levels.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Setdb1 ablation in macrophages attenuates fibrosis in heart allografts
Zhibo Ma, Xi Zhou, Wenlong Jia, Xiaosheng Tan, Xia Huang, Jingzeng Wang, Lingjuan Sun, Qingwen Li, Xiangli Zhao, Naonao Yuan, Ping Liu, Jing Liu, Zhishui Chen, Peixiang Lan
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Tissue fibrosis is commonly associated with organ malfunction and is strongly associated with the development of chronic rejection, cardiovascular diseases, and other chronic diseases. Fibrosis also contributes to immune exclusion in tumor tissues. Targeting fibrosis might be a strategy for prolonging allograft survival while suppressing cancer development. Here, single-cell transcriptomes of human and mouse heart allografts showed that macrophages accumulated in grafts with fibrosis were reprogrammed via histone methylation regulated by Setdb1, an H3K9 methyltransferase. Myeloid-specific deletion of Setdb1 prolonged heart allograft survival but reversed immune exclusion in tumor tissues. Interestingly, myeloid-specific Setdb1-knockout led to lower fibrosis in heart allografts and tumor tissues in mice. Our single-cell sequencing data showed that Setdb1 ablation impaired Fn1 + and SPP1 + profibrogenic macrophage reprogramming. Mechanistically, Fn1, which was induced by the CCR2-Creb/Setdb1 axis, upregulated the expression of genes related to fibrosis in fibroblasts and macrophages via ITGA5 and PIRA receptors. Blocking the interaction between FN1 and these receptors inhibited fibrosis in allograft and tumor tissues. Our results reveal a target, histone methylation in macrophages, for the treatment of fibrosis-related disease.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Diploidization in a wild rice allopolyploid is both episodic and gradual
Xin Wang, Ning Li, Qian Wang, Tian-Yu Lei, Ju Zhou, Fu-Min Zhang, Xue-Zhu Liao, Cheng-Gen Qiang, Wen-Hao Yu, Jing-Dan Han, Ya-Rong Ye, Chun-Yan Jing, Mei-Xia Wang, Qiang Gao, Jin-Feng Chen, Yuan-Nian Jiao, Zhi-Qiang Wu, Ya-Long Guo, Rod A. Wing, Jeff J. Doyle, Song Ge, Xin-Hui Zou
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Polyploid organisms evolve from their initial doubled genomic condition through a number of processes collectively termed diploidization, whose tempo and mode remain poorly understood mainly due to the difficulty of discriminating de novo evolution subsequent to polyploidy from variation inherited from progenitors. Here, we generated chromosome-scale genome assemblies for the wild rice allopolyploid Oryza minuta and its two diploid progenitors, Oryza punctata and Oryza officinalis , and employed a population genomic approach to investigate the diploidization process in O. minuta at the sequence and transcriptomic level. We show that this wild rice allopolyploid originated around 0.7 Mya, and during subsequent diploidization, its two subgenomes have retained highly conserved synteny with the genomes of its extant diploid progenitors. This populational approach allowed us to distinguish parental legacy of inherited variation from postpolyploidy evolution, and our analyses revealed that whereas gene fractionation occurred in an early burst, accumulation of transposable elements (TEs) and homoeologous exchanges has been gradual. Patterns of homoeolog expression bias are highly variable across tissues, with no consistent subgenome expression bias. Our assessments of the impact of DNA methylation, TE distribution, and parental legacy on expression patterns provide some support for the TE load theory (the theory that the TE densities in flanking regions surrounding genes strongly influence expression levels), while also illustrating the complexity of transcription regulation.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
In This Issue
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Big evolutionary fireworks in tiny glass houses
Idan Banson, Matthew W. Brown
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Onset of extensive human fire use 50,000 y ago
Shoushu Jiang, Debo Zhao, Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr, Luc Beaufort, Hua Tu, Zhengyao Lu, Zhongjing Cheng, Shanjia Zhang, Yi Zhong, Xiudong Hao, Wenqiang Pei, Guangqiang Cui, Yifei Yang, Anni Lin, Jie Huang, Shiming Wan
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Fire is a pivotal aspect of human involvement in the carbon cycle. However, the precise timing of the large-scale human fire use remains uncertain. Here, we report a pyrogenic carbon record of East Asian fire history over the past 300,000 y from the East China Sea. This record suggests a rapid increase in fire activity since approximately 50,000 y ago, indicating a decoupling from the monsoon climate, and this pattern is consistent with fire histories in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Papua New Guinea-Australia regions. By integrating extensive archaeological data, we propose that the intensified global expansion of modern human and population growth, coupled with the rising demand for fire use during cold glacial periods, resulted in a significant increase in fire utilization from 50,000 y onward. This suggests that a measurable human imprint on the carbon cycle via fire likely predates the Last Glacial Maximum.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Fertile androgenetic mice generated by targeted epigenetic editing of imprinting control regions
Yanchang Wei, Tao Yue, Yuanyuan Wang, Yan Yang
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Each new mammalian life begins with the fusion of an oocyte and a sperm to produce a fertilized egg containing two sets of genomes, one from the mother and one from the father. Androgenesis, a way for producing offspring solely from male genetic material, is limited in mammals, presumably due to barriers arising from genomic imprinting, an epigenetic mechanism leading to monoallelic gene expression. Here, we report adult mammalian offspring derived from the genetic material of two sperm cells. These mice, which we refer to as androgenetic mice, were produced via targeted DNA methylation editing of seven imprinting control regions (ICRs) through CRISPR-based epigenome engineering. Two sperm cells were injected into an enucleated oocyte to form putatively diploid embryos. Allele-specific epigenetic editing was achieved by injecting guide RNAs with protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) sequences designed to match one allele but not the other. The birth of androgenetic mice that were able to develop to adulthood demonstrates that mammalian androgenesis is achievable by targeted epigenetic remodeling of a few defined ICRs.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Enhanced chloroplast FtsZ-ring constriction by the ARC6–ARC3 module in Arabidopsis
Wenbin Du, Lingyan Cao, Yuelong Zhou, Shanelle Jackson, Maryam Naeem, Zhaoyu Chen, Yue Yang, Jonathan M. Glynn, Katie J. Porter, Runlong Zhang, Qian He, Moyang Liu, Jie Xu, Wanqi Liang, Peiqiang Feng, Katherine W. Osteryoung, Cheng Chen
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Chloroplast division, a process tightly linked to the energy demands of plants, is initiated by the formation of the stromal filamenting temperature-sensitive Z (FtsZ) ring. The Z ring is highly dynamic, and its constriction provides the essential force for chloroplast division. However, the regulatory mechanisms governing Z-ring dynamics and constriction remain poorly understood. Here, we report that the chloroplast inner envelope membrane (IEM) protein ACCUMULATION AND REPLICATION OF CHLOROPLASTS6 (ARC6) interacts with the chloroplast stromal protein ARC3, and this interaction is negatively regulated by the conserved J-like domain of ARC6. ARC3 is found both distributed throughout the stroma and localized to a ring-like structure at the chloroplast division site. We demonstrate that ARC6 recruits ARC3 to the division site to form a ring-like structure, likely through direct interaction. This ARC6–ARC3 interaction enables ARC3 to bind FtsZs. Furthermore, we show that the ARC6–ARC3 complex significantly promotes the dynamics of chloroplast Z rings reconstituted in a heterologous system. Finally, the constriction of these reconstituted Z rings is markedly enhanced by ARC6–ARC3. Our findings reveal a regulatory mechanism that governs Z-ring dynamics and constriction, shedding light on the molecular mechanisms underlying chloroplast division.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
JunB–HBZ nuclear translocation by TGF-β is a key driver in HTLV-1-mediated leukemogenesis
Wenyi Zhang, Takafumi Shichijo, Xueda Chen, Miho Watanabe, Kisato Nosaka, Masao Matsuoka, Jun-ichirou Yasunaga
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The HTLV-1 bZIP factor ( HBZ ) gene, which is the only viral gene conserved and consistently expressed in all adult T-cell leukemia–lymphoma (ATL) cases, is critical for ATL oncogenesis. Although HBZ protein is found in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm, the dynamics of HBZ protein localization and its contribution to oncogenesis have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we analyzed the subcellular expression pattern of HBZ in primary HTLV-1–infected T cells from asymptomatic carriers and leukemic cells of ATL patients using the Proximity Ligation Assay. Nuclear localization of HBZ protein was significantly higher in fresh ATL cells than in HTLV-1–infected cells from carriers. Importantly, translocation of HBZ protein from the cytoplasm to the nucleus after TGF-β activation was observed in ATL patients, but not in HTLV-1 carriers. In ATL cells, the cellular transcription factors JunB and pSmad3 interact with HBZ and facilitate its nuclear translocation upon TGF-β stimulation. JUNB knockdown inhibits cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo and promotes apoptosis in ATL cells but not in HTLV-1–infected nonleukemic cells, indicating that JunB has important roles in maintaining ATL cells. In conclusion, TGF-β-induced nuclear translocation of HBZ–JunB complexes is associated with ATL oncogenesis.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
High tree diversity exposed to unprecedented macroclimatic conditions even under minimal anthropogenic climate change
Coline C. F. Boonman, Selwyn Hoeks, Josep M. Serra-Diaz, Wen-Yong Guo, Brian J. Enquist, Brian Maitner, Cory Merow, Jens-Christian Svenning
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Tree species worldwide face increasing exposure to unprecedented macroclimatic conditions due to anthropogenic climate change, which may trigger biome shifts and ecosystem disruptions. We quantified climate change exposure–shifts to species’ currently unoccupied climate zones–for 32,089 tree species globally by 2100, assessing both species-level and local tree diversity risks. On average, 69% of species are predicted to experience macroclimatic shifts in at least 10% of their range, while 14% face exposure in over 50% of their range under a high-emission (4 °C warming) future scenario. This suggests that most species retain substantial climate refugia within their current range. However, local tree diversity exposure is predicted to be severe in vast regions, including Eurasia, the northwestern United States and Canada, northern Chile, and the Amazon Delta. Under a moderate (2 °C warming) scenario, high tree diversity exposure is mostly restricted to taiga regions in the Northern Hemisphere. These findings provide conservative estimates of climate-driven biodiversity risk, as our approach focuses solely on macroclimate and does not account for additional stressors such as land-use change or species interactions. Identifying tree species and areas of high macroclimatic shift exposure allows for targeted conservation strategies, including species stability monitoring, assisted migration, and the protection of climate refugia. Our results offer a foundation for prioritizing conservation actions in a rapidly changing climate, ensuring long-term ecosystem resilience.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Photothermal catalysis of waste plastics into propionic acid and hydrogen via Ni single-atom site isolation effect
Shuai Yue, Yixiao Liu, Zhiyong Zhao, Guanshu Zhao, Mengxue Yang, Tao Zhang, Fei Li, Kewang Liu, Pengfei Wang, Sihui Zhan, Jinhu Jia
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Currently, catalytic recycling of polyethylene (PE) into high-value chemicals using solar energy often faces poor product selectivity and low efficiency. This is mainly due to the difficulty in effectively controlling the intermediates during PE photoreforming and the long-standing challenge of inefficient charge dynamics. Here, we present a solar-driven photothermal catalytic approach for the selective conversion of PE waste into propionic acid and hydrogen under ambient conditions. Atomically dispersed Ni sites supported on CeO 2 (Ni SA /CeO 2 ) achieve a propionic acid yield of 331 μmol h –1 with 94.8% selectivity in the photothermal reaction. This performance is 1.6 times higher than that of catalysts supported by Ni clusters (Ni NP /CeO 2 ). Additionally, Ni SA /CeO 2 exhibits a hydrogen yield of 0.23 mmol h –1 with stable long-term performance. Mechanistic studies reveal that single Ni atoms form linear coordination with oxygen atoms in CeO 2 , introducing unoccupied mid-gap states that effectively capture hot electrons and enhance the photothermal effect through local hotspot formation. In contrast, Ni clusters suffer from inefficient heat accumulation due to multistep phonon scattering. Furthermore, site isolation of Ni single atoms spatially separates the reaction intermediates and suppresses dimerization of the key intermediate COOHCH 2 CH 2 *, thereby greatly improving the selectivity for propionic acid. In contrast, closely packed Ni cluster sites promote intermediate coupling and the formation of undesirable byproducts, reducing selectivity. This work provides mechanistic insights into the advantages of atomic-scale catalyst design for selective chemical transformations.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Beyond additive genetic effects: Explaining family resemblance in school performance across millions of pairs of Norwegian relatives
Nikolai Haahjem Eftedal, Espen Moen Eilertsen, Hans Fredrik Sunde, Thomas Haarklau Kleppestø, Eivind Ystrom, Nikolai Olavi Czajkowski
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We investigate the hypothesis that family resemblance on school performance can be fully explained by additive genetic effects and assortative mating. Our sample consists of all schoolchildren who took Norwegian national standardized tests between 2007 and 2019 (N = 936,708). These tests measure aptitude in math and reading comprehension, and are taken the years children turn 10, 13, and 14 y old. We identify millions of pairs of relatives within our sample (82 different kinds, in total), including not only conventional biological relatives such as siblings and cousins, but also relatives-in-law, relatives through adoption, twins, and relatives connected through twins. When fitting models which assume that family resemblance arises solely from additive genetic effects and assortative mating, we find that they describe much of our data well, but that they systematically underestimate the similarity of close relatives (particularly monozygotic twins), maternal relatives, relatives-in-law, and relatives through adoption. We discuss potential explanations for these deviations, including shared-environmental effects, nonadditive genetic effects, and gene–environment interplay.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Inhibiting Nav1.8 for pain: Lessons from patients and from neurons
Stephen G. Waxman, Dmytro V. Vasylyev
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein directly prevents cGAS–DNA recognition through competitive binding
Theresia Gutmann, David Kuster, Anthony A. Hyman
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A hallmark of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is the delayed interferon response. Interferons are typically produced upon host recognition of pathogen- or damage-associated molecular patterns, such as nucleic acids. While the mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 evades host recognition of its RNA are well studied, how it evades immune responses to cytosolic DNA—leaked from mitochondria or nuclei during infection—remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein directly suppresses DNA sensing by cyclic guanosine monophosphate–adenosine monophosphate synthase (cGAS). Although primarily known for packaging the viral RNA genome, we uncover that the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein also binds DNA with high affinity and competitively blocks cGAS activation. Using cell-free biochemical and biophysical approaches, including single-molecule optical tweezers, we show that the nucleocapsid protein binds to DNA at nanomolar concentrations and cocondenses with DNA at micromolar concentrations, thereby impeding stable cGAS-DNA interactions required for signal propagation. Hyperphosphorylation of the nucleocapsid protein diminishes its competitive binding capacity. Our findings reveal an unexpected role of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein in directly suppressing the cGAS-STING pathway, strongly suggesting that this contributes to the delayed interferon response during infection. This study raises the possibility that nucleocapsid proteins of other RNA viruses may also exhibit moonlighting functions by antagonizing host nucleic acid–sensing pathways.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
The role of estrogen receptor β in maintaining basal cells and modulating the immune environment in the prostate
Wan-fu Wu, Xiao-yu Song, Margaret Warner, Otabeck Imamov, Per Antonson, Jan-Ake Gustafsson
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Estrogen receptor β (ERβ) plays an important role in both the mouse and human prostate. The endogenous ligand for ERβ is the dihydrotestosterone metabolite, 5β-androstane-3β, 17β-diol (3β-Adiol). Thus, treatment with 5-α reductase inhibitor (5-ARI) should produce a phenotype similar to that seen in ERβ −/− mice. By comparing RNA-Seq of the ventral prostates (VP) of ERβ knockout mice (ERβ crispr−/− ) and wild-type (WT) mice, we confirmed that ERβ modulates androgen receptor (AR) signaling indirectly by suppressing AR coactivators. Compared to WT mice, basal cell genes from ERβ crispr−/− mouse VP were significantly upregulated. A population of abnormal basal cells coexpressing P63 and AR was identified in the ERβ crispr−/− mouse VP by immunohistochemistry. In men treated with 5-ARI for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), there was induction of a P63-positive intermediate cell population characterized by down regulation of Krt14 without significant change in the expression of Krt15, upregulation of AR and NKX3.1, and increased proliferation. In both VP of aging ERβ crispr−/− mice and in human prostates after 5-ARI treatment, there was substantial immune infiltration. Testosterone treatment inhibited immune infiltration in the VP of ERβ crispr−/− mice. We conclude that ERβ is a gene critical in maintaining normal basal cells and modulating immune environment in the prostate. Its loss leads to histological changes suggesting prostatitis and increases the number of intermediate cells, which are considered to be the cells of origin of prostate cancers. We suggest that an ERβ agonist could protect against 5-ARI-induced inflammatory cell infiltration and defects in the basal cell layer in BPH.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Molecular contacts in self-assembling clusters of membrane proteins
Venkata Shiva Mandala, Ziao Fu, Roderick MacKinnon
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Motivated by recent data pointing to the existence of homo-oligomeric assemblies of membrane proteins called higher-order transient structures, and their apparent role in connecting components of membrane signal pathways, we examine here by cryoelectron microscopy some of the protein–protein interactions that occur in cluster formation. Metabotropic glutamate receptors and HCN ion channels inside clusters contact their neighbors through structured extracellular and intracellular domains, respectively. Other ion channels, including Kv2.1 and Slo1, appear to form clusters through prominent intrinsically disordered sequences in the cytoplasm. These distinct modes of interaction are associated with clusters exhibiting varying degrees of compactness and order. We conclude that nature utilizes a variety of ways to form connections between membrane proteins in self-assembled clusters.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Bone morphogenetic protein-9 controls pulmonary vascular growth and remodeling
Nihel Berrebeh, Yvon Mbouamboua, RaphaÍl Thuillet, Mina Ottaviani, Fabien Robert, Mustapha Kamel Chelgham, Virginie Magnone, Agnès Desroches-Castan, Nicolas Ricard, Ignacio Anegon, SÊverine Remy, Ralph Theo Schermuly, Kevin Lebrigand, Baktybek Kojonazarov, Laurent Savale, Marc Humbert, Sabine Bailly, Pascal Barbry, Ly Tu, Christophe Guignabert
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Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) are two distinct vascular diseases linked to impaired signaling through bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) receptor complexes in endothelial cells. Although BMP-9 plays a central role in activating this pathway by binding to ALK1 and BMPR-II, its precise function in the pulmonary microvasculature has remained unclear. In this study, we demonstrate a role for BMP-9 in regulating pulmonary vascular architecture and homeostasis. Our findings reveal that BMP-9 signaling intersects with VEGF pathways and contributes to the delicate balance between vascular growth and remodeling in the lungs. We also show that disruption of this pathway can shift vascular responses toward an HHT-like state, potentially altering disease susceptibility. These insights offer a unique perspective on how BMP-9 and ALK1 shape pulmonary vascular biology and suggest that targeting this axis could inform future strategies for treating complex vascular diseases such as PAH.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Contribution of glutamatergic projections to neurons in the nonhuman primate substantia nigra pars reticulata for reactive inhibition
Atsushi Yoshida, Okihide Hikosaka
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The basal ganglia play a crucial role in action selection by facilitating desired movements and suppressing unwanted ones. The substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr), a key output nucleus, facilitates movement through disinhibition of the superior colliculus (SC). However, its role in action suppression, particularly in primates, remains less clear. We investigated whether individual SNr neurons in three male macaque monkeys bidirectionally modulate their activity to both facilitate and suppress actions and examined the role of glutamatergic inputs in suppression. Monkeys performed a sequential choice task, selecting or rejecting visually presented targets. Electrophysiological recordings showed that SNr neurons decreased firing rates during target selection and increased firing rates during rejection, demonstrating bidirectional modulation. Pharmacological blockade of glutamatergic inputs to the lateral SNr disrupted saccadic control and impaired suppression of reflexive saccades, providing causal evidence for the role of excitatory input in behavioral inhibition. These findings suggest that glutamatergic projections, potentially originating from sources including the subthalamic nucleus, contribute to the increased SNr activity during action suppression. Our results highlight conserved basal ganglia mechanisms across species and offer insights into the neural substrates of action selection and suppression in primates, with implications for understanding disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
An ABA–ROP toggle switch orchestrates xylem differentiation and cell wall patterning
Valentina Elettra Alberti, Daria Bloch, Erik Gengel, Mallikarjuna Rao Puli, Limor Poraty-Gavra, Shaul Yalovsky
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The mutual antagonistic signaling of abscisic acid (ABA) and ROP GTPases highlights an intersection between stress responses and pattern formation. Previously, we have shown that signaling of ABA in the endodermis leads to protoxylem (PX) differentiation. In this study, we demonstrate that ROPs suppress PX differentiation in the roots of both Arabidopsis and tomato. Fourier transform and Shannon’s entropy show that endodermal ABA signaling controls the periodicity and overall order of PX secondary cell wall (SCW) coils in an ROP-dependent manner. Correspondingly, in the PX, GFP-ROP11 is initially dispersed and gradually becomes distributed in an oscillatory fashion with a periodicity corresponding to that of the SCW coils. Oryzalin treatments disrupt the frequency and increase the entropy of the GFP-ROP11 signal, suggesting that microtubules delimit ROP distribution. Signaling of ABA in the endodermis encourages the enlargement of metaxylem SCW pits, while ABA signaling in the stele limits this enlargement. Pit size and density are decreased in ROP mutants while ABA enhances ROP11 expression in the stele and broadens its distribution in the endodermis. Taken together, non-cell-autonomous and cell-autonomous interactions between ABA and ROPs regulate xylem differentiation and SCW patterning.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Genetic contributions to brain criticality and its relationship with human cognitive functions
Yumeng Xin, Yue Cui, Shan Yu, Ning Liu
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Recently, extensive evidence has demonstrated that the brain operates close to a critical state, characterized by dynamic patterns known as neuronal avalanches. The critical state, reflecting the delicate balance between neural excitation and inhibition, offers numerous advantages in information processing. However, the role of genetics in shaping brain criticality is not fully understood. Whether there is any shared genetic factor influencing the critical state and cognitive functions remains elusive. Here, we aimed to address these questions by examining the heritability of brain criticality and its relation to cognitive function by analyzing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) in 250 monozygotic twins, 142 dizygotic twins, and 437 Not-twin subjects. We found that genetic factors substantially influenced brain criticality across various scales, encompassing brain regions, functional networks, and the whole brain. These genetic influences exhibited heterogeneity, with the criticality of the primary sensory cortex being more strongly influenced by genetic factors compared to that of the association cortex. Furthermore, we combined rs-fMRI data with transcriptional microarray data from the Allen Brain Atlas: Human Brain (ABHB) dataset and found that the organization of regional critical dynamics was highly explained by a specific gene expression profile. Finally, our results showed that the critical state was correlated with total cognition and had a genetic link with it. These findings provide empirical evidence that brain criticality is a biological phenotype and suggest a shared genetic foundation underlying brain criticality and cognitive functions. Our results pave the way toward revealing specific biological mechanisms contributing to critical dynamics and their associations with brain function and dysfunction.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Ena/VASP-EVH1 inhibition prevents chemotaxis and metastasis by blocking the EVH1–WAVE2 interaction
Matthias MĂźller, Matthias Barone, Maarten van Dinther, Kathrin Motzny, Jiang Ren, Jenny Eichhorst, Dominik Albat, Slim Chiha, Martin Lehmann, Rudolf Volkmer, Hartmut Oschkinat, Hans-GĂźnther Schmalz, Peter ten Dijke, Ronald KĂźhne
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Cancer therapy would benefit from suppressing cancer cell motility in the process of metastasis. Such directed cell migration relies on the propulsive force established by the filamentous actin network within lamellipodia. Proteins of the Ena/VASP family and the WAVE regulatory complex orchestrate lamellar protrusions and therefore provide promising targets for pharmacological interventions. Here, we report a cross-talk between Ena/VASP proteins and WAVE2 that is important for cancer cell extravasation. Mutating the EVH1 domain recognition motif in WAVE2 abrogates chemotaxis of triple-negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells and reduces their extravasation in a zebrafish model. In pilot experiments, orthotopic implantation of these cells into mice led to a reduction in macrometastasis, resulting in prolonged survival. Similarly, intervention by an Ena/VASP-EVH1 inhibitor also reduced metastasis in vivo. Our results suggest that pharmacological interference with the Ena/VASP–WAVE2 interaction may thus reduce metastasis.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Genome-scale knockout simulation and clustering analysis of drug-resistant breast cancer cells reveal drug sensitization targets
JinA Lim, Hae Deok Jung, Soo Young Park, Moonhyeon Jeon, Da Sol Kim, Ryeongeun Cho, Dohyun Han, Han Suk Ryu, Yoosik Kim, Hyun Uk Kim
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Anticancer chemotherapy is an essential part of cancer treatment, but the emergence of resistance remains a major hurdle. Metabolic reprogramming is a notable phenotype associated with the acquisition of drug resistance. Here, we develop a computational framework that predicts metabolic gene targets capable of reverting the metabolic state of drug-resistant cells to that of drug-sensitive parental cells, thereby sensitizing the resistant cells. The computational framework performs single-gene knockout simulation of genome-scale metabolic models that predicts genome-wide metabolic flux distribution in drug-resistant cells, and clusters the resulting knockout flux data using uniform manifold approximation and projection, followed by k -means clustering. From the clustering analysis, knockout genes that lead to the flux data near that of drug-sensitive cells are considered drug sensitization targets. This computational approach is demonstrated using doxorubicin- and paclitaxel-resistant MCF7 breast cancer cells. Drug sensitization targets are further refined based on proteome and metabolome data, which generate GOT1 for doxorubicin-resistant MCF7, GPI for paclitaxel-resistant MCF7, and SLC1A5 as a common target. These targets are experimentally validated where treating drug-resistant cancer cells with small-molecule inhibitors results in increased sensitivity of drug-resistant cells to doxorubicin or paclitaxel. The applicability of the developed framework is further demonstrated using drug-resistant triple-negative breast cancer cells. Taken together, the computational framework predicts drug sensitization targets in an intuitive and cost-efficient manner and can be applied to overcome drug-resistant cells associated with various cancers and other metabolic diseases.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
ATP-gated P2x7 receptors express at type II auditory nerves and required for efferent hearing control and noise protection
Chun Liang, Tian-Ying Zhai, Jin Chen, Shu Fang, Yan Zhu, Li-Man Liu, Ning Yu, Hong-Bo Zhao
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Negative feedback of the cochlear efferent system plays a critical role in control of hearing sensitivity and protection from noise trauma. Type II auditory nerves (ANs) innervate outer hair cells (OHCs) in the cochlea and provide an input to the cochlear efferent system to achieve hearing sensitivity controlling and protection; in particular, medial olivocochlear efferent nerves innervate OHCs to control OHC electromotility, which is an active cochlear amplifier in mammals. However, little is known about channel information underlying type II AN activity and consequent function. Here, we report that ATP-gated P2x7 receptor had a predominant expression at type II spiral ganglion (SG) neurons and the synaptic areas under inner hair cells and OHCs with lateral and medial olivocochlear efferent nerves. Knockout (KO) of P2x7 increased hearing sensitivity with enhanced acoustic startle response, auditory brainstem response, and cochlear microphonics by increasing OHC electromotility. P2x7 KO also increased susceptibility to noise and exacerbated ribbon synapse degeneration. Middle-level noise exposure could impair active cochlear mechanics resulting in hearing loss in P2x7 KO mice. These data demonstrate that P2x7 receptors have a critical role in type II SG neuron’s function and the cochlear efferent system to control hearing sensitivity; deficiency of P2x7 receptors can impair type II SG neuron’s function and the cochlear efferent suppression leading to increase of active cochlear amplification and hearing oversensitivity, i.e., hyperacusis, and susceptibility to noise, which may also associate with other hearing disorders, such as tinnitus.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Correction for Chihoub et al., The evolution of robustness and fragility during long-term bacterial adaptation
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Basic interactions responsible for thymus function explain the convoluted medulla shape
David Muramatsu, Henrik Weyer, Florian M. Gartner, Erwin Frey
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The thymus is one of the most important organs of the immune system. It is responsible for both the production of T cells and the prevention of their autoimmunity. It comprises two types of tissue: The cortex, where nascent T cells (thymocytes) are generated; and the medulla, embedded within the cortex, where autoreactive thymocytes are eliminated through negative selection. In mice, the medulla exhibits a complex, convoluted morphology, which has raised the question of whether its form impacts its function. Intriguingly, experiments also reveal a reverse dependency: The interactions between medullary stroma and thymocytes shape the medullary structure. However, an understanding of the underlying mechanisms of medulla morphogenesis emerging from these interactions remains elusive. Here, we present a conceptual theoretical model showing that central, experimentally verified signaling pathways suffice to shape the convoluted medullary structure. The mathematical analysis of the model explains the observed effects of chemotaxis on thymocyte localization, and the reported morphological changes resulting from the modulation of thymocyte production. Our findings reveal that the cross-talk between medulla growth and negative selection of thymocytes not only regulates medullary volume but also orchestrates the morphology of the thymus medulla. This mechanism of structure formation robustly organizes the medulla in a way that accelerates thymocyte negative selection by improving their chemotactic migration into the medulla. Thereby, we identify a feedback between the function of the thymus medulla and its form. Our theoretical study motivates further experimental analysis of the spatial distribution of thymic cell populations and predicts morphological changes under genetic perturbations.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Immune cell profiling reveals diverse niches of immune residents of the enteric nervous system and potential neuroimmune interactions
Haozhe Wang, Aidil Zaini, Bailey Cardwell, Matthew C. Rowe, Alana Butler, Connie H. Y. Wong, Daniel P. Poole, Benjamin Marsland, Joel C. Bornstein, Nicola L. Harris
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Gastrointestinal (GI) neuroimmune interactions are crucial sensors and regulators of tissue homeostasis. Most enteric neurons reside within the myenteric plexus of the enteric nervous system in the muscular region, forming a structure called the muscularis externa . Despite established interactions between muscularis macrophages and neurons, the presence and function of other immune cell types remains poorly characterized. Here, we mapped the muscularis immune cell landscape, revealing that diverse cell types are present within distinct locations of the GI tract, and they lie in proximity to neuronal cell bodies and their axons. Using a hypothesis-free computational approach, we identify putative ligand–receptor interactions from publicly available single-cell RNA datasets and further validate one of these (App-CD74). This study provides a valuable reference to encourage new avenues of research underpinning enteric neuroimmune interactions as key contributors to GI homeostasis and diseases.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Winters restrict a climate change–driven butterfly range expansion despite rapid evolution of seasonal timing traits
Mats Ittonen, Matthew E. Nielsen, Isabelle Siemers, Magne Friberg, Karl Gotthard
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Climate change pushes species toward higher latitudes and altitudes, but the proximate drivers of range expansions vary, and it is unclear whether evolution facilitates climate change–induced range changes. In a temporally replicated field experiment, we translocated wall brown butterflies ( Lasiommata megera ) descending from range interior and range margin populations to sites at 1) the range interior, 2) the range margin, and 3) beyond the current northern range edge. Thereby, we tested for local adaptation in seasonal timing and winter survival and evaluated to what extent local adaptation influences the ongoing, climate-driven range expansion. Almost all individuals from all populations entered diapause at an appropriate time, despite previously identified among-population variation in diapause induction thresholds. Caterpillars of northern descent, however, grew faster than those from southern populations at all field sites. This may be a countergradient adaptation to compensate for the short, northern growing seasons, but we found no evidence for prewinter body mass affecting winter survival. In fact, winter survival was low overall—extremely so at the beyond range site—regardless of population origin, indicating that the primary constraint to range expansion is an inability to adapt to winter conditions. Hence, although range-expanding wall browns show clear local evolution of two traits related to seasonal timing, these putative local adaptations likely do not contribute to range expansion, which is instead limited by winter survival. To predict future range changes, it will be important to distinguish between the traits that evolve during range expansion and those that set the range limit.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Model-based algorithms shape automatic evaluative processing
David E. Melnikoff, Benedek Kurdi
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Computational theories of reinforcement learning suggest that two families of algorithm—model-based and model-free—tightly map onto the classic distinction between automatic and deliberate systems of control: Deliberate evaluative responses are thought to reflect model-based algorithms, which are accurate but computationally expensive, whereas automatic evaluative responses are thought to reflect model-free algorithms, which are error-prone but computationally cheap. This framework has animated research on psychological phenomena ranging from habit formation to social learning, moral decision-making, and cognitive development. Here, we propose that model-based and model-free algorithms may not be as aligned with deliberate and automatic evaluative processing as prevailing theories suggest. Across three preregistered behavioral experiments involving adult human participants (total n = 2,572), we show that model-based algorithms shape not only deliberate but also automatic evaluations. Experiment 1 numerically replicates past findings suggesting that deliberate (but not automatic) evaluative responses are uniquely shaped by model-based algorithms but, critically, also reveals confounds that render interpretation of this evidence equivocal. Experiments 2 to 3 eliminate these confounds and reveal robust model-based contributions to automatic evaluative processing across two measures of automatic evaluation, supported by multinomial processing tree modeling. Together, these results suggest that dominant frameworks may considerably underestimate both the ubiquity of model-based algorithms and the computational sophistication of automatic evaluative processing.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
On the mechanism of photodriven hydrogenations of N 2 and other substrates by Hantzsch ester: Buffer is key to reactive H-atom donors
Christian M. Johansen, Elisabetta Benazzi, Jonas C. Peters
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The Hantzsch ester (HEH 2 ) has found considerable utility as a photoreductant in synthesis, with photodriven transfer hydrogenation reactions typically limited to activated substrates. We recently established that the addition of an organic buffer of collidinium triflate [(ColH)OTf] and collidine (Col) allows photodriven transfer hydrogenation from HEH 2 to N 2 forming NH 3 (nitrogen reduction; N 2 R) in the presence of a Mo catalyst. Given the requirements for Mo-catalyzed thermally driven N 2 R, this result suggested the generation of a significant driving force for proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) when irradiating HEH 2 in the presence of Col-buffer. In this study, we probe how Col-buffer enables efficient photodriven proton-coupled reductions with HEH 2 . Wavelength-dependent NH 3 yields are consistent with HEH 2 photoexcitation, and the combination of HEH 2 with Col-buffer is privileged. Data are presented, suggesting that HEH 2 is statically quenched via ET to [ColH]OTf through an H-bonded association complex to release ColH • and [HEH 2 ] •+ . Transient absorbance data and EPR studies establish that the resulting [HEH 2 ] •+ intermediate is rapidly deprotonated by Col to yield HEH • , in net furnishing HEH • and ColH • as potent H-atom donors. Broader utility of this reagent combination is demonstrated in the photoreduction of a range of C=O and N=O π-bonds by HEH 2 , with a significant boost in rates and yield, and altered reactivity, observed on addition of Col-buffer. ColH • is posited as the most potent PCET donor generated (BDFE N−H of 28 kcal mol −1 ).
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Sensory population activity reveals downstream confidence computations in the primate visual system
Zoe M. Boundy-Singer, Corey M. Ziemba, Robbe L. T. Goris
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Perception is fallible. Humans know this, and so do some nonhuman animals like macaque monkeys. When monkeys report more confidence in a perceptual decision, that decision is more likely to be correct. It is not known how neural circuits in the primate brain assess the quality of perceptual decisions. Here, we test two hypotheses. First, that decision confidence is related to the structure of population activity in the sensory cortex. And second, that this relation differs from the one between sensory activity and decision content. We trained macaque monkeys to judge the orientation of ambiguous stimuli and additionally report their confidence in these judgments. We recorded population activity in the primary visual cortex and used decoders to expose the relationship between this activity and the choice-confidence reports. Our analysis validated both hypotheses and suggests that perceptual decisions arise from a neural computation downstream of visual cortex that estimates the most likely interpretation of a sensory response, while decision confidence instead reflects a computation that evaluates whether this sensory response will produce a reliable decision. Our work establishes a direct link between neural population activity in the sensory cortex and the metacognitive ability to introspect about the quality of perceptual decisions.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Global universal scaling and ultrasmall parameterization in machine-learning interatomic potentials with superlinearity
Yanxiao Hu, Ye Sheng, Jing Huang, Xiaoxin Xu, Yuyan Yang, Mingqiang Zhang, Yabei Wu, Caichao Ye, Jiong Yang, Wenqing Zhang
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Using machine learning (ML) to construct interatomic interactions and thus potential energy surface (PES) has become a common strategy for materials design and simulations. However, those current models of machine-learning interatomic potential (MLIP) consider no relevant physical constraints or global scaling and thus may owe intrinsic out-of-domain difficulty which underlies the challenges of model generalizability and physical scalability. Here, by incorporating the global universal scaling law, we develop an ultrasmall parameterized MLIP with superlinear expressive capability, named SUS 2 -MLIP. Due to the global scaling derived from the universal equation of state (UEOS), SUS 2 -MLIP not only has significantly reduced parameters by decoupling the element space from coordinate space but also naturally outcomes the out-of-domain difficulty and endows the model with inherent generalizability and scalability even with relatively small training dataset. The non-linearity-embedding transformation in radial function endows the model with superlinear expressive capability. SUS 2 -MLIP outperforms the state-of-the-art MLIP models with its exceptional computational efficiency, especially for multiple-element materials and physical scalability in property prediction. This work not only presents a highly efficient universal MLIP model but also sheds light on incorporating physical constraints into AI–aided materials simulation.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Measurement of the dynamic charge susceptibility near the charge density wave transition in ErTe 3
Dipanjan Chaudhuri, Qianni Jiang, Xuefei Guo, Jin Chen, Caitlin S. Kengle, Farzaneh Hoveyda-Marashi, Camille Bernal-Choban, Niels de Vries, Tai-Chang Chiang, Eduardo Fradkin, Ian R. Fisher, Peter Abbamonte
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A charge density wave (CDW) is a phase of matter characterized by a periodic modulation of valence electron density coupled with lattice distortion. Its formation is closely tied to the dynamical charge susceptibility, χ ( q , ω ) , which reflects the collective electron dynamics of the material. Despite decades of study, χ ( q , ω ) near a CDW transition has never been measured at nonzero momentum, q , with meV energy resolution. Here, we investigate the canonical CDW transition in ErTe 3 using momentum-resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy, a technique uniquely sensitive to valence band charge excitations. Unlike phonons, which soften via the Kohn anomaly, we find the electronic excitations exhibit purely relaxational dynamics well described by a diffusive model, with the diffusivity peaking just below the critical temperature, T C 1 . Additionally, we report for the first time a divergence in the real part of χ ( q , ω ) in the static limit ( ω → 0 ), a long-predicted hallmark of CDWs. Unexpectedly, this divergence occurs as T → 0 , with only a weak thermodynamic signature at T = T C 1 . Our study necessitates a reexamination of the traditional description of CDW formation in quantum materials.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Correction for Maher et al., Intracranial substrates of meditation-induced neuromodulation in the amygdala and hippocampus
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Synergistic deficits in parvalbumin interneurons and dopamine signaling drive ACC dysfunction in chronic pain
Kevin Lançon, Jiakang Tian, Haleigh Bach, Pierre Drapeau, Jean-Francois Poulin, Philippe SÊguÊla
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Chronic pain arises from maladaptive changes in both peripheral and central nervous systems, including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a key region implicated in descending pain modulation. Chronic pain increases the excitability of pyramidal neurons in the ACC. Although a reduction in inhibitory inputs onto pyramidal neurons has been observed in neuropathic conditions, the identity of the specific interneurons responsible remains unclear. We show that chronic pain selectively impairs parvalbumin (PV), but not somatostatin, interneurons in the rostral ACC. This is characterized by a decrease in the density of PV interneuron processes, a reduction in their surrounding perineuronal net, and a lower expression of PV. Functionally, PV interneurons display diminished inhibitory efficacy in vitro and reduced phasic activation in response to aversive stimuli in vivo. Dopamine (DA) fibers preferentially contact PV interneurons and excite them via D1 dopamine receptor activation, increasing their excitability and enhancing the frequency of inhibitory postsynaptic currents on pyramidal neurons in healthy, but not neuropathic, conditions. Furthermore, we show that this pathway is involved in hunger-induced analgesia: Food deprivation increases DA release in the ACC and consequently decreases pain thresholds in neuropathic mice. Conversely, when mice are not food deprived, neuropathic pain significantly reduces DA release in the ACC. We conclude that the loss of PV interneuron inhibitory efficacy, alongside convergent hypodopaminergic signaling, synergistically contributes to pathological ACC dysfunction and associated symptoms of chronic pain.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Structure of the virulence-associated Neisseria meningitidis filamentous bacteriophage MDAÎŚ
Jan BĂśhning, Miles Graham, Mathieu Coureuil, Abul K. Tarafder, Julie Meyer, Xavier Nassif, Emmanuelle Bille, Tanmay A. M. Bharat
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Neisseria meningitidis is a human commensal bacterium that can opportunistically invade the bloodstream and cross the blood–brain barrier, where it can cause septicemia and meningitis. These diseases, if left untreated, can be lethal within hours. Hyperinvasive N. meningitidis strains often express a genomically encoded filamentous bacteriophage called MDAΦ, which promotes colonization of mucosal host surfaces to facilitate bacterial invasion. How this phage is organized and how it promotes biofilm formation and infection at the molecular level is unclear. Here, we present an electron cryomicroscopy structure of the MDA phage, showing that MDAΦ is a class I filamentous inovirus, with the major capsid protein (MCP) arranged within the phage as a highly curved and densely packed α-helix. Comparison with other filamentous bacteriophages offers clues about inoviral genome encapsidation mechanisms, providing a framework for understanding the evolutionary diversity of inoviruses. A disordered, N-terminal segment in the MCP presents hydrophobic patches on the surface of assembled phage particles, which, together with electron cryotomography data of phage bundles, furnishes a structural rationale for phage–phage interactions that were seen previously in an epithelium adhesion infection model of N. meningitidis . Taken together, our results shed light on the structure, organization, and higher-order assembly of a biomedically relevant phage encoded in the genome of a human pathogen. Molecular insights gleaned from this study increase our understanding of phage evolution, phage-mediated bacterial adhesion, and pathogenicity.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
The RRM domain–containing protein Rbp3 interacts with ribosomes and the 3’ ends of mRNAs encoding photosynthesis proteins
Luisa Hemm, Elisabeth Lichtenberg, Stefan Tholen, Viktoria Reimann, Kenta Kakazu, Sotaro Machida, Moontaha Mahbub, Oliver Schilling, Annegret Wilde, Satoru Watanabe, Conrad W. Mullineaux, Wolfgang R. Hess
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RNA recognition motif (RRM) domain proteins are crucial RNA-binding proteins across all domains of life. In cyanobacteria, single RRM domain proteins are involved in mRNA targeting to the thylakoid membrane and acclimation to certain stress conditions, but many details of their physiological functions and molecular targets have remained unknown. The model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 has a family of three genes encoding the RRM domain–containing proteins Rbp1, Rbp2, and Rbp3. Here, we verified the RNA-binding activity of Rbp3 in vivo and show that cells of a Δ rbp3 deletion strain had a lower photosystem (PS) I:PSII ratio and decreased pigment content and were significantly smaller than wild-type cells. To identify the set of interacting molecules, coimmunoprecipitation experiments were performed with a strain expressing a C-terminally FLAG-tagged Rbp3. Mass spectrometry of the elution fraction suggested physical proximity between Rbp3, ribosomes, and a very small number of other proteins. The most highly enriched transcript in the coeluting RNA fraction was the psaAB mRNA. This was corroborated by fluorescent in situ hybridization analyses showing decreased psaA mRNA signals in Δ rbp3 , and colocalization with Rbp3 fusions to the green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the wild type. Other mRNAs coenriched with Rbp3 encode thylakoid, plasma membrane, and carboxysome proteins. Binding assays using Bio-layer Interferometry validated the Rbp3- psaAB mRNA interaction, indicating a preference for folded RNA segments near or overlapping the respective stop codons.
Women climate scientists are connected, productive, and successful but have shorter careers
Chris C. Martin, Andrew Lockley, Steve Hendricks, Cory J. Clark, Ishita Mundra, Nils Matzner
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Scholars have long been concerned about gender representation in scientific research but there has been little work on gender differences in participation and performance in climate science, a field that engages with both male-majority disciplines (e.g., geosciences, engineering) and female-majority disciplines (e.g., life sciences, medical science). This has implications for both gender equity and viewpoint representation. Sampling over 400,000 publications and a similar number of authors, we examine gender differences in several scholarly outcomes including publication count, career survival, coauthor gender, journal status, and mean citation count. We find men and women are similarly productive, successful, and connected, though women have shorter research careers and thus fewer papers. We also find gender homophily effects in collaboration, but no evidence of gender bias in peer review.
The effects of social media criticism against public health institutions on trust, emotions, and social media engagement
Jonathan Y. Lee
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In recent years, trust in US public health and science institutions has faced unprecedented declines, particularly among Republicans/conservatives. To what extent might institutional criticism on social media be responsible for such politically polarized declines in institutional trust? Two online survey experiments (total N = 6,800), using samples roughly reflective of the US adult population, examined the effects of key types of criticism against the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The results suggest that just a single exposure to any of the key types of criticism was sufficient to undermine institutional trust. While an institutional rebuttal was partially able to reverse these effects, residual declines in trust were substantial enough to cause decreased intentions to adhere to the AHRQ/CDC health recommendation featured in the experiments. While institutions should, therefore, be concerned about all types of social media criticism, those featuring morally charged trust-undermining narratives attacking the integrity of the AHRQ/CDC generated dramatically more anger (i.e., moral outrage), which in turn attracted social media engagement preferences likely to promote viral spread and exacerbate preexisting institutional politicization and issue polarization. These results suggest that efforts to bolster institutional trust should pay special attention to criticisms featuring integrity-based trust-undermining narratives.
Generative AI without guardrails can harm learning: Evidence from high school mathematics
Hamsa Bastani, Osbert Bastani, Alp Sungu, Haosen Ge, Özge Kabakcı, Rei Mariman
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Generative AI is poised to revolutionize how humans work, and has already demonstrated promise in significantly improving human productivity. A key question is how generative AI affects learning—namely, how humans acquire new skills as they perform tasks. Learning is critical to long-term productivity, especially since generative AI is fallible and users must check its outputs. We study this question via a field experiment where we provide nearly a thousand high school math students with access to generative AI tutors. To understand the differential impact of tool design on learning, we deploy two generative AI tutors: one that mimics a standard ChatGPT interface (“GPT Base”) and one with prompts designed to safeguard learning (“GPT Tutor”). Consistent with prior work, our results show that having GPT-4 access while solving problems significantly improves performance (48% improvement in grades for GPT Base and 127% for GPT Tutor). However, we additionally find that when access is subsequently taken away, students actually perform worse than those who never had access (17% reduction in grades for GPT Base)—i.e., unfettered access to GPT-4 can harm educational outcomes. These negative learning effects are largely mitigated by the safeguards in GPT Tutor. Without guardrails, students attempt to use GPT-4 as a “crutch” during practice problem sessions, and subsequently perform worse on their own. Thus, decision-makers must be cautious about design choices underlying generative AI deployments to preserve skill learning and long-term productivity.
Institutions of public judgment established by social contract and taxation
Taylor A. Kessinger, Joshua B. Plotkin
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Indirect reciprocity is a compelling explanation for stable cooperation in a large society: Those who cooperate appropriately earn a good standing, so that others are more likely to cooperate with them. However, this mechanism requires a population to agree on who has good standing and who has bad standing. Consensus can be provided by a central institution that monitors and broadcasts reputations. But how might such an institution be maintained, and how can a population ensure that it is effective and incorruptible? Here, we explore a simple mechanism to sustain an institution for judging reputations: a tax collected from each member of the population. We analyze the possible tax rate that individuals will rationally pay to sustain an institution of judgment, which provides a public good in the form of information, and we derive necessary conditions for individuals to resist the temptation to evade their tax payment. We also consider the possibility that institution members may be corrupt and subject to bribery, and we analyze how strong the incentives against corruption need to be. Our analysis has implications for establishing robust public institutions that provide social information to support cooperation in large populations—and the potential negative consequences associated with wealth or income inequality.
Large language models show amplified cognitive biases in moral decision-making
Vanessa Cheung, Maximilian Maier, Falk Lieder
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As large language models (LLMs) become more widely used, people increasingly rely on them to make or advise on moral decisions. Some researchers even propose using LLMs as participants in psychology experiments. It is, therefore, important to understand how well LLMs make moral decisions and how they compare to humans. We investigated these questions by asking a range of LLMs to emulate or advise on people’s decisions in realistic moral dilemmas. In Study 1, we compared LLM responses to those of a representative U.S. sample ( N = 285) for 22 dilemmas, including both collective action problems that pitted self-interest against the greater good, and moral dilemmas that pitted utilitarian cost–benefit reasoning against deontological rules. In collective action problems, LLMs were more altruistic than participants. In moral dilemmas, LLMs exhibited stronger omission bias than participants: They usually endorsed inaction over action. In Study 2 ( N = 474, preregistered), we replicated this omission bias and documented an additional bias: Unlike humans, most LLMs were biased toward answering “no” in moral dilemmas, thus flipping their decision/advice depending on how the question is worded. In Study 3 ( N = 491, preregistered), we replicated these biases in LLMs using everyday moral dilemmas adapted from forum posts on Reddit. In Study 4, we investigated the sources of these biases by comparing models with and without fine-tuning, showing that they likely arise from fine-tuning models for chatbot applications. Our findings suggest that uncritical reliance on LLMs’ moral decisions and advice could amplify human biases and introduce potentially problematic biases.
AI assessment changes human behavior
Jonas Goergen, Emanuel de Bellis, Anne-Kathrin Klesse
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AI is increasingly replacing human decision-makers across domains. AI-based tools have become particularly common in assessment decisions, such as when recruiting employees or admitting students. Calls for transparency and new legislation require organizations to disclose the use of AI assessment tools, thus making people under assessment aware of its use. We investigate whether this shift from human to AI assessment affects people’s behavior during the assessment. We propose that people emphasize their analytical characteristics and downplay their intuitive and emotional ones under AI (vs. human) assessment, a phenomenon we label “the AI assessment effect.” Twelve studies (eight in text and four in the Supporting Information; N = 13,342) document the AI assessment effect and its underlying mechanism: the lay belief that AI prioritizes analytical characteristics in its assessment. Whereas prior work has studied perceptions of AI assessment tools and their productivity gains, the current research demonstrates systematic behavioral changes because of AI assessment. The findings offer theoretical contributions to the psychology of AI and practical insights for organizations using AI assessment.
A norm about harvest division is maintained by a desire to follow tradition, not by social policing
Minhua Yan, Zhizhong Li, Yuanmei Li, Robert Boyd, Sarah Mathew
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Determining how people behave in contexts governed by social norms can clarify both how norms influence human behavior and how norms evolve. We examined cooperative farming harvest division among the Derung, a Tibeto-Burman-speaking horticultural society in southwestern China. In the village of Dizhengdang, the norm dictates that cofarming harvests should be divided equally among participating households. This contrasts with an alternative norm followed in some other Derung villages that holds that harvests should be divided equally among participating laborers. Rational choice theory and evolutionary models of norm-based cooperation assume that individuals weigh the material and social payoffs of different actions and follow norms because doing so maximizes their payoff. However, the behavior of the Derung in Dizhengdang is not consistent with payoff maximization. Using interviews on co-farming behaviors and attitudes, along with an ultimatum game experiment framed as co-farming harvest division, we found that most respondents preferred divisions based on labor contribution. They also accurately guessed that others shared this preference and would approve of such divisions. Nonetheless, they still followed the prevailing norm of dividing by household. Their self-reported explanation for this behavior was that they desired to follow their traditional practices. Such a normative decision-making algorithm can allow individually consequential norms to persist without costly policing by other group members.

Science

GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Molecular evolution of sour tolerance in birds
Hao Zhang, Lei Luo, Qiaoyi Liang, Lifeng Tian, Yong Shao, Xiuping Zhang, Kaixun Cao, Anna Luo, Chengsan Wang, Peter Muiruri Kamau, Dong-Dong Wu, Maude W. Baldwin, Ren Lai
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Taste is crucial in shaping animal perception. Sourness, one of the primary tastes, is aversive in mammals, whereas many birds frequently consume acidic fruits, suggesting a potential tolerance. Our study uncovers a mechanism enabling avian sour tolerance that involves changes to the sour receptor [otopetrin 1 (OTOP1)]. We demonstrate that sour tolerance is a conserved trait in birds, with avian OTOP1 exhibiting acid-induced inhibition and OTOP1 modulation affecting sour perception and tolerance. Ancestral reconstruction reveals that the increase in acid tolerance may have evolved at the same point in the songbird phylogeny as the regain of sweet sensing in this clade. This shift might have enabled songbirds to feed on a wider range of fruits, affecting the evolution and diversification of the songbird radiation.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Sleep need–dependent plasticity of a thalamic circuit promotes homeostatic recovery sleep
Sang Soo Lee, Qiang Liu, Alexandra H. R. Cheng, Dong Won Kim, Daphne M. Boudreau, Anuradha Mehta, Mehmet F. Keles, Rafal Fejfer, Isabelle Palmer, Kristen H. Park, Heike MĂźnzberg, Timothy D. Harris, Austin R. Graves, Seth Blackshaw, Mark N. Wu
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Prolonged wakefulness leads to persistent, deep recovery sleep (RS). However, the neuronal circuits that mediate this process remain elusive. From a circuit screen in mice, we identified a group of thalamic nucleus reuniens (RE) neurons activated during sleep deprivation (SD) and required for sleep homeostasis. Optogenetic activation of RE neurons leads to an unusual phenotype: presleep behaviors (grooming and nest organizing) followed by prolonged, intense sleep that resembles RS. Inhibiting RE activity during SD impairs subsequent RS, which suggests that these neurons signal sleep need. RE neurons act upstream of sleep-promoting zona incerta cells, and SD triggers plasticity of this circuit to strengthen their connectivity. These findings reveal a circuit mechanism by which sleep need transforms the functional coupling of a sleep circuit to promote persistent, deep sleep.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Origin and radiation of squids revealed by digital fossil-mining
Shin Ikegami, Yusuke Takeda, JĂśrg Mutterlose, Yasuhiro Iba
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The evolution of soft-bodied squids, which provide a major part of the biomass in modern oceans globally, is poorly understood owing to their patchy fossil record. We provide a comprehensive evolutionary history of squids through “digital fossil-mining” techniques, revealing a new lagerstätte. The more than 250 fossil beaks of 40 species show that squids originated and rapidly radiated by 100 million years ago. Our data suggest that the radical shift from heavily shelled, slowly moving cephalopods to soft-bodied forms did not result from the end-Cretaceous mass extinction (66 million years ago). Early squids had already formed large populations, and their biomass exceeded that of ammonites and fishes. They pioneered the modern-type marine ecosystem as intelligent, fast swimmers.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Event structure sculpts neural population dynamics in the lateral entorhinal cortex
Benjamin R. Kanter, Christine M. Lykken, Ignacio Polti, May-Britt Moser, Edvard I. Moser
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Our experience of the world is a continuous stream of events that must be segmented and organized at multiple timescales. The neural mechanisms underlying this process remain unknown. In this work, we simultaneously recorded hundreds to thousands of neurons in the lateral entorhinal cortex of freely behaving rats. Neural population activity drifted continuously along a one-dimensional manifold during all behaviors and behavioral states, including sleep, which points to an intrinsic origin of the drift. In awake animals, boundaries between events were associated with discrete shifts in population dynamics, which segmented the neural activity into temporal units. During tasks with recurring temporal structure, activity traveled additionally in directions orthogonal to the drift, encoding event information across multiple timescales. The results identify a hierarchical coding scheme for organizing events in time.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Gradient refractive indices enable squid structural color and inspire multispectral materials
Georgii Bogdanov, Aleksandra Anna Strzelecka, Nikhil Kaimal, Stephen L. Senft, Sanghoon Lee, Roger T. Hanlon, Alon A. Gorodetsky
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The manipulation of light by means of materials with varying refractive index distributions is widespread among natural systems and modern technologies. However, understanding how animals leverage refractive index differences for dynamic color changes and then translating such insight into tunable optical devices remains challenging. We experimentally and computationally demonstrated that iridescent cells (iridophores) containing Bragg reflectors with sinusoidal-wave (rugate) refractive index profiles enable squid dorsal mantle tissues to reversibly transition between nearly transparent and vibrantly colored states. We then drew inspiration from these findings for the design and development of iridophore-inspired multispectral composite materials with tunable visible and infrared functionalities. Our study provides insight into squid dynamic structural coloration mechanisms and furnishes a technology for camouflage, heat management, display, and sensing applications.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
In vivo CAR T cell generation to treat cancer and autoimmune disease
Theresa L. Hunter, Yanjie Bao, Yan Zhang, Daiki Matsuda, Romina Riener, Annabel Wang, John J. Li, Ferran Soldevila, David S. H. Chu, Duy P. Nguyen, Qian-Chen Yong, Brittany Ross, Michelle Nguyen, James Vestal, Scott Roberts, Diana Galvan, Jerel Boyd Vega, Donald Jhung, Matthew Butcher, Josephine Nguyen, Stanley Zhang, Claudia Fernandez, Jeffrey Chen, Carolina Herrera, Yi Kuo, E. Michael Pica, Goutam Mondal, Andrew L. Mammen, John Scholler, Steven P. Tanis, Stuart A. Sievers, Aric M. Frantz, Gregor B. Adams, Laura Shawver, Ramin Farzaneh-Far, Michael Rosenzweig, Priya P. Karmali, Adrian I. Bot, Carl H. June, Haig Aghajanian
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Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies have transformed treatment of B cell malignancies. However, their broader application is limited by complex manufacturing processes and the necessity for lymphodepleting chemotherapy, restricting patient accessibility. We present an in vivo engineering strategy using targeted lipid nanoparticles (tLNPs) for messenger RNA delivery to specific T cell subsets. These tLNPs reprogrammed CD8 + T cells in both healthy donor and autoimmune patient samples, and in vivo dosing resulted in tumor control in humanized mice and B cell depletion in cynomolgus monkeys. In cynomolgus monkeys, the reconstituted B cells after depletion were predominantly naĂŻve, suggesting an immune system reset. By eliminating the requirements for complex ex vivo manufacturing, this tLNP platform holds the potential to make CAR T cell therapies more accessible and applicable across additional clinical indications.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Interplate slip before, during, and after the 2024 M w 7 Hyuga-nada earthquake, southwest Japan
Shinzaburo Ozawa, Hiroshi Munekane, Hisashi Suito, Hiroshi Yarai
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Using Global Navigation Satellite System data, we investigated the interplate slip before, during, and after the 2024 Hyuga-nada earthquake in Japan. Before the earthquake, a moment magnitude ( M w ) 6.0 slow-slip event (SSE) was observed from late 2023 in a downdip extension of the mainshock. The coseismic slip was adjacent to the 1996 Hyuga-nada earthquake source. The afterslip resolved near the hypocenter area and in the downdip extension of the mainshock, reaching M w 6.7 on 16 September 2024. Leading up to the earthquake, the recurrence interval for SSEs in the preslip area shortened from an average of 2 years, estimated from observations over the past 30 years, to 1 year, consistent with simulations in which the weakening of the Nankai megathrust was attributed to the cause.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Reactivation of mammalian regeneration by turning on an evolutionarily disabled genetic switch
Weifeng Lin, Xiaohui Jia, Xiaofeng Shi, Qiuya He, Panyu Zhang, Xianglei Zhang, Liping Zhang, Mingqi Wu, Tengfei Ren, Yufei Liu, Haohao Deng, Yanyao Li, Shiqi Liu, Shaoyong Huang, Jingmin Kang, Jun Luo, Ziqing Deng, Wei Wang
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Mammals display prominent diversity in the ability to regenerate damaged ear pinna, but the genetic changes underlying the failure of regeneration remain elusive. We performed comparative single-cell and spatial transcriptomic analyses of rabbits and mice recovering from pinna damage. Insufficient retinoic acid (RA) production, caused by the deficiency of rate-limiting enzyme Aldh1a2 and boosted RA degradation, was responsible for the failure of mouse pinna regeneration. Switching on Aldh1a2 or RA supplementation reactivated regeneration. Evolutionary inactivation of multiple Aldh1a2-linked regulatory elements accounted for the deficient Aldh1a2 expression upon injury in mice and rats. Furthermore, the activation of Aldh1a2 by a single rabbit enhancer was sufficient to improve ear pinna regeneration in transgenic mice. Our study identified a genetic switch involved in the evolution of regeneration.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Accelerated discovery of stable, extra-large-pore nano zeolites with micro-electron diffraction
Chao Ma, Zhenghan Zhang, Mengdi Zhang, Xudong Tian, Cong Lin, Lei Han, Guangchao Li, Benedict Tsz Woon Lo, Ka-Fu Yung, Haitao Song, Wei Lin, Miguel A. Camblor, Le Xu, Jian Li
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Stable zeolites with extra-large pores and nano dimensions that are capable of processing large molecules are in high demand but have been difficult to produce. Their complex structures and nanoscale crystal sizes present challenges for analysis using conventional x-ray diffraction techniques, leading to inefficiencies in material development. We report NJU120-1 and NJU120-2, two robust and fully connected aluminosilicate nano zeolites featuring interconnected channel systems with extra-large 22-ring pores. NJU120-1 is a nanosheet with only about 8-nanometer thickness, corresponding to 1.5 unit cells, and NJU120-2 is a nanorod with 50 by 250 nanometer dimensions. Their synthesis optimization was greatly accelerated through rapid structure determination with MicroED, revealing their multidimensional pore structures. Their very large largest-free-sphere diameters of approximately 1.2 nanometers coupled with nano morphologies enabled catalytic cracking of large molecules.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Out-of-Anatolia: Cultural and genetic interactions during the Neolithic expansion in the Aegean
Dilek Koptekin, Ayça Aydoğan, Cansu Karamurat, N. Ezgi Altınışık, Kıvılcım Başak Vural, D. Deniz Kazancı, Ayça Küçükakdağ Doğu, Damla Kaptan, Hasan Can Gemici, Eren Yüncü, Hannah M. Moots, Gülsün Umurtak, Refik Duru, Erkan Fidan, Özlem Çevik, Burçin Erdoğu, Taner Korkut, Christopher J. Knüsel, Scott Haddow, Clark Spencer Larsen, Rana Özbal, Fokke Gerritsen, Eylem Özdoğan, Ali Akbaba, Uygar Ozan Usanmaz, Yasin Cemre Derici, Mine Uçmazoğlu, Flora Jay, Mehmet Özdoğan, Anders Götherström, Yılmaz Selim Erdal, Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas, Çiğdem Atakuman, Füsun Özer, Mehmet Somel
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West Anatolia has been a crucial yet elusive element in the Neolithic expansion from the Fertile Crescent to Europe. In this work, we describe the changing genetic and cultural landscapes of early Holocene West Anatolia using 30 new paleogenomes. We show that Neolithization in West Anatolia was a multifaceted process, characterized by the assimilation of Neolithic practices by local foragers, the influx of eastern populations, and their admixture, with their descendants subsequently establishing Neolithic Southeast Europe. We then coanalyzed genetic and cultural similarities across early Holocene Anatolian and Aegean Neolithic villages using 58 material culture elements. Cultural distances among villages correlate with their spatial distances but not with their genetic distances after controlling for geography. This suggests that cultural change was often decoupled from genetically visible mobility.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Lineage-resolved analysis of embryonic gene expression evolution in C. elegans and C. briggsae
Christopher R. L. Large, Rupa Khanal, LaDeana Hillier, Chau Huynh, Connor Kubo, Junhyong Kim, Robert H. Waterston, John I. Murray
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The constraints that govern the evolution of gene expression patterns across development remain unclear. Single-cell RNA sequencing can detail these constraints by systematically profiling homologous cells. The conserved invariant embryonic lineage of Caenorhabditis elegans and C. briggsae makes them ideal for comparing cell type gene expression across evolution. Measuring the spatiotemporal divergence of gene expression across embryogenesis, we find a high level of similarity in gene expression programs between species despite tens of millions of years of evolutionary divergence. Nonetheless, thousands of genes show divergence in their cell type specific expression patterns, with enrichment for functions in environmental response and behavior. Neuronal cell types show higher divergence than others such as the intestine and germline. This work identifies likely constraints on the evolution of developmental gene expression.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Efficient super-reducing organic photoredox catalysis with proton-coupled electron transfer mitigated back electron transfer
Amreen K. Bains, Arindam Sau, Brandon S. Portela, Kajal Kajal, Alexander R. Green, Anna M. Wolff, Ludovic F. Patin, Robert S. Paton, Niels H. Damrauer, Garret M. Miyake
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Photoredox catalysis driven by visible light has improved chemical synthesis by enabling milder reaction conditions and unlocking distinct reaction mechanisms. Despite the transformative impact, visible-light photoredox catalysis remains constrained by the thermodynamic limits of photon energy and inefficiencies arising from unproductive back electron transfer, both of which become particularly pronounced in thermodynamically demanding reactions. In this work, we introduce an organic photoredox catalyst system that overcomes these obstacles to drive chemical transformations that require super-reducing capabilities. This advancement is accomplished by coupling the energy of two photons into a single chemical reduction, whereas inefficiencies from back electron transfer are mitigated through a distinct proton-coupled electron transfer mechanism embedded in the catalyst design. The super-reducing capabilities of this organic catalyst system are demonstrated through efficient application in a broad scope of challenging arene reductions.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Cascading land surface hazards as a nexus in the Earth system
Brian J. Yanites, Marin K. Clark, Joshua J. Roering, A. Joshua West, Dimitrios Zekkos, Jane W. Baldwin, Corina Cerovski-Darriau, Sean F. Gallen, Daniel E. Horton, Eric Kirby, Ben A. Leshchinsky, H. Benjamin Mason, Seulgi Moon, Katherine R. Barnhart, Adam Booth, Jonathan A. Czuba, Scott McCoy, Luke McGuire, Allison Pfeiffer, Jennifer Pierce
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This Review synthesizes progress and outlines a new framework for understanding how land surface hazards interact and propagate as sediment cascades across Earth’s surface, influenced by interactions among the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and solid Earth. Recent research highlights a gap in understanding these interactions on human timescales, given rapid climatic change and urban expansion into hazard-prone zones. We review how surface processes such as coseismic landslides and post-fire debris flows form a complex sequence of events that exacerbate hazard susceptibility. Moreover, innovations in modeling, remote sensing, and critical zone science can offer new opportunities for quantifying cascading hazards. Looking forward, societal resilience can increase by transforming our understanding of cascading hazards through advances in integrating data into comprehensive models that link across Earth systems.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Rapid polygenic adaptation in a wild population of ash trees under a novel fungal epidemic
Carey L. Metheringham, William J. Plumb, William R. M. Flynn, Jonathan J. Stocks, Laura J. Kelly, Miguel Nemesio Gorriz, Stuart W. D. Grieve, Justin Moat, Emily R. Lines, Richard J. A. Buggs, Richard A. Nichols
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Rapid evolution through small shifts in allele frequencies at thousands of loci is a long-standing neo-Darwinian prediction but is hard to characterize in the wild. European ash tree ( Fraxinus excelsior ) populations have recently come under strong selection by the invasive fungal pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus . Using genomic prediction models based on field trial phenotypes and 7985 loci, we show a shift in genomically estimated breeding values in an ancient woodland, between adult trees established before the epidemic started and juvenile trees established since. Using simulations, we estimate that natural selection has eliminated 31% of the juvenile population. Thus, we document a highly polygenic heritable microevolutionary adaptive change over a single generation in the wild.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Evidence for Hadean mafic intrusions in the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt, Canada
C. Sole, J. O’Neil, H. Rizo, J.-L. Paquette, D. Benn, J. Plakholm
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Many questions remain regarding Earth’s earliest crust owing to the rarity of Hadean (>4.03 billion-year-old) rocks and minerals. The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt (NGB) in Canada may be the only known remnant of Hadean crust, although its age is debated, ranging from ≥3.75 to 4.3 billion years old. Mafic intrusions within this belt were specifically sampled and analyzed to investigate the timing of their magmatic differentiation. Correlations between samarium/neodymium (Sm/Nd) and 143 Nd/ 144 Nd and 142 Nd/ 144 Nd ratios correspond to ages of 4157 ± 174 and 4196 − 81 + 53 million years for the long-lived 147 Sm- 143 Nd and the short-lived 146 Sm- 142 Nd systems, respectively. The age agreement between both extant and extinct radiogenic systems, in rocks related through igneous fractionation, is compelling evidence for preservation of Hadean rocks in the NGB, opening a rare window into Earth’s earliest times.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Spontaneous formation of urea from carbon dioxide and ammonia in aqueous droplets
Mercede Azizbaig Mohajer, Pallab Basuri, Andrei Evdokimov, GrĂŠgory David, Daniel Zindel, Evangelos Miliordos, Ruth Signorell
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Urea is a key molecule in the search for the origin of life and a basic chemical produced in large quantities by industry. Its formation from ammonia and carbon dioxide requires either high pressures and temperatures or, under milder conditions, catalysts or additional reagents. In this study, we observed the spontaneous formation of urea under ambient conditions from ammonia and carbon dioxide in the surface layer of aqueous droplets. Single, optically trapped droplets were probed by using Raman bands as markers. We found the surface layer to act like a microscopic flow reactor, with chemical gradients providing access to unconventional reaction pathways. This observation revealed a general mechanistic scheme for distinctive droplet chemistry. Interfacial chemistry is a possible nonenergetic route for urea formation under prebiotic conditions.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Structural basis of BAX pore formation
Ying Zhang, Lu Tian, Gaoxingyu Huang, Xiaofei Ge, Fang Kong, Pengqi Wang, Yige Xu, Yigong Shi
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During apoptosis, cytosolic BAX monomers are translocated to the mitochondria to permeabilize the outer membrane. Here, we identified a dimer of BAX dimers as the basic repeating unit of its various oligomeric forms: arcs, lines, and rings. Cryo–electron microscopy structure of the BAX repeating unit at 3.2-angstrom resolution revealed the interactions within and between dimers. End-to-end stacking of the repeating units through the protruding α9 pairs yielded lines, arcs, polygons, and rings. We structurally characterized the tetragon, pentagon, hexagon, and heptagon, which comprise 16, 20, 24, and 28 BAX protomers, respectively. Missense mutations at the BAX inter-protomer interface damage pore formation and cripple its proapoptotic function. The assembly principle of the various BAX oligomers reported here provides the structural basis of membrane permeabilization by BAX.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Migrating shallow slow slip on the Nankai Trough megathrust captured by borehole observatories
Joshua R. Edgington, Demian M. Saffer, Charles A. Williams
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Patterns of strain accumulation and release offshore in subduction zones are directly linked to the potential for shallow coseismic slip and tsunamigenesis, but these patterns remain elusive. In this work, we analyze formation pore pressure records from three offshore borehole observatories at the Nankai subduction zone, Honshu, Japan, to capture detailed slip-time histories of two slow slip events (SSEs) along the outermost reaches of the plate boundary. Slip initiates ~30 kilometers landward of the trench; migrates seaward at 1 to 2 kilometers per day to within a few kilometers of, and possibly breaching, the trench; and coincides with the onset and migration of tremor and/or very-low-frequency earthquakes. The SSE source region lies in a zone of high pore fluid pressure and low stress, which provides clear observational evidence linking these factors to shallow slow earthquakes.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Greener green and bluer blue: Ocean poleward greening over the past two decades
Haipeng Zhao, Manfredi Manizza, M. Susan Lozier, Nicolas Cassar
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Although the global greening associated with climate change is well documented on land, similar trends in the ocean have not been thoroughly identified. Using satellite observations of ocean chlorophyll a (Chl) concentration, we show that the surface ocean experienced a poleward greening from 2003 to 2022. Contemporaneously, the subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere experienced a decrease in Chl. As such, the latitudinal disparity in Chl, as documented by an inequality index, has been increasing over the past two decades, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. Rising water temperatures may primarily influence the Chl trends. The increasing Chl inequality—marked by “greener green and bluer blue” waters—has the potential to cascade to higher trophic levels, with implications for the fisheries and economies of coastal nations.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Excision of organic macrocycles from covalent organic frameworks
Roberto SĂĄnchez-Naya, Juan Pablo Cavalieri, Jorge Albalad, Alba CortĂŠs-MartĂ­nez, Kaiyu Wang, Carles Fuertes-Espinosa, Teodor Parella, Sara Fiori, Esteve Ribas, Aitor Mugarza, Xavi Ribas, Jordi Faraudo, Omar M. Yaghi, Inhar Imaz, Daniel Maspoch
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Molecules are typically synthesized through stepwise processes involving chemical reactions between simple molecular precursors. Here, we report an advance in the synthesis of new organic molecules based on the approach of clip-off chemistry, in which molecules are excised from ordered, extended organic structures. We synthesized macrocycles by selectively cleaving them out of covalent organic frameworks. The synthesized macrocycles include eight macrocyclic polyamides with 114-, 138-, and 162-atom rings, and one 114-atom ring macrocyclic polyimide. This excision approach expands the scope of chemical organic synthesis to previously inaccessible macromolecules.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Limitations of chemical monitoring hinder aquatic risk evaluations on the macroscale
Sascha Bub, Lara L. Petschick, Sebastian Stehle, Jakob Wolfram, Ralf Schulz
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Macroscale evaluations of chemical monitoring data require the integration of chemical, spatial, and temporal dimensions. Here, we linked 64 million US surface water monitoring records (1900 chemicals, date range 1958 to 2019, 310,000 sites) and 37 million analytical limits and in vivo and in silico toxicity thresholds. We found that the exposure data required for retrospective risk assessment were available for less than 1% of chemicals with potential environmental concern ( n ≈ 297,000). In contrast to the situation with persistent and often inorganic contaminants in the 1970s, current monitoring schemes lack control of a much larger number of organic chemicals and their degradates. Insufficient chemical and spatial coverage of monitoring, along with analytical limits being far too high to track some of the most toxic chemicals, biases risk perceptions for important chemicals.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Let there be light: From passive agricultural sensing to active intervention
Xiaobo Yin
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In Thailand, the word BaiKhao (ใบข้าว)—meaning “rice leaf”—embodies a quiet agricultural revolution. For generations, farmers gauged crops’ nitrogen fertilizer needs by visually assessing leaf greenness, a method vulnerable to variations in lighting conditions and human error. Today, the “BaiKhaoNK” mobile app transforms smartphones into optical sensors. Using built-in cameras, it quantifies chlorophyll levels through spectral analysis and recommends precise fertilizer doses. This innovation epitomizes agriphotonics, a field dedicated to harnessing light-based tools to monitor, analyze, and diagnose crops and their environments.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Divergent FOXA1 mutations drive prostate tumorigenesis and therapy-resistant cellular plasticity
Sanjana Eyunni, Rahul Mannan, Yuping Zhang, Eleanor Young, Qiuyang Zhang, Jie Luo, Matthew Pang, Somnath Mahapatra, Jean Ching-Yi Tien, James M. George, Mustapha Jaber, Hamzah Hakkani, Sandra E. Carson, Abigail J. Todd, Noshad Hosseini, Mahnoor Gondal, Ryan J. Rebernick, Xuhong Cao, Fengyun Su, Rui Wang, Rohit Mehra, Jing Li, Marcin Cieslik, Arul M. Chinnaiyan, Abhijit Parolia
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FOXA1 is altered in 10 to 40% of prostate cancers, yet its oncogenic mechanisms remain uncharacterized in vivo. We developed knock-in mouse models representing distinct classes of FOXA1 mutations. Histopathological and multi-omic analyses of prostate tissues and organoids revealed that Class 1 mutations, in conjunction with p53 inactivation, drive androgen-dependent adenocarcinomas through co-activation of mTORC1/2 and oncogenic AR signaling stemming from chimeric AR-half enhancers. In contrast, Class 2 mutations induce intra-luminal plasticity by reprogramming differentiated luminal cells into a progenitor-like state through activation of KLF5 and AP-1 neo-enhancer circuitries, which enables enhanced survival and proliferation even under castrate androgen levels. Our findings establish FOXA1 as a multifaceted oncogene, with distinct mutational classes divergently evolving to drive prostate tumorigenesis or therapy-resistant progression.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Neuroinflammation across neurological diseases
Fu-Dong Shi, V. Wee Yong
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The brain’s response to injury includes the activation of intrinsic microglia and the influx of leukocytes, collectively constituting neuroinflammation, the “flame” of the brain. Although details differ and matter, neuroinflammation exacerbating neurodegeneration has similarities across multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders, such as stroke and neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, lessons from successful disease-modifying therapies in multiple sclerosis may provide insights into strategies for modulating neuroinflammation and reducing neural injury in other neurological conditions. In this Review, we discuss these lessons and potential strategies for counteracting neuroinflammation, including taming the microglia-orchestrated brain immune responses that contribute to progressing neuropathology.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Cholinergic feedback for modality- and context-specific modulation of sensory representations
Bin Yu, Yuxuan Yue, Chi Ren, Rui Yun, Byungkook Lim, Takaki Komiyama
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The brain’s ability to prioritize sensory information is crucial for adaptive behavior, yet its mechanisms remain unclear. We investigated basal forebrain cholinergic neurons modulating olfactory bulb (OB) circuits in mice. The activity of cholinergic feedback axons in OB correlated with orofacial movements, with little responses to passively experienced odors. When mice engaged in an olfactory task, OB cholinergic axons rapidly shifted their response patterns from movement correlated to odor aligned. This response shift was absent in cholinergic axons projecting to the dorsal cortex during olfactory task engagement, and in OB, during an auditory task. Inactivation of OB-projecting cholinergic neurons impaired olfactory task performance and reduced odor responses in OB granule cells. Thus, the cholinergic system dynamically modulates sensory processing in a modality-specific and context-dependent manner.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Stable and uniform self-assembled organic diradical molecules for perovskite photovoltaics
Wenping Wu, Han Gao, Lingbo Jia, Yuan Li, Dezhong Zhang, Hongmei Zhan, Jianan Xu, Binhe Li, Ziran Geng, Yanxiang Cheng, Hui Tong, Yanxiong Pan, Jun Liu, Yongcai He, Xixiang Xu, Zhenguo Li, Bo He, Min Zhou, Lixiang Wang, Chuanjiang Qin
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Organic self-assembled molecules (SAMs), widely used in perovskite solar cells (PSCs), should exhibit enhanced performance to support the ongoing advancement of perovskite photovoltaics. We designed diradical SAMs through a coplanar-conjugation of donor-acceptor strategy to facilitate hole transport across the SAMs. The diradical SAMs exhibited high photothermal and electrochemical stability, as well as improved assembly uniformity and large-area solution processability attributed to molecular steric hindrance design. An advanced scanning electrochemical cell microscopy-thin-layer cyclic voltammetry technique was used to accurately determine the carrier transfer rate, stability, and assembly properties of SAMs. Ultimately, the efficiencies of PSCs exceeded 26.3%, mini-modules (10.05 cm 2 ) reached 23.6%, and perovskite-silicon tandem devices (1 cm 2 ) surpassed 34.2%. PSCs maintained > 97% after 2000 hours tracking at 45°C.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Bacterial reverse transcriptase synthesizes long poly(A)-rich cDNA for antiphage defense
Xin-Yi Song, Yushan Xia, Jun-Tao Zhang, Yu-Jun Liu, Hua Qi, Xin-Yang Wei, Hailiang Hu, Yu Xia, Xue Liu, Ying-Fei Ma, Ning Jia
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Prokaryotic defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) were recently identified with antiviral functions; however, their functional mechanisms remain largely unexplored. Here we show that DRT9 forms a hexameric complex with its upstream noncoding RNA (ncRNA) to mediate antiphage defense by inducing cell growth arrest through abortive infection. Upon phage infection, the phage-encoded ribonucleotide reductase NrdAB complex increases intracellular deoxyadenosine triphosphate levels, activating DRT9 to synthesize long, polyadenylate [poly(A)]–rich single-stranded complementary DNA (cDNA), which likely sequesters the essential phage single-stranded DNA binding (SSB) protein and disrupts phage propagation. We further determined the cryo–electron microscopy structure of the DRT9-ncRNA hexamer complex, providing mechanistic insights into its cDNA synthesis. These findings highlight the diversity of RT-based antiviral defense mechanisms, expand our understanding of RT biological functions, and provide a structural basis for developing DRT9-based biotechnological tools.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Bespoke plant glycoconjugates for gut microbiota–mediated drug targeting
Wei Jen Ma, Changqing Wang, Jagatheeswaran Kothandapani, Matthew Luzentales-Simpson, Susan C. Menzies, Danisa M. Bescucci, Máximo E. Lange, Alexander S. C. Fraser, Jenny F. Gusse, Kathaleen E. House, Paul E. Moote, Xiaohui Xing, Julie M. Grondin, Benjamin Wei‐Qiang Hui, Sandra T. Clarke, Tara G. Shelton, Natasha Haskey, Deanna L. Gibson, Eric C. Martens, D. Wade Abbott, G. Douglas Inglis, Laura M. Sly, Harry Brumer
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The gut microbiota of mammals possess distinctive metabolic pathways with untapped therapeutic potential. Using molecular insights into dietary fiber metabolism by the human gut microbiota, we designed a targeted drug delivery system, called GlycoCaging, that is based on bespoke glycoconjugates of a complex plant oligosaccharide. GlycoCaging of exemplar anti-inflammatory drugs enabled release of active molecules triggered by specific glycosidases of autochthonous gut bacteria. GlycoCaging ensured that drug efficacy was potentiated, and off-target effects were eliminated in murine models of inflammatory bowel disease. Biochemical and metagenomic analyses of gut microbiota of individual humans confirmed the broad applicability of this strategy.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Mechanism of release factor–mediated peptidyl-tRNA hydrolysis on the ribosome
Elena V. Aleksandrova, Egor A. Syroegin, Ritwika S. Basu, Alexander A. Vassilevski, Matthieu G. Gagnon, Yury S. Polikanov
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Translation termination is essential in all living organisms because it ensures that proteins have lengths strictly defined by their genes. This universal process is mediated by peptide release factors (RFs) that recognize stop codons and catalyze the hydrolysis of peptidyl transfer RNA (peptidyl-tRNA) on the ribosome, presumably by activating a water molecule. We report structures of the bacterial ribosome in complex with peptidyl-tRNA and RFs in the prepeptide release state. No hydrolytic water molecule was seen in the peptidyl transferase center. Instead, RFs induced rearrangements of the peptidyl-tRNA adenine 76 (A76) ribose pucker that orient the 2′-OH for the nucleophilic attack onto the neighboring carbonyl group. These findings suggest a catalytic mechanism of RF-mediated peptide release and provide a structural basis for the universal conservation of the catalytic domain in peptide RFs.
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Producing hunger On Hunger Dana Simmons University of California Press, 2025. 234 pp.
Laura Stark
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A scholar confronts how powerful groups use food as a means of control
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Congress shows signs of resisting proposed science cuts
Dan Charles
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Lawmakers reject some cuts, question others
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Death Glitch
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Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
In Other Journals
L. Bryan Ray, Madeleine Seale, Di Jiang, Sarah H. Ross, Angela Hessler, Marc S. Lavine, Melissa McCartney
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Editors’ selections from the current scientific literature
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
New books from outer space, future Earth, and close to home Notes on Infinity Austin Taylor , Celadon Books, 2025, 400 pp. Endling , Maria Reva , Doubleday, 2025, 352 pp. Dengue Boy , Michel Nieva, translated by Rahul Bery , Astra House, 2025, 224 pp. Terrestrial History , Joe Mungo Reed , Norton, 2025, 256 pp. Luminous , Silvia Park , Simon & Schuster, 2025, 400 pp. One Yellow Eye , Leigh Radford , Gallery Books, 2025, 352 pp. Esperance , Adam Oyebanji , DAW, 2025, 432 pp. Atmosphere , Taylor Jenkins Reid , Ballantine Books, 2025, 352 pp. The Dream Hotel , Laila Lalami , Pantheon, 2025, 336 pp.
Allessandra DiCorato, Amanda Alvarez, Maddie Bender, Bing Lin, Priya Dames, Mark Dumont, Kasra Zarei, Shi En Kim, Stephani Sutherland
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Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
In Other Journals
Bianca Lopez, Keith T. Smith, Sacha Vignieri, Stella M. Hurtley, Phil Szuromi, Ekeoma Uzogara, Jesse Smith
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Editors’ selections from the current scientific literature
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Funding cuts to U.S. archaeology could imperil its future, researchers say
Taylor Mitchell Brown, Monica Hersher
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Canceled and curtailed grants from federal agencies have hit research projects, collections, and training
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
The power of reinvention
IvĂĄn M. Moya
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Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
US must support chemistry research
Karen Allen, Peter B. Armentrout, Clifford Berkman, Steven G. Boxer, Michael Burkart, James W. Canary, Ronald K. Castellano, Linda Columbus, Victoria J. DeRose, Howard Fairbrother, Gregory S. Ferguson, Joe Foley, Christy Haynes, Jennifer M. Heemstra, Frieder Jaekle, Kenneth Knappenberger, Wei Kong, Laura J. Kaufman, Tristan H. Lambert, Yu-Shan Lin, Haitao Liu, Ricardo Metz, Amanda Morris, Catherine J. Murphy, Mark Peczuh, William Pennington, John A. Pojman, Sarah Reisman, Matthew Shores, Alexander M. Spokoyny, Greg Szulczewski, Troy Van Voorhis, Timothy H. Warren, Lai-Sheng Wang, Vicki Wysocki, Jin Zhang
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Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Facing life’s wild unknowns Meltdown: The Making and Breaking of a Field Scientist Sarah Boon University of Alberta Press, 2025. 312 pp.
Anna Farro Henderson
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A field scientist candidly reflects on navigating personal and institutional challenges
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
In Science Journals
Keith T. Smith, Jake S. Yeston, Bianca Lopez, Phil Szuromi, Melisa Yashinski, Courtney Malo, Leslie K. Ferrarelli, Peter Stern, Jesse Smith, Mattia Maroso, Di Jiang, Corinne Simonti, Priscilla N. Kelly, Seth Thomas Scanlon
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Highlights from the Science family of journals
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Poleward greening of the global oceans
Raphael M. Kudela
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Shifts in phytoplankton populations could affect marine ecology and fisheries around the world
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Without a lifeline
Catherine Offord
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The United States reneged on its foreign aid commitments. Nepal’s malnourished children and their families are paying the price
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Order to restore NIH grants heartens scientists
Sara Reardon
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Federal judge decries NIH’s rationale for killing blacklisted grants as capricious and arbitrary
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Genomic insights into social life in Neolithic Anatolia
Benjamin S. Arbuckle
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Matriarchs and foragers emerge as important players in early farming villages
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Engineering immunotherapy from within
Vivek Peche, Stephen Gottschalk
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Lipid nanoparticles are designed to generate therapeutic T cells inside living animal models
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Tumors may get energy boost from nerve cells’ mitochondria
Mitch Leslie
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Study shows the organelles traveling through “bridges” into nearby cancer cells
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Disappearing people: A global demographic data crisis threatens public policy
Jessica M. Espey, Andrew J. Tatem, Dana R. Thomson
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Collapsing international support for population data collection is compromising government planning all around the world
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
A caged drug enables precision delivery
Yuhao Xie, Zhe-Sheng Chen
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“GlycoCaging” uses gut bacteria to activate drugs for inflammatory bowel disease
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
New vaccine panelists have published little on vaccines
Martin Enserink, Meredith Wadman
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RFK Jr.’s purge of key advisory committee represents a major loss of expertise, as measured by scientific papers
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Sound policy demands sound science
Michael Kratsios
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Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Japan wires up offshore trenches to warn of ruptures
Paul Voosen
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Seafloor monitoring is revealing how “slow slip” earthquakes can lead to big ones
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
All-seeing eye
Daniel Clery
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The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is set to transform astronomy. Its wide and fast survey will discover billions of dynamic objects while building up a deep map of the universe
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Remembering China’s coastal mudflats
Fu Chen
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Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Tasting opportunity
Hannah M. Rowland, Eve R. Schneider
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How birds retuned sour perception to eat fruits
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Climate adaptation finance: From paper commitments to climate risk reduction
Jasper Verschuur, Nicola Ranger, Jim. W. Hall
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Science can help to target climate finance at better-quality adaptation
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Satellite swarms mar Rubin’s pristine view
Daniel Clery
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Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Microbe with tiny genome may evolve into a virus
Christie Wilcox
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With DNA focused almost entirely on replication, newly discovered organism blurs the line between cells and viruses
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Protect transgender scientists
Nasa Sinnott-Armstrong, Desiree Forsythe, Jane M Benoit, Callie R. Chappell, Lisa S. Y. Coe, Bruno Francesco Rodrigues de Oliveira, Natalya Evans, Anna C. Fagre, Jonathan M. Gilligan, Maria Hamilton, Colin Moran Henneberry, Suzanne L. Ishaq, Juliet Johnston, Erin Krichilsky, Jamie Alcira Lopez, Kay McMonigal, Melanie Ortiz Alvarez de la Campa, Rahmeen Rahman, Nicole E. Schwartz, Lauren Talluto, Eric J. Taylor, JosĂŠ M. Vargas-MuĂąiz, J. L. Weissman
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Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Sluggishness and defensiveness enabled an executive order on research integrity
H. Holden Thorp
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Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Will HIV preventive be a game changer or a missed opportunity?
Kai Kupferschmidt
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FDA’s anticipated approval of lenacapavir comes at a time of global health cuts
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
In Science Journals
Mark S. Aldenderfer, Sacha Vignieri, Corinne Simonti, Phil Szuromi, Yury Suleymanov, Angela Hessler, Jake S. Yeston, Courtney Malo, Jesse Smith, Peter Stern, Stella M. Hurtley, Di Jiang, Marc S. Lavine, Caroline Ash, Leslie Ferrarelli, Christiana N. Fogg
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Highlights from the Science family of journals
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Now you see me, now you don’t
Matthew D. Shawkey
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Nanostructured reflecting plates in squid cells enable a rapid switch between colored and near-transparent states
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Where the brain pays sleep debt
Nicole M. Gilette, Jonathan O. Lipton
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Neurons in the thalamus drive restorative sleep
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Torn between two worlds
Georgina Kirby
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Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Radio bursts reveal universe’s ‘missing matter’
Daniel Clery
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Mystery signals used to locate gases in the spaces between galaxies
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Erratum for the Perspective “Astrocytes, hidden puppet masters of the brain” by C. Eroglu
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Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
Where slow and large earthquakes meet
Kazushige Obara
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Adjacent slow slip events affect megathrust earthquakes
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
National Academies adopts new business model amid financial storm
Jeffrey Mervis
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Realignment of major program units aims to improve efficiency and make up for loss of federal contracts
Science abstract < 200 char.: Not a research article
U.S. researchers speak up in local newspapers
Katie Langin
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Through two grassroots efforts, approximately 200 op-eds showcasing federally funded science have been published across the country
Female lineages and changing kinship patterns in Neolithic Çatalhöyük
Eren Yüncü, Ayça Küçükakdağ Doğu, Damla Kaptan, Muhammed Sıddık Kılıç, Camilla Mazzucato, Merve N. Güler, Elifnaz Eker, Büşra Katırcıoğlu, Maciej Chyleński, Kıvılcım Başak Vural, Ekin Sağlıcan, Gözde Atağ, Defne Bozkurt, Jessica Pearson, Arda Sevkar, N. Ezgi Altınışık, Marco Milella, Cansu Karamurat, Şevval Aktürk, Emre Deniz Yurttaş, Nisan Yıldız, Dilek Koptekin, Sevgi Yorulmaz, Duygu Deniz Kazancı, Ayça Aydoğan, Kanat Gürün, Eline M.J. Schotsmans, Jana Anvari, Eva Rosenstock, Jennifer Byrnes, Peter F. Biehl, David Orton, Vendela Kempe Lagerholm, Hasan Can Gemici, Milena Vasic, Arkadiusz Marciniak, Çiğdem Atakuman, Yılmaz Selim Erdal, Emrah Kırdök, Marin Pilloud, Clark Spencer Larsen, Scott D. Haddow, Anders Götherström, Christopher J. Knüsel, Füsun Özer, Ian Hodder, Mehmet Somel
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Combining 131 paleogenomes with bioarchaeological and archaeological data, we studied social organization and gendered practices in Çatalhöyük East Mound (7100 to 5950 BCE), a major Neolithic settlement in Central Anatolia. In early Çatalhöyük, burials in the same building were frequently close genetic relatives, suggesting that houses were used by biological family members. In later periods, however, individuals buried in the same building were often genetically unrelated, despite sharing similar diets. We found no indication of sex-biased mobility into Çatalhöyük. Meanwhile, in all periods, within-building genetic connections were predominantly maternal rather than paternal. Burials of female subadults also received a higher frequency of gifts than male subadults. Our results reveal how kinship practices changed while specific practices prioritizing female lines persisted for 1000 years at Neolithic Çatalhöyük.
Ten times faster is not 10 times better
Alondra Nelson
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As the Trump administration systematically defunds the American research ecosystem, while disingenuously promising a return to so-called “gold standard science,” hope can be drawn from the new bipartisan initiative from Senators Martin Heinrich (Democrat, New Mexico) and Michael Rounds (Republican, South Dakota). Their American Science Acceleration Project (ASAP) seeks to make science in the United States “ten times faster by 2030” through five pillars: data, computing, artificial intelligence (AI), collaboration, and process improvement. But simply accelerating will exacerbate historical weaknesses in our innovation system and reproduce the damaging Silicon Valley ethos of “move fast and break things.” Faster is not necessarily better when it comes to innovation and discovery. Supercharging a research ecosystem that already struggles with accessibility and public trust risks more than it achieves.
Fool’s gold
David Michaels, Wendy Wagner
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Already rocked by decades of political interference, corporate influence, mismanagement, and partisan efforts to undermine its authority, the expert bureaucracy, the “lifeblood” of the US administrative state, is now gasping for air. On 23 May, President Trump issued an executive order (EO)—Restoring Gold Standard Science—promising to fix these issues. Instead, the EO is poised to make them far worse: It officially empowers political appointees to override conclusions and interpretations of government scientists, threaten their professional autonomy, and undermine the scientific capacity of research and regulatory agencies.
Plastic bag bans and fees reduce harmful bag litter on shorelines
Anna Papp, Kimberly L. Oremus
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Plastic pollution threatens marine and freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide. Although plastic bag bans and taxes are increasingly implemented worldwide, their effectiveness in reducing plastic litter remains unknown. Leveraging the patchwork of bag policies across different geographic scales in the United States and citizen science data on 45,067 shoreline cleanups, we assess the impact of these policies on plastic bag litter. We find that plastic bag policies lead to a 25 to 47% decrease in plastic bags as a share of total items collected at cleanups relative to areas without policies, with taxes possibly further reducing shoreline litter. At a time when many jurisdictions are considering bag policies, while others are preemptively prohibiting them, our study provides evidence that they mitigate shoreline plastic pollution.

Science Advances

Generic title: Not a research article
Erratum for the Research Article “Targeting and arginine-driven synergizing photodynamic therapy with nutritional immunotherapy nanosystems for combating MRSA biofilms” by A. Zhang et al .
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GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Memristive floating-point Fourier neural operator network for efficient scientific modeling
Jiancong Li, Jing Tian, Yudeng Lin, Zhiwei Zhou, Yi Li, Bin Gao, Jianshi Tang, Jia Chen, Yuhui He, He Qian, Huaqiang Wu, Xiangshui Miao
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Emerging artificial intelligence for science (AI-for-Science) algorithms, such as the Fourier neural operator (FNO), enabled fast and efficient scientific simulation. However, extensive data transfers and intensive high-precision computing are necessary for network training, which challenges conventional digital computing platforms. Here, we demonstrated the potential of a heterogeneous computing-in-memristor (CIM) system to accelerate the FNO for scientific modeling tasks. Our system contains eight four-kilobit memristor chips with embedded floating-point computing workflows and a heterogeneous training scheme, representing a heterogeneous CIM platform that leverages precision-limited analog devices to accelerate floating-point neural network training. We demonstrate the capabilities of this system by solving the one-dimensional Burgers’ equation and modeling the three-dimensional thermal conduction phenomenon. An expected nearly 116 times to 21 times increase in computational energy efficiency was achieved, with solution precision comparable to those of digital processors. Our results extend in-memristor computing applicability beyond edge neural networks and facilitate construction of future AI-for-Science computing platforms.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Smart ultra-long-lasting sequentially triggerable and artfully implantable nozzle system for on-demand drug delivery for chronotherapy
Qi Zeng, Yusheng Gong, Wenhao Jiao, Jiarong Xu, Xiuli Chen, Rengui Xu, Yuan Liu, Xinting Liang, Guanyue Li, Jiajing Liu, Linxi He, Wenhao Li, Xiaoxia Zhang, Xiaoyuan Chen, Wei Chen
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Conventional drug delivery methods for chronic disease often suffer from low potency and poor patient compliance, while current advanced devices face limitations because of bulkiness, frequent implantation needs, inflammation risk, and lack of precise control. To overcome these challenges, we developed the SUSTAIN—a smart, ultra-long-lasting, sequentially triggerable, and artfully implantable nozzle system. The SUSTAIN integrates an osmotic pressure–triggered module, an airflow-generated T-pipe (AGT), and a drug infusion pump (DIP) for controlled subcutaneous drug release. The AGT enables tunable dosing by varying NaHCO 3 /KH 2 PO 4 powder amounts, while shear thinning of the β-cyclodextrin/Pluronic F-127 hydrogel in the DIP ensures sustained drug infusion. In vivo studies show that the SUSTAIN delivers at least four doses of levothyroxine sodium over 10 days and three doses of semaglutide over 42 days, maintaining effective blood drug levels with minimal invasiveness. This system presents a highly promising solution for improving therapeutic outcomes and convenience in chronic disease management.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Self-assembling dendrimer nanodrug formulations for decreased hERG-related toxicity and enhanced therapeutic efficacy
Xi Liu, Dinesh Dhumal, Patricia Santofimia-Castaùo, Juan Liu, Marion Casanova, Alicia Comino Garcia-Muùoz, Teodora-Adriana Perles-Barbacaru, Abdechakour Elkihel, Wenzheng Zhang, Tom Roussel, Christina Galanakou, Jing Wu, Eleni Zerva, Nelson Dusetti, Yi Xia, Xing-Jie Liang, Angèle Viola, Juan L. Iovanna, Ling Peng
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Cardiotoxicity, especially human ether-a-go-go–related gene (hERG)–related toxicity, is a leading cause of drug failure or market withdrawal. Reducing hERG binding to obviate potential cardiac toxicity is crucial. Nanotechnology has been applied to drug delivery for reducing drug toxicity and improving efficacy, but few studies have addressed hERG-related cardiotoxicity. We report the use of self-assembling dendrimer nanosystems for drug formulation and delivery, which effectively reduced hERG binding and associated toxicity while promoting therapeutic efficacy. Specifically, these dendrimer nanosystems efficiently encapsulated the antimalarial drug chloroquine, the anticancer agent doxorubicin, and the NUPR1 inhibitor ZZW115, all three having high affinity to hERG channels. These nanoformulations showed three- to eightfold reduced hERG binding affinity, which, in animal models, translated to abolished toxicity. These nanodrugs exhibited prolonged circulation, leading to enhanced accumulation at disease sites and improved treatment outcomes. This study highlights the potential of nanotechnology to reduce hERG binding and related toxicity while improving drug efficacy, offering valuable perspectives for drug development.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
sp 2 /sp 3 –Hybridized nitrogen–mediated electrochemical CO 2 capture and utilization
Zhenfang Zhang, Yitong Li, Yiwen Zhong, Peng Li, Lingfeng Zhu, Zhi Zheng, Baohua Jia, Matthew David, Yang Fu, Hai Yu, Tianyi Ma
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Electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) capture and utilization, powered by renewable energy, are essential to achieving net-zero emissions and CO 2 valorization. While remarkable progress has been made in catalysts, solution design, and system engineering, recent breakthroughs reveal that nitrogen-containing molecules—specifically sp 2 -hybridized structures (e.g., pyridine) and sp 3 -hybridized moieties (e.g., ethanolamine) —hold untapped potential to revolutionize both CO 2 capture and conversion. These structures have been demonstrated as the Holy Grail in facilitating CO 2 activation, stabilizing key intermediates, and streamlining reaction pathways—capabilities rarely achievable with conventional strategies. However, limited mechanistic understanding of their physicochemical properties and interactions with CO 2 hampers broader application. This review highlights recent advances in leveraging sp 2 /sp 3 -hybridized nitrogen structures, unpacks their molecular roles in electrochemical CO 2 management, and offers a unifying framework for their dual-functionality across capture and conversion. By illuminating these nitrogen-based motifs, we uncover practical design principles and open avenues for integrating expanded N-containing compounds into energy technologies—paving the way for next-generation carbon management strategies.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Fundamentally unchanged northwestern African rainfall regimes across the Plio-Pleistocene transition
Bryce A. Mitsunaga, Amy M. Jewell, Solana Buchanan, Anya J. Crocker, Paul A. Wilson, Timothy D. Herbert, James M. Russell
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Northern African climate is characterized by strongly contrasting wet summers and dry winters. Dust exported by the northeasterly trade (Harmattan) winds creates marine sedimentary records that have been long interpreted to show that northern African climate became drier and more variable across the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary [2.58 million years ago (Ma)], when global climate cooled and high-latitude glacial-interglacial cycles intensified. However, questions about the impact of summer rainfall on winter dust fluxes and thus the history of the African summer monsoons remain. We present a leaf wax hydrogen isotope record from offshore northwestern Africa that demonstrates that rainfall regimes remained stable and varied solely in response to 21,000-year cycles in summer insolation from 3.5 to 2.5 Ma. We infer that the summer rains and winter winds respond to different climate forcings, with summer rainfall driven by solar radiation over the northern African landmass and the winter trades affected by high-latitude climate and meridional temperature gradients.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Dynamical renormalization of the magnetic excitation spectrum via high-momentum nonlinear magnonics
Christoph SchÜnfeld, Lennart Feuerer, Julian Bär, Lukas DÜrfelt, Maik KerstingskÜtter, Tobias Dannegger, Dennis Wuhrer, Wolfgang Belzig, Ulrich Nowak, Alfred Leitenstorfer, Dominik Juraschek, Davide Bossini
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Sustaining the growth of the data volume generated by artificial intelligence and the internet of things demands to develop schemes for data storage and processing operating at terahertz frequencies, unrestrained by thermal throttling. The optical drive of coherent magnetic collective excitations, namely magnons, represents a promising route. The ability to arbitrarily and nonthermally increase the magnon frequencies with laser pulses could enable this progress. However, this effect has not been reported to date. To achieve it, here, we explore the optical resonant excitation of high-momentum magnons, which experimentally are observed to couple to low-momentum magnons, modifying the frequencies and amplitudes thereof. This evidence, not caused by laser heating, is explained with a resonant light-scattering mechanism coupling high- and low-momentum eigenmodes across momentum space. Our results disclose routes to inducing instabilities and phase transitions via mode softening and potentially even light-driven Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons and superconductivity mediated by high-momentum spin-fluctuations.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Room-temperature high-purity single-photon emission from carbon-doped boron nitride thin films
Arka Chatterjee, Abhijit Biswas, Addis S. Fuhr, Tanguy Terlier, Bobby G. Sumpter, Pulickel M. Ajayan, Igor Aharonovich, Shengxi Huang
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Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has emerged as a promising platform for generating room temperature single photons exhibiting high brightness and spin-photon entanglement. However, improving emitter purity, stability, and scalability remains a challenge for quantum technologies. Here, we demonstrate highly pure and stable single-photon emitters (SPEs) in h-BN by directly growing carbon-doped, centimeter-scale h-BN thin films using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method. These SPEs exhibit room temperature operation with polarized emission, achieving a g (2) (0) value of 0.015, which is among the lowest reported for room temperature SPEs and the lowest achieved for h-BN SPEs. It also exhibits high brightness (~0.5 million counts per second), remarkable stability during continuous operation (>15 min), and a Debye-Waller factor of 45%. First-principles calculations reveal unique carbon defects responsible for these properties, enabled by PLD’s low-temperature synthesis and in situ doping. Our results demonstrate an effective method for large-scale production of high-purity, stable SPEs in h-BN, enabling robust quantum optical sources for various quantum applications.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Widespread presence of bone marrow–like hematopoietic stem cell niche in invertebrate skeletons
Shanshan Lian, Naina Hu, Xiaomei Chen, Xiaoting Dai, Xuan Zhu, Runyu Qiao, Sinuo Liu, Yuan Lu, Fengmei Zhang, Fengzhi Sun, Zhongqi Pu, Zujing Yang, Runjia Xu, Hao Wang, Liang Zhao, Qiang Xing, Shoujie Li, Wei Wang, Bo Dong, Lingling Zhang, Jingjie Hu, Jing Wang, Zhenmin Bao, Shi Wang
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Skeletal harboring of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is generally considered as vertebrate-specific innovation during water-to-land transition. However, this long-standing view has not been rigorously evaluated as hematopoietic sites remain poorly understood in most invertebrate groups. We report, to our knowledge, the first discovery of abundant HSCs in adult mollusk shells, an invertebrate hematopoietic niche resembling vertebrate bone marrow (BM). Cell-lineage analysis and functional assays reveal the developmental origin of HSCs during larval shell formation and their participation in hemocyte-mediated shell regeneration and soft-body blood supply. Widespread skeleton-related HSC-like cells are found in diverse invertebrate groups and bony fish group, suggesting skeletons as a universal niche for animal HSCs and HSC-skeleton association preceding vertebrate water-to-land transition. Comparison of invertebrate and vertebrate skeletal HSCs enables the macroevolutionary profiling of a core-set of animal HSC regulators. Our findings would boost fundamental paradigm shifts for hematopoiesis and stem cell research in invertebrates and provide the redefined understanding of vertebrate BM evolution and water-to-land transition.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Plagioclase under compression: A path to diaplectic glass and maskelynite
Tianqi Xie, Sean R. Shieh, Stella Chariton, Mauritz van Zyl, Ricardo D. Rodriguez, Vitali B. Prakapenka, Dongzhou Zhang
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Diaplectic glass and maskelynite in shocked plagioclase serve as key diagnostic features for high level of shock metamorphism in impact craters and meteorites. However, their formation mechanisms remain unclear and have long been argued, mainly due to the lack of phase diagram for plagioclase with extended pressure-temperature conditions. We report the stabilities of labradorite and anorthite at pressure up to 65 gigapascals and temperature up to 4000 kelvin. Our experimental results reveal the pressure-temperature conditions for amorphization, decomposition, and melting of labradorite and anorthite. The boundary between amorphous plagioclase and crystalline high-pressure phases in our phase diagram indicate diaplectic glass can form at 1300 to 1500 kelvin, and the melting line suggests that maskelynite can be generated above 3000 kelvin at high pressures. Formation conditions of diaplectic glass and maskelynite in plagioclase-bearing rocks are also suggested by the combination of phase diagram and shock Hugoniot data. These findings will advance our understanding of the bombardment history on rocky planetary surfaces.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Autonomous chemo-metabolic construction of anisotropic cell-in-shell nanobiohybrids in enzyme-powered cell microrobots
Nayoung Kim, Sang Yeong Han, Hyeong Bin Rheem, Hojae Lee, Insung S. Choi
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Living organisms use intricate strategies to adapt and survive in response to potentially lethal environment changes. Inspired by cryptobiosis in nature, researchers have pioneered approaches to create cell-in-shell nanobiohybrids, aiming to endow cells with enhanced protection and exogenous functions. Yet, these methods still lack the biological autonomy intrinsic to natural cellular responses. Here, we present an innovative chemo-metabolically coupled strategy for the autonomous construction of cell-in-shell structures in cell growth medium. Our system harnesses ethanol fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae , chemically coupled with an enzymatic cascade involving alcohol oxidase and horseradish peroxidase, to drive the nanoshell formation of polydopamine. The integration of autonomous shell formation with cellular proliferation produces anisotropic cell-in-shell structures, which can serve as enzyme-powered cell microrobots, upon conjugation with urease. Our autonomous system enables the creation of cell-in-shell nanobiohybrids with dynamic and adaptive environmental interactions, paving the way for transformative applications in synthetic biology, such as artificial cells, as well as advancements in cell-based therapies.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Gaia: An AI-enabled genomic context–aware platform for protein sequence annotation
Nishant Jha, Joshua Kravitz, Jacob West-Roberts, Cong Lu, Antonio Pedro Camargo, Simon Roux, Andre Cornman, Yunha Hwang
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Protein sequence similarity search is fundamental to biology research, but current methods are typically not able to consider crucial genomic context information indicative of protein function, especially in microbial systems. Here, we present Gaia (Genomic AI Annotator), a sequence annotation platform that enables rapid, context-aware protein sequence search across genomic datasets. Gaia leverages gLM2, a mixed-modality genomic language model trained on both amino acid sequences and their genomic neighborhoods to generate embeddings that integrate sequence-structure-context information. This approach allows for the identification of functionally and/or evolutionarily related genes that are found in conserved genomic contexts, which may be missed by traditional sequence- or structure-based search alone. Gaia enables real-time search of a curated database comprising more than 85 million protein clusters from 131,744 microbial genomes. We compare the homolog retrieval performance of Gaia search against other embedding and alignment-based approaches. We provide Gaia as a web-based, freely available tool.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Cardiomyocyte-derived YOD1 promotes pathological cardiac hypertrophy by deubiquitinating and stabilizing STAT3
Bozhi Ye, Wante Lin, Yucheng Jiang, Zhaozheng Zheng, Yanhong Jin, Diyun Xu, Yingjie Liao, Zhihan Jia, Jiaji Chen, Gaojun Wu, Peiren Shan, Guang Liang
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Identifying previously unknown targets for pathological cardiac hypertrophy and understanding its mechanisms are crucial. Here, we observed that the deubiquitinating enzyme YOD1 was moderately elevated in human hypertrophic myocardium and mouse models. Cardiomyocyte-specific knockout of YOD1 reduced Ang II– and TAC-induced cardiac hypertrophy. Subsequently, we used multiple proteomic analyses to identify and confirm STAT3 as a substrate protein for YOD1. Mechanistically, our findings revealed that the C155 site of YOD1 removes K48-linked ubiquitin chains from K97 on STAT3, stabilizing STAT3 levels and enhancing its nuclear translocation in cardiomyocytes under Ang II stimulation. Notably, inhibiting STAT3 reversed the antihypertrophic effects of YOD1 deficiency in Ang II–challenged mice. In addition, pharmacological inhibition of YOD1 mitigated Ang II–induced pathological ventricular remodeling in mice. This study clarifies the role of YOD1 and introduces a previously unidentified YOD1-STAT3 axis in regulating pathological cardiac hypertrophy, providing valuable insights for drug development targeting this condition.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
PET-based immunomapping of intratumoral CD4 + cells to monitor acquired resistance to checkpoint inhibitors
Stefania Pezzana, Simone Blaess, Bjoern Traenkle, Anna Schaefer, Lara Ruoff, Bredi Tako, Salvador Castaneda Vega, Philipp D. Kaiser, Teresa Wagner, Irene Gonzalez-Menendez, Leticia Quintanilla-Martinez, Alexander Rochwarger, Christian M. SchĂźrch, Simon Riel, Martin Schaller, Evelien A. J. van Genugten, Iris A. E. van der Hoorn, Mark A. J. Gorris, Megan Steinvoort, Eva Peeters, I. Jolanda M. de Vries, Michel M. van den Heuvel, Erik H. J. G. Aarntzen, Andreas Maurer, Ulrich Rothbauer, Bernd J. Pichler, Manfred Kneilling, Dominik Sonanini
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CD4 + T cells are crucial in shaping response and resistance to immunotherapy. To enhance our understanding of their multifaceted functions, we developed copper-64–radiolabeled nanobodies targeting the human CD4 receptor ( 64 Cu-CD4-Nb1) for positron emission tomography (PET). In human CD4-receptor knock-in mice, 64 Cu-CD4-Nb1 specifically accumulated in different orthotopic tumors, correlating with histological CD4 + cell densities. Based on intratumoral CD4 + cell distribution patterns within the core and periphery, we distinguished responders to combined αPD-1/4-1BB antibodies early on-treatment. CD4-PET identified resistance to αPD-1 monotherapy, which was mitigated by adding regulatory T cell–depleting α4-1BB antibodies. Patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer who relapsed after neoadjuvant αPD-L1 therapy revealed low CD4 + T cell densities in the tumor core. In human and mouse tumor tissues, regulatory T cells correlated with CD4 + cell densities. Thus, visualizing the spatial distribution patterns of CD4 + cells by PET offers mechanistic insights into CD4-mediated therapy efficacy, with great potential for guiding combinatorial immunotherapies in patients with cancer.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Lysosomal zinc nanomodulation blocks macrophage pyroptosis for counteracting atherosclerosis progression
Ruizhi Hu, Junchang Qin, Wei Feng, Xinran Song, Hui Huang, Chen Dai, Bo Zhang, Yu Chen
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Macrophage pyroptosis has been identified as a critical pathological mechanism in inflammation-related atherosclerosis (AS). In this work, we have demonstrated that Zn 2+ features the strongest anti-inflammatory performance by screening 10 representative metal ions, and the MTC1 agonists can trigger lysosomal Zn 2+ release and inhibit pyroptosis in macrophages. Based on these findings, we further engineered a mucolipin TRP channel 1 (MTC1)–related therapeutic nanoplatform for endogenously triggering lysosomal zinc release to curb inflammation and block macrophage pyroptosis. This nanoplatform consists of mesoporous silica nanoparticles to deliver MTC1 agonists and carbon nanodots, which could synergistically exert antiatherosclerotic effect by scavenging toxic reactive oxygen species, inhibiting macrophage pyroptosis, modulating macrophage transition, and rebuilding atherosclerotic immune microenvironment. These findings demonstrate that macrophage pyroptosis can be efficiently blocked via leveraging self-lysosomal zinc pool, which provides the paradigm of lysosomal zinc modulation-involved nanotherapeutics for managing other inflammatory diseases.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Reorientation and despinning of 4 Vesta formed the Divalia Fossae
Hiu Ching Jupiter Cheng, Christian Klimczak, Isamu Matsuyama
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Vesta, the only differentiated rocky protoplanet explored by a spacecraft, offers insight into early planetary formation. The Divalia Fossae, surface troughs comparable in size to the Grand Canyon, encircle two-thirds of the equator. Two giant impacts reshaped the southern hemisphere, where an older basin is partially superposed by the younger Rheasilvia basin. The origin of the Divalia Fossae is widely accepted as directly linked to the Rheasilvia impact, either by tectonics caused immediately by the impact, up-spinning, or secondary cratering. We present several geologic constraints that support a tectonic origin of the troughs due to the adjustment of Vesta’s spin axis to a geoid changed by both large impacts. The best fit to Vesta’s gravitational field corresponds to a spin axis reorientation of 3° that, when coupled with despinning, induces a stress state that predicts Divalia Fossae’s established location, fracture type, and orientation. These insights underline the importance of tectonic processes in the early evolution of protoplanets.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
The role of magma differentiation in optimizing the fluid-assisted extraction of copper to generate large porphyry-type deposits
Shunda Yuan, Anthony E. Williams-Jones, Robert J. Bodnar, Panlao Zhao, ZoltĂĄn Zajacz, I-Ming Chou, Jingwen Mao
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Porphyry copper deposits (PCDs) are the main source of copper globally, with the metals transported in and deposited from aqueous magmatic fluids. Processes that define the volume of magma and concentration of copper in the magma required to form PCDs, however, are not well understood. Here, we present the results of quantitative modeling of the behavior of Cu and Cl during magma evolution in the upper crust. We show that fractional crystallization is the most important process promoting efficient Cu extraction, and that high concentrations of Cu in the ore-forming hydrothermal fluids can be reached with moderate Cl concentrations. Unusually high concentrations of Cl and Cu in the magma and large magma volumes are not required. Arc magmas of modest volume (<10 3 km 3 ) and modest initial Cu and Cl concentrations can generate large PCDs, if a sufficient mass of magmatic fluid is exsolved at an advanced stage of crystallization.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Autoinducing peptides regulate antibiotic production to potentially shape root microbiome
Nanzhu Chen, Peiyan Cai, Xiaoqian Lin, Zhi-Man Song, Jiaze He, Zewen Li, Zhuohan Li, Dengwei Zhang, Yi Song, Yong-Xin Li
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Microbes use signaling molecules to regulate multiple physiological processes and mediate chemical interactions. Decoding these chemical languages is instrumental in comprehending microbial regulatory mechanisms within complex microbiota. Here, we discover previously unidentified autoinducing peptides (AIPs) derived from the plant probiotic bacterium Paenibacillus polymyxa , identified as Pp-AIPs. Omics analyses coupled with genetic manipulations revealed that Pp-AIP1 could effectively modulate the production of multiple antimicrobial secondary metabolites at nanomolar concentration, expanding known AIP functions. Furthermore, through inoculating P. polymyxa in the natural rhizosphere microbiome and analyzing its antagonistic interactions against root microbes, we suggest that Pp-AIPs may influence the microbial community composition through modulating the antimicrobial spectrum. Global analysis of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) reveal widespread co-occurrence of uncharacterized AIPs with secondary metabolite BGCs. This study underscores the unreported roles of AIPs in antibiotic regulation and the microbiome interactions, advancing knowledge of quorum-sensing mechanisms in microbial ecosystems.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Insertion of anthranilyl unit into inert amides: A facile route to oligoamides and cyclic peptides
Daoshun Wu, Kaili Xie, Yunfang Sun, Li Cao, Fang Liu, Xiaobo Sun, Kendall N. Houk, Lei Wang
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Manipulation of polar functional groups to extend the druggability and developability space is an important approach in the current field of drug discovery. Here, we report an editing method that enables the direct insertion of anthranilyl units into inert amides to form versatile oligoamides and cyclic peptides under exceptionally mild reaction conditions. We showcase a diverse array of pharmaceuticals, natural products, and bioactive molecules involving the mentioned scaffold insertion. The synthesis of the secondary metabolites from marine-derived fungi, the expedited construction of bioactive molecules, and the assembly of functionalized peptide macrocycles through iterative insertions highlight the synthetic utility of this method. Computational tools and experimental measurements indicate that a hydrogen bond network formed by reacting and catalytic amide enables the insertion of the anthranilyl unit into a C─N bond.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
The future of baleen whales: Recoveries, environmental constraints, and climate change
Joshua D. Stewart, M. Tim Tinker, Robert L. Brownell, Andrew J. Read
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Most baleen whales were severely overexploited during the past century, but many populations have received near-complete protection from exploitation for more than a half-century. Some of these populations have made remarkable recoveries and are now approaching pre-exploitation levels of abundance. Contrary to expectations of baleen whales making minor oscillations around equilibrium abundances, several populations that have made the strongest recoveries have experienced major mortality events. We review examples from the literature showing increasing demographic variability in recovering populations of baleen whales and present a simulation study on the expected response of recovered versus depleted whale population to environmental variability and climate impacts. We propose that baleen whales are more sensitive to environmental variability than previously recognized; that major demographic fluctuations will become the norm as baleen whales recover; and that climate-driven disruptions to whale population dynamics will be most dramatic in populations with the lowest rates of anthropogenic mortality.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
High-resolution multiomics links nutrients and mixotrophy to toxicity in a harmful bloom of the haptophyte Chrysochromulina leadbeateri
Antonia Otte, Sylke Wohlrab, Franco Moritz, Constanze MĂźller, Jan JanouĹĄkovec, Jan MichĂĄlek, Allan Cembella, Daniela Voss, Xinhui Wang, Jan Tebben, Thomas Ostenfeld Larsen, Bente Edvardsen, Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin, Uwe John
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Harmful algal blooms (HABs) of the toxigenic haptophyte Chrysochromulina are known to cause fish mortalities and collateral ecosystem damage. The ichthyotoxic mechanisms are poorly understood but likely dependent on toxigenesis by polyketide synthases (PKSs). We hypothesize that induction of PKS activity facilitates mixotrophic behavior during nutrient-depleted bloom conditions. To identify potential in situ stimuli for growth, toxigenicity, and bloom persistence, we compared environmental factors and biological processes identified by metaomics to Chrysochromulina leadbeateri HABs between two fjords in northern Norway. We identified the polyketide ichthyotoxin leadbeaterin-1 from the C. leadbeateri bloom and found potentially associated candidate PKS genes of which most were higher expressed at bloom stations. A relative depletion of inorganic nitrogen and phosphate during the bloom was correlated with higher expression of genes involved in endocytosis, autophagy, and lysosomal activity. Mixotrophy is evidently a compensatory nutritional strategy coupled to induction of toxigenesis and other metabolomic processes as biotic factors linked to Chrysochromulina bloom dynamics.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Light field–controlled PHz currents in intrinsic metals
Beatrix FehĂŠr, VĂĄclav Hanus, Weiwei Li, Zsuzsanna PĂĄpa, Judit Budai, Pallabi Paul, Adriana Szeghalmi, Zilong Wang, Matthias F. Kling, PĂŠter Dombi
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Oriented electric currents in metals are routinely driven by applying an external electric potential. Although the response of electrons to the external electric fields occurs within attoseconds, conventional electronics do not use this speed potential. Ultrashort laser pulses with controlled shapes of electric fields that switch direction at petahertz frequencies open perspectives for driving currents in metals. Light field–driven currents were demonstrated in various media including dielectrics, semiconductors, and topological insulators. Now, our research question is whether we can drive and control orders of magnitude more charge carriers in metals enabling ultrafast switching with practically low-energy, picojoule-level pulses. Here, we demonstrate the interaction of light with nanometer-thick metallic layers, which leads to a generation of light field–controlled electric currents. We show that the implantation of metallic layers into a dielectric matrix leads to up to 40 times increase of the sensitivity in contrast to a bare dielectric, decreasing the intensity threshold for lightwave electronics.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
In vitro and in vivo evaluation of chemically synthesized, receptor-biased interleukin-4 and photocaged variants
Mamiko Ninomiya, Cecilie Egholm, Daniel Breu, Onur Boyman, Jeffrey W. Bode
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Interleukin-4 (IL-4) plays a central role in type 2 immune responses. Despite its potential use for allergic and autoimmune diseases, its pleiotropic receptor binding complicates selective targeting of IL-4 signaling pathways. We developed a chemical synthesis of (i) IL-4 variants with atomically tailored side-chain modifications that deter specific receptor interactions and (ii) conditionally activatable IL-4 variants uncaged with 365-nanometer light. In primary cell studies, different variants elicited selective STAT5 or STAT6 phosphorylation in lymphocytes or neutrophils. In murine studies, photocaged IL-4 suppressed inflammation only upon UV irradiation, demonstrating precise on demand control. We accomplished the synthesis and folding of IL-4, a hydrophobic cytokine with three disulfide bonds, using the alpha-ketoacid–hydroxylamine (KAHA) ligation to assemble three segments. We introduced further conjugations, including PEGylation for half-life extension, through orthogonal ligations enabled by functionalized amino acid building blocks. This work highlights the flexibility of chemical protein synthesis to produce therapeutically valuable cytokines, including receptor-biased and spatiotemporally activatable IL-4 variants.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
State modulation in spatial networks with three interneuron subtypes
Madeline M. Parker, Jonathan E. Rubin, Chengcheng Huang
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Several inhibitory interneuron subtypes have been identified as critical in regulating sensory responses. However, the specific contribution of each interneuron subtype remains uncertain. In this work, we explore the contributions of cell type–specific activity and synaptic connections to the dynamics of a spatially organized spiking neuron network. We find that the firing rates of the somatostatin (SOM) interneurons align closely with the level of network synchrony irrespective of the target of modulatory input. Further analysis reveals that inhibition from SOM to parvalbumin interneurons must be limited to allow gradual transitions from asynchrony to synchrony and that the strength of recurrent excitation onto SOM neurons determines the level of synchrony achievable in the network. Our results are consistent with recent experimental findings on cell type–specific manipulations. Overall, our results highlight common dynamic regimes achieved across modulations of different cell populations and identify SOM cells as the main driver of network synchrony.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Single organic electrochemical neuron capable of anticoincidence detection
Padinhare Cholakkal Harikesh, Dace Gao, Han-Yan Wu, Chi-Yuan Yang, Deyu Tu, Simone Fabiano
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Emulating complex neural computations like solving linearly inseparable tasks within single artificial neurons has remained an elusive goal in neuromorphic engineering. Here, we report a dendritic organic electrochemical neuron (d-OECN) capable of achieving anticoincidence detection by classifying the exclusive-OR (XOR) problem—a quintessential linearly inseparable task—within an individual neuron. Inspired by human cortical neurons that perform XOR through dendritic calcium spikes, the d-OECN leverages ion-tunable antiambipolarity in mixed ionic-electronic conducting polymers to mimic voltage-gated dendritic calcium dynamics. By integrating this dendritic component with a tunable spiking circuit representing the soma, the d-OECN achieves XOR classification through its inherent nonlinear activation profile, with decision boundaries that are both ionically and electrically tunable. Moreover, we demonstrate the d-OECN’s ability to perform edge detection using XOR in a tactile sensing system, showcasing its potential for event-based sensing and processing. The d-OECNs, replicating key aspects of biological intelligence, pave the way for next-generation bioelectronics and robotics requiring complex neural computation.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Climate change redefines sea turtle hotspots: Vessel strike risks and gaps in protected areas
Edouard Duquesne, Denis Fournier
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Climate change is altering marine ecosystems, driving shifts in sea turtle distributions and challenging conservation efforts. Our study examines how climate change affects the global sea distribution of all seven sea turtle species, intersecting with marine protected areas (MPAs) and shipping corridors. Using species distribution models and environmental data from 2000 to 2024, we project sea turtle habitats under current conditions and three future climate scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5) for 2050 and 2100. Our results show substantial habitat redistributions, with poleward shifts and contractions, particularly under the SSP5-8.5 scenario. Over 50% of sea turtle hotspots may disappear by 2050, with many new habitats in high shipping intensity areas. Alarmingly, only 23% of current hotspots are within MPAs, highlighting the need for adaptive conservation strategies.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Clumped isotopes of methane trace bioenergetics in the environment
Jiarui Liu, Edward D. Young, AndrĂŠ Pellerin, Jeanine L. Ash, Gerard T. Barrett, Xiahong Feng, Peter R. Girguis, Sebastian J. E. Krause, William D. Leavitt, Kyla Murphy, Qianhui Qin, Andreas Teske, David L. Valentine, Katey Walter Anthony, Tina Treude
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Methane is a major greenhouse gas and a key component of global biogeochemical cycles. Microbial methane often deviates from isotope and isotopolog equilibrium in surface environments but approaches equilibrium in deep subsurface sediments. The origin of this near-equilibrium isotopic signature in methane, whether directly produced by methanogens or achieved through anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM), remains uncertain. Here, we show that, in the absence of AOM, microbial methane produced from deep-sea sediments exhibits isotopolog compositions approaching thermodynamic equilibrium due to energy limitation. In contrast, microbial methane from salt marsh and thermokarst lakes exhibits significant hydrogen and clumped isotopic disequilibrium due to high free-energy availability. We propose that clumped isotopologs of methane provide a proxy for characterizing the bioenergetics of environments for methane production. Together, these observations demonstrate methane clumped isotopes as a powerful tool to better understand the relation between methane metabolisms and the energy landscape in natural environments.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Traversing the Kuroshio: Paleolithic migration across one of the world’s strongest ocean currents
Yu-Lin K. Chang, Yasumasa Miyazawa, Xinyu Guo, Sergey Varlamov, Haiyan Yang, Yousuke Kaifu
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The maritime migration to the South Ryukyu Islands of southwestern Japan, which occurred approximately 30,000 years ago, was one of the most difficult sea crossings accomplished by the Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens . This study performs numerical simulations to investigate the conditions that were needed to cross between Taiwan and Yonaguni Island, where one of the world’s strongest ocean currents, the Kuroshio, remains active. We combined simulations based on three ocean models with data from an actual experimental voyage conducted in 2019. The results showed that travel across this sea would have been possible on both the modern and Late Pleistocene oceans if a dugout canoe was used with a suitable departure place and paddling strategy. Recognizing the Kuroshio, paddling to counteract this current, and using high-level navigation were crucial to success. This suggests that the Paleolithic maritime expansion in the Western Pacific involved both advanced technologies and strategic challenges.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
External strain on the plasma membrane is relayed to the endoplasmic reticulum by membrane contact sites and alters cellular energetics
Ziming Chen, Peilin Chen, Jiayue Li, Euphemie Landao-Bassonga, John Papadimitriou, Junjie Gao, Delin Liu, Andrew Tai, Jinjin Ma, David Lloyd, Brendan F. Kennedy, Ming Hao Zheng
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Mechanotransduction is essential for living cells to adapt to their extracellular environment. However, it is unclear how the biophysical adaptation of intracellular organelles responds to mechanical stress or how these adaptive changes affect cellular homeostasis. Here, using the tendon cell as a mechanosensitive cell type within a bioreactor, we show that the tension of the plasma membrane (PM) and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) adaptively increases in response to repetitive external stimuli. Depletion of stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1), the highest expressed PM-ER tether protein, interfered with mechanotransduction from the PM to the ER, and affected the ER tension. We found that an optimized mechanical strain increased ER tension in a homeostatic manner, but excessive strain resulted in ER expansion, as well as activating ER stress. Last, we showed that changes in ER tension were linked with ER-mitochondria interactions and associated with cellular energetics and function. Together, these findings identify a PM-ER mechanotransduction mechanism that dose-dependently regulates cellular metabolism.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Humidity drives spontaneous OH oxidation of organic particles
Maria Angelaki, D. James Donaldson, SĂŠbastien Perrier, Matthieu Riva, Christian George
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We report evidence that organic aerosols containing carboxylic acids can be spontaneously oxidized in the dark under normal atmospheric conditions due to interfacial hydroxyl radical production. Product formation is negligible under dry conditions and increases with increasing relative humidity. In a dioxygen-free environment, the oxidation efficiency is substantially decreased. Size-resolved measurements show an increase in the reactivity and product formation yields for smaller particles, correlated with their surface-to-volume ratio. Our findings suggest that spontaneous hydroxyl radical production at the air-water interface of organic nanodroplets may be an important pathway in their oxidation, especially during nighttime.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
A magnetically actuated microcatheter with soft rotatable tip for enhanced endovascular access and treatment efficiency
Moqiu Zhang, Lidong Yang, Haojin Yang, Lin Su, Junnan Xue, Qinglong Wang, Bo Hao, Yihang Jiang, Kai Fung Chan, Joseph Jao Yiu Sung, Ho Ko, Xurui Liu, Liu Wang, Bonaventure Yiu Ming Ip, Thomas Wai Hong Leung, Li Zhang
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Endovascular interventions require fast access to affected regions, followed by effective treatment. Catheterizations are effective approaches for treating vascular diseases; however, they face challenges in accessibility, efficiency, and invasiveness in narrow, tortuous vascular systems. This study presents a submillimeter magnetically actuated soft rotatable-tipped microcatheter (MSRM) designed to access small blood vessels and provide efficient, minimally invasive therapeutic interventions for blood clot treatment. The MSRM’s rotatable tip design enhances accessibility and navigation speed through a rotation-assisted active steering strategy. Improved blood clot treatment efficiency is achieved through the MSRM’s multifunctionality: It can accelerate drug-blood clot interactions, mechanically break down blood clots, and retrieve clot debris. The low invasiveness is attributed to the soft material design and conservative actuation strategy. The performance of the MSRM is validated in both in vitro phantom studies and in vivo rabbit models, and the invasiveness is evaluated using a human placenta model.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
A reusable hydrogel biosensor array with electrically responsive hydrogel interfaces for noninvasive locating of perforating arteries
Ganguang Yang, Yuqi Qiu, Bo Pang, Wei Guo, Shaoyu Liu, Qingyang Zheng, Sen Zhou, Jia Tian, Wei Liu, Bin Xie, Tianzhao Bu, Changsheng Wu, Zhouping Yin, Yutian Liu, Hao Wu
Full text
Achieving accurate locating of perforating arteries (PAs) has great clinical value in various biomedical applications, such as free flap transfer. However, the anatomical variability of these arteries presents a major challenge in PA locating, and existing methods have various disadvantages, limiting their applications. Here, we propose a reusable and flexible hydrogel biosensor array for noninvasive, precise, and efficient PA locating. Particularly, we develop electrically responsive hydrogels to establish rapidly detachable device/hydrogel interfaces, endowing the reusability of the biosensor array. Meanwhile, the adhesion of hydrogel/skin interfaces is also enhanced to facilitate high-fidelity signal acquisition. By analyzing the photoplethysmography (PPG) infrared (IR) signals, the biosensor array can accurately and responsively locate PAs across different types of free flaps in clinical cases, outperforming existing techniques. This biosensor array represents a promising platform for PA locating. The strategy of hydrogel interface design paves the way for the development of reusable flexible electronics in biomedical applications to avoid cross-infection and reduce device costs.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Paleolithic seafaring in East Asia: An experimental test of the dugout canoe hypothesis
Yousuke Kaifu, Chih-Hsing Lin, Nobuyuki Ikeya, Masahisa Yamada, Akira Iwase, Yu-Lin K. Chang, Masahiro Uchida, Koji Hara, Kunihiro Amemiya, Yunkai Sung, Katsuaki Suzuki, Minoru Muramatsu, Michiko Tanaka, Sayaka Hanai, Toiora Hawira, Saki Uchida, Masaki Fujita, Yasumasa Miyazawa, Kumino Nakamura, Pi-Ling Wen, Akira Goto
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Archeological evidence indicates that full-scale expansion of Homo sapiens across the oceans began about 50,000 years ago in the Western Pacific, yet how this was achieved remains unclear. The Ryukyu Islands in southwestern Japan, where archaeological sites suddenly appeared 35,000 to 30,000 years ago, are of particular interest in this regard because of the apparent difficulty in crossing the surrounding waters. In this study, we test if a non-sailing dugout canoe can be produced with Upper Paleolithic tools, and if it can cross the 110-kilometer-wide strait at the western entrance of the Ryukyus, where one of the world’s strongest ocean currents intervenes. Our 7.5-meter-long dugout, manufactured with edge-ground stone axes, was speedy and durable enough to cross this strait. This supports the early development of functional boats, such as dugouts, while our experiment also highlighted that this type of sea travel was possible only for experienced paddlers with advanced navigational skills.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Concentric ice-templating of ultracompressible tough hydrogels with bioinspired circumferentially aligned architecture
Wenxi Gu, Shuqi Yang, Dazhe Zhao, Yiwei Zou, Chonghao Chen, Peiqi Niu, Xiangyu Liang, Chi Tat Kwok, Bingpu Zhou, Chunming Wang, Yan Yan Shery Huang, Ji Liu, Iek Man Lei
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Materials with circumferentially aligned fibers, such as intervertebral discs and arteries, are abundant in nature but challenging to replicate artificially, despite their mechanical advantages. Although ice-templating can create bioinspired materials, the achievable structures remain limited to simple forms, such as honeycomb, lamellar, and radial structures. Here, we developed a unique ice-templating technique that constructs circumferential fibrous structures in hydrogels through slow freezing. Enhanced with rotary compression annealing, these hydrogels exhibit record-breaking features that cannot concurrently be achieved in conventional ice-templated and top-performing tough hydrogels, including high tensile properties, isotropic fatigue threshold of 2320 joules per square meter, ultracompressibility (8% strain after 500 cycles), and extraordinary burst pressure of 1.6 bar while maintaining 85 weight % water content. These properties enable opportunities in robotics, including hydrogel pneumatic grippers and an untethered bioinspired robotic fish that exhibits high-force actuation and long-term robustness. Our approach enriches the diversity of bioinspired structures in artificial materials, establishing exceptional mechanical properties through cross-length scale structural design.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Opposite regulation of medullary pain–related projection neuron excitability in acute and chronic pain
Ben Title, Enrique Velasco, Nurit Engelmayer, Prudhvi Raj Rayi, Roy Yanai, Shmuel Hart, Ben Katz, Shaya Lev, Yosef Yarom, Alexander M. Binshtok
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Pain hypersensitivity is associated with increased activity of peripheral and central neurons along the pain neuroaxis. We show that at the peak of acute inflammatory pain, superficial medullary dorsal horn projection neurons (PNs) that relay nociceptive information to the parabrachial nucleus reduce their intrinsic excitability and, consequently, action potential firing. When pain resolves, the excitability of these neurons returns to baseline. Using electrophysiological and computational approaches, we found that an increase in potassium A-current ( I A ) underlies the decrease in the excitability of medullary dorsal horn PNs in acute pain conditions. In chronic pain conditions, no changes of I A were observed, and medullary dorsal horn PNs exhibit increased intrinsic excitability and firing. Our results reveal a differential modulation of the excitability of medullary dorsal horn projection neurons in acute and chronic pain conditions, suggesting a regulatory mechanism that, in acute pain conditions, tunes the output of the dorsal horn and, if lacking, could facilitate pain chronification.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Monoclonal antibodies targeting the FimH adhesin protect against uropathogenic E. coli UTI
Edward D. B. Lopatto, JesĂşs M. Santiago-Borges, Denise A. Sanick, Sameer Kumar Malladi, Philippe N. Azimzadeh, Morgan W. Timm, Isabella F. Fox, Aaron J. Schmitz, Jackson S. Turner, Shaza M. Sayed Ahmed, Lillian Ortinau, Nathaniel C. Gualberto, Jerome S. Pinkner, Karen W. Dodson, Ali H. Ellebedy, Andrew L. Kau, Scott J. Hultgren
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As antimicrobial resistance increases, urinary tract infections (UTIs) are expected to pose an increased burden in morbidity and expense on the health care system, increasing the need for alternative antibiotic-sparing treatments. Most UTIs are caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), whereas Klebsiella pneumoniae causes a large portion of non-UPEC UTIs. Both bacteria express type 1 pili tipped with the mannose-binding FimH adhesin critical for UTI pathogenesis. We generated and biochemically characterized 33 murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to FimH. Three mAbs protected mice from E. coli UTI. Mechanistically, we show that this protection is Fc independent and mediated by the ability of these mAbs to sterically block FimH function by recognizing a high-affinity FimH conformation. Our data reveal that FimH mAbs hold promise as an antibiotic-sparing treatment strategy.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Reconfigurable robust microrobot collectives with large force output enabled by gradient magnetic fields
Zichen Xu, Wei Ge, Qingsong Xu
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Robot collectives offer a promising solution for complex assignments that are nearly impossible for individual robots to execute. In microscopic scenarios, organizing microrobot collectives is now governed by agent-agent physical interactions. However, the existing methods are insufficient to produce robust connections and fail to tolerate harsh environments. We propose a strategy to efficiently program microrobots into reconfigurable robust collectives to operate in various dynamic environments. Magnetic collectives are produced to achieve reconfigurable pattern transformation with considerable structural enhancement via well-designed gradient magnetic fields. The strong gradient magnetic field–induced connections among individual microrobots enable a record-breaking 700-fold output force enhancement, and 0.2-gram microrobot collectives generate Newton-level output forces. The proposed reconfigurable microrobot collectives provide a stable and promising approach to executing droplet, fluid, and solid manipulations via powerful output forces. These results may have implications for further understanding of self-assembly, particle systems, microrobot collectives, smart dust, and related microscopic multiagent behaviors.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Mechanochemical patterning localizes the organizer of a luminal epithelium
Sera L. Weevers, Alistair D. Falconer, Moritz Mercker, Hajar Sadeghi, David Rozema, Jaroslav Ferenc, Jean-Leon MaĂŽtre, Albrecht Ott, Dietmar B. Oelz, Anna Marciniak-Czochra, Charisios D. Tsiairis
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The spontaneous emergence of tissue patterns is often attributed to biochemical reaction-diffusion systems. In Hydra tissue regeneration, the formation of a Wnt signaling center exemplifies this process. However, a strictly biochemical mechanism for self-organization in Hydra remains elusive. In this study, we investigated mechanical stimuli and identified a positive feedback loop between Wnt signaling and tissue stretching. We developed a mathematical model of mechanochemical pattern formation in a closed elastic shell, representing regenerating Hydra epithelial spheroids. Our model explains how mechanical forces drive axis formation and predict the organizer’s location under various perturbations. Validation by partially confining regenerating tissues showed that the organizer forms in regions with the greatest stretching potential. This work highlights a versatile mechanochemical mechanism for luminal epithelium patterning, which is relevant across various biological systems.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Artificial selection for adult predation survival affects life history and morphology in guppies ( Poecilia reticulata )
Hannah De Waele, Regina Vega-Trejo, Catarina Vila-Pouca, Jori Noordenbos, Elizabeth Phillips, Bart J. A. Pollux, Alexander Kotrschal
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Predation is a major evolutionary driver of life history and morphology. However, whether these traits evolve directly via predation or indirect effects is largely unresolved. We used artificial selection to experimentally test the impact of adult predation on the evolution of life history and morphology in guppies ( Poecilia reticulata ). We found that, compared to control fish, predation-selected fish produced larger offspring and larger broods early in life. However, other life history parameters, such as interbrood interval and total number of offspring, showed no response. We also found that predation selected for smaller and lighter females and for shorter tails and gonopodia in males, with no effect on body coloration. Our results show that while several traits evolve fast under selection on adult predation, several “classic” predation-dependent traits seem unaffected by predation selection. By comparing our experimental results to those from natural populations, we can disentangle the contribution of direct and indirect effects on trait evolution under predation pressure.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
IL-17 links the tumor suppressor LKB1 to gastrointestinal inflammation and polyposis
Shelby E. Compton, Lisa M. DeCamp, Brandon M. Oswald, Susan M. Kitchen-Goosen, Kin H. Lau, Robert Fillinger, Michael S. Dahabieh, Alexandra Vander Ark, Connie M. Krawczyk, Russell G. Jones
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Mutations in the tumor suppressor liver kinase B1 (LKB1) promote the development of gastrointestinal (GI) polyps of unknown etiology. Here, we identify IL-17 as a novel driver of LKB1-dependent polyp growth. GI tumors from mice bearing heterozygous mutations in Stk11 (which encodes LKB1) display signatures of pathogenic IL-17–producing CD4 + T helper 17 (T H 17) cells. LKB1 constrains T cell inflammatory potential, as Stk11 /LKB1 haploinsufficiency promotes T cell differentiation toward pathogenic IL-17–producing T cell lineages (CD4 + T H 17 and CD8 + T c 17) in vitro and following intestinal infection. Mechanistically, aberrant CREB-regulated transcription coactivator 2 (CRTC2)–dependent signaling drives pathogenic T H 17 cell programs downstream of LKB1 haploinsufficiency. Targeting this circuit via CRTC2 deletion or IL-17 blockade antagonizes GI polyp growth in mouse models of Peutz-Jeghers syndrome. These findings establish LKB1 as a gatekeeper of inflammatory type 3 (IL-17–dependent) T cell responses and identify a CRTC2–IL-17 signaling axis that can be targeted therapeutically to block the growth of LKB1 mutant GI tumors.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Senataxin and DNA-PKcs redundantly promote non-homologous end joining repair of DNA double strand breaks during V(D)J recombination
Bo-Ruei Chen, Thu Pham, Lance D. Reynolds, Nghi Dang, Yanfeng Zhang, Kimberly Manalang, Gabriel Matos-Rodrigues, Jason Romero Neidigk, Andre Nussenzweig, Jessica K. Tyler, Barry P. Sleckman
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Nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) is required for repairing DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) generated by the RAG endonuclease during lymphocyte antigen receptor gene assembly by V(D)J recombination. The ataxia telangiectasia–mutated (ATM) and DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) kinases regulate functionally redundant pathways required for NHEJ. Here, we report that loss of the senataxin helicase leads to a strong defect in RAG DSB repair upon inactivation of DNA-PKcs. The NHEJ function of senataxin is redundant with the RECQL5 helicase and the HLTF translocase and is epistatic with ATM. Co-inactivation of ATM, RECQL5, and HLTF results in an NHEJ defect similar to that from the combined deficiency of DNA-PKcs and senataxin or losing senataxin, RECQL5, and HLTF. These data suggest that ATM and DNA-PKcs regulate the functions of senataxin and RECQL5/HLTF, respectively, to provide redundant support for NHEJ.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Discovery of an unconventional quantum echo by interference of Higgs coherence
Chuankun Huang, Martin Mootz, Liang Luo, Di Cheng, Avinash Khatri, Joong-Mok Park, Richard H. J. Kim, Yihua Qiang, Victor L. Quito, Yongxin Yao, Peter P. Orth, Ilias E. Perakis, Jigang Wang
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Detecting photon echoes from superconducting Higgs modes is challenging due to the necessity of preserving and retrieving phase coherence encoded in multiple Higgs and quasiparticle (QP) excitations. Here, we demonstrate the emergence of a Higgs echo in niobium superconductors. This approach disentangles unique quantum pathways involving the Higgs mode and QP excitations. Using Higgs echo spectroscopy, we also uncover unconventional echo formation caused by inhomogeneous broadening and “soft” QP bands, which dynamically evolve under terahertz (THz) driving. Specifically, THz pulse pairs modulate the superconducting gap, imprinting coherence and forming a temporal “Higgs grating.” This grating produces echoes with distinctive characteristics: (i) echo rephasing spectral peaks at superconducting gap frequencies, (ii) asymmetric echo formation delays unlike those observed in atoms or semiconductors, and (iii) negative-time echo signals stemming from Higgs-QP anharmonic interactions. Combined with advanced time-frequency analysis, these findings distinguish Higgs from QP responses and clarify their intricate interactions in THz-driven superconductivity.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Genomic evidence for fisheries-induced evolution in Eastern Baltic cod
Kwi Young Han, Reid S. Brennan, Christopher T. Monk, Sissel Jentoft, Cecilia Helmerson, Jan Dierking, Karin Hüssy, Érika Endo Kokubun, Janina Fuss, Ben Krause-Kyora, Tonny B. Thomsen, Benjamin D. Heredia, Thorsten B. H. Reusch
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Overfishing is one human-driven perturbation driving major evolutionary pressure on marine populations. Fishing is often highly selective for particular traits and elicits marked phenotypic changes, while the evolutionary basis of such trait change remains unresolved. Here, we used a unique time series of the overexploited Eastern Baltic cod ( Gadus morhua ) to investigate growth trends during 25 years of heavy fishing along with hypothesized genetic changes at the full genome level. A growth analysis demonstrated a 48% decrease in asymptotic body length from 1996 to 2019 while a genome-wide association analysis revealed outlier loci and gene candidates linked to growth performance. The contributing loci showed signals of directional selection with high autocovariance of allele frequency change and significant overlap with regions of high genetic differentiation. Our findings suggest a genomic basis of fisheries-driven growth impairment and underscore implications for conservation policy regarding the adaptive potential of marine populations.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
A stress-sensing circuit signals to the central pacemaker to reprogram circadian rhythms
Maria E. Yurgel, Claire Gao, John J. O’Malley, Qijun Tang, Noam Yanay, Alison R. Bashford, Jesse J. Zhan, Andrew Lutas, Michael J. Krashes, Haiqing Zhao, Mario A. Penzo, Samer Hattar
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The circadian system provides a temporal framework for animals to anticipate environmental events, including threats. However, the effects of stressors on the circadian system remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that, in mice, stressors shift the phase of the central pacemaker, housed in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), through glutamatergic inputs from the anterior paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (aPVT). Unlike light, which can phase delay or advance the central pacemaker, stressors consistently induce delays, effects attenuated by inhibiting aPVT neurons. Stressors robustly activate AVP-expressing neurons within the SCN and are associated with inhibition of VIP-expressing neurons, whereas light strongly activates VIP-expressing neurons with minimal effects on AVP-expressing neurons. Pairing stressors with light reveals distinct time-dependent interactions, enhancing phase delays at early night but abolishing phase advances at late night. Our findings uncover distinct SCN microcircuits that differentially encode light and stressors, providing insights into how environmental cues modulate circadian timing.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Global cooling drove diversification and warming caused extinction among Carboniferous-Permian fusuline foraminifera
Shu-han Zhang, Ying-ying Zhao, Yu-kun Shi, Qiang Fang, Xiang-dong Wang, Jun-xuan Fan, Yi-chun Zhang, Dong-xun Yuan, Yue Wang, Fei-fei Zhang, Huai-chun Wu, Douglas H. Erwin, Charles R. Marshall, Shu-zhong Shen
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The fossil record provides the only direct evidence of changes in biodiversity over time. Patterns in more inclusive taxonomic levels (e.g., families and orders) often become more complex because of interactions between biological traits and environmental conditions across different evolutionary lineages. Using supercomputing and artificial intelligence algorithms, we analyzed a high-resolution global dataset of fusuline foraminifera—the most diverse marine fossil group from the Carboniferous to the Permian (~340 to 252 million years ago)—at an unprecedented temporal resolution of <45 thousand years. Our unbinned diversity reconstruction reveals unexpectedly simple diversity dynamics in this exceptionally well-preserved clade. We identify two (and likely a third) truncated exponential diversifications and four major diversity declines. During this interval, long-term cooling consistently promoted biodiversification, whereas warming events were closely linked to extinctions. These findings imply that the current rapid global warming, driven by anthropogenic CO 2 emissions, represents a critical threat to modern ecosystems.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Thermodynamic phase transitions of nematic order in magnetic helices
Zoey Tumbleson, Sophie A. Morley, Emily Hollingworth, Arnab Singh, Temuujin Bayaraa, Nicolas G. Burdet, Ahmad Us Saleheen, Margaret R. McCarter, David Raftrey, Ronald J. Pandolfi, Vincent Esposito, Georgi L. Dakovski, Franz-Josef Decker, Alexander H. Reid, Tadesse A. Assefa, Peter Fischer, SinĂŠad M. Griffin, Stephen D. Kevan, Frances Hellman, Joshua J. Turner, Sujoy Roy
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A nematic phase lacks translation order but has orientational order. Nematic phases have been discovered in a variety of systems, including liquid crystals, correlated materials, and superconductors. Here, we report on a magnetic nematic phase, where the basis components are composed of magnetic helices. We directly probed the order parameters associated with the magnetic helices using resonant soft x-ray scattering and find two distinct nematic phases with complex spatiotemporal signatures. Using x-ray correlation spectroscopy, we find that near the phase boundary between the two nematic phases, fluctuations coexist on multiple disparate timescales. Our micromagnetic simulations and density functional theory calculations show that the fluctuations occur concomitantly with a reorientation of the magnetic helices, indicating spontaneous symmetry breaking and the emergence of additional degrees of freedom. Our results provide a framework for characterizing exotic phases that can be extended to a broad class of physical systems.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Ecological interactions and genomic innovation fueled the evolution of ray-finned fish endothermy
Fernando Melendez-Vazquez, Alexander G. Lucaci, Avery Selberg, Julien Clavel, Melissa Rincon-Sandoval, Aintzane Santaquiteria, William T. White, Danielle Drabeck, Giorgio Carnevale, Emanuell Duarte-Ribeiro, Masaki Miya, Mark W. Westneat, Carole C. Baldwin, Lily C. Hughes, Guillermo OrtĂ­, Sergei L. Kosakovsky Pond, Ricardo Betancur-R, Dahiana Arcila
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Endothermy has independently evolved in several vertebrate lineages but remains rare among fishes. Using an integrated approach combining phylogenomic and ecomorphological data for 1051 ray-finned fishes, a time-dependent evolutionary model, and comparative genomic analyses of 205 marine vertebrates, we show that ecological interactions with modern cetaceans coincided with the evolution of endothermy in ray-finned fishes during the Eocene-Miocene. This result is supported by evidence of temporal and geographical overlap between cetaceans and endothermic fish lineages in the fossil record, as well as correlations between cetacean diversification and the origin of endothermy in fishes. Phylogenetic comparative analyses identified correlations between endothermy, large body sizes, and specialized swimming modes while challenging diet specialization and depth range expansion hypotheses. Comparative genomic analyses identified several genes under selection in endothermic lineages, including carnmt1 (involved in fatty acid metabolism) and dcaf6 (associated with development). Our findings advance the understanding of how ecological interactions and genomic factors shape key adaptations.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Structures of vertebrate R2 retrotransposon complexes during target-primed reverse transcription and after second-strand nicking
Akanksha Thawani, Anthony RodrĂ­guez-Vargas, Briana Van Treeck, Nozhat T. Hassan, David L. Adelson, Eva Nogales, Kathleen Collins
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R2 retrotransposons are site-specific eukaryotic non–long terminal repeat retrotransposons that copy and paste into gene loci encoding ribosomal RNAs. Recently, we demonstrated that avian A-clade R2 proteins achieve efficient and precise insertion of transgenes into their native safe-harbor loci in human cells. The features of A-clade R2 proteins that support gene insertion are not well characterized. Here, we report high-resolution cryo–electron microscopy structures of two vertebrate A-clade R2 proteins at the initiation of target-primed reverse transcription and after cDNA synthesis and second-strand nicking. Using biochemical and cellular assays, we illuminate the basis for high selectivity of template use and unique roles for each of the three zinc-finger domains in nucleic acid recognition. Reverse transcriptase active site architecture is reinforced by an unanticipated insertion motif specific to vertebrate A-clade R2 proteins. Our work provides the first insights into A-clade R2 protein structure during gene insertion and may enable future improvement and adaptation of R2-based systems for precise transgene insertion.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Tuning collagen nonlinear mechanics with interpenetrating networks drives adaptive cellular phenotypes in three dimensions
Marco A. Enriquez Martinez, Zhao Wang, Yanina D. Alvarez, Jade E. O’Neill, Robert J. Ju, Petri Turunen, Melanie D. White, Jitendra Mata, Elliot P. Gilbert, Jan Lauko, Alan E. Rowan, Samantha J. Stehbens
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In living tissues, collagen networks rarely exist alone because they are embedded within other biological matrices. When combined, collagen networks rigidify via synergistic mechanical interactions and stiffen only with higher mechanical loads. However, how cells respond to the nonlinear elasticity of collagen in hybrid networks remains largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that when collagen rigidifies by the interpenetration of a second polymer, the amount of force that initially stiffens the network (onset of stiffening, σ c ) increases and is sufficient to stimulate an increase in intracellular tension. We investigated this effect by precisely controlling the nonlinear elasticity of collagen with the synthetic semiflexible polymer, polyisocyanopeptides. We find that small increases in σ c induce a biphasic response in cell-matrix interactions, influencing how cells migrate, proliferate, and generate contractile force. Our results suggest that cells adaptively respond to changes in the nonlinear mechanics of collagen, which may be a mechanistic behavior used during tissue homeostasis or when collagen rigidifies during pathological conditions.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Stalling of the endometrial decidual reaction determines the recurrence risk of miscarriage
Joanne Muter, Chow-Seng Kong, Mireia Taus Nebot, Maria Tryfonos, Pavle Vrljicak, Paul J. Brighton, Danai B. Dimakou, Megan Vickers, Hiroyuki Yoshihara, Sascha Ott, Bee K. Tan, Phillip R. Bennett, Siobhan Quenby, Alex Richter, Hilde Van de Velde, Emma S. Lucas, Thomas M. Rawlings, Jan J. Brosens
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In every menstrual cycle, progesterone acting on estrogen-primed endometrium elicits an inflammatory decidual reaction, rendering it poised for embryo implantation and transformation into the decidua of pregnancy. Here, we show that the sequential functions of the decidual reaction—implantation and decidualization—pivot on the time-sensitive loss of progesterone-resistant DIO2 + stromal cells that form a specialized implantation niche and reciprocal expansion of progesterone-dependent PLA2G2A + predecidual cells. Simultaneously, uterine natural killer (uNK) cell proliferation results in the accumulation of immunotolerant subsets. Examination of endometrial biopsies from 924 women revealed that the recurrence risk of miscarriage closely aligns with the incidence of a weakened or stalled decidual reaction, more so than poor uNK cell expansion. Analysis of paired biopsies obtained in different cycles and modeling in assembloids intimated that prior miscarriages disrupt intercycle endometrial homeostasis and calibration of the decidual reaction. Our findings show that erosion of the decidual reaction following a miscarriage drives the recurrence risk irrespective of maternal age.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Identification of key steps in the evolution of anaerobic methanotrophy in Candidatus Methanovorans (ANME-3) archaea
Philip H. Woods, Daan R. Speth, Rafael Laso-PĂŠrez, Daniel R. Utter, S. Emil Ruff, Victoria J. Orphan
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Despite their large environmental impact and multiple independent emergences, the processes leading to the evolution of anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) remain unclear. This work uses comparative metagenomics of a recently evolved but understudied ANME group, “ Candidatus Methanovorans” (ANME-3), to identify evolutionary processes and innovations at work in ANME, which may be obscured in earlier evolved lineages. We identified horizontal transfer of hdrA homologs and convergent evolution in carbon and energy metabolic genes as potential early steps in Methanovorans evolution. We also identified the erosion of genes required for methylotrophic methanogenesis along with horizontal acquisition of multiheme cytochromes and other loci uniquely associated with ANME. The assembly and comparative analysis of multiple Methanovorans genomes offers important functional context for understanding the niche-defining metabolic differences between methane-oxidizing ANME and their methanogen relatives. Furthermore, this work illustrates the multiple evolutionary modes at play in the transition to a globally important metabolic niche.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Headward incision of large rivers in response to glacial sea level fall
Zhongping Lai, Yuexin Liu, Ziyuan Wu, Yantian Xu, Zibin Fang, David R. Montgomery
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Sea level change is an important forcing on lowland fluvial systems. Although its impact is suggested to extend up to hundreds of kilometers inland, this impact is often considered confined to deltaic regions. We present luminescence dating of cores from the Jianghan Plain in the middle Yangtze River that demonstrates the influence of the last glacially driven sea level fall extended over 1000-kilometers inland. Luminescence ages reveal a common sedimentary hiatus from ~26 to ~17 thousand years ago (ka), reflecting fluvial incision of >35 meters triggered by sea level fall. Subsequent rapid aggradation occurred within these incised valleys during deglaciation between ~17 and ~9 ka and then slowed down afterward. A further synthesis on global continental rivers shows that sea level change affects large, low-gradient lowland fluvial systems farther upstream than generally recognized, with postperturbation geomorphologic equilibrium reachable in timescales comparable to the length of Quaternary glacial cycles.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Instant and secure fixation of e-PTFE medical implants in surgery by designing a bioadhesive interface
Yang Gao, Daming Liu, Jing Zhou, Wen Zhang, Danqi Sun, Shuyang Wang, Yipeng Yang, Yuchen Xiang, Yang Zhang, Wei Lei, Tongqing Lu
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Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (e-PTFE) is extensively used in medical implants for its excellent bioinertness. Existing methods to fix e-PTFE implants on host tissues mainly use invasive anchorage such as sutures, spiral tacks, or metal skeletons, which has limitations such as being time-consuming and causing leakage and tissue damage. To overcome these limitations, we introduce a bioadhesive interface to realize the adhering fixation of e-PTFE implants. We integrate a hydrophilic and bioadhesive hydrogel layer on the hydrophobic and bioinert e-PTFE by designing a facile approach of freezing-induced micromechanical interlocking. The integration is robust enough as pulling hydrogel out of the interlocked pores on e-PTFE requires large energy dissipation. This bioadhesive interface enables instant (operating time < 10 seconds) and secure (adhesion energy >200 joules per square meter) adhering fixation of e-PTFE implants to wet tissue. The advantages for reducing inflammatory response, fibrogenesis, and the resultant postoperative adhesion are further demonstrated in a reconstructive surgery of an abdominal wall defect in rabbits.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Metabolically driven flows enable exponential growth in macroscopic multicellular yeast
Nishant Narayanasamy, Emma Bingham, Tanner Fadero, G. Ozan Bozdag, William C. Ratcliff, Peter Yunker, Shashi Thutupalli
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The ecological and evolutionary success of multicellular lineages stems substantially from their increased size relative to unicellular ancestors. However, large size poses biophysical challenges, especially regarding nutrient transport: These constraints are typically overcome through multicellular innovations. Here, we show that an emergent biophysical mechanism—spontaneous fluid flows arising from metabolically generated density gradients—can alleviate constraints on nutrient transport, enabling exponential growth in nascent multicellular clusters of yeast lacking any multicellular adaptations for nutrient transport or fluid flow. Beyond a threshold size, the metabolic activity of experimentally evolved snowflake yeast clusters drives large-scale fluid flows that transport nutrients throughout the cluster at speeds comparable to those generated by ciliary actuation in extant multicellular organisms. These flows support exponential growth at macroscopic sizes that theory predicts should be diffusion limited. This demonstrates how simple physical mechanisms can act as a “biophysical scaffold” to support the evolution of multicellularity by opening up phenotypic possibilities before genetically encoded innovations.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
TGFβ-dependent signaling drives tumor growth and aberrant extracellular matrix dynamics in NF1-associated plexiform neurofibroma
Mohannad Abu-Sultanah, Zhuan Zhou, Chunhui Jiang, Dana K. Mitchell, Waylan K. Bessler, Li Jiang, Xiaohong Li, Shaomin Qian, Abbi E. Smith, Henry E. Mang, Emily E. White, Marisa D. Ciesielski, Brooke E. Hickey, Kylee M. Brewster, George E. Sandusky, Andi Masters, Steven P. Angus, D. Wade Clapp, Lu Q. Le, Steven D. Rhodes
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Plexiform neurofibromas (PNFs) are benign tumors of the peripheral nervous system that represent a major source of morbidity in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). A substantial proportion of patients do not respond to current therapies or experience intolerable side effects. Transcriptomic characterization of murine and human PNF at bulk and single-cell resolution identified transforming growth factor–β (TGFβ) signaling as a key upstream regulator, driving aberrant basement membrane (BM) protein production by neoplastic Schwann cells and Fbs. Conditional TGFβ1 overexpression in Nf1 -deficient Schwann cells driven by Hoxb7- Cre promoted PNF growth and malignant transformation in vivo. Conversely, pharmacologic inhibition of the type I TGFβ receptor (TGFβRI) reduced PNF tumor burden in Nf1 mutant mice. Proteomic characterization of the extracellular matrix (ECM) showed reduced BM proteins upon TGFβRI inhibition. These findings implicate TGFβ as a potential therapeutic target in PNF and provide insights into the role of TGFβ signaling in orchestrating ECM dynamics in the PNF microenvironment.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Regulation of MORC-1 is key to the CSR-1–mediated germline gene licensing mechanism in C. elegans
Jessica A. Kirshner, Colette L. Picard, Natasha E. Weiser, Nicita Mehta, Suhua Feng, Victoria N. Murphy, Anna Vakhnovetsky, Amelia F. Alessi, Connie Xiao, Kai Inoki, Sonia El Mouridi, Christian FrøkjÌr-Jensen, Steven E. Jacobsen, John K. Kim
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The Argonaute CSR-1 is essential for germline development in C. elegans . Loss of CSR-1 leads to the down-regulation of thousands of germline-expressed genes, supporting a model in which CSR-1 “licenses” gene expression via a poorly understood mechanism. In contrast, a small subset of genes is up-regulated in csr-1 mutants, including morc-1 , which encodes a conserved GHKL-type ATPase. We show that morc-1 is overexpressed in csr-1 mutants and accumulates over CSR-1 licensed targets, coinciding with aberrant gain of H3K9me3, reduced H3K36me3, and transcriptional repression. Notably, loss of morc-1 fully rescues these chromatin defects and partially restores gene expression and fertility in csr-1 mutants. Conversely, ectopic overexpression of MORC-1 in the wild-type germ line is sufficient to repress CSR-1 licensed targets and severely compromise fertility. These findings support a model in which CSR-1 prevents MORC-1 overexpression and consequent misregulation of CSR-1 licensed genes.
GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
Perineural immune environment of olfactory nerves is reshaped by neuroinflammatory drainage and connects to ethmoid bone marrow
Collin J. Laaker, Kristof G. Kovacs, Cameron M. Baenen, Martin Hsu, Jenna M. Port, Sophia M. Vrba, Mohan Kumar, Annika J. Hubacek, Melinda Herbath, Thanthrige Thiunuwan Priyathilaka, Matyas Sandor, Zsuzsanna Fabry
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Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) contains inflammatory cues that enable peripheral immune surveillance of the central nervous system (CNS). While some cranial nerves allow for CSF efflux, the immune environment around CSF-interfacing cranial nerves during neuroinflammation is still poorly understood. Using a mouse model of multiple sclerosis [experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE)] and CNS Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (CNS-Mtb), we examined immune responses around olfactory nerve bundles near the cribriform plate, a key CSF efflux route. During neuroinflammation, we found increased perineural immune cells that had access to intracranial injected beads, dye, and bacteria. Additionally, we identified osseous channels connecting the environment surrounding olfactory nerves to bone marrow in the cribriform plate (cpBM). Notably, the cpBM undergoes myelopoiesis during EAE, has access to components of intracranial drainage, and is vulnerable to Mtb bacteria invasion during CNS-Mtb infection. Our findings improve the understanding of how the environments of CSF-interfacing cranial nerves and bone marrow are altered within the skull during neuroinflammatory disease.
The evolution of infant-directed communication: Comparing vocal input across all great apes
Franziska Wegdell, Caroline Fryns, Johanna Schick, Lara Nellissen, Marion Laporte, Martin Surbeck, Maria A. van Noordwijk, Shelly Masi, Birgit Hellwig, Erik P. Willems, Klaus ZuberbĂźhler, Carel P. van Schaik, Sabine Stoll, Simon W. Townsend
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Human language is unique among communication systems since many elements are learned and transmitted across generations. Previous research suggests that this process is best predicted by infant-directed communication, i.e., a mode of communication directed by caregivers to children. Despite its importance for language, whether infant-directed communication is unique to humans or rooted more deeply in the primate lineage remains unclear. To assess this, we investigated directed and surrounding vocal communication in human infants and infants of wild nonhuman great apes. Our findings reveal that human infants receive dramatically more infant-directed communication than nonhuman great ape infants. These data suggest that the earliest hominins likely relied more on surrounding communication to become communicatively competent, while infant-directed vocal communication became considerably more prominent with human language.
Early insight into social network structure predicts climbing the social ladder
Isabella C. Aslarus, Jae-Young Son, Alice Xia, Oriel FeldmanHall
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While occupying an influential position within one’s social network brings many advantages, it is unknown how certain individuals rise in social prominence. Leveraging a longitudinal dataset that tracks an entirely new network of college freshmen ( N  = 187), we test whether “climbing the social ladder” depends on knowing how other people are connected to each other. Those who ultimately come to occupy the most influential positions exhibit early and accurate representations of their network’s general, abstract structure (i.e., who belongs to which communities and cliques). In contrast, detailed, granular representations of specific friendships do not translate into gains in social influence over time. Only once the network stabilizes do the most influential individuals exhibit the most accurate representations of specific friendships. These findings reveal that those who climb the social ladder first detect their emerging network’s general structure and then fine-tune their knowledge about individual relationships between their peers as network dynamics settle.
Volatility-driven learning in human infants
Francesco Poli, Tommaso Ghilardi, Jana H. M. Bersee, Rogier B. Mars, Sabine Hunnius
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Adapting to change is a fundamental feature of human learning, yet its developmental origins remain elusive. We developed an experimental and computational approach to track infants’ adaptive learning processes via pupil size, an indicator of tonic and phasic noradrenergic activity. We found that 8-month-old infants’ tonic pupil size mirrored trial-by-trial fluctuations in environmental volatility, while phasic pupil responses revealed that infants used this information to dynamically optimize their learning. This adaptive strategy resulted in successful task performance, as evidenced by anticipatory looking toward correct target locations. The ability to estimate volatility varied significantly across infants, and these individual differences were related to infant temperament, indicating early links between cognitive adaptation and emotional responsivity. These findings demonstrate that infants actively adapt to environmental change, and that early differences in this capacity may have profound implications for long-term cognitive and psychosocial development.
Earliest evidence of rice cultivation in Remote Oceania: Ritual use by the first islanders in the Marianas 3500 years ago
Mike T. Carson, Weiwei Wang, Xiujia Huan, Siqi Dong, Hsiao-chun Hung, Zhenhua Deng
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Rice was a staple crop in the ancestral Austronesian regions of Taiwan and Island Southeast Asia, but it was unknown in any of the Pacific Islands at the time of European encounters, with the exception of the unique case of Guam and the Mariana Islands. Through multiple methodologies, including phytolith analysis, micro–computed tomography scanning, and thin-section petrography, this recent research confirms the presence of abundant rice husk and leaf phytoliths adhering to red-slipped pottery (“Marianas Red”) at the Ritidian Site Complex in Guam, dated by radiocarbon to 3500 to 3100 years ago. This study addresses the long-standing question of whether the first Pacific Islanders transported rice with them from the Philippines across 2300 kilometers of open sea, representing the longest known ocean voyage of the time. During this early period, rice was restricted to special ritual events in the Marianas. The early voyage apparently was planned with provisions of rice at 3500 years ago.
Unraveling human crowd dynamics through the foot tracking of pedestrians
Yi Ma, Zhipan Niu, Meng Shi, Wei Xie, Zuoan Hu, Yidong Wei, Tian Zeng, Eric Wai Ming Lee
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Movement of pedestrian crowds is ubiquitous in human society. However, it is unclear what dynamical regimes pedestrian crowds can exhibit at different crowd densities, how pedestrians move in these different dynamical regimes, and in which dynamical regime the movement synchronization of pedestrians is most likely to occur. Here, we conducted a unidirectional crowd movement experiment, in which we tracked the movement of pedestrian crowds through foot tracking. We find experimentally that pedestrian crowds can exhibit three distinct dynamical regimes (free regime, slow-moving regime, and jammed regime) depending on the crowd density. In the free regime, pedestrians’ movement is not constrained; in the slow-moving regime, pedestrians’ speed is constrained, but pedestrians’ movement direction in each step is not influenced; and in the jammed regime, both pedestrians’ speed and movement direction in each step are constrained. We also demonstrate that pedestrians are most likely to synchronize their movements spontaneously at the onset of jamming. Our findings provide important insights into crowd dynamics.

Socio-Economic Review

GPT-4o mini: Non-social science research article
On Bruce Carruthers, The Economy of Promises: Trust, Power and Credit in America , Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2022
Marion Fourcade, Alya Guseva, Jeanne Lazarus, Daniel Maman, Bruce G Carruthers
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The asymmetrical negotiation of legal certainty: neutral places in taxation law in France
Corentin Durand, JĂŠrĂ´me PĂŠlisse
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This article argues that face-to-face professional events where regulators and regulated parties engage in civil and scholarly conversations about the law, such as conferences, seminars, and training sessions, are central to how regulations are interpreted and applied—an understudied aspect of regulatory capture. Critically revisiting Bourdieu and Boltanski’s notion of neutral place, we reconceptualize these events as places where dominant agents of a particular field come together to agree on unifying rules of competition—in the case of tax law that of legal certainty. Using data from semi-structured interviews, as well as statistical analysis and event observations in the field of tax law in France, we show how the structure of these events and the interactions among experts, in a contested move, shift the burden of predictability onto tax regulators, by expecting them to stabilize rule interpretation to leave room for private actors’ strategic uses of the law.
Tax havens and income inequality in host countries
Glen Biglaiser, Ibrahim Kocaman, Sebastian M Saiegh, Ronald McGauvran
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The association between tax havens and income distribution in home states of multinational corporations has attracted much attention. However, studies have not empirically investigated whether there is also a relationship between low-tax jurisdictions and income inequality in host countries. Our findings, based on data from 152 countries spanning 1972–2020 and a range of econometric strategies, reveal a robust positive relationship between tax haven status and domestic income inequality, with tax havens associated with higher market-income (i.e. pretax and pretransfer) Gini indexes, and estimated postadoption Gini coefficients being larger by an average of 0.54 compared to what would be expected based on global trends, country characteristics, and observable economic factors. We also observe that compensatory tax policies, as well as the type of economic activities attracted by tax havens and their implications for labor markets, seem to mediate this relationship. Our results suggest that low-tax jurisdictions economically harm lower income groups in host countries.
Asymmetric autonomy: pension fund investing between members and markets
Philipp Golka, Natascha van der Zwan
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Pension funds occupy a special position in the financial system: their long-term investment orientation and social outlook have led to calls for pension investment for purposes beyond the provision of retirement income. Scholars of financialization have questioned the possibilities to mobilize pension assets for other (e.g. social or environmental) goals by pointing to the constraining power of financial intermediaries. This article explores potential constraints on pension fund investments through an empirical case study of pension funds in the Netherlands. We show that pension funds’ position between members and financial intermediaries restricts their capacity to act as autonomous investors, albeit in asymmetric ways. Although pension fund boards are required to consider member preferences, knowledge deficits and organizational distance enable them to carve out discretionary space. However, due to regulatory requirements, their autonomy vis-à-vis financial intermediaries is more limited. We illustrate our findings with regards to pension funds’ adoption of sustainable investment.