Official government statistics are critical infrastructure for the information age. Reliable, relevant, statistical information helps businesses to invest and flourish; governments at the local, state, and national levels to make critical decisions on policy and public services; and individuals and families to invest in their futures. Yet surrounded by all manner of digitized data, one can still feel

Glaciers adapt slowly to changing climatic conditions, with long-term implications for sea-level rise and water supply. Using eight glacier models, we simulated global glacier evolution over multicentennial timescales, allowing glaciers to equilibrate with climate under various constant global temperature scenarios. We estimate that glaciers globally will lose 39 (range, 15 to 55)% of their mass relative

Although nodal spin-triplet topological superconductivity appears probable in uranium ditelluride (UTe 2 ), its superconductive order parameter Δ k remains unestablished. In theory, a distinctive identifier would be the existence of a superconductive topological surface band, which could facilitate zero-energy Andreev tunneling to an s-wave superconductor and also distinguish a chiral from a nonchiral

Emotional responses to sensory experience are central to the human condition in health and disease. We hypothesized that principles governing the emergence of emotion from sensation might be discoverable through their conservation across the mammalian lineage. We therefore designed a cross-species neural activity screen, applicable to humans and mice, combining precise affective behavioral measurements

Yersinia pestis has spilled over from wild rodent reservoirs to commensal rodents and humans, causing three historically recorded pandemics. Depletion in the copy number of the plasmid-encoded virulence gene pla occurred in later-dated strains of the first and second pandemics, yet the biological relevance of the pla deletion has been difficult to test. We identified modern Y. pestis strains that independently

Microscopy and genomics are used to characterize cell function, but approaches to connect the two types of information are lacking, particularly at subnuclear resolution. Here, we describe expansion in situ genome sequencing (ExIGS), a technology that enables sequencing of genomic DNA and superresolution localization of nuclear proteins in single cells. Applying ExIGS to progeria-derived fibroblasts

Natural illumination variations in light-dark cycles induce irreversible ion migration in perovskite solar cells, posing substantial challenges to their long-term outdoor operational stability. We addressed this issue by isolating defective octahedra at the perovskite surface using a vapor-deposited polydentate ligand. Surface octahedra isolation suppresses ion migration into the charge transport layer

Climate change and other anthropogenic drivers alter seasonal regimes across freshwater, terrestrial, and marine biomes. Seasonal patterns affect ecological and evolutionary processes at different ecological levels through changes to gene frequencies, species traits, population dynamics, species interactions, and different facets of biodiversity. We synthesize the mechanisms that determine biological

Deep learning has advanced the design of static protein structures, but the controlled conformational changes that are hallmarks of natural signaling proteins have remained inaccessible to de novo design. Here, we describe a general deep learning–guided approach for de novo design of dynamic changes between intradomain geometries of proteins, similar to switch mechanisms prevalent in nature, with atomic-level

Polar ecosystems are structured and enriched by birds, which nest there seasonally and serve as keystone ecosystem members. Despite the ecological importance of polar birds, the origins of high-latitude nesting strategies remain obscured by a sparse fossil record. We report an extreme-latitude Arctic avialan assemblage from the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska—the northernmost Late Cretaceous terrestrial

With all the advances in both the science of aging and artificial intelligence (AI), we are in a propitious position to accurately and precisely determine who is at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease years before signs of even mild cognitive deficit. It takes at least 20 years for aggregates of misfolded β-amyloid and tau proteins to accumulate in the brain along with neuroinflammation that

Paranthropus robustus is a morphologically well-documented Early Pleistocene hominin species from southern Africa with no genetic evidence reported so far. In this work, we describe the mass spectrometric sequencing of enamel peptides from four ~2 million–year-old dental specimens attributed morphologically to P. robustus from the site of Swartkrans in South Africa. The identification of AMELY-specific

Only a minority of patients with rare genetic diseases are currently diagnosed by exome sequencing, suggesting that additional unrecognized pathogenic variants may reside in non-coding sequence. Here, we describe PromoterAI, a deep neural network that accurately identifies non-coding promoter variants which dysregulate gene expression. We show that promoter variants with predicted expression-altering

Integrons are genetic systems that drive bacterial adaptation by acquiring, expressing, and shuffling gene cassettes. While mobile integrons are well known for spreading antibiotic resistance genes, the functions of the hundreds of cassettes carried by sedentary integrons remain largely unexplored. We show that many of these cassettes encode small variants of known antiphage systems that favor their

Adzuki is a central legume in East Asian culinary culture, yet its domestication origin remains debated. Using ~700 accessions across Asia, we show that the initial domestication happened three to five thousand years ago in central Japan during the Jomon period, followed by a range expansion into China and secondary hybridization with Chinese wild populations. We mapped, validated, and dated key genes

Integrons are bacterial genetic elements that capture, stockpile, and modulate the expression of genes encoded in integron cassettes. Mobile integrons (MIs) are borne on plasmids, acting as a vehicle for hundreds of antimicrobial resistance genes among key pathogens. These elements also carry gene cassettes of unknown function ( gcu s) whose role and adaptive value remain unexplored. In this work,

Magnetic moments of bound-electron systems are a sensitive tool for testing fundamental interactions. The g factors of lithium-like ions have been rigorously studied in recent years, enabling insights into the relativistic interelectronic effects. In this work, we present the g -factor measurement of lithium-like tin, accurate to 0.5 parts per billion, as well as ab initio theoretical calculations

The maintenance of H3K9me3 involves the recognition of pre-existing modifications by HP1, which recruits methyltransferase SUV39H1 to methylate the adjacent newly incorporated histones, thereby establishing a positive feedback loop. However, how this positive feedback is restricted to maintain H3K9me3 homeostasis remains largely unknown. Here, we performed an unbiased genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 screen

Diapause is a common seasonal adaptive strategy that regulates annual timing in insects. Very few causal loci underlying diapause variation have yet been identified. By leveraging cross-mapping and genome-wide association analysis, we identified the N terminus of the clock protein CYCLE as a major causal effector underlying embryonic diapause differences in the silk moth. We found that the nondiapause

Uncontrolled activation of the rat sarcoma (RAS)–extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK) pathway drives tumor growth, often because of oncogenic BRAF mutations. BRAF regulation, involving monomeric autoinhibition and activation by dimerization, has been intensely scrutinized, but mechanisms enabling oncogenic mutants to evade regulation remain unclear. By using cryo–electron microscopy, we solved

The ability to study proteins in their native cellular context is crucial to our understanding of biology. In this work, we report a technology for intracellular protein editing, drawing from split intein–mediated protein splicing, genetic code expansion, and endogenous protein tagging. This approach enables us to rapidly and site-specifically install residues and chemical handles into a protein. We

A forensic technology developed in India sifts brain recordings for clues to a suspect’s guilt or innocence. Many neuroscientists are skeptical, but it is catching on in other countries

The human landscape in East and Southeast Asia is vastly complex, and successful retrieval of genome-wide data from prehistoric humans of southern East Asia is sparse. We successfully sampled 127 ancient human genomes from southwestern China. A 7100-year-old female individual from central Yunnan shows a previously unsampled Basal Asian ancestry related to a ghost population that contributed to Tibetan

Leprosy, primarily caused by Mycobacterium leprae , is considered a disease introduced into the Americas during European colonization. However, the recent discovery of a second pathogen causing leprosy, M. lepromatosis , mainly found in the Americas, challenges this view. Here, we show that M. lepromatosis infected humans in the Americas before European contact. By screening 389 ancient and 408 contemporary

We present the successful synthesis and characterization of a one-dimensional high-entropy oxide (1D-HEO) exhibiting nanoribbon morphology. These 1D-HEO nanoribbons exhibit high structural stability at elevated temperatures (to 1000°C), elevated pressures (to 12 gigapascals), and long exposure to harsh acid or base chemical environments. Moreover, they exhibit notable mechanical properties, with an

The efflux of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from woody stems, a proxy for stem respiration, is a critical carbon flux from ecosystems to the atmosphere, which increases with temperature on short timescales. However, plants acclimate their respiratory response to temperature on longer timescales, potentially weakening the carbon-climate feedback. The magnitude of this acclimation is uncertain despite its importance

Following fertilization, the preimplantation embryo undergoes successive rounds of cell division and must accurately propagate the genetic material to ensure successful development. However, early mammalian embryos lack efficient spindle assembly mechanisms, and it remains unclear how error-free chromosome segregation is achieved. In this work, we imaged early mouse embryos and identified a network

Transforming laboratory-scale perovskite solar cells to large-scale production will require uniform crystallization of the perovskite film. We designed a method to aid the crystallization process by generating well-defined three-dimensional (3D) laminar airflow over square meter–sized perovskite films using a customized 3D-printed structure. The resultant perovskite solar modules with areas of 0.7906

Influenza viruses replicate and transcribe their genome in the context of a conserved ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex. By integrating cryo–electron microscopy single-particle analysis and cryo–electron tomography, we define the influenza RNP as a right-handed, antiparallel double helix with the viral RNA encapsidated in the minor groove. Individual nucleoprotein subunits are connected by a flexible

Brazil, the largest Latin American country, is underrepresented in genomic research despite boasting the world’s largest recently admixed population. In this study, we generated 2723 high-coverage whole-genome sequences from the Brazilian population, including urban, rural, and riverine communities representing diverse ethnic backgrounds. We reveal the impressive genomic diversity of Brazilians, identifying

The regulation of G protein–coupled receptor signaling by different orthosteric ligands is thought to occur through shifts in dynamically interconverting, conformational distributions. Such changes in dynamical distributions have been detected so far only by very sparse, often non-native experimental probes at low resolution. Using a recently developed paramagnetic nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)

Genome sequencing of 1537 individuals from 139 ethnic groups reveals the genetic characteristics of understudied populations in North Asia and South America. Our analysis demonstrates that West Siberian ancestry, represented by the Kets and Nenets, contributed to the genetic ancestry of most Siberian populations. West Beringians, including the Koryaks, Inuit, and Luoravetlans, exhibit genetic adaptation

Programmable gene integration in human cells has the potential to enable mutation-agnostic treatments for loss-of-function genetic diseases and facilitate many applications in the life sciences. CRISPR-associated transposases (CASTs) catalyze RNA-guided DNA integration but thus far demonstrate minimal activity in human cells. Using phage-assisted continuous evolution (PACE), we generated CAST variants

Size and shape are critical discriminators between molecular species and states. We describe a microchip-based high-throughput imaging approach offering rapid and precise determination of molecular properties under native solution conditions. Our method detects differences in molecular weight across at least three orders of magnitude and down to two carbon atoms in small molecules. We quantify the

Translation of the noncoding genome in cancer can generate cryptic (noncanonical) peptides capable of presentation by human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA-I); however, the cancer specificity and immunogenicity of noncanonical HLA-I–bound peptides (ncHLAp) are incompletely understood. Using high-resolution immunopeptidomics, we discovered that cryptic peptides are abundant in the pancreatic cancer immunopeptidome

We present results from a randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh that introduced operational practices to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions in 276 “zigzag” brick kilns. Of all intervention kilns, 65% adopted the improved practices. Treatment assignment reduced energy use by 10.5% ( P -value <0.001) and decreased CO 2 and PM 2.5 emissions by 171 and 0.45 metric tons, respectively, per

During tissue formation, dynamic cell shape changes drive morphogenesis while asymmetric divisions create cellular diversity. We found that the shifts in cell morphology that shape tissues could concomitantly act as conserved instructive cues that trigger asymmetric division and direct core identity decisions underpinning tissue building. We performed single-cell morphometric analyses of endothelial

Several bacterial pathogens have transitioned from tick-borne to louse-borne transmission, which often involves genome reduction and increasing virulence. However, the timing of such transitions remains unclear. We sequenced four ancient Borrelia recurrentis genomes, the agent of louse-borne relapsing fever, dating from 2300 to 600 years ago. We estimated the divergence from its closest tick-borne

Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in proteins play essential roles in cellular function. A growing body of work has shown that IDRs often interact with partners in a manner that does not depend on the precise order of amino acids but is instead driven by complementary chemical interactions, leading to disordered bound-state complexes. However, these chemically specific dynamic interactions are

Coherently controlling the motion of single atoms in optical tweezers would enable new applications in quantum information science. To demonstrate this, we first prepared atoms in their motional ground state using a species-agnostic cooling mechanism that converts motional excitations into erasures, errors with a known location. This cooling mechanism fundamentally outperforms idealized traditional

Heterotrophic bacteria and archaea (“heteroprokaryotes”) drive global carbon cycling, but how to quantitatively organize their functional complexity remains unclear. We generated a global-scale understanding of marine heteroprokaryotic functional biogeography by synthesizing genetic sequencing data with a mechanistic marine ecosystem model. We incorporated heteroprokaryotic diversity into the trait-based

Null space theory predicts that neurons generate spikes not only to produce behavior but also to prevent the undesirable effect of other neurons on behavior. In this work, we show that this competitive cancellation is essential for understanding computation in the cerebellum. In marmosets, we identified a vector for each Purkinje cell (P cell) along which its spikes displaced the eyes. Two spikes in

How does emigration of highly educated citizens of low-income countries to high-income countries affect the economies of the origin countries? The direct effect is “brain drain”—a decrease in the country’s human capital stock. However, there may also be indirect “brain gain” effects. This review summarizes evidence that uses causal inference methods to reveal mechanisms that may lead to brain drain

A stellar common envelope occurs in a binary system when the atmosphere of an evolving star expands to encompass an orbiting companion object. Such systems are predicted to evolve rapidly, ejecting the stellar envelope and leaving the companion in a tighter orbit around a stripped star. We used radio timing to identify a pulsar, PSR J1928+1815, with a spin period of 10.55 ms in a compact binary system

Interfacial polymerization has been an industrial standard for preparing desalination membranes. Extending the same concept to molecular separation of organic solvents would be a key enabler for the decarbonization of the chemical and petrochemical industries through energy-efficient crude or biocrude oil fractionation. Here, we report a molecular engineering approach based on acid-catalyzed interfacial

In temperate regions experiencing rapid ocean warming, kelp forests are being replaced by chemically rich turf algae. However, the extent to which these turf algae alter the surrounding chemical environment or affect the rebound potential of kelp forests (through chemically mediated interactions) remains unknown. Here, we used underwater visual surveys, comprehensive chemical profiling, and laboratory

Antagonistic activities of the 53BP1 axis and the tumor suppressor BRCA1-BARD1 determine whether DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are repaired by end joining or homologous recombination. We show that the CTC1-STN1-TEN1 (CST) complex, a central 53BP1 axis component, suppresses DNA end resection by EXO1 and the BLM-DNA2 helicase-nuclease complex but acts by distinct mechanisms in restricting these entities

The emergence of multi-tonne herbivores is a recurrent aspect of the Cenozoic mammalian radiation. Several of these giants have vanished within the past 130,000 years, but the timing and macroevolutionary drivers behind this pattern of rise and collapse remain unclear for some megaherbivore lineages. Using trait modeling that combines total-evidence evolutionary trees and a comprehensive size dataset

Accurate spectroscopic measurements of calculable systems provide a powerful method for testing the Standard Model and extracting fundamental constants. Recently, spectroscopic measurements of finite nuclear size effects in normal and muonic hydrogen resulted in unexpectedly large adjustments of the proton charge radius and the Rydberg constant. We measured the 2 3 S →2 1 S transition frequency in

The Biological Weapons Convention turned 50 this year. Since 1975, the intent of this international treaty has been to prohibit the development, production, and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons. Global commitment to these objectives is reflected by the treaty’s total membership of 188 states. However, member states have thus far been unable to raise strong barriers against illicit bioweapons

Both neurons and glia communicate through diffusible neuromodulators; however, how neuron-glial interactions in such neuromodulatory networks influence circuit computation and behavior is unclear. During futility-induced behavioral transitions in the larval zebrafish, the neuromodulator norepinephrine (NE) drives fast excitation and delayed inhibition of behavior and circuit activity. We found that

How astrocytes regulate neuronal circuits is a fundamental question in neurobiology. Specifically, how astrocytes respond to different neurotransmitters in vivo and how they affect downstream circuit modulation are questions that remain to be fully elucidated. Here, we report a mechanism in Drosophila by which G protein–coupled adrenergic signaling in astrocytes can control—or “gate”—their ability

Locus ceruleus (LC)–derived norepinephrine (NE) drives network and behavioral adaptations to environmental saliencies by reconfiguring circuit functional connectivity, but the underlying synapse-level mechanisms are elusive. Here, we show that NE remodeling of synaptic function is completely independent from its binding on neuronal receptors. Instead, astrocytic adrenergic receptors and calcium dynamics

Nuclei define eukaryotes, enabling macromolecular compartmentalization and cellular regulation. Each nucleus is believed to contain one or more haploid sets of chromosomes (1N). However, we discovered that haploid cells of the pathogenic fungi Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea distribute their chromosomes such that each of their nuclei contains only a subset of the haploid chromosomes (≤½N)

Animals achieve robust locomotion by offloading regulation from the brain to physical couplings within the body. In contrast, locomotion in artificial systems often depends on centralized processors. Here, we introduce a rapid and autonomous locomotion strategy with synchronized gaits emerging through physical interactions between self-oscillating limbs and the environment, without control signals

Mitochondria fulfill central functions in metabolism and energy supply. They express their own genome, which encodes key subunits of the oxidative phosphorylation system. However, central mechanisms underlying mitochondrial gene expression remain enigmatic. A lack of suitable technologies to target mitochondrial protein synthesis in cells has limited experimental access. Here, we silenced the translation

Enteric nervous system (ENS)–derived neuropeptides modulate immune cell function, yet our understanding of how inflammatory cues directly influence enteric neuron responses during infection is considerably lacking. Here, we characterized a primary enteric sensory neuron (PSN) subset producing the neuropeptides neuromedin U (NMU) and calcitonin gene-related peptide β (CGRPβ) and coexpressing receptors

Overcoming shortsighted interests with politically independent ecosystem-based catch limits may end overfishing in EU waters.

Microtubules get help from actin filaments during mitosis.