1. Fresh claim of making elusive ‘hexagonal’ diamond is the strongest yet

2. Hunt for reactive metabolites uncovers unusual chemistry in a human pathogen

3. Radiology AI makes consistent diagnoses using 3D images from different health centres

4. Skin cells boost distant antibody responses

5. Do wet or dry soils trigger thunderstorms? It depends on how the wind blows

6. A genetic switch turns off parental behaviour and drives infanticide in male striped mice

7. Magnetic fluid offers better seal in heart-plugging medical procedure

8. AI can write genomes — how long until it creates synthetic life?

9. Stress-hormone signalling protects spreading cancer cells from immune system

10. Rising temperatures pose a threat to tropical insects

11. Precancerous niche remodelling dictates nascent tumour persistence

12. Largest Silurian fish illuminates the origin of osteichthyan characters

13. Wide-swath altimetry maps bank shapes and storage changes in global rivers

14. Exapted CRISPR–Cas12f homologues drive RNA-guided transcription

15. Homologous recombination deficiency and hemizygosity drive resistance in breast cancer

16. Structural basis of RNA-guided transcription by a dCas12f–σE–RNAP complex

17. Wind shear enhances soil moisture influence on rapid thunderstorm growth

18. Advancing operational global aerosol forecasting with machine learning

19. The molecular basis of force selectivity by PIEZO2

20. A glucocorticoid–FAS axis controls immune evasion during metastatic seeding

21. Sea level much higher than assumed in most coastal hazard assessments

22. Bulk hexagonal diamond

23. The oldest articulated bony fish from the early Silurian period

24. Cell-free chromatin state tracing reveals disease origin and therapy responses

25. Mechanism of co-transcriptional cap snatching by influenza polymerase

26. Microbiota-mediated induction of beige adipocytes in response to dietary cues

27. Merlin: a computed tomography vision–language foundation model and dataset

28. Lipid metabolism drives dietary effects on T cell ferroptosis and immunity

29. Long-term thrombus-free left atrial appendage occlusion via magnetofluids

30. A metabolic alarmin from keratinocytes potentiates systemic humoral immunity

31. Limited thermal tolerance in tropical insects and its genomic signature

32. DICER cleavage fidelity is governed by 5′-end binding pockets

33. Genome modelling and design across all domains of life with Evo 2

34. Magnetic gel injected into the heart could stop strokes

35. Heart surgery with quick-setting magnetic fluid could prevent strokes

36. Shared neural substrates of prosocial and parenting behaviours

37. Under pressure: the reality of Mexico’s research system

38. How a mathematician is cracking open Mexico’s powerful drug cartels

39. All the world is staged

40. Funding from individual donors: lessons from the Epstein case

41. Climate change and geopolitics threaten water supplies — but disaster is not inevitable

42. Cancer blood tests are everywhere. Do they really work?

43. Jam-packed star system is most compact of its kind ever found

44. My relationship with my PhD supervisor has become toxic — what do I do?

45. Climate shocks, not just warming, threaten malaria control efforts in Africa

46. How can fast-evolving DNA retain a fundamental function in cell division?

47. Genetically encoded assembly recorder temporally resolves cellular history

48. Hey ChatGPT, write me a fictional paper: these LLMs are willing to commit academic fraud

49. See raining iguanas and coral from the inside out — February’s best science images

50. Going ‘beyond GDP’ should not mean sidelining the SDGs

51. From the first telephone to videoconferencing in 100 years

52. Author Correction: Healthy forests safeguard traditional wild meat food systems in Amazonia

53. US climate actions must continue, despite setbacks

54. Why ‘quantum proteins’ could be the next big thing in biology

55. How infighting led the Maya civilization to catastrophic collapse

56. Climate research is global — risks and responsibilities should also be distributed

57. South Korea’s AI framework act focuses on rights and safety

58. Releasing open-weight AI in steps would alleviate risks

59. Earth''s oldest crystals suggest an early start for plate tectonics

60. BCDX2–CX3 and DX2–CX3 complexes assemble and stabilize RAD51 filaments

61. Author Correction: Root microbiota drive direct integration of phosphate stress and immunity

62. Audio long read: Many people have no mental imagery. What’s going on in their brains?

63. ‘No one quite like her’: meet the female colleagues who inspire these award-winning women in science

64. AI agents are ‘aeroplanes for the mind’: five ways to ensure that scientists are responsible pilots

65. Daily briefing: This Utah family line might be evidence of ‘selfish genes’ in humans

66. The hidden lives behind China’s great Internet firewall

67. The squeal of peeling tape, explained

68. I will continue the fight for environmental justice in Black communities

69. Briefing chat: Pokémon turns 30 — how Pikachu and pals inspired generations of researchers

70. Editorial Expression of Concern: The gene product Murr1 restricts HIV-1 replication in resting CD4 lymphocytes

71. White House stalls release of approved US science budgets

72. Pokémon turns 30 — how the fictional pocket monsters shaped science

73. Daily briefing: Stem-cell treatment strengthens people with age-related frailty

74. Brain mysteries and Bronze Age diplomacy: Books in brief

75. Is a ‘selfish gene’ making a Utah family have twice as many boys as girls?

76. World-first stem-cell therapy shows promise for treating spina bifida in the womb

77. Neanderthal dad, human mum: study reveals ancient procreation pattern

78. Ultra-sensitive CAR T cells eliminate hard-to-treat tumours in mice

79. Author Correction: Myocardial reprogramming by HMGN1 underlies heart defects in trisomy 21

80. Why an industry career move is a taboo topic in academia

81. Daily briefing: The new alternatives to animal testing

82. AI impacts to be scrutinized by UN''s new scientific advisory panel

83. Health effects linger 20 generations after rats are exposed to fungicide

84. This compound enhances long-term memory of mice — but only in females

85. Scientists face fallout for past associations with Epstein

86. How an exercise-activated enzyme helps to keep the brain young

87. CLCC1 promotes hepatic neutral lipid flux and nuclear pore complex assembly

88. Brains of ‘super agers’ are still strong producers of new neurons

89. Lipid nanoparticles engineered to target therapeutic RNA to the pancreas

90. Sea-urchin spines generate electrical signals in flowing water

91. Light-confining device can control superconductivity — even in the dark

92. Protein engineering fixes a major crop trade-off

93. Amplified X-ray laser pulses achieved using mirror set-up

94. The secret of squeaky basketball shoes

95. Parkinson’s disease affects network of brain regions that controls whole-body action

96. Environmental exposure trains the immune system to dampen allergic responses

97. Flexible paths to multicellularity

98. The protein carriers of hundreds of lipids have been identified

99. We need a global assessment of avoidable climate-change risks

100. Stem cells provide a potent treatment for frailty

101. Entanglement-assisted non-local optical interferometry in a quantum network

102. Human hippocampal neurogenesis in adulthood, ageing and Alzheimer’s disease

103. Uncovering origins of heterogeneous superconductivity in La3Ni2O7

104. Functional dissection of complex trait variants at single-nucleotide resolution

105. CLCC1 governs ER bilayer equilibration to maintain lipid homeostasis

106. Coral microbiomes as reservoirs of unknown genomic and biosynthetic diversity

107. Argentine fossil rewrites evolutionary history of a baffling dinosaur clade

108. Hydrofluorocarbon electrolytes for energy-dense and low-temperature batteries

109. Field-free full switching of chiral antiferromagnetic order

110. Rewiring an E3 ligase enhances cold resilience and phosphate use in maize

111. A disease model resource reveals core principles of tissue-specific cancer evolution

112. OR7A10 GPCR engineering boosts CAR-NK therapy against solid tumours

113. Convergent MurJ flippase inhibition by phage lysis proteins

114. Clonal-aggregative multicellularity tuned by salinity in a choanoflagellate

115. Pivoting colloidal assemblies exhibit mechanical metamaterial behaviour

116. Squeaking at soft–rigid frictional interfaces

117. Pancreatic-targeted lipid nanoparticles based on organ capsule filtration

118. Peripheral immune-inducer dendritic cells drive early-life allergic inflammation

119. Vectorized instructive signals in cortical dendrites

120. A membrane-bound nuclease directly cleaves phage DNA during genome injection

121. Echinoderm stereom gradient structures enable mechanoelectrical perception

122. Compact deep neural network models of the visual cortex

123. Cavity-altered superconductivity

124. Limitations of probing field-induced response with STM

125. How earthquakes and lightning help explain squeaky sneakers

126. The surprising science of squeaky sneakers

127. Reply to: Limitations of probing field-induced response with STM

128. What''s the best way to change research fields? These three scientists have ideas

129. The future perfect continuous passive and other transitive disorders of the mind

130. EU leaders should not rush to revamp green-hydrogen rules

131. Five ways to spot when a paper is a fraud

132. Daily briefing: COVID’s origins — what we do and don’t know

133. The first ice-core record of historical atmospheric hydrogen levels

134. The age of animal experiments is waning. Where will science go next?

135. Pop-up journals for policy research: can temporary titles deliver answers?

136. This ant species is composed of only queens — no workers or males

137. Sewage systems secretly waft pollution into the air

138. Dynamic antigen expression and cytotoxic T cell resistance in HIV reservoir clones

139. Editorial Expression of Concern: Opposing roles for calcineurin and ATF3 in squamous skin cancer

140. Nuclear weapons testing is harmful — there’s no case for a restart

141. Treasures of scientific history could be hiding in plain sight

142. Author Correction: Global subsidence of river deltas

143. Scientists must step up to avert a nuclear breakout

144. Daily briefing: New AI drug-discovery engine is ‘on the scale of an AlphaFold4’

145. Daily briefing: ‘Universal’ vaccine protects mice from multiple pathogens

146. COVID’s origins: what we do and don’t know

147. China is waging war on Alzheimer’s. What can its approach teach the rest of the world?

148. Evidence alone won’t save biodiversity: the golden apple snail reveals an implementation gap

149. Account for AI in the environmental footprint of scientific publishing

150. Defunding Chile’s climate research will undermine science and the region

151. The Contributor Role Taxonomy tool must serve to record extent of authorship

152. Whistle while you whinny: researchers identify two sounds straight from the horse’s mouth

153. Iron Age mass grave reveals unprecedented violence against women and children

154. First-of-a-kind stem cell therapies set for approval in Japan

155. Markovnikov hydroamination of terminal alkenes via phosphine redox catalysis

156. How big is the ‘motherhood penalty’? In Denmark, it adds up to 120,000

157. Why every scientist needs a librarian

158. Music is not a universal language — but it can bring us together when words fail

159. This AI can improve your peer review — and make it more polite

160. Historically Black US universities chase top research ranking

161. AI tools can design genomes. Will they upend how life evolves?

162. From Victorian voyages to vanishing maps: Books in brief

163. Gel helps mini spinal cords to heal from injury

164. Why do curling stones slide across ice the way they do?

165. Are obesity drugs causing a severe complication? What the science says

166. AI is threatening science jobs. Which ones are most at risk?

167. Runaway black hole leaves a trail of stars

168. Briefing chat: How hovering bumblebees keep their cool

169. Author Correction: Natural behaviour is learned through dopamine-mediated reinforcement

170. Publisher Correction: PtdIns(3,5)P2 is an endogenous ligand of STING in innate immune signalling

171. Daily briefing: Automated robot ‘scientists’ spark debate over the future of lab work

172. Five ways increased militarization could change scientific careers

173. Daily briefing: What we know about autism and ageing — and what we don’t

174. Super-sticky feet help a robot to climb the walls

175. ‘Universal vaccine’ protects mice against multiple pathogens

176. Biotech investor set to lead US National Science Foundation

177. Blood test holds promise for predicting when Alzheimer’s symptoms will start

178. Host control of persistent Epstein–Barr virus infection

179. Science journalism on the ropes worldwide as US aid cuts bite

180. Academia’s parent trap: the struggles faced by researcher mothers

181. ‘An AlphaFold 4’ – scientists marvel at DeepMind drug spin-off’s exclusive new AI

182. This giant virus hijacks cells’ protein-making machinery to multiply wildly

183. Forest soils are running short of nutrients as CO2 emissions rise

184. Gene editing treats a mouse model of a neurodevelopmental disorder

185. Oysters build reefs with optimal geometries

186. Malaria is hindered by repression of a cell-cycle protein

187. Laser-written glass tablets can preserve data for millennia

188. Chip-scale device efficiently boosts light signals

189. AI succeeds in diagnosing rare diseases

190. Personalized mRNA vaccine induces strong, durable immunity in hard-to-treat breast cancer

191. Turning on the ‘for you’ feed on X shifted political opinions, but turning it off did not

192. AI offers way to image and assess clinical cell samples

193. Microsoft team creates ''revolutionary'' data storage system that lasts for millennia

194. How ‘skull drains’ keep the brain safe from damage and pathogens

195. The integrated stress response promotes immune evasion through lipocalin 2

196. Cold-injection synthesis of highly emissive perovskite nanocrystals

197. Higher-dimensional Fermiology in bulk moiré metals

198. Ancestry and somatic profile indicate acral melanoma origin and prognosis

199. Mucosal vaccination clears Clostridioides difficile colonization

200. An agentic system for rare disease diagnosis with traceable reasoning

201. The political effects of X’s feed algorithm

202. Integrase anchors viral RNA to the HIV-1 capsid interior

203. Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor

204. Agouti integrates environmental cues to regulate paternal behaviour

205. Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres

206. Nucleotide signals coordinate activation and inhibition of bacterial immunity

207. A roadmap for evaluating moral competence in large language models

208. Clinical-grade autonomous cytopathology through whole-slide edge tomography

209. Integrated photonics enabling ultra-wideband fibre–wireless communication

210. Laser writing in glass for dense, fast and efficient archival data storage

211. Highly dynamic dural sinuses support meningeal immunity

212. RYK is a GPNMB receptor that drives MASH

213. In vivo base editing of Chd3 rescues behavioural abnormalities in mice

214. Roles of microtubules and LIS1 in dynein transport machinery assembly

215. Single-cell and isoform-specific translational profiling of the mouse brain

216. Reduced cyclin D3 expression in erythroid cells protects against malaria

217. Individualized mRNA vaccines evoke durable T cell immunity in adjuvant TNBC

218. Practical lithium–organic batteries enabled by an n-type conducting polymer

219. Accurate predictions of disordered protein ensembles with STARLING

220. The natural architecture of oyster reefs maximizes recruit survival

221. Rising atmospheric CO2 reduces nitrogen availability in boreal forests

222. Giant energy storage and dielectric performance in all-polymer nanocomposites

223. This chunk of glass could store two million books for 10,000 years

224. Stereospecific alkyl–alkyl cross-coupling of boronic esters

225. Deepest-ever rock core extracted from under Antarctic ice sheet

226. Mid-cycle update

227. Author Correction: BCL6 enables Ph acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells to survive BCR–ABL1 kinase inhibition

228. Will self-driving ''robot labs'' replace biologists? Paper sparks debate

229. Daily briefing: The science influencers tackling misinformation online

230. Why China and Europe should collaborate to ‘defossilize’ the world’s carbon

231. How do autistic people age — and what does it mean for their health?

232. A Yangtze without fishers — but not without fish

233. Nanoscience is latest discipline to embrace large-scale replication efforts

234. Don’t deprioritize curiosity-driven research

235. Student dilemma: physical science or physical education?

236. Updates to the ‘bible’ for mental-health conditions will miss the mark — is it time to ditch the DSM?

237. Publisher Correction: Psychedelics elicit their effects by 5-HT2A receptor-mediated Gi signalling

238. The science influencers going viral on TikTok to fight misinformation

239. Brain differences between sexes get more pronounced from puberty

240. Why sky-high pay for AI researchers is bad for the future of science

241. What’s behind ‘teensplaining’? Scientists should study this adolescent behaviour

242. The funding system needs fixing — but it’s not a ‘waste of time and money’

243. Statistical approximation is not general intelligence

244. Smartphones are a double-edged tool in classrooms

245. Daily briefing: New platform lets AI agents hire human helpers in the ‘meatspace’

246. De novo design of GPCR exoframe modulators

247. Editorial Expression of Concern: Deacetylation of p53 modulates its effect on cell growth and apoptosis

248. Editorial Expression of Concern: Transcription-independent ARF regulation in oncogenic stress-mediated p53 responses

249. Author Correction: The genomic landscape of response to EGFR blockade in colorectal cancer

250. ‘What are we doing here?’ The polymaths who searched for the meaning of life

251. How to wow a popular-science writer with your research expertise

252. Daily briefing: Exercise rewires the brain for endurance, in mice

253. Can consciousness ever be understood — this side of death?

254. Why Europe barred China from flagship Horizon research programmes

255. Why we don’t really know what the public thinks about science

256. CAR-T therapy provides relief for children with autoimmune diseases

257. Exclusive: Key US infectious-diseases centre to drop pandemic preparation

258. When a colleague dies: exploring academia''s ‘death-denying’ culture

259. AI agents are hiring human ''meatspace workers'' — including some scientists

260. How AI slop is causing a crisis in computer science

261. Daily briefing: The centre of our Galaxy might not be a black hole

262. ‘I was nearly arrested’: escaping Myanmar’s military leadership for a PhD abroad

263. Parasitic wasps use tamed virus to castrate caterpillars

264. Briefing Chat: Caffeine slows brain ageing, suggests decades of data

265. Daily briefing: Hunter-gatherers in Europe’s ‘water world’ resisted the switch to farming for millennia

266. Is social media addictive for teens? US courts wade into scientific debate

267. US repeals key ‘endangerment finding’ that climate change is a public threat

268. How some COVID vaccines triggered rare blood-clot disorder

269. AI help in grant proposals tied to higher funding odds at NIH

270. Publisher Correction: Physiology and immunology of a pig-to-human decedent kidney xenotransplant

271. Exercise rewires the brain — boosting the body’s endurance

272. The ‘astounding’ rise of semaglutide — and what’s next for weight-loss drugs

273. Flexible joints: robot morphs into a range of cyborg species

274. From ancient temples to bomb craters: explore Laos’s layered history — in photos

275. Self-powered vibration sensor for wearable health care and voice detection

276. Science funding needs fixing — but not through chaotic reforms

277. China to punish universities that fail to sanction research misconduct

278. Trump team’s new rule could make firing government scientists easier

279. My ‘detective’ job as a competitive-intelligence consultant for pharma

280. Author Correction: Inference and reconstruction of the heimdallarchaeial ancestry of eukaryotes

281. Four ways I ensured my research brought about real-world change

282. Clearing trapped cholesterol could relieve lymphoedema

283. Charge-neutral electrons are odd — except when they’re even

284. Squirrels could be a reservoir for the virus that causes mpox

285. Support people and their livelihoods rather than fossil-fuel industries

286. Immune cells could be protected from ‘exhaustion’ by flipping genetic switches

287. Ten years since the first reported observation of gravitational waves

288. Robust partitioning of cell contents by physical instabilities and biological clocks

289. Can the clean-energy revolution save us from climate catastrophe?

290. Hunter-gatherers took refuge in European ''water world'' for millennia

291. Babies at nursery shape each other’s microbiomes

292. Untapped catalytic ability of aluminium has been unlocked

293. Large-scale quantum communication networks with integrated photonics

294. Sub-part-per-trillion test of the Standard Model with atomic hydrogen

295. Sleep-dependent clearance of brain lipids by peripheral blood cells

296. Single-shot parity readout of a minimal Kitaev chain

297. Parity-doublet coherence times in optically trapped polyatomic molecules

298. Sub-second volumetric 3D printing by synthesis of holographic light fields

299. Striatum-wide dopamine encodes trajectory errors separated from value

300. Continuous-wave narrow-linewidth vacuum ultraviolet laser source