Research on employing cleaner and more environmentally friendly earth-abundant metal catalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation is still insufficient in both academic and industrial contexts. Herein, the authors report the synthesis of chiral α-substituted propionic acids via nickel-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of α-substituted acrylic acids using H₂.

Magnons offer a variety of attractive features for information processing: low dissipation, controllable non-linearity, short wavelengths at typical frequencies used in information technologies. Here, Metzger et al demonstrate control of a strongly coupled two-magnon-one-phonon state in antiferromagnetic CoF2.

Cutting the cost and complexity of the microwave devices is crucial for expanding the applications of DNP enhanced NMR. Researchers introduce microsystems where the generation/detection of 200 GHz microwaves occur locally on a 1 mm² silicon chip.

Photoelectrochemical oxidation of glycerol to produce dihydroxyacetone is limited by its low selectivity. Here, a bismuth vanadate photoanode enriched with a bismuth-rich surface and containing oxygen vacancies was utilized to overcome this dilemma.

Multi-component cascade transformations including difunctionalization of two alkynes with both syn- and anti-selectivity in one catalyst system is challenging. Herein, the authors report a Nickel-catalyzed four-component reaction to access densely substituted 1,3-dienes using two terminal alkynes, aryl boroxines, and perfluoroalkyl iodides.

Switching to air-to-air heat pumps in Toulouse cuts energy use and eliminates CO₂ emissions. While efficiency is high, cities transitioning from fossil fuel heating may see increased electricity use, stressing the need for sustainable power sources.

This study suggests consideration of biofuel production options with low fertilizer demand and rapid transfer of agricultural advances from high- to low-income regions that may help avoid inequitable water-quality outcomes from climate mitigation.

Allocating a proportion of water and storage for the environment allows water to efficiently meet environmental needs. This reduces inefficiencies caused by instream flows exceeding environmental demands.

Global trends in biodiversity are subject to regionally heterogeneous diversification processes. Here, the authors examine Late Cretaceous ammonoids, modelling the impact of sampling bias and potential biotic and abiotic drivers on our understanding of their biodiversity trends towards the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.

The adoption of circular waste management systems is crucial to eliminate land-based waste leakage into aquatic environments. Universal waste collection remains essential. Despite sustainable efforts, fully eliminating waste leakage by 2030 is unfeasible.

CD4⁺ T cells are known to be important in Plasmodium infection. Here the authors use mouse models to track antigen-experienced TCR transgenic and polyclonal CD4⁺ T cells during Plasmodium re-infection, and show different T cell phenotypes and varied responses in different areas of the spleen.

Tigecycline is widely used to treat complex bacterial infections. Here, authors present cryo-EM structures of tigecycline-bound eukaryotic ribosomes, revealing how it also targets the human mitoribosome with distinct binding properties.

Evolution of viruses undermines the efficacy of vaccines and antibody therapies. To overcome this challenge, authors describe a strategy for prefusion-stabilization to provide proof-of-principle for fusion-machinery sarbecovirus vaccines.

Dexamethasone has been used in the treatment of critically ill COVID-19 patients. Here the authors apply transcriptomics to investigate the effects of dexamethasone treatment in COVID-19 patients, and show both systemic and compartment-specific effects.

Francisella novicida Cas9 (FnCas9) has low cellular editing ability which limits its therapeutic utilities. Here, the authors rationally engineer the protein to develop enhanced FnCas9 (enFnCas9) variants with high on-target editing efficiency, high precision, broadened target range, and flexible base editing outcomes.

Adverse cardiovascular and haematological events following COVID-19 vaccination have been reported, leading to safety concerns. Here, the authors find no evidence for increased incidence of these events within 21 days of BIBP-CorV or BNT162b2 vaccination in electronic health record data from Abu Dhabi.

In this study, by analysing immune biomarkers in a cohort of people with advanced HIV, the authors show that elevated levels of some biomarkers at baseline were associated with either increased (CRP, IFN-ƴ, IL-6 and IP-10) or decreased (IL-23, IL-2 and RANTES) likelihood of all-cause mortality.

Viral rebound has been observed following treatment with Paxlovid. Here the authors develop a mathematical model for viral-immune dynamics and nirmatrelvir pharmacokinetics and suggest that early treatment preserves susceptible cells and blunts the innate immune response without fully eliminating infection. They project that treatment extension for 10 days may overcome this effect.

Francisella novicida Cas9 (FnCas9) has low cellular editing ability which limits its therapeutic utilities. Here, the authors rationally engineer the protein to develop enhanced FnCas9 (enFnCas9) variants with high on-target editing efficiency, high precision, broadened target range, and flexible base editing outcomes.

Myeloid cell subsets are playing important roles in antitumour immunity, and genes affecting their functions are potential targets for immunotherapy. Here authors show that genomic deletion of Pikfyve in CD11c⁺ cells results in tumour growth inhibition via enhanced antigen presentation and priming of antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cells in a mouse tumor model.

This study on fossil fuel subsidy reforms shows that the share of renewable energy and insulation of political processes from pro-subsidy interests can provide leverage points to break path-dependencies in fossil fuel-based economies.

Developing biotechnologies to address society’s challenges requires integrating concepts across disciplines, posing challenges to educating students with diverse expertise. In this Perspective the authors create a framework for synthetic biology training that deconstructs biotechnologies across spatial scales.

AI-based data-driven methods can simulate the relationship between wastewater and hazardous waste generation, enabling source estimation of hazardous waste from diverse enterprises in a uniform and lightweight manner in China.

Electric vehicle smart charging can support the energy transition, but various vehicle models face technical problems with paused charging. Here, authors show that this issue occurs in 1/3 of the models in the market and that eliminating this issue would double the effectiveness of smart charging.

Evolutionary multiplayer games in structured populations illustrate a variety of phenomena in natural and social systems. This research provides a mathematical framework to analyze multiplayer games with an arbitrary number of strategies on regular graphs.