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Ebola’s rapid spread spurs new drug and vaccine trials

Pioneering studies are underway amid difficult conditions to address Bundibugyo’s threat

Nanocrystal-tailored recombination for all-perovskite tandem solar modules

In Other Journals

Editors’ selections from the current scientific literature

A geologist learns AI

Dynamic asymmetric strain imprinted into substrates by an oxide thin film

In film-substrate systems, the substrate role is often considered to be limited to providing static mechanical constraints. Dynamic film-substrate interactions when a structural change in the film modifies the substrate are generally disregarded. Using combined x-ray and electron microscopies, we observed that an electrically induced filament in a vanadium dioxide film created strong asymmetric strain in an underlying sapphire substrate. This asymmetric substrate strain fed back into the film and defined the filament expansion direction, revealing the importance of film-substrate dynamic interactions in determining film functionality. Furthermore, the strain imprint propagated at least tens of micrometers deep into the substrate, exceeding the film thickness by more than 200-fold, potentially enabling substrate functionalization as an active mechanical coupling media in three-dimensional integrated microelectronic architectures.

Birdsong diversity across the world

Birdsong motifs are shaped by evolutionary history, biological traits, and environmental constraints

The tangled world of snake taxonomy <b>Snake Men</b> <i>Zach St. George</i> Norton, 2026. 272 pp.

Fringe figures in herpetology advance unlikely (and unchecked) claims in an offbeat taxonomical history

Ballooning under water

Insect larval buoyancy is controlled by material properties of their air sacs

Dispatches from the front lines of science <b>Lost in Curiosity</b> <i>Roberta Kwok</i> Sourcebooks, 2026. 368 pp.

Young scientists’ passion and commitment take center stage in a moving portrait of research in action

Reinforcement learning control of quantum error correction

Detention of U.S. seismologist by China alarms researchers

Youlin Chen analyzed earthquake data that can also aid nuclear test monitoring

Single-cell multiomics and chromatin structure reveal gene-regulatory dynamics in heart failure

Heart failure is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, yet gene-regulatory mechanisms driving cell type–specific pathologic responses remain undefined. Here, we present the cell type–resolved transcriptomes, chromatin accessibility, histone modifications, and chromatin organization of 13 nonfailing and 23 failing human hearts across all cardiac chambers. Integrative analyses revealed dynamic changes in cell type composition, gene-regulatory programs, and chromatin organization, particularly in cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts. Mapping cell type–specific enhancer-gene interactions from these analyses enabled the illumination of likely causal genetic contributors to heart failure from genetic association data. Together, these findings provide multimodal gene-regulatory maps of the human heart in health and disease, offering a framework for designing precise, cell type–targeted therapies for treating heart failure.

Spatially resolved single-cell atlas reveals the macroevolutionary trajectory of animal hearts

Animal hearts display diverse anatomical structures during adaptive evolution. Here, we present a multi-omics atlas of adult hearts from 27 species across chordates, arthropods, and mollusks. Joint analysis indicates that Bilateria hearts share a core gene repertoire, taking a stepwise “add-on” approach as a universal evolutionary strategy. The proto-heart is populated by key cell types, including cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, endothelial, and neural cells, which maintained core signatures while evolving with shifts in living environments and corresponding adaptations in the cardiovascular system. Additionally, we reveal an evolutionarily conserved cardiomyocyte state dynamic potentially linked to cardiac development and stress responses. Finally, we identify a common molecular program underpinning chamber evolution from a ventricular foundation. Together, this work establishes a resource for understanding the intrinsic mechanisms of heart evolution.

Programmable design of synthetic plant immune receptors for pathogen protein recognition

The limited diversity and recognition scope of natural plant immune receptors impede resistance breeding against rapidly evolving pathogens. Here we report programmable design of synthetic plant immune receptors (SPIRs). De novo designed binding modules targeting pathogen proteins were grafted into the integrated decoy (ID) domain of a plant immune receptor. SPIRs recognized proteins derived from viral, bacterial, fungal, and oomycete pathogens. Their performance was improved by combining AI-guided protein design with in planta directed evolution, enhancing immune activation while reducing autoactivation. SPIRs exhibited high target specificity and could be stacked for multiplexed recognition of pathogen proteins. Importantly, viral-targeting SPIRs responded to infectious clones of plant viruses, and transgenic plants expressing SPIRs conferred disease resistance. This work establishes a versatile platform for efficient plant immunity engineering.

No strain, no gain

A modular approach could expand the repertoire of spring-loaded covalent drugs

Single-cell multiomics connects 3D genome and transcriptome alterations in Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) disrupts brain function through cell type–specific transcriptomic and epigenomic alterations, yet the contribution of three-dimensional (3D) genome organization to AD remains poorly understood. We applied GAGE-seq (genome architecture and gene expression by sequencing) to jointly profile gene expression and 3D chromatin structure in single cells from postmortem brain tissue from AD patients and age-matched individuals without AD, revealing chromatin reorganization linked to cell type–specific dysregulation. Integrations with spatial transcriptomics and chromatin accessibility data uncovered altered niches reflecting genome compartment remodeling and regulatory element reorganization. Hicformer, a deep learning framework, showed that 3D genome features are essential for predicting disease-relevant, cell type–specific gene expression changes. Our results establish higher-order chromatin alterations as a component of AD-associated molecular pathology, providing a multiscale view of transcriptional regulation and 3D genome organization in neurodegeneration.

Spatially resolving the cone of reaction for a single molecule

Collisions of atoms and molecules are required for bond formation and are thus key to any chemical reaction. Their outcome is determined by the collision energy, relative orientation, and impact parameter of the reactants. Collision studies in the gas phase have shown that energies are easily controlled, whereas it is difficult to steer the molecular orientations and completely impossible to control the impact parameter. Here, we study the collision of individual molecules at a surface where each involved compound is imaged before and after collision by scanning tunneling microscopy, allowing precise control of orientations and impact parameter. We observe that the molecules must collide in a narrow cone of reaction and that surface atom displacements can enable a reaction even for disfavored pathways.

The rise and fall of language diversity through the Holocene

Characterizing the factors that have shaped linguistic diversity is fundamental for understanding human history, culture, and cognition. In this study, we combined statistical and social computational modeling, ethnographic data, and paleodemographic inference to model trajectories of global linguistic diversity. Before the onset of plant and animal domestication, the number of languages was smaller than it is today (4500 to 6000 compared with 7500). Subsequent increases in global population precipitated increased linguistic diversity. We uncovered a linguistic “golden age” with tens of thousands of languages 3000 to 1000 years ago. Great loss of linguistic diversity did not begin with recent colonial expansion but as multinational empires first spread along with their languages, pathogens, and cultures. Thus, extinction has likely played a much greater role in shaping linguistic and cultural diversity than previously thought.

In Science Journals

Highlights from the Science family of journals

A tiny cone of reactivity

Colliding molecules react only when their orientations and point of impact fall within a narrow range