A new study has revealed the 3D structure of a barley root protein that protects plants from toxic aluminum in acidic soils. Unlike most transporters, this protein exports citrate—an anion that binds to harmful aluminum ions—thereby shielding the roots. The findings offer fresh insights into how plants adapt to hostile soils and could help guide the breeding of crop varieties capable of thriving on acidic farmland worldwide.

Chitons are marine mollusks that can scrape off and feed on algae from rocky surfaces using their ultrahard magnetic teeth. Mechanisms that drive iron deposition in chiton teeth remain elusive. Now, researchers from Okayama University, Japan, have identified a novel protein, radular teeth matrix protein 1, that regulates the deposition of iron oxide on chiton teeth. Their findings uncover novel molecular insights in cellular iron metabolism and mineralization.

Elongation and rapid compression of Fe-Fe atomic pairs in Fe-Ni alloys have been probed as the atomic scale origin of the invar effect and the large magnetovolume effect in Fe-Ni disordered alloys. We investigated the Ni-content dependence of bulk modulus of Fe-Fe, Fe-Ni, and Ni-Ni atomic pairs in the fcc-based in Fe-Ni alloys using reverse Monte Carlo modeling with a dataset of extended x-ray absorption fine structure and powder x-ray diffraction under high pressure.

A team of researchers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to discover 12 ancient black holes from 12.9 billion years ago. 

Spintronics devices will be key to realizing faster and more energy-efficient computers. To give us a better understanding of how to make them, a Kobe University team now showed how different manufacturing techniques influence the material properties of a key component.

Associate Professor Yusuke Imoto at Kyoto University has developed iRECODE, a comprehensive computational method that removes noise from single-cell data, revealing the true activity of individual cells. By removing both technical noise and batch noise, iRECODE allows scientists to detect rare cell populations and subtle changes that were previously hidden, bringing single-cell analysis closer to telling the real story of each cell.

Two healthcare workers get COVID-19 vaccinations on the same day. Both show strong antibody responses initially, but six months later one stays healthy while the other contracts the virus. A new study published in Science Translational Medicine could help explain this difference. Researchers tracked individuals’ antibody levels after vaccinations and identified four distinct patterns of immune response after the first booster vaccination. Notably, the group that started with the highest antibody levels but experienced a faster decline were infected earlier. People with lower blood levels of IgA(S) antibodies, which protect the nose and throat, were also at higher risk. The findings suggest that monitoring how antibody levels change over time could assist in identifying individuals at greater risk of infection.

Increased consumption of high-fat foods has been linked to cognitive decline. The underlying mechanisms, however, remain unclear. A new study by researchers from Chiba University, Japan, finds that a high-fat diet (HFD) impairs intermediate-term memory formation in Drosophila by decreasing autophagic activity. Further, HFD-induced memory deficits can be reversed by enhancing autophagic activity, opening avenues for the development of preventive treatments and autophagy-promoting lifestyle interventions to preserve cognitive function.

Layered sodium manganese oxides (Na_2/3MnO₂) are promising cathode materials for developing high-capacity sodium-ion batteries. However, they suffer from severe capacity fading during cycling. In a new study, researchers systematically investigated how scandium doping can improve the cycling stability of P’2 polytype of Na_2/3MnO₂, revealing a new design strategy for developing long-life and high-capacity sodium-ion batteries for commercial applications.