Volume 569 Issue 7757, 23 May 2019

The European Union’s cross-border collaborative programmes offer lessons for the rest of the world.

The region already hosts some of the world’s leading scientific countries, and some of its smaller states are quickly catching up.

The European Union has partially approved the shape of its next giant research-spending programme, but it faces political tensions.

Smart drones and artificial intelligence are part of the European Union’s plans for defensive research, but many academics oppose the programme.

Proactive, cosmopolitan and open, the European Union is filling a leadership void on the global stage, argue James Wilsdon and Sarah de Rijcke.

Nature asked nine leading Europeans to pick their top priority for science at this pivotal point. Love, money, and trust got most votes.

Language, cultural differences and expense are common downsides, but there are opportunities to learn new techniques, work in diverse settings and polish confidence.

Tell us what scientific advance you would most like to see in your lifetime.

Other nations could learn from China’s red-line initiative to preserve nature, biodiversity and ecosystem services in the country, says Jixi Gao.

Primates that keep erratic schedules tolerate sleep loss better than night-time sleepers.

A Mont Blanc glacier core also contains antimony from smelting carried out two millennia ago.

A steady repast of pancakes, packaged snacks and processed meats prompted people to consume more calories.

An unconventional mode of operation allows atomic-force microscope to peer inside 3D shapes.

CRISPR helps to pinpoint DNA involved in establishing an embryo’s body plan.

Antibody patterns shift as people recover from a deadly virus.

Condensation creates concentric rings when a droplet smashes into a cool surface.

The week in science: 17–23 May 2019.

The findings expose the deficiencies of tsunami warning systems, as well as highlighting the power of citizen science.

Immunological imprinting could provide hints to development of better vaccines.

Women recounted their experiences at a meeting organized by the National Institutes of Health.

The Gran Sasso National Laboratories have seen no major accidents so far, but prosecutors charge that environmental controls were lax.

Understanding why living on the street seems to cause rapid aging could help homeless people — and governments.

A chronicle tracing the drug’s ancient roots and role in research grips Alison Abbott.

Nobel laureate who traced signals through the brain.

Do-it-yourself projects give researchers the equipment they need at bargain prices. But making your own technology requires commitment and time, and it is rarely easy.

Current methods for producing proteins that can be activated by light require knowledge of the protein’s active site, or can reduce the protein’s functionality. A technique that overcomes these issues has been devised.

For a century, researchers have sought materials that superconduct — transport electricity without loss — at room temperature. Experimental data now confirm superconductivity at higher temperatures than ever before.

The biggest synthetic genome so far has been made, with a smaller set of amino-acid-encoding codons than usual — raising the prospect of encoding proteins that contain unnatural amino-acid residues.

How Nature reported early heart-transplant operations in 1969, and a proposed use for prickly pears in 1919.

Supersolids are highly sought-after structures whose atoms can simultaneously support frictionless flow and form a crystal. Hallmarks of a supersolid have now been observed in three experiments that involve quantum gases of dipolar atoms.

A classic study found that crystalline ice adopts an amorphous form when compressed. Experiments now find that alternative phase transitions can occur — with implications for theories about water’s structure.

Cell competition in the developing mouse epithelium involves apoptosis and engulfment when the epithelium has only one layer, but switches to involve asymmetric cell division and differentiation of ‘loser’ cells as the epithelium becomes stratified.

The original Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) is expanded with deeper characterization of over 1,000 cell lines, including genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data, and integration with drug-sensitivity and gene-dependency data.

The authors report a general strategy for in vivo protein activation using light-controlled proximal decaging directed by in silico screening.

High-fidelity convergent total synthesis is used to produce Escherichia coli with a 61-codon synthetic genome that uses 59 codons to encode all of the canonical amino acids.

Observations that molecular gas in NGC 300 is spatially uncorrelated with high-mass stars are attributed to rapid evolution, with molecular clouds quickly destroyed by stellar feedback, and low star-formation efficiency.

Insights into the thermal and rheological history of Mars are generated by considering the interplay between the thermochemistry of the planet and the orbital evolution of its closest satellite, Phobos.

A lanthanum hydride compound at a pressure of around 170 gigapascals is found to exhibit superconductivity with a critical temperature of 250 kelvin.

Two-qubit logic gates in a silicon-based system are shown (using randomized benchmarking) to have high gate fidelities of operation and are used to generate Bell states, a step towards solid-state quantum computation.

Evidence of the three-dimensional quantum Hall effect and a magnetic-field-driven quantum phase transition are observed in zirconium pentatelluride crystals.

Slow compression of ice at low temperature results in the sequential formation of a series of crystalline phases, challenging theories that connect amorphous ice to supercooled liquid water.

Emissions from eastern China account for approximately 40 to 60 per cent of the global rise in emissions of trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11), which may be a result of new production and use.

A continuous, multi-century record of subarctic Atlantic marine productivity shows that a marked decline in net primary productivity has occurred across the subarctic Atlantic basin over the past two centuries.

Micro-computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of a growth series of the coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae traces the ontogeny of the brain and neurocranium, which sheds light on neurocranial evolution in sarcopterygian fishes.

Patient data from six clinical trials are used to compare the genomic landscapes of breast cancer metastases with those of primary tumours, revealing an increase in mutational burden and clonal diversity.

The SR-B1 receptor partners with DOCK4 and RAC1 to drive the uptake and transcytosis of LDL in endothelial cells, thereby promoting atherosclerosis in mice.

NAD metabolic pathway choice in cancer is largely dependent on the tissue of origin, with implications for the development of precision treatments.

A single-cell approach is used to follow the heritable stochastic changes to DNA methylation that occur in primary chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and healthy B cells, allowing the tracing of cell lineage histories and evolution during treatment with ibrutinib.

An algal TET dioxygenase homologue, CMD1, uses vitamin C as a glycerol donor to modify 5-methylcytosine and helps to regulate gene transcription in response to high light levels.