On Android phones, an invisible app can be active in the foreground – and that is a potential security problem. Users then operate an app that they cannot see and can be tricked into performing unwanted actions, such as granting certain rights to a malicious app or even deleting data.

Scientists have used AI to re-analyse a clinical trial for an Alzheimer’s medicine, and identified a group of patients who responded to treatment. The work demonstrates that AI can inform the design of future clinical trials to make them more effective and efficient, accelerating the search for new medicines.

Controlling the activity of specific genes in the laboratory through the editing of their epigenetic marks is now a reality thanks to the CRISPR technology. A team from the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute has demonstrated that it is possible to precisely control the methylation status of one of the key genes involved in controlling the inflammatory response (IL1RN), thereby modifying how the cell responds to external stimuli. With this finding, the development of innovative therapies based on epigenome editing to tackle inflammatory diseases, including myeloid leukaemia, is one step closer.

Despite being an excellent candidate for a photocathode, Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) performance is limited by suboptimal bulk and interfacial charge carrier dynamics. In this work, we introduce a facile and versatile CZTS precursor seed layer engineering technique, which significantly enhances crystal growth and mitigates detrimental defects in the post-sulfurized CZTS light-absorbing films. This effective optimization of defects and charge carrier dynamics results in a highly efficient CZTS/CdS/TiO₂/Pt thin-film photocathode, achieving a record half-cell solar-to-hydrogen (HC-STH) conversion efficiency of 9.91%. Additionally, the photocathode exhibits a highest photocurrent density (J_ph) of 29.44 mA cm⁻² (at 0 V_RHE) and favorable onset potential (V_on) of 0.73 V_RHE. Furthermore, our CTZS photocathode demonstrates a remarkable J_ph of 16.54 mA cm⁻² and HC-STH efficiency of 2.56% in natural seawater, followed by an impressive unbiased STH efficiency of 2.20% in a CZTS-BiVO₄ tandem cell. The scalability of this approach is underscored by the successful fabrication of a 4 × 4 cm² module, highlighting its significant potential for practical, unbiased in situ solar seawater splitting applications.