This Review discusses the mechanisms underlying both cavitation and folding amniogenesis and provides an overview of the various recent stem cell-based human embryo models that have been developed to elucidate amniotic formation and function.

This Review discusses brain lipid metabolism from a cellular perspective, focusing on lipid uptake, de novo synthesis, storage, breakdown and intercellular transfer, and highlights its emerging implications for brain health and disease.

Aditi U. Gurkar is an associate professor at the Aging Institute of the University of Pittsburgh, studying the mechanisms of ageing. We reached out to Aditi to discuss her career, perspective on the cellular ageing field, outreach efforts, and how to practice what we teach when it comes to longevity-promoting practices.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is not static but undergoes a regulated ‘life cycle’ that encompasses replication, maintenance, spatial distribution and turnover. Here, we update emerging mtDNA degradative pathways, discuss the interplay between mtDNA quality control and heteroplasmy, and outline crucial questions that place the mtDNA life cycle at the forefront of mitochondrial biology.

You, Hu et al. discover a population of COTL1^high NK cells regulated by GITRL⁺ macrophages and demonstrate their functional importance in mediating anti-tumour immunity in cancer with impaired tumour-specific MHC-I expression.

Yu et al. identify HELDR as a lncRNA co-amplified with EGFR in glioblastoma to promote a KAT7-activated malignancy programme, which can be potentially targeted with anti-EGFR therapy for improved therapeutic outcomes.

Markiewicz-Potoczny et al. report that the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway protects telomeres in the absence of core Shelterin component TRF2 by regulating the stability and abundance of TRF1 at telomeres.

Lennartz et al. introduce a correlative light and electron microscopy workflow, Lipid-CLEM, combining near-native lipid probes and on-section labelling via click chemistry. Lipid-CLEM quantitatively analyses lipids in membrane nanodomains.

Hodgson, Huang, Lang et al. show that TDP-43 limits ribonucleoprotein particle condensation into paraspeckles in a concentration- and polymerization-dependent manner. They also link paraspeckle condensation to stress response and neuroprotection.

He et al. identify a central regulator of condensate size and dynamics in the Chlamydomonas CO₂-fixing condensate, the pyrenoid. KEY1 phosphorylates EPYC1, a linker protein for Rubisco, to maintain pyrenoid size and number through the cell cycle.

Aditi U. Gurkar is an associate professor at the Aging Institute of the University of Pittsburgh, studying the mechanisms of ageing. We reached out to Aditi to discuss her career, perspective on the cellular ageing field, outreach efforts, and how to practice what we teach when it comes to longevity-promoting practices.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is not static but undergoes a regulated ‘life cycle’ that encompasses replication, maintenance, spatial distribution and turnover. Here, we update emerging mtDNA degradative pathways, discuss the interplay between mtDNA quality control and heteroplasmy, and outline crucial questions that place the mtDNA life cycle at the forefront of mitochondrial biology.