Strategies to engineer microorganisms to produce medium-chain hydrocarbon chemicals are reviewed.

In this Review, a group of experts in fragile X syndrome analyses why the considerable drug development effort based on robust preclinical findings describing the mechanisms underlying this neurodevelopmental disorder has failed to translate into effective treatment and offers possible solutions to improve clinical trial design and therapeutic approaches.

It is challenging to exploit anionic redox activity to boost performance of battery electrodes, especially for anti-fluorite structures. Here the authors report simultaneous anionic and cationic redox in Li₅FeO₄, which enables its high capacity and eliminates the undesired oxygen gas release.

CO₂ is often found alongside CH₄ in natural gas wells; therefore, separation of the gases is an important industrial process. Jalilov et al. demonstrate that the adsorption selectivity for CO₂ over CH₄ can be significantly enhanced through introduction of water into the pores of a high-surface-area carbon.

Hydropower is critical to eastern and southern Africa but it is at risk from climate variability. Conway et al. examine river basins and rainfall variability to explore potential hydropower disruption for present and planned generation sites, highlighting the risks to supply and their spatial interlinkages.

All energy generation technologies emit greenhouse gases during their life cycle as a result of construction and operation. Pehl et al. integrate life-cycle assessment and energy modelling to analyse the emissions contributions of different technologies across their lifespan in future low-carbon power systems.