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Over the last 15 years, the content of Nature Physics has covered an enormous breadth of subjects at the forefront of physics. The journal’s past and present editors recount their favourite papers and what made chaperoning them to publication special.

A study showing high-quality container-based sanitation servicing improves the sanitation-related quality of life in informal settlements across Kenya, Peru and South Africa.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

With the yearly exodus from labs and lecture theatres imminent, Nature's regular reviewers and editors share some tempting holiday reads.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

The quark structure of the f₀(980) hadron is still unknown after 50 years of its discovery. Here, the CMS Collaboration reports a measurement of the elliptic flow of the f₀(980) state in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV, providing strong evidence that the state is an ordinary meson.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Charles Darwin might never have formulated his theory of natural selection had a passion for collecting beetles, among other things, not diverted him from his clerical studies. The diverse colours and structures of beetles still fascinate today, and one study has now looked at how two particular beetles get their bright colourings. It turns out that the structures that reflect light and produce the colour are very different, allowing these two beetles to be respectively camouflaged and conspicuous.

Plagiarism accusation hits stem-cell research.

Extended-spectrum cephalosporin resistance genes in Escherichia coli have spread worldwide. Here, the authors dissect the emergence and distribution of these genes over time, and across geographic location and host species, to better understand their dynamics and mechanisms of transmission.

The authors analyzed the whole-exome sequences of over 16,000 individuals and found that very rare variants predicted to disrupt the SETD1A gene confer substantial risk for schizophrenia. Damaging variants in SETD1A were also associated with diverse, severe developmental disorders, providing an important genetic link between schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

By integrating healthcare and exome-sequencing data from parent–offspring trios of patients with developmental disorders, 28 genes that had not previously been associated with developmental disorders were identified.

CERN, the centre for particle physics in Europe, has been smashing its way through the subatomic world for the past 50 years. Alison Abbott finds out what's in store for the future.

Chronic infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to the emergence of viral variants that show reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies in an immunosuppressed individual treated with convalescent plasma.

Sera from vaccinated individuals and some monoclonal antibodies show a modest reduction in neutralizing activity against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2; but the E484K substitution leads to a considerable loss of neutralizing activity.

Non-viral intron knock-ins for incorporating synthetic exons into endogenous introns enable efficient gene targeting and selective gene knockout in successfully edited cells.

An electronic skin that is capable of long-term monitoring of vital signs and molecular biomarkers in sweat can—with the help of machine learning—be used to classify stress responses with high accuracy and predict state anxiety levels with high reliability.

Developmental disorders (DDs) are more prevalent in males, thought to be due to X-linked genetic variation. Here, the authors investigate the burden of X-linked coding variants in 11,044 DD patients, showing that this contributes to ~6% of both male and female cases and therefore does not solely explain male bias in DDs.

A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.

Openshaw and colleagues find myeloid inflammation and complement activation signatures in patients with long COVID who were previously hospitalized.

A genome-wide association study of critically ill patients with COVID-19 identifies genetic signals that relate to important host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage that may be targeted by repurposing drug treatments.

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is an anti-inflammatory drug proposed as a treatment for COVID19. Here the results are reported from a randomised trial testing DMF treatment in 713 patients hospitalised with COVID-19. DMF was not associated with any improvement in day 5 outcomes.

Ageing reshapes immune composition, function and regenerative capacity, with profound effects on tumour immunity, cancer progression and treatment outcomes. In this Review, Dolan and colleagues examine how age-resolved immunoprofiling, insights from ageing haematopoiesis and preclinical modelling are uncovering immune ageing dynamics and therapeutic challenges — revealing new opportunities to optimize cancer therapy across diverse age groups.

Nature is full of ultraviolet coloration, invisible to the human eye. This study shows that “hidden” UV coloration in snakes is widespread and may have evolved in response to predators and habitat rather than for reproductive functions.

In a phase 2 trial, nivolumab achieved a response rate of 58% in patients with mismatch-repair-deficient gynecological cancers, meeting the primary endpoint, and genomic and immunologic features correlated with response.

Post-international travel quarantine has been widely implemented to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but the impacts of such policies are unclear. Here, the authors used linked genomic and contact tracing data to assess the impacts of a 14-day quarantine on return to England in summer 2020.

In this study, Aggarwal and colleagues perform prospective sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates derived from asymptomatic student screening and symptomatic testing of students and staff at the University of Cambridge. They identify important factors that contributed to within university transmission and onward spread into the wider community.

RND GTPases are regulated by 14-3-3 binding to a hybrid phosphorylation prenyl motif in RND.

Genetic and testing data from England show that the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern B.1.1.7 has a transmission advantage over other lineages.

Genomics analyses reveal that in vitro culture of CAR T cells can lead to reactivation of a latent herpesvirus, which might be involved in complications in patients receiving associated cell therapies.

The Omicron variant evades vaccine-induced neutralization but also fails to form syncytia, shows reduced replication in human lung cells and preferentially uses a TMPRSS2-independent cell entry pathway, which may contribute to enhanced replication in cells of the upper airway. Altered fusion and cell entry characteristics are linked to distinct regions of the Omicron spike protein.

Two doses of the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 boost antibody responses and functions in phase 1/2 trial participants.

Chromodomain Helicase DNA-binding (CHD) proteins have been implicated in neurodevelopmental processes. Here, the authors identify missense variants in CHD3 that disturb its chromatin remodeling activities and cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with macrocephaly and speech and language impairment.

Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern were detected early and multiple cases of virus spread not captured by clinical genomic surveillance were identified using high-resolution wastewater and clinical sequencing.

Integrated analysis of bacterial, fungal and microbial communities in the airways of patients with bronchiectasis demonstrates that interaction networks, rather than the relative abundance of any single microbial species, are associated with exacerbation risk.

Whole-exome analysis of individuals with developmental disorders shows that de novo mutations can equally cause loss or altered protein function, but that most mutations causing altered protein function have not yet been described.

Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) is still not well understood. Here the authors provide patient reported outcomes from 590 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and show association of PASC with higher respiratory SARS-CoV-2 load and circulating antibody titers, and in some an elevation in circulating fibroblast growth factor 21.

Cox and colleagues develop PXS-5505, a first-in-class selective pan-lysyl oxidase inhibitor and show that it reduces chemotherapy-induced desmoplasia and stiffness, thereby improving chemotherapy response and survival in pancreatic cancer models.

DNA analyses of Mesolithic and Neolithic individuals indicates the British Neolithic transition was mediated by incoming continental farmers, with little gene flow from local hunter-gatherers.

A genome-wide association study in more than 400,000 individuals identifies 139 new signals for lung function. These variants can predict chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in independent, transancestral cohorts.