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Lockdowns are lifting but global infections are still rising. We take stock as we enter the next chapter of the outbreak.

A unexpected US call shocks public-health researchers and drugmakers, and why some researchers oppose unrestricted data sharing.

The mechanisms by which Xist, a long non-coding RNA, silences one X chromosome in female mammals are unknown; here a mass spectrometry-based approach is developed to identify several proteins that interact directly with Xist, including the transcriptional repressor SHARP that is required for transcriptional silencing through the histone deacetylase HDAC3.

Floating offshore wind farms can harvest the steady winds found at sea in locations where the seabed is too deep for fixed-bottom wind turbines. This Perspective explores the technical, industrial and social implications of deploying floating offshore wind on a commercial scale.

Polygenic scores for body mass index and obesity constructed using data from 5 million people with different ancestries were associated with distinct weight gain trajectories from early childhood to adulthood.

Picks include a quantum pioneer, a co-discoverer of Ebola and a bioethicist-turned-activist.

The ability to control the surface chemistry of silicon is important for microelectronic applications. Chemical species can now be stabilized on Si(111) surfaces using a partially alkoxylated surface as a nanopatterning template.

A high-bandwidth neuromotor interface offers performant out-of-the-box generalization across people.

Blurred edges of objects can aid in depth perception and segmentation, yet how it is combined with shape information in the visual pathway is unknown. Here the authors report that neurons in higher visual area V4 represent both object shape and boundary blur, controlling for stimulus size, intensity and curvature.

Nickel(II) dihalide precatalysts with bidentate nitrogen ligands are widely used in cross-coupling reactions, notably in combination with photosensitizers, forming catalytic systems that currently drive major conceptual and synthetic thrusts within organic chemistry. Here the authors show a general mechanism by which these precatalysts are converted to the reduced, catalytically active species, using a range of characterization and spectroscopic techniques.

To better understand the etiology of frailty, the authors perform a large genetic study. They identified 45 additional variants and implicated MET, CHST9, ILRUN, APOE, CGREF1 and PPP6C as potential causal genes, linking frailty to immune regulation, metabolism and cellular signaling.

Following spinal cord injury, gamified physical therapy that incorporates closed-loop vagus nerve stimulation can aid restoration of arm and hand function.

At present, there are no countermeasures against the GI genogroup of noroviruses. The authors characterize a protective human antibody that broadly recognizes this genogroup.

Shocked compression experiments support the melt line of nickel above that of iron, as recently theorised, which helps to constrain the behavior of nickel at conditions relevant to Earth’s core where it makes up 5-20 wt %

A large genome-wide association study of more than 5 million individuals reveals that 12,111 single-nucleotide polymorphisms account for nearly all the heritability of height attributable to common genetic variants.

In acutely brain injured patients, well-formed sleep spindles on EEG were more likely present in patients with cognitive motor dissociation, were associated with a shorter time to recovery of consciousness and predicted recovery of independence.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis study of blood lipid levels in roughly 1.6 million individuals demonstrates the gain of power attained when diverse ancestries are included to improve fine-mapping and polygenic score generation, with gains in locus discovery related to sample size.

Factors controlling cancer and neoplasia prevalence across species are unclear. Here, the authors investigate the impact of diet and plasma glucose levels across 273 vertebrate species, finding no association between glucose levels and cancer within birds, mammals, or reptiles.

Producing nacre-like ceramics with a tough, non-polymeric matrix remains a challenge. Here, the authors use the reactive wetting of a zirconium-based bulk metallic glass to successfully infiltrate a porous alumina and create a composite with improved flexural strength and fracture toughness.

Lipochitooligosaccharide (LCO) perception by legumes is required to establish symbiotic relationships with nitrogen fixing bacteria. Here the authors show that nutrient starvation can activate LCO perception in cereals to promote symbiotic association with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Robust surveillance methods are needed for trachoma control and recrudescence monitoring, but existing methods have limitations. Here, Pinsent et al. analyse data from nine trachoma-endemic populations and provide operational thresholds for interpretation of serological data in low transmission and post-elimination settings.

Crop failures are potentially predictable much further in advance than previously thought possible. Using multiyear forecasts of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Anderson et al. show that crop failures can be predicted before the planting season even begins in some countries.

A large, open dataset containing parallel recordings from six visual cortical and two thalamic areas of the mouse brain is presented, from which the relative timing of activity in response to visual stimuli and behaviour is used to construct a hierarchy scheme that corresponds to anatomical connectivity data.

Alterations in the tumour suppressor genes STK11 and/or KEAP1 can identify patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer who are likely to benefit from combinations of PD-(L)1 and CTLA4 immune checkpoint inhibitors added to chemotherapy.

Combined patch clamp recording, biocytin staining and single-cell RNA-sequencing of human neurocortical neurons shows an expansion of glutamatergic neuron types relative to mouse that characterizes the greater complexity of the human neocortex.

The expression of each of the roughly 22,000 genes of the mouse genome has been mapped, at cellular resolution, across all major structures of the mouse brain, revealing that 80% of all genes appear to be expressed in the brain.

A retrievable, porous and anti-fibrotic macrodevice for the encapsulation of cells provides long-term protection to human cells expressing therapeutic proteins after device implantation in the intraperitoneal space of immunocompetent mice.

Sequencing of the sex-determining Y chromosomes of cattle and sheep has proved difficult in the past. Using modern methods, this study presents complete T2T assemblies of these chromosomes and uncovers differences between the species that are suggestive of divergent evolutionary trajectories.

Social distancing policies aiming to reduce COVID-19 transmission have been reflected in reductions in human mobility. Here, the authors show that reduced mobility is correlated with decreased transmission, but that this relationship weakened over time as social distancing measures were relaxed.

The genomic profile and early transmission dynamics of the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2.

Many individual genetic risk loci associate with multiple diseases, but the molecular basis of these loci often remains unclear. Here, the authors provide a framework to reveal the genetic cross-disease associations at the PROCR vascular disease locus.

South America was the last habitable continent to be colonized by humans; using a database of 1,147 archaeological sites and 5,464 radiocarbon dates spanning 14,000 to 2,000 years ago reveals two phases of the population history of the continent—a rapid expansion through the continent at low population sizes for over 8,000 years and then a second phase of sedentary lifestyle and exponential population growth starting around 5,000 years ago.

Development of diamond-based quantum and electronic technologies requires heterogeneous integration, which has remained challenging. This work realizes direct bonding of single crystal diamond membranes to a broad range of technology-relevant substrates while maintaining quantum coherence for hosted qubits.

Uroz et al. report that the distinct mechanical properties of brain vasculature versus parenchyma drive cancer cell migration through a talin-dependent mechanism, enabling vessel co-option and metastatic invasion in the brain.

The combination of a bispecific antibody against EGFR and MET with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) in patients with TKI-relapsed, chemotherapy-naive, EGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC is safe and shows preliminary efficacy.

The methylation of adenosine residues on the long non-coding RNA XIST is essential for X-chromosome transcriptional repression during female mammalian development.

Membranes made of metal-coated silicon nitride can be used to assemble van der Waals heterostructures without a polymer support layer, thus improving cleanliness and allowing assembly at more extreme temperature and vacuum conditions.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus Sequence Type 3 was first reported in India and expanded globally to areas with distinct climates including Latin America. In this study, the authors investigate the evolutionary mechanisms driving emergence of the strain in Latin America using 280 publicly available genomes and 32 samples newly sequenced in this study.