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From 2014–2017, marine heatwaves caused global mass coral bleaching, where the corals lose their symbiotic algae. The authors find, this event exceeded the severity of all prior global bleaching events in recorded history, with approximately half the world’s reefs bleaching and 15% experiencing substantial mortality.

A turbulent history of early naturalists and the maritime explorers who hosted them fascinates Andrew Robinson.

The physiology and behavioral function of proprioceptors that detect joint limits are not fully understood. In this study, the authors used calcium imaging, optogenetics, behavioral genetics, and the connectome to demonstrate that hair plate proprioceptors on the fly leg detect joint limits and engage circuits to drive the leg away from those limits.

Melanoma staging in early stage cutaneous melanoma currently excludes relevant pathology features. Here the authors develop MelanoMAP to integrate pathology images and clinical data to predict melanoma spread.

Large-effect variants in autism remain elusive. Here, the authors use long-read sequencing to assemble phased genomes for 189 individuals, identifying pathogenic variants in TBL1XR1, MECP2, and SYNGAP1, plus nine candidate structural variants missed by short-read methods.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

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).

Three BRAF inhibitors are used to treat melanoma and colorectal cancer. Here, the authors demonstrate that these drugs bind and activate the protein kinase GCN2, a previously unappreciated off-target effect that may modulate tumour cell responses.

Genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders identifies five underlying genomic factors that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders.

This study examines long-term changes in species richness across tropical forests in the Andes and Amazon. Hotter, drier and more seasonal forests in the eastern and southern Amazon are losing species, while Northern Andean forests are accumulating species, acting as a refuge for climate-displaced species.

Climate change can alter when and how animals grow, breed, and migrate, but it is unclear whether this allows populations to persist. This global study shows that shifts in seasonal timing are key to helping vertebrate species maintain population growth under global warming.

Deaminases of the APOBEC3 family contribute to the mutagenesis of various cancers, including urothelial carcinoma (UC) of the bladder. Here, the authors use functional studies and transcriptomics to demonstrate that APOBEC3 promotes tumour progression and squamous trans-differentiation in UC through IL-1α and downstream activation of the AP-1 transcription factor.

Fungal spores can promote immune responses of both type 2 (IL-4 / IL-5 / IL-13) and type 17 (IL-17). Here the authors characterise the subsets of cDC2 associated with type 2 and type 17 allergic responses to fungal allergens and show that Mgl2⁺ cDC2 depletion reduces type 2 but not type 17 fungal airway inflammation.

Baked sediment, heat-shattered artefacts and introduced pyrite in a 400,000-year-old Palaeolithic occupation site in Suffolk, UK provide evidence of intentional fire-making, marking a pivotal moment in human development.

The 4D Nucleome Project demonstrates the use of genomic assays and computational methods to measure genome folding and then predict genomic structure from DNA sequence, facilitating the discovery of potential effects of genetic variants, including variants associated with disease, on genome structure and function.

Four decades after a test mining experiment that removed nodules, the biological impacts in many groups of organisms persist, although populations of several organisms have begun to re-establish despite persistent physical changes at the seafloor.

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.

Improved vaccines and antivirals are needed for many enveloped viruses. Here, the authors identify sulfur-based small molecules that disrupt viral membrane properties, inhibiting fusion and entry, and safely inactivate influenza virus. The resulting inactivated influenza vaccine is protective in mice.

Pulmonary type 2 inflammation is associated with type 2 innate lymphoid cells. Here the authors use the Collaborative Cross mouse panel to show that ILC2 abundance during type 2 lung inflammation is different across the panel and identify free-fatty acid receptor 3 (Ffar3) as a gene responsible and show cytokine and ILC2 functional changes.

Andrew Robinson follows the feet, wheels, ships and space stations that have circled the globe.

The extent to which COVID-19 vaccination protects against long COVID is not well understood. Here, the authors use electronic health record data from the United States and find that, for people who received their vaccination prior to infection, vaccination was associated with lower incidence of long COVID.

Natural history collections hold over two billion specimens representing Earth’s biodiversity, but their scientific value depends on continued specimen collection and digitisation. This study demonstrates a global decline in collection rates across taxonomic groups, highlighting the need for investment in collecting activities.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

Jonaitis et al demonstrate that serotonin differentially modulates feedforward inhibitory neurons in the olfactory system of Drosophila which likely reflects odor categorization in higher order brain regions.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

Data collected from more than 2,000 taxa provide an unparalleled opportunity to quantify how extreme wildfires affect biodiversity, revealing that the largest effects on plants and animals were in areas with frequent or recent past fires and within extensively burnt areas.

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.

Here, the authors use detailed temporal nutrition intake data captured through real-time food logging via a smartphone app and gut microbiota profiles from ~1,000 participants of a digital cohort on personalized nutrition to associate dietary regularity and quality with gut microbiome diversity.

There’s an emerging body of evidence to show how biological sex impacts cancer incidence, treatment and underlying biology. Here, using a large pan-cancer dataset, the authors further highlight how sex differences shape the cancer genome.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

In somatic cells the mechanisms maintaining the chromosome ends are normally inactivated; however, cancer cells can re-activate these pathways to support continuous growth. Here, the authors characterize the telomeric landscapes across tumour types and identify genomic alterations associated with different telomere maintenance mechanisms.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

Whole-genome sequencing data from more than 2,500 cancers of 38 tumour types reveal 16 signatures that can be used to classify somatic structural variants, highlighting the diversity of genomic rearrangements in cancer.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.

An analysis of 2,954 genomes from 38 cancer subtypes identified 19,166 retrotransposition events in 35% of samples. Aberrant LINE-1 retrotranspositions can lead to the deletion of tumor-suppressor genes as well as the amplification of oncogenes.

Some cancer patients first present with metastases where the location of the primary is unidentified; these are difficult to treat. In this study, using machine learning, the authors develop a method to determine the tissue of origin of a cancer based on whole sequencing data.

In this study the authors consider the structural variants (SVs) present within cancer cases of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. They report hundreds of genes, including known cancer-associated genes for which the nearby presence of a SV breakpoint is associated with altered expression.

A single MRI scan can provide reliable estimates of human lifetime brain atrophy, helping overcome lifespan data collection challenges. This may enhance genetic studies of late-life neurodegeneration and reveal new insights into its underlying mechanisms.

Little is known about the diets of early modern humans as they dispersed into Australia. Here, Florin et al. study charred plant remains from Madjedbebe rockshelter, which show that 65–53 thousand years ago, early modern humans in northern Australia already had a broad diet of plants.