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It is often assumed that systems that can be analyzed accurately via mean-field theory would not be worth looking at using quantum algorithms, given entanglement plays no key role. Here, the authors show instead that a quantum advantage can be expected for simulating the exact time evolution of such electronic systems.

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).

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.

This study presents a nuclear magnetic resonance-based method to determine local structure and bonding of Pt single-atom catalysts.

Satellite observations over the Greenland Ice Sheet reveal a destructive mode of meltwater drainage whereby a subglacial flood induced by the rapid drainage of a subglacial lake burst through the surface, fracturing the ice sheet.

Neptunium was the first actinide to be artificially synthesized, yet its chemistry has remained relatively unexplored. Most neptunium chemistry involves the neptunyl di(oxo) motif, and transuranic compounds with only one metal–ligand multiple bond are generally rare. Now, a stable complex of neptunium in the +5 oxidation state has been isolated that features a single terminal Np–O multiple bond.

During a photoinduced phase transition, electronic rearrangements are usually faster than lattice ones. Time-resolved measurements now show that the insulator-to-metal transition in a thin-film Mott insulator is preceded by lattice reconfiguration.

Exome-wide analysis identifies rare and low-frequency coding variants associated with body mass index. Gene-based meta-analysis and functional studies implicate 13 genes, eight of which are novel, and neuronal pathways as factors in human obesity.

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.

Researchers create high ionization states, up to Xe³⁶⁺, using 1.5 keV free-electron laser pulses. The higher than expected ionization may be due to transient resonance-enhanced absorption and the effect may play an important role in interactions of intense X-rays with high-Z elements and radiation damage.

Magnonics aims to use the collective excitations of spins in magnetic materials, magnons, for information transfer and processing. In this manuscript, Elnaggar et al. study magnon excitations in hematite using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering, observing higher-order magnons.

Spin-ice physics in frustrated magnets is constrained by the energy scale of magnetic interactions, which typically translates to temperatures of a few Kelvin. Here, the authors demonstrate that similar physics can be observed in the system of frustrated electric dipoles in Cd(CN)₂ even at room temperature.

A spin–orbit-entangled exciton state in the van der Waals material NiPS₃ is observed, and found to arise from many-body states of a Zhang–Rice singlet.

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.

A transancestral exome-wide association study for body-fat distribution identifies protein-coding variants that are significantly associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index.

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.

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.

Bidirectional neural interface electronic devices offer therapeutic options. Here, the authors present wafer-scale fabrication of flexible nanoporous graphene-based implantable microelectrode arrays with low impedance and high charge injection for in vivo brain recording and nerve stimulation.

Sampling the viromes of vertebrates, arthropods and plants on an island ecosystem shows that viral transmission between species is strongly affected by phylogeny but less affected by predator–prey relationships and that generalist viruses pose the greatest zoonotic risk.

The Nuclear-physics and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics framework, NMMA, combines multiple information from neutron stars and neutron star mergers. Here, the authors show an update of the NMMA framework to constrain neutron star equation of state by simultaneously analyzing multi-messenger observations.

Three techniques for estimating mass losses from the Greenland Ice Sheet produce comparable results for the period 1992–2018 that approach the trajectory of the highest rates of sea-level rise projected by the IPCC.

Exome sequencing and copy number analysis are used to define genomic aberrations in early sporadic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; among the findings are mutations in genes involved in chromatin modification and DNA damage repair, and frequent and diverse somatic aberrations in genes known as embryonic regulators of axon guidance.

High-pressure experiments performed on aperiodic TRUMOF-1 demonstrate that this material remains crystalline up to pressures of 1.8 GPa, higher than other cubic metal–organic framework, due to the heterogeneous distribution of different shock-absorption mechanisms throughout the material.

A case–control study investigating the causes of recent cases of acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology in 32 children identifies an association between adeno-associated virus infection and host genetics in disease susceptibility.

Electrons in uranium-based materials are often on the border between localised and itinerant behaviour, which can lead to unusual magnetic behaviour. Here the authors combine experiment and theory to show that USb₂ may be an unusually high temperature example of a singlet-ground-state magnet.

The use of computational crystal-structure prediction has enabled the targeted assembly of frameworks of porous organic ammonium halide salts that have many of the qualities of metal–organic frameworks despite containing no metal.

A whole-genome sequencing analysis of 100 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas has discovered known and newly identified genetic drivers of pancreatic cancer; these genetic alterations can be classified into four subtypes, which raises the possibility of improved targeting of clinical treatments.

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.

Efficient statistical emulation of melting land ice under various climate scenarios to 2100 indicates a contribution from melting land ice to sea level increase of at least 13 centimetres sea level equivalent.

A candidate gene, cg2, is implicated in resistance to chloroquine in Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites, but the mechanism of resistance remains unclear.

Energy–structure–function maps that describe the possible structures and properties of molecular crystals are developed, and these maps are used to guide the experimental discovery of porous materials with specific functions.

Singlet exciton fission – the separation of photoexcited singlet states into two triplet states – holds promise for enhancing photocurrents in photovoltaic technologies. Krishnapriya et al. characterize how electron delocalization over the bridges in a series of pentacene dimers controls this process.

Single-atom catalysts are of growing importance, but the nature of their structure and reactivity remains under debate. Here, Sykes and co-workers show that single Pt atoms on a well-defined Cu₂O surface are capable of performing low-temperature CO oxidation, and provide data on the binding site and electronic structure of the Pt atoms.

Ultrafast photo-induced processes in complex systems require theoretical models and their experimental validation which are still lacking. Here the authors investigate singlet fission in a pentacene dimer by a combined experimental and theoretical approach providing a real-time visualisation of the process.