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Segmentation and classification of microstructures are required by quality control and materials development. The authors apply deep learning for the segmentation of complex phase steel microstructures, providing a bridge between experimental and computational methods for materials analysis.

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.

Gather scientific evidence on the feasibility and risks of marine geoengineering to guide regulation of research, advise Philip Boyd and Chris Vivian.

Glycolytic enzymes form self-organized traveling waves at the cell membrane/cortex, boosting local ATP production and cell movement. Cancer cells with intense waves rely more on glycolysis for energy, potentially explaining the Warburg effect.

A recent conference on the environmental effects of nanoparticles leaves Chris Toumey reflecting on the difficulties of carrying out nanotoxicology research that can be used to develop informed environmental regulation.

It may have taken only a decade to repeatedly destabilize the Antarctic Ice Sheet after the last Ice Age as shown by a new data-model study. The ice sheet lost ice for centuries each time before it abruptly re-stabilized again.

COVID-19 vaccination has been recommended for children and young people (aged 5–17) in the UK since 2021/2022. In this study, the authors use linked health and administrative data to estimate vaccine uptake in this age group and show that age and adult household vaccination status are associated with uptake.

1000 Genomes imputation can increase the power of genome-wide association studies to detect genetic variants associated with human traits and diseases. Here, the authors develop a method to integrate and analyse low-coverage sequence data and SNP array data, and show that it improves imputation performance.

In the continuing debate over Britain's energy policy there is still no shortage of information being published. Chris Sherwell reports

Analysis of HbA1c and FPG levels across 117 population-based studies demonstrates regional variation in prevalence of previously undiagnosed screen-detected diabetes using one or both measures and suggests that use of elevated FPG alone could underestimate diabetes prevalence in low- and middle-income countries.

Whether multimorbidity accelerates brain Aβ deposition in humans remains largely unknown. Here, the authors demonstrate that higher self-reported multimorbidity burden predicts increased brain Aβ accumulation rates in the ADNI cohort.

Representing both socio-economic and climate uncertainties in a complex human-Earth system model provides probability distributions of human and Earth system outcomes that can help inform a risk-based decision-making process.

CETP inhibitors are being developed for treatment of coronary heart disease. Here, the authors show that the anticipated beneficial effects of lower plasma levels of CETP are shared among individuals of European and East Asian ancestry.

A growing interest in cannabis has led to new career opportunities.

The genome of the grey short-tailed opossum Monodelphis domestica has been sequenced and analyzed, giving a first peek at a marsupial's genetic code. Of particular interest are the genetics of the immune system, which has been studied as a model for humans, and of the X chromosome for historical reasons.

Immune lymphocyte estimation from nucleotide sequencing (ImmuneLENS) infers B cell and T cell fractions from whole-genome sequencing data. Applied to the 100,000 Genomes Project datasets, circulating T cell fraction provides sex-dependent and prognostic insights in patients.

Epidemiological analyses coupled with immunological phenotyping suggest that humoral immunity induced by COVID-19 vaccines wanes more rapidly in individuals with severe obesity compared to individuals with a BMI within the normal range.

Analysis of mammalian brain and body mass reveals a curvilinear relationship contrary to assumptions of log-linear power laws. As mammals grow larger, increases in brain mass compared to body mass diminish.

An analysis of the impact of logging intensity on biodiversity in tropical forests in Sabah, Malaysia, identifies a threshold of tree biomass removal below which logged forests still have conservation value.

Biological computing is a promising field with potential applications in biosafety, environmental monitoring, and personalized medicine. Here the authors create bio-computers using engineered E. coli colonies that respond to chemical gradients, producing different logic functions depending on how they are spatially arranged.

An optimistic assessment of the radiological consequences of disposing of solid high-level radioactive waste on the ocean floor is published this week. Chris Sherwell reports

A consensus cell type atlas for the fly brain provides both an intellectual framework and open-source toolchains for brain-scale comparative connectomics.

The UK Social Research Council (SSRC) has approved a grant application from the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) of the University of Sussex to assess the criteria used by the Science Research Council (SRC) for capital projects in basic science. Chris Sherwell reports.

The effects of GWAS-identified variants on splicing may explain their impact on gene expression. Here, the authors use GWAS, bioinformatic and functional analyses to highlight the role splicing variants play in complex traits in cattle.

DNA from ancient wolves spanning 100,000 years sheds light on wolves’ evolutionary history and the genomic origin of dogs.

In the second case in which a genetically modified pig heart was transplanted into a living person, the xenografted heart functioned well initially, but antibody-mediated rejection occurred thereafter, pointing to the need for improved strategies to avoid this complication.

In a randomized trial, a remotely delivered weight management intervention for people with long COVID and excess weight improved respective long COVID symptoms and quality of life and resulted in substantial weight loss when compared with a control group, with no serious adverse effects reported.

Adoptive T-cell immunotherapy offers promise to patients who are resistant to standard anti-viral strategies. Here the authors describe clinical observations in patients with viral complications treated with adoptive immunotherapy over the last 15 years.

Efficient, large-scale genomic analysis is facilitated on the cloud by a computational tool with error-diagnosing and self-healing capabilities.

A series of unexplained elephant mortalities occurred in northwest Zimbabwe in 2020. Here the authors show that six elephants died of bacterial septicaemia associated with a little-reported Pasteurella species.

Climate change and land use change may have independent or interactive effects on species’ distributions. Here, the authors show that changes in bird, lepidopteran and plant ranges across Great Britain are often explained by individual or additive effects of land conversion and temperature change.

Itaconate is shown to non-covalently inhibit the antioxidant enzyme peroxiredoxin 5 in macrophages, thereby modulating the production of mitochondrial peroxide and enhancing the type I interferon production.

An analysis demonstrates that quantitative measurements of perisomatic ultrastructure features of neurons can be used to categorize them into cell types.

In a large pragmatic cluster-randomized trial involving 74 clinical units in 2 health systems in the United States, a real-time alert system assisting clinical care teams in identifying patients at risk of deterioration decreased mortality risk by 35.6%, with positive effects also on length of stay.

COVID-19 has provided an opportunity to rethink the scientific conference. If online meetings become the norm, how can researchers make the most of them?

Large-scale sequencing efforts have uncovered a large number of secondary metabolic pathways, but the chemicals they synthesise remain unknown. Here the authors present PRISM 4, which predicts the chemical structures encoded by microbial genome sequences, including all classes of bacterial antibiotics in clinical use.

Mastomys natalensis, a mouse found closely to rural human dwellings in Sub-Saharan Africa, is a major reservoir for Lassa Virus (LASV). Here, the authors show that LASV causes transient infections in adult M. natalensis, but persistent infections in young animals despite antibodies. LASV is found in various organs without causing pathology and infected animals efficiently transmit the virus.

A positive regulatory environment, combined with a raft of drug approvals that included the first US gene therapy, buoyed the sector in 2017. The FDA's flexibility and focus on marketplace competition is likely to galvanize innovators in the coming year. Chris Morrison reports.