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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.

Oxidative catalytic depolymerization of polystyrene (PS) can produce benzoic acid, but the annual consumption of benzoic acid is ~40 times lower than PS, so benzoic acid should be converted to higher-volume chemicals for the process to be viable. Here, the authors report a hybrid chemical and biological process that uses PS as feedstock for production of adipic acid, a high-volume co-monomer for nylon 6,6, via benzoic acid.

The cytochrome bc₁ oxidase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a potential target in the fight against tuberculosis. Here, the authors evaluate the potential of cytochrome bc₁ inhibitors as partner drugs in tuberculosis treatment regimens.

The extent to which SARS-CoV-2 serum neutralising antibodies are informative as correlates of protection for Omicron strains is uncertain. Here, the authors use data from a household-based prospective cohort study in Nicaragua to investigate correlates of protection against infection and symptomatic infection for Omicron BA.1 and BA.2.

Despite their great diversity, human languages are shaped by recurring grammatical universals. Verkerk et al. show that about one-third of the proposed universals hold cross-linguistically through analyses of the Grambank database.

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.

Results of an early-phase breast cancer prevention trial demonstrate the potential for breast cancer prevention in premenopausal women with anti-progestin therapy by inducing epithelial–stromal remodelling and suppression of luminal progenitors.

Snakes have many characteristics that distinguish them from their relatives. Here, Yin et al. sequence the genome of the five-pacer viper, Deinagkistrodon acutus, and use comparative genomic analyses to elucidate the evolution of transposable elements, developmental genes and sex chromosomes in snakes.

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.

McGavern and colleagues identified a CD8⁺ T cell population that expresses GZMK in ʽtau-richʼ brains, where it may play a protective role against neurodegeneration.

Using historic measles epidemiological data from England and Wales in a competing-risks framework, the authors find that metapopulation aggregation in neighbouring towns and cities played an important role in driving national dynamics in the prevaccination era.

Higher-dimensional topological phases are predicted but cannot be realised in real materials as they are limited to three or fewer dimensions. Here, Wang et al. realise a four-dimensional topological insulator associated with a nonzero second Chern number using electric circuits.

A large brain imaging study of over 2000 people worldwide shows that fear conditioning engages brain regions linked to emotion and attention, with differences in individuals with anxiety or depression and strong influences from task design.

Birds have an excellent ability to learn to discriminate harmless insects from those that they mimic on the basis of subtle differences in appearance.

Experiments with untreated municipal wastewaters from 47 countries showed that some samples selected for resistant E. coli, whereas non-resistant bacteria were favored in most cases, providing a nuanced view on resistance evolution in sewage.

The ecological roles of color are well-studied but environmental factors associated with color variation less so. Here, the authors examine coloration in 1249 squamates, finding that brightness evolution is associated with open habitat and temperature.

A transition from carbon sink to source for the aboveground woody biomass of moist tropical Australian forests has occurred, driven by increasingly extreme climate anomalies.

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms whose high electron mobility offers potential for cheap, high-speed opto-electronic devices. Docherty et al.show that the terahertz frequency photoconductivity in graphene depends crucially on the type and density of environmental gas adsorbed.

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.

Together with an accompanying paper presenting a transcriptomic atlas of the mouse lemur, interrogation of the atlas provides a rich body of data to support the use of the organism as a model for primate biology and health.

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.

Here the authors identify adenophages, a previously unknown macrophage population present in exocrine glands in mice and humans. These cells are dependent on ILC2-derived GM-CSF and support glandular homeostasis.

A modeling approach to assess the global risk of Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 and 3 gene deletions identifies ten priority African countries for surveillance and could inform malaria control policies.

A comprehensive benchmarking of 19 histopathology foundation models finds that a vision-language foundation model outperforms vision-only models.

The authors in this work identify an in vivo CNS active bifunctional degrader of GSK3. This was discovered via development of orthogonally reactive linker chemistry and a direct-to-biology screen that was able to provide hits of in vivo chemical probe quality.

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.

Phaeocystales are ecologically significant nanoplankton whose evolutionary history and functional diversity remain incompletely characterized. Here, the authors integrate genomic and transcriptomic data to reveal their lineage diversification, metabolic plasticity, and adaptation to polar and temperate regimes.

Chronic stress is a risk factor for depression, yet the mechanisms are unclear. Here, the authors show in mice that stress drives interferon-mediated neutrophil recruitment from the skull to the brain’s outer membranes, contributing to depressive behaviors.

The authors report a meta-analysis of methylome-wide association studies, identifying 15 significant CpG sites linked to major depression, revealing associations with inflammatory markers and suggesting potential causal relationships through Mendelian randomization analysis.

Antarctic biodiversity is increasingly under threat. Here, Wauchope et al. provide a continent-wide assessment of its terrestrial biodiversity, and find biodiversity protection is regionally uneven and biased towards easily detectable and charismatic species.

Circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters are much more likely to produce viable metastasis than single CTCs. Here the authors find that the transmembrane protein Plexin-B2 (PLXNB2) mediates homotypic and heterotypic CTC cluster formation, driving lung metastasis in breast cancer mouse models.

Rocks and dust from the asteroid Bennu contain some of the molecular building blocks of life on Earth, such as amino acids and nucleobases. They also carry ammonia that formed billions of years ago in cold, distant regions of our Solar System.

Here, the authors provide molecular insight into the remarkable ability of Tardigrades to withstand high levels of radiation by demonstrating that their Dsup protein interacts with multiple surfaces of the nucleosome to protect the genome from oxidative DNA damage.

The International Brain Laboratory presents a brain-wide electrophysiological map obtained from pooling data from 12 laboratories that performed the same standardized perceptual decision-making task in mice.

Genome-wide analyses in over one million self-reported cases and controls identify genetic variants associated with stuttering and find genetic correlations with autism, depression and impaired musical rhythm, supporting a potential neurological basis for stuttering.

Understanding how biosilica forms is crucial to our knowledge of this important biomaterial. Now, the role of collagen as structuring agent for the metre-long spicules of a primitive glass sponge has been revealed and found to have an unusual peptide motif.

Li et al. identify dynorphin as an endogenous ligand for orphan receptor GPR139 introducing it as a non-canonical member of the opioid receptor family that triggers excitatory signaling to balance the inhibitory effects of opioids.

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.

Analysis of soundscape data from 139 globally distributed sites reveals that sounds of biological origin exhibit predictable rhythms depending on location and season, whereas sounds of anthropogenic origin are less predictable. Comparisons between paired urban–rural sites show that urban green spaces are noisier and dominated by sounds of technological origin.

How changes in brain blood vessels lead to a chronic reduction in blood flow and, consequently, to vascular dementia is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that venous endothelial dysfunction driven by EPAS1 promotes abnormal vascular remodeling and contributes to cognitive decline.

Available wheat genomes are annotated by projecting Chinese Spring gene models across the new assemblies. Here, the authors generate de novo gene annotations for the 9 wheat genomes, identify core and dispensable transcriptome, and reveal conservation and divergence of gene expression balance across homoeologous subgenomes.

Together with a companion paper, the generation of a transcriptomic atlas for the mouse lemur and analyses of example cell types establish this animal as a molecularly tractable primate model organism.

Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often show lower academic achievement, commonly linked to limited resources. Here, the authors show that reduced exploration–a behavior tuned for learning in childhood–helps to explain these learning gaps.

Pocock et al. reveal that transient activation of 5′ AMP-activated protein kinase and estrogen-related receptor drives robust maturation of multicellular human cardiac organoids, enabling modeling of desmoplakin cardiomyopathy dysfunction, which could be rescued using the bromodomain and extra-terminal inhibitor INCB054329.

Molecular biomarkers of recurrence in colorectal cancer (CRC) generally cannot capture spatial information about the tumour and its microenvironment. Here, the authors develop HIBRID, a deep learning model to predict disease-free survival in CRC from histopathology whole slide images, improving risk stratification in large cohorts.