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DNA repair in response to DSBs in the preimplantation embryo is hard to analyze. Here the authors show that over 25% of pre-existing heterozygous loci in control single blastomere samples appeared as homozygous after whole genome amplification, therefore, they validated gene editing seen in human embryos in ESCs.

Greenland is at the heart of climate research, yet the related perceptions of Greenland’s Indigenous population have long been overlooked. Findings based on two nationally representative surveys reveal a large gap between the scientific consensus and Kalaallit views.

Rapid climate warming has been linked to increasing shrub dominance in the Arctic tundra. Research now shows that climate–shrub growth relationships vary spatially and according to site characteristics such as soil moisture and shrub height.

Ancient DNA reveals genetic differences between stone-tool users and people associated with ceramic technology in the Caribbean and provides substantially lower estimates of population sizes in the region before European contact.

This Registered Report presents evidence from 87 countries and regions showing that brief emotion-regulation interventions consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Confining plasma and managing disruptions in tokamak devices is a challenge. Here the authors demonstrate a method predicting and possibly preventing disruptions and macroscopic instabilities in tokamak plasma using data from JET.

New methods and larger sample groups are used to precisely determine the alleles in the HLA complex which contribute susceptibility to type 1 diabetes.

Predicting the structure of a folded protein from first principles for any given amino-acid sequence remains a formidable computational challenge. To recruit human abilities to the task, these authors turned their Rosetta structure prediction algorithm into an online multiplayer game in which thousands of non-scientists competed and collaborated to produce new algorithms and search strategies for protein structure refinement. This shows that computationally complex problems can be effectively 'crowd-sourced' through interactive multiplayer games.

Analyses of the relationships between temperature, moisture and seven key plant functional traits across the tundra and over time show that community height increased with warming across all sites, whereas other traits lagged behind predicted rates of change.

It is unclear whether plant trait relationships found at the global scale extend to climatic extremes. Here the authors analyse six major aboveground traits to show that known plant trait relationships extend to the tundra biomes and exhibit the same two dimensions of variation detected at the global scale.

Activated hepatic stellate cells of putative mesodermal origin orchestrate scarring during injury. Here, the authors define a discrete morphologically plastic lineage of embryonic mesothelial-derived scar-orchestrating cells, through a distinct quiescent adult precursor, defined and paradoxically inhibited by WT1.

A 4.8σ exomoon candidate is found around gas giant Kepler-1708 b, which orbits at 1.6 au around its star. It is the only candidate from a dedicated survey that analysed 70 cool giant exoplanets discovered by Kepler. Kepler-1708 b-i has a radius of 2.6 Earth radii and orbits its planet at 12 planetary radii.

Copy number variants (CNVs) account for a major proportion of human genetic diversity and may contribute to genetic susceptibility to disease. Here, a large, genome-wide study of association between common CNVs and eight common human diseases is presented. The study provides a wealth of technical insights that will inform future study design and analysis. The results also indicate that common CNVs that can be 'typed' on existing platforms are unlikely to contribute much to the genetic basis of common diseases.

An international team of researchers finds high potential for improving climate projections by a more comprehensive treatment of largely ignored Arctic vegetation types, underscoring the importance of Arctic energy exchange measuring stations.

Ex situ conservation breeding programmes for endangered species are expensive, and not always guaranteed to succeed. Here, Martin-Wintle et al.show that when captive giant pandas are given the opportunity to choose their preferred mate, copulation and birth rates increase significantly.

Prey bacteria have evolved different strategies to counteract predation but the genetic basis remains unclear. Here, Duncan et al. identify key genes involved in Vibrio cholerae sensitivity to Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus predation, providing new insights into prey resistance mechanisms.

Identifying variants capable of causing genetic disease is challenging. The authors use semisupervised learning to predict pathogenic missense variants and their impacts on protein structure and function, enabling a molecular mechanism-driven approach to studying different types of human disease.

Glucose and its metabolic derivatives are increased the plasma of patients with diabetes. Peter Nawroth and colleagues demonstrate that one such metabolite, methylglyoxal, is increased in patients with painful diabetic neuropathy, and find that it acts by modifying the excitability characteristics of a sodium channel protein.

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) have been found in gut and lungs. Weninger and colleagues identify IL-13-producing ILCs in the skin, where they interact with mast cells and regulate allergic responses.

An artificial intelligence (AI) system performs as well as or better than radiologists at detecting breast cancer from mammograms, and using a combination of AI and human inputs could help to improve screening efficiency.

Experiments at the Joint European Torus tokamak show improved thermal ion confinement in the presence of highly energetic ions and Alfvénic instabilities in the plasma.

DNA methylation is associated with breast cancer risk. Here the authors measure DNA methylation in the blood of individuals from 25 Australian families with multiple cases of breast cancer but not known mutations associated with breast cancer risk to identify possible heritable methylation markers.

An analysis of the finished sequence of human chromosome 12 representing 4.5% of the human genome determines that chromosome 12 hosts a number of genes mutated in specific cancers, as well as movement disorders and potentially Alzheimer's disease.

Perturbed-physics climate modelling experiments simulate past and future climate scenarios using a wide combination of model parameters consistent with past climate. Using such an approach, a study examines variations in the response of climate to solar-radiation management under different climate sensitivities.

Vector alteration strategies are emerging as attractive tools for malaria transmission control. Here, Shane et al. engineer a bacterial strain, isolated from mosquitoes, to produce an antiplasmodial protein in the presence of blood meal, causing the mosquitoes to become refractory to Plasmodium infection.

Advances in synthetic biology allow the generation of ever more sophisticated engineered bacteria. In this Review, Riglar and Silver showcase recent highlights in engineered bacterial therapeutics and diagnostics and discuss how best to develop them for clinical application.

A property of oncogene-induced senescence (OIS) is the induction of a secretory phenotype, termed the senescence-associated secretome (SASP). Gil and colleagues now provide evidence that senescence can be transmitted in a paracrine manner, by showing that induction of the SASP in cells undergoing OIS by inflammasome-mediated interleukin-1 signalling can promote senescence of normal neighbouring cells.

Neuropilin-1 (Nrp1) on regulatory T (T_reg) cells is shown to interact with semaphorin-4a (Sema4a) to promote a program of T_reg-cell stability and survival, in part through PTEN-mediated modulation of Akt signalling; Nrp1-deficient T_reg cells can maintain immune homeostasis but fail to suppress in inflammatory sites, such as tumours, providing an attractive immunotherapeutic target for the treatment of cancers.

Designer nanotubes based on mesoporous silica can now penetrate the thick cell walls of plants and deliver DNA and their activators. This opens the way to precisely manipulate gene expression in plants at the single-cell level.