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Head motion is an artifact in structural and functional MRI signals, and some traits or groups are more strongly correlated with motion than others. Here the authors describe a method to attribute a motion impact score to specific trait-functional connectivity relationships.

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.

Theory predicts that organisms in varied environments should evolve to be more phenotypically flexible. Evidence combining genetic and physiological variation with thermal acclimation experiments shows that the thermogenic flexibility of wild juncos is greatest in populations where temperatures are most variable.

Cell-specific respiration rates differ by more than 1,000× among prokaryoplankton genera, and the majority of respiration was found to be performed by minority members of prokaryoplankton, whereas cells of the most prevalent lineages had extremely low respiration rates.

Olfactory perception shows marked sexual dimorphism, yet its genetic basis remains underexplored. Here, the authors show sex-specific and shared genetic loci for odour identification, implicating olfactory receptor clusters and links to Alzheimer’s disease risk.

Genome-wide analyses identify 30 independent loci associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder, highlighting genetic overlap with other psychiatric disorders and implicating putative effector genes and cell types contributing to its etiology.

At small scales, structural heterogeneities limit what a sensor can learn about the properties of a material. Here, the authors quantify these limits and determine the optimal measurement protocols, which depend on both the spatial resolution of the sensor and the number of probes.

Mathieson et al. carried out a genome-wide association study of reproductive success (number of children born) in humans, revealing the importance of diverse neuro-endocrine and behavioural factors.

Timothy Frayling, Joel Hirschhorn, Peter Visscher and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for adult height in 253,288 individuals. They identify 697 variants in 423 loci significantly associated with adult height and find that these variants cluster in pathways involved in growth and together explain one-fifth of the heritability for this trait.

A genome-wide study by the Long COVID Host Genetics Initiative identifies an association between the FOXP4 locus and long COVID, implicating altered lung function in its pathophysiology.

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.

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.

Bacterial attachment on implanted medical devices depends on surface topography. Here, the authors screen combinatorially generated shapes embossed into polymers to investigate topographical control of bacterial responses to surfaces.

Glut1-deficiency syndrome is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by low brain glucose and epileptic seizures. Tanget al. show that in model mice, low Glut1 leads to defects of the brain vasculature, and that AAV9-based gene therapy at pre- or early-symptomatic stages prevents the defects and mitigates disease.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis study of blood lipid levels in roughly 1.6 million individuals demonstrates the gain of power attained when diverse ancestries are included to improve fine-mapping and polygenic score generation, with gains in locus discovery related to sample size.

Bone marrow adipose tissue accounts for over 10% of human fat mass. Here, Xu et al. use deep learning to measure marrow adiposity in over 45,000 people, and identify genes associated with altered bone marrow adiposity.

Multiancestry genome-wide association analyses identify new risk loci for stroke and stroke subtypes. Fine mapping and bioinformatics analyses of these risk loci point to mechanisms not previously implicated in stroke pathophysiology.

Linda Kao and colleagues use admixture mapping to identify risk variants in MYH9 associated with nondiabetic end-stage renal disease in African Americans. The risk variants are more common in populations with West African ancestry and contribute to the excess burden of end-stage kidney diseases in these populations. A similar finding is reported in an accompanying paper by Cheryl Winkler and colleagues.

Earth system models often categorize plants to just a few functional types, and plant characteristics are defined per type, neglecting their diversity. The authors show how the use of plant traits can improve the modeling of global carbon, water, and energy fluxes

An increase in the volume of the brain lateral ventricles is a sign of normal aging, but can also be associated with neurological and psychiatric disorders. Here, Vojinovic et al. identify seven genetic loci in a GWA study for ventricular volume in 23,500 individuals and find correlation with thalamus volume.

GWAS have identified more than 500 genetic loci associated with blood lipid levels. Here, the authors report a genome-wide analysis of interactions between genetic markers and physical activity, and find that physical activity modifies the effects of four genetic loci on HDL or LDL cholesterol.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have become a key tool to discover genetic markers for complex traits; however, environmental factors that interact with genes are rarely considered. Here, the authors conduct a GWAS of obesity traits, and find that smoking may alter genetic susceptibilities.

A device architecture based on indium arsenide–aluminium heterostructures with a gate-defined superconducting nanowire allows single-shot interferometric measurement of fermion parity and demonstrates an assignment error probability of 1%.

Genomic analyses of large population-based cohorts uncover the genetic determinants of perivascular space burden, an MRI marker of cerebral small vessel disease, across the lifespan, and reveal potential pathways implicated in the etiology of stroke and dementia.

Wastewater treatment plants are important reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Here, the authors analyze ARGs in a global collection of samples from wastewater treatment plants across six continents, providing insights into biotic and abiotic mechanisms that appear to control ARG diversity and distribution.

Heart failure is a complex syndrome that is associated with many different underlying risk factors. Here, to increase power, the authors jointly analyse cases of heart failure of different aetiologies in a genome-wide association study and identify 11 loci of which ten had not been previously reported.

Cropland area—and associated carbon dioxide emissions—in 110 studied countries is 6% higher than it would be without declines in agricultural productivity caused by climate change, according to a comparison of models with and without climate impacts.