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Two years ago Raphael D. Sagarin and colleagues proposed that security systems should learn from nature. Now they've worked with defence professionals on putting that call into practice.

The Malaria Genomic Epidemiology Network reports a large multicenter association study for severe malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum in 11,890 cases and 17,441 controls from 12 locations in Africa, Asia and Oceania. They examine 27 loci previously associated with severe malaria and replicate associations at the HBB, ABO, ATP2B4, G6PD and CD40LG loci, but they fail to replicate other previously reported associations.

The Shockley–Queisser limit for solar cells is overcome in the ferroelectric insulator BaTiO₃.

Adult forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are of a polygenic nature, but paediatric and very early onset (VEO) IBD also occur as monogenic forms. Here, using whole exome sequencing, the authors explore both the monogenic and polygenic contribution to VEO-IBD and characterize a rare somatic mosaic VEO-IBD patient.

A robust, cost-effective technique based on whole-exome sequencing data can be used to characterize immune infiltrates, relate the extent of these infiltrates to somatic changes in tumours, and enables prediction of tumour responses to immune checkpoint inhibition therapy.

Analysis of whole-genome doubling (WGD) by using cancer sequencing data combined with simulations of tumor evolution suggests that there is negative selection against homozygous loss of essential genes before WGD but not after.

By integrating healthcare and exome-sequencing data from parent–offspring trios of patients with developmental disorders, 28 genes that had not previously been associated with developmental disorders were identified.

A survey of T cell repertoire evolution in the tumors, healthy tissue and blood of patients with early-stage untreated lung cancer offers an opportunity to monitor and identify neoantigen-specific T cells for personalized immunotherapy.

Global sampling of microbial communities associated with wastewater treatment plants and application of ecological theory revealed a small, core bacterial community associated with performance and provides insights into the community dynamics in this environment.

Whole-exome analysis of individuals with developmental disorders shows that de novo mutations can equally cause loss or altered protein function, but that most mutations causing altered protein function have not yet been described.

Chromodomain Helicase DNA-binding (CHD) proteins have been implicated in neurodevelopmental processes. Here, the authors identify missense variants in CHD3 that disturb its chromatin remodeling activities and cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with macrocephaly and speech and language impairment.

Wu et al. utilize multiparametric analysis of early-stage human NSCLC to characterize a population of Vδ1 T cells displaying a resident memory and effector memory phenotype, which were associated with ongoing remission.

The cellular heterogeneity in brain obscures the identification of robust cellular regulatory networks. Here the authors integrate genome-wide chromosome conformation data from sorted neurons and glia, with transcriptomic and enhancer profiles, to characterize cell-type-specific gene regulatory landscapes in the human brain, and provide insights into cell-type-specific gene regulatory networks in brain disorders.

Test of therapeutic mosaic vaccines in HIV-infected individuals shows no control of virus after treatment interruption.

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.

In the ant genus Pheidole the growth of rudimentary wing discs—which influence developmental allometry to produce castes with distinct morphologies—is socially regulated to determine the worker-to-soldier ratio in Pheidole colonies.

The use of infant formula as a substitute for or supplementation to breast milk has increased dramatically since the middle of the 20^th century. Such formula is typically supplemented with high levels of iron, yet the long-term effects of high exposure to iron during infancy are poorly understood. In this Perspectives article, Hare et al. discuss evidence that iron overload in infancy increases the risk of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson disease, in old age. They also consider methods for accurate measurement of past iron exposure that could be used to further investigate the risks.

We present a practical workflow describing how to use deep learning to develop continuous-risk models that can predict various adverse outcomes from structured electronic health records.

TRACERx Lung: Intratumoral transcriptional heterogeneity, which often hinders the development of clinically useful RNA-expression-biased biomarkers for cancer, can now be overcome with an approach for the identification of clonal expression biomarkers.

A guinea-pig model of cardiac injury is used to show that human embryonic stem-cell-derived cardiomyocyte grafts can electrically integrate into the injured heart, improving mechanical function and reducing spontaneous and induced ventricular tachycardia; this is a major step towards clinical adoption of cell replacement therapies for cardiovascular diseases using human cardiomyocytes.

Carbonaceous minerals in 3.8-billion-year-old rocks from West Greenland have been used as evidence for early life on Earth. Geochemical analyses of similar carbon minerals in 3.75- to 4.2-billion-year-old rocks from Canada show that they can be derived from subsequent alteration more than a billion years after the initial formation.

The identification of distinct pyrite-marcasite rosettes in the Doushantuo Formation, South China using microscopy and stable isotope analysis, suggests frequent oxygenation events on the early Ediacaran continental shelves during the emergence of complex life.

Multiregion spatial histology, exome and transcriptome data from patients with non-small cell lung cancer suggest that cancer subclones from immune cold regions diversify later than subclones from immune hot regions

In an inter-laboratory study, the authors compare the accuracy and performance of three optical density calibration protocols (colloidal silica, serial dilution of silica microspheres, and colony-forming unit (CFU) assay). They demonstrate that serial dilution of silica microspheres is the best of these tested protocols, allowing precise and robust calibration that is easily assessed for quality control and can also evaluate the effective linear range of an instrument.

Ghorani et al. use a multiomics approach to characterize the effect of tumour mutational burden on the differentiation of CD4 and CD8 T cell subpopulations in non-small cell lung cancer.

“Increased organic matter production during the late Ediacaran is likely the result of an enhanced rate of primary production caused by a high rate of oceanic upwelling, suggests a basin-scale simulation under different environmental conditions, for the Doushantuo Formation in South China.”

Lindsay Stewart et al. analyze clinical isolates of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum from a highly endemic West African population and show that intrinsic multiplication rate variation is associated with blood-stage infection intensity. Their results indicate that parasite control of multiplication contributes to virulence.