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Multiple freezing–melting pathways of ice VI are found at room temperature, occurring via the ice XXI and ice VII phases. Supercompressed water structurally evolves from high-density water to very-high-density water.

Here the authors perform a trans expression quantitative trait locus meta-analysis study of over 3,700 people and link a USP18 variant to expression of 50 inflammation genes and lupus risk, highlighting how genetic regulation of immune responses drives autoimmune disease and informs new therapies.

Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, lacks an effective vaccine. Here, the authors report the cryo-EM structure of TcPOP, a potential vaccine antigen, in open and closed states and validate its immunogenic potential for invasion-blocking antibodies.

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.

Defined levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific binding and neutralizing antibodies elicited by the COVID-19 vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 are identified as correlates of protection against symptomatic infection.

The immune response to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 has been relatively well studied, but less is known about other viral proteins. Here, the authors identify immunopeptides from seven structural and non-structural SARS-CoV-2 proteins presented to the immune system by HLA molecules and confirm T-cell responses against some of them in convalescent individuals.

Some cancer cells exhibit high loads of reactive iron in lysosomes, and this feature is exploited by using fentomycin-1, a newly developed small molecule, to induce ferroptosis.

The replacement of palladium with other metal catalysts in C–C bond-forming reactions is attractive in terms of costs and sustainability. Now an iron-based catalyst is successfully employed in the Suzuki cross-coupling of aryl chlorides with aryl boronic esters activated with tert-butyl lithium.

The downward transfer of organic carbon from the surface to the deep ocean is increased in oxygen minimum zones relative to oxic waters. Here, the authors show reduced interactions of zooplankton with sinking particles owing to low oxygen are likely the primary reason for the observed high transfer of carbon.

A global map of human subcellular architecture yields protein complex structures, reveals protein functions, identifies assemblies with multiple localizations or cell-type specificity and decodes paediatric cancer genomes.

A small group of ecologists is looking beyond the pristine to study the scrubby, feral and untended. Emma Marris learns to appreciate 'novel ecosystems'.

The affected cellular populations during Alzheimer’s disease progression remain understudied. Here the authors use a cohort of 84 donors, quantitative neuropathology and multimodal datasets from the BRAIN Initiative. Their pseudoprogression analysis revealed two disease phases.

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.

Whole-genome sequencing analysis of individuals with primary immunodeficiency identifies new candidate disease-associated genes and shows how the interplay between genetic variants can explain the variable penetrance and complexity of the disease.

BRG1 and BRM are central components of the BAF (mSWI/SNF) chromatin remodelling complex, which is critical for regulation of chromatin structure. Here, the authors provide evidence that both the BRG1 and hBRM bromodomains have DNA-binding activity and bind to both DNA and H3K14ac simultaneously.

The modification of peptides and proteins for application in drug discovery and chemical biology is currently a rapidly growing field of research. Here, the authors report a photocatalytic diselenide contraction method for the dimerization and site-specific functionalisation of peptides and protein.

Canon et al. offer insights into the auto-inhibition and activation of the minus-end directed motor myosin VI. The work highlights how differential relief of auto-inhibition allows for fine control of myosin VI activity in vivo.

The hippocampus in mammalian brain varies in size across individuals. Here, Hibar and colleagues perform a genome-wide association meta-analysis to find six genetic loci with significant association to hippocampus volume.

Evaluations of the UK’s contact tracing programme have shown that it has had limited impact on COVID-19 control. Here, the authors show that with high levels of reporting and adherence, contact tracing could reduce transmission, but it should not be used as the sole control measure.

Investigation of variation in three cohorts has identified multiple genetic signals associated with the pregnancy-specific liver disorder, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, giving insight into the disease which can cause preterm birth and stillbirth.

Durability of catalysts under fuel cell reaction conditions is challenging for active nanoalloy electrocatalysts derived from platinum group metals and other transition metals. Here, the authors show that realloying in certain multimetallic nanoalloys plays a major role in enabling the high durability.

In a GWAS study of 32,438 adults, the authors discovered five novel loci for intracranial volume and confirmed two known signals. Variants for intracranial volume were also related to childhood and adult cognitive function and to Parkinson's disease, and enriched near genes involved in growth pathways, including PI3K-AKT signaling.

The Somatic Mosaicism across Human Tissues Network aims to create a reference catalogue of somatic mosaicism across different tissues and cells within individuals.

Although enzymes are able to cleave amide bonds in nature, it is difficult to selectively break the carbon–nitrogen bond of an amide using synthetic chemistry; now the activation and cleavage of these bonds using nickel catalysts is used to convert amides to esters.

New thermodynamic and geochemical modelling of melting shows that the observed composition of the cratonic mantle can be reproduced by deep and very hot melting, obviating the need for shallow melting and lithospheric stacking.

Whole-genome sequencing and phenotype data sharing are introduced in a national health system to streamline diagnosis and to discover coding and non-coding variants that cause rare diseases.

Antiviral nanoparticle-formulated mimics of heparan sulfate proteoglycans were developed and shown to permit strong viral association as well as inhibition of a range of viruses on in vitro and in vivo models of infection.

Much is known about crystal structures of MHC class II–autoreactive TCRs. Sewell and colleagues provide the structure of an MHC class I–autoreactive TCR and provide insight into the molecular basis of its diabetogenicity.

Motion Sequencing uses three-dimensional machine vision and unsupervised machine learning on depth videos to decompose spontaneous mouse behavior into a series of elemental modules called ‘syllables’, revealing how often syllables are used and how they transition over time.

Here, the authors present a method to build genetically personalised metabolic models across tissues to estimate individualised reaction fluxes. A fluxome-wide association study in UK Biobank identifies fluxes associated with metabolites and coronary artery disease.

Lipophorin receptors (LpRs) regulate structural and functional development of neurons in Drosophila. Here authors demonstrate how short isoforms of LpR1 mediates astrocyte lipid shuttling to neuron through interacting with glia lipoprotein GLaz and the role of this pathway in dendritic morphogenesis in the fly brain.

The authors defined a roadmap for investigating the genetic covariance between structural or functional brain phenotypes and risk for psychiatric disorders. Their proof-of-concept study using the largest available common variant data sets for schizophrenia and volumes of several (mainly subcortical) brain structures did not find evidence of genetic overlap.

The Human Microbiome Project Consortium has established a population-scale framework to study a variety of microbial communities that exist throughout the human body, enabling the generation of a range of quality-controlled data as well as community resources.

A study describes the release of clinical-grade whole-genome sequence data for 245,388 diverse participants by the All of Us Research Program and characterizes the properties of the dataset.

Analyses of real-world evidence from digital clinical practice data provide important insights for healthcare decision makers. Here, authors test reproducibility of 150 peer-reviewed studies, reporting strong reproducibility, which could be further improved through more complete reporting in future original studies

Genome-wide association studies are used to identify common genetic variants that affect the structure of selected subcortical regions of the human brain; their identification provides insight into the causes of variability in brain development and may help to determine mechanisms of neuropsychiatric dysfunction.

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.

The Human Microbiome Project Consortium reports the first results of their analysis of microbial communities from distinct, clinically relevant body habitats in a human cohort; the insights into the microbial communities of a healthy population lay foundations for future exploration of the epidemiology, ecology and translational applications of the human microbiome.

Preclinical research indicates that various drugs approved for indications such as hypertension and diabetes could also have potentially beneficial effects in Alzheimer's disease, and for some drugs the evidence is also supported by epidemiological data or preliminary clinical trials. This article presents a formal consensus evaluation of these drug repositioning opportunities, and highlights several compounds for which sufficient evidence is available to encourage further investigation and potential progression to clinical trials in Alzheimer's disease.

Lava–seawater interaction plumes have contrasting volatile metal compositions to associated magmatic plumes emitted at volcanic vents, including elevated concentrations of chloride-complexing metals, according to direct measurements of the 2018 Kīlauea eruption.

An exciting genome-wide association study in the British population for seven common diseases. This analysis confirms previously identified loci and provides strong evidence for many novel disease susceptibility loci.