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Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

Species’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. Here, the authors find that dominant tree species are taller and have softer wood compared to rare species and that these trait differences are more strongly associated with temperature than water availability.

Analysing >1,700 inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network, the authors show that the majority of Amazon tree species can occupy floodplains and that patterns of species turnover are closely linked to regional flood patterns.

Fossils of Cretaceous birds with feathers are rare and known mostly from China. Here, the authors show an enantiornithine bird from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil with a fully articulated skeleton and rachis-dominated tail feathers, which has implications for our understanding of feather evolution.

This Review discusses recent advances in our understanding of how gasdermins are activated by distinct signalling pathways and summarizes recent findings from host-adapted bacterial pathogens contrasted with environmental bacteria.

Wood density is a key control on tree biomass, and understanding its spatial variation improves estimates of forest carbon stock. Sullivan et al. measure >900 forest plots to quantify wood density and produce high resolution maps of its variation across South American tropical forests.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

The authors analyse tree responses to an extreme heat and drought event across South America to understand long-term climate resistance. While no more sensitive to this than previous lesser events, forests in drier climates showed the greatest impacts and thus vulnerability to climate extremes.

Isoprene emissions are commonly estimated using satellite measurements and model simulations. Here, using eddy covariance, the authors report higher emission rates over the Amazon forest than those estimated with these techniques and a relationship between terrain elevation and isoprene emissions.

Inventory data from more than 1 million trees across African, Amazonian and Southeast Asian tropical forests suggests that, despite their high diversity, just 1,053 species, representing a consistent ~2.2% of tropical tree species in each region, constitute half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees.

Tree mortality has been shown to be the dominant control on carbon storage in Amazon forests, but little is known of how and why Amazon forest trees die. Here the authors analyse a large Amazon-wide dataset, finding that fast-growing species face greater mortality risk, but that slower-growing individuals within a species are more likely to die, regardless of size.

Analysis of ground-sourced and satellite-derived models reveals a global forest carbon potential of 226 Gt outside agricultural and urban lands, with a difference of only 12% across these modelling approaches.

Wood density is an important plant trait. Data from 1.1 million forest inventory plots and 10,703 tree species show a latitudinal gradient in wood density, with temperature and soil moisture explaining variation at the global scale and disturbance also having a role at the local level.

This work presents GōMartini 3, an improved coarse-grained protein model combining physics- and structure-based approaches. It boosts computational efficiency and accuracy for structured soluble and membrane as well as disordered peptides/proteins.

Spatial multi-omics analysis tools have lagged behind advancements in single-cell technologies. Here, authors introduce TACIT, a scalable tool for automated cell type and state deconvolution from spatial multi-omics datasets, improving accuracy and efficiency over existing methods.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) frequency and risk factors vary considerably across regions and ancestries. Here, the authors conduct a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study and fine mapping study of HNSCC subsites in cohorts from multiple continents, finding susceptibility and protective loci, gene-environment interactions, and gene variants related to immune response.

Visceral adiposity is a risk factor for severe COVID-19, and infection of adipose tissue by SARS-CoV-2 has been reported. Here the authors confirm that human adipose tissue is a possible site for SARS-CoV-2 infection, but the degree of adipose tissue infection and the way adipocytes respond to the virus depend on the adipose tissue depot and the viral strain.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

Inventory data from 90 lowland Amazonian forest plots and a phylogeny of 526 angiosperm genera were used to show that taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity are both predictive of wood productivity but not of biomass variation.

Here the authors dissect the developmental and functional relationship between tumor-responsive cytotoxic T cells in the tumor versus the tumor-draining lymph nodes (tdLNs), finding that stem-like T_PEX cells dependent on MYB in the tdLNs are required for CD8⁺ T cell tumor infiltration and ICB responses.

Analysis of 20 chemical and morphological plant traits at diverse sites across 6 continents shows that the transition from semi-arid to arid zones is associated with an unexpected 88% increase in trait diversity.

How TNF regulates NK cell function and homeostasis is not fully understood. Here the authors investigate conditional knock out mice with TNFR1 and/or TNFR2 deficiency in NK cells upon bacterial infection, and identify that TNFR1 promotes cell death and impairs immunity while TNFR2 increases NK accumulation and enhances immunity.

The efficacy of CAR-T cells against solid tumors is still limited by immunosuppressive factors. Here, the authors show that engineering of CAR T cells with A1R enhances their efficacy against solid tumors in vitro and in vivo.

The inflammasome is normally activated by pathogens to induce tissue inflammation. Here the authors show that, in mouse experimental colitis models, Nlrp1 inflammasome sensor activates IL-18 to reduce beneficial colonic Clostridiales species, thereby decreasing microbial butyrate and its protective effects on colitis.

Genomic and epidemiologic analyses revealed that a novel reassortant viral lineage of the Oropouche virus, which has been circulating in the western Amazon region of Brazil for about a decade, is associated with the recent human outbreaks between 2022 and 2024.

Dietary fibers and SCFAs can exert a protective effect against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Here, the authors report that microbiota-derived acetate protects mice against RSV infection via GPR43- mediated type 1 interferon response induction in the lungs.

Fittipaldi et al. examined how heterogeneity affects social cognition in populations over 50 years old by using advanced neuroimaging techniques and social cognition assessments in a diverse sample of over 1,000 adults across nine countries.

Examining drivers of the latitudinal biodiversity gradient in a global database of local tree species richness, the authors show that co-limitation by multiple environmental and anthropogenic factors causes steeper increases in richness with latitude in tropical versus temperate and boreal zones.

Alternative stable states in forests have implications for the biosphere. Here, the authors combine forest biodiversity observations and simulations revealing that leaf types across temperate regions of the NH follow a bimodal distribution suggesting signatures of alternative forest states.

In this study, the authors provide a global overview of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing, and estimate the proportion of cases sequenced and time to genome upload. They identify disparities and highlight the need to strengthen surveillance in lower and middle income countries.

Using 13 functional traits we characterize the Amazonian trees and the communities they form. Amazonian tree communities are distributed along a fast-slow-spectrum. This results in clear differences in traits among these forests, as well as their biomass and biomass productivity.

An investigation using various methods reports an association between adeno-associated virus 2 and paediatric hepatitis of unknown aetiology.

Bosonic qubits can be engineered to feature intrinsic protection against certain kinds of errors, which makes quantum error correction across many bosonic qubits possible with less overhead.

An iron–cobalt–nickel–tantalum–aluminium multicomponent alloy with ferromagnetic matrix and paramagnetic coherent nanoparticles is described, showing high tensile strength and ductility, along with very low coercivity.

How tumors evade control by natural killer cells is ill defined. Smyth and colleagues show that natural killer cells in the tumor microenvironment can convert into type I innate lymphoid cells and intermediate type I innate lymphoid cells that favor tumor growth and metastasis.

Ikaros, Helios and Aiolos are transcription factors involved in lymphocyte development. Here the authors dissect the regulatory role of these Ikaros family members to understand their contribution to NK cell development and functions.

There is increasing evidence of a functional interaction between acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and immune cells, influencing disease outcome. Here the authors study how distinct oncogenes differentially affect the host immune response to leukemic cells in preclinical models of AML.

Field photographs are essential for research and conservation, but are difficult to access since there is no central database or connection between archives. The 25 leading databases hold only 53% of the plant species of the Americas, illustrating the need for increased work on collecting and standardizing this valuable data.

The PSA (KLK3) genetic variant rs17632542 is associated with reduced prostate cancer risk and lower serum PSA levels, although the underlying reasons are unclear. Here, the authors show that this PSA variant reduced proteolytic activity and leads to smaller tumours, but also increases invasion and bone metastasis, indicating its dual risk association depending on tumour context; the variant is associated with both lower risk and poor clinical outcomes.

A new study shows that deforestation of Amazon mangroves releases up to four times more carbon dioxide when compared to emissions arising from terrestrial biomes. This study set a foundation for the use of mangroves in Brazil’s international policy agreements.

An analysis based on data from the Global Dietary Database shows mean animal-sourced food intakes among children and adolescents increased modestly from 1990 to two portions per day in 2018, but remain low in sub-Saharan Africa, India and Bangladesh.