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A large brain imaging study of over 2000 people worldwide shows that fear conditioning engages brain regions linked to emotion and attention, with differences in individuals with anxiety or depression and strong influences from task design.

Interspecies transmission of influenza A viruses requires adaptation of the viral polymerase to the host importin-α. Here, the polymerase subunit PB2 and the nucleoprotein of avian viruses are found to require importin-α3, whereas mammalian viruses are shown to require importin-α7.

Using multi-ancestry genome-wide association study and fine-mapping, 298 loci and 36 credible genes are identified in the aetiology of bipolar disorder.

Stereotactic needle biopsies are currently performed for diagnosis only in glioblastoma; this study highlights the depth of information available through multi-omics analysis.

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is characterized by progressive cyst formation and loss of kidney function, yet prognostic biomarkers remain limited. Here, the authors show that serum proteomics identifies protein signatures associated with disease severity, enabling improved risk prediction and stratified management.

Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants with mutations in the spike protein raise concerns regarding vaccine efficacy. Here, the authors show that two spike encoding mRNA vaccines in preclinical and clinical development protect human ACE2 mice from the B.1.351 variant of concern and ancestral B BavPat1.

Krisai et al. compare brain structure and cognitive function in elderly patients with and without atrial fibrillation using brain MRI and cognitive testing. They find that atrial fibrillation is associated with more brain lesions and lower cognitive function, but the cognitive impairment occurs primarily through direct effects of the arrhythmia rather than through brain damage.

A genome-wide association study including over 76,000 individuals with schizophrenia and over 243,000 control individuals identifies common variant associations at 287 genomic loci, and further fine-mapping analyses highlight the importance of genes involved in synaptic processes.

Methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus appeared in European hedgehogs in the pre-antibiotic era as a co-evolutionary adaptation to antibiotic-producing dermatophytes and have spread within the local hedgehog populations and between hedgehogs and secondary hosts.

Some photo-physical processes in multichromophore systems might get triggered only if two excitations are present. Here, the authors introduce exciton–exciton-interaction 2D spectroscopy, which is a non-linear optical method that can selectively track the time evolution of such effects.

The mechanism underlying packaging of the 8 segments of the influenza virus genome into virions is not well understood. Here, the authors use a multiplexed FISH assay to monitor the 8 segments in parallel in infected cells suggesting bundling routes during the packaging process.

Deubiquitinase OTULIN targets linear (M1-linked) ubiquitin chain patches on cytosolic Salmonella Typhimurium to modulate NEMO, IKKα/IKKβ and NF-ĸB signalling and regulate secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and bacterial proliferation.

The authors demonstrate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the nasopharynx and brain, suggesting that the virus is present in the CNS and may enter through the olfactory mucosa, exploiting the close vicinity of olfactory mucosal, endothelial and nervous tissue.

Bacteriophage T4 uses an enzyme known as ADP-ribosyltransferase ModB to modify the translational apparatus of bacteria it infects, not only by ADP-ribosylating proteins, but also by attaching entire RNA chains in a process known as RNAylation.

RAB-11-positive recycling endosomes participate in the establishment and maintenance of epithelial polarity. Zerial and colleagues carry out an in vivo image-based RNAi screen for factors that regulate recycling endosome positioning in Caenorhabditis elegans. They identify, among other candidates, PAR-5 as a key determinant of recycling endosome positioning and, thus, apicobasal polarity.

Cortex morphology varies with age, cognitive function, and in neurological and psychiatric diseases. Here the authors report 160 genome-wide significant associations with thickness, surface area and volume of the total cortex and 34 cortical regions from a GWAS meta-analysis in 22,824 adults.

Elisabeth Mangold and colleagues carried out a genome-wide association study for nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate, and report a locus on 8q24.21 that is strongly associated with this phenotype.

Active and passive demethylation pathways have been implicated in the genome-wide erasure of 5mC accompanying mammalian preimplantation development. Here the authors reveal a recently evolved, mammalian-specific pathway in which global hypomethylation is achieved by the coupling of active and passive demethylation.

Competitive hierarchies between species in bryozoan assemblages are shown to mitigate network instability by keeping short and long feedback loops weak.

Conductance switching with high-to-low ratios as high as 1,000 can be triggered by an electric field in rigid organometallic molecules containing a redox-active centre and a spin-polarized ground state.

Clonal expansion of helper T lymphocytes initially requires inactivation of the transcription factor Foxo1 by post-translational modifications. Mashreghi and colleagues now show in the late phase of clonal expansion, Foxo1 is inhibited post-transcriptionally by the microRNA miR-182.

Oligodendrocyte differentiation is known to depend on transcription factors Sox10, Nkx2.2, and Olig2. Here, the authors show that Nfat/calcineurin signaling contributes to oligodendrocyte differentiation by relieving mutual repression of Nkx2.2 and Olig2.

New apparatus is used to maintain proliferating cancer cells in low-glucose conditions, demonstrating that mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is essential for optimal proliferation in these conditions; the most sensitive cell lines are defective in OXPHOS upregulation and may therefore be sensitive to current antidiabetic drugs that inhibit OXPHOS.

This Perspective reviews the current understanding of groundwater recharge by meltwater, discusses the scales at which cryosphere–groundwater interactions are relevant, identifies key cryo-hydrogeological processes that need further study, and emphasizes the critical importance of these interactions for current and future water availability in mountain regions.

A perfusion-independent method to isolate ultrapure liver sinusoidal endothelial cells for downstream applications, including primary cultures and hepatic zone-specific endothelial cell isolations.

This study further characterizes the non-inbred Titan (also known as DU6) mouse line, which could be a useful model for obesity research.

Sanja Vickovic et al. use spatial transcriptomics to probe the local synovial tissue interactions in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Their results provide a valuable resource to understand the spatial organisation of cell populations in the synovium in the context of RA-associated inflammation.