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Fine-scale geospatial mapping of overweight and wasting (two components of the double burden of malnutrition) in 105 LMICs shows that overweight has increased from 5.2% in 2000 to 6.0% in children under 5 in 2017. Although overall wasting decreased over the same period, most countries are not on track to meet the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025.

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.

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.

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.

IL-23 promotes tumor growth in preclinical cancer models and correlates with adverse clinical outcomes. Here, Becher and colleagues find that IL-23 produced by tumor-associated macrophages stabilizes T_reg cell identity, promoting immunosuppression and tumor growth.

In participants with obesity and chronic kidney disease without diabetes, once-weekly administration of semaglutide 2.4 mg led to a reduction in albuminuria, body weight and systolic blood pressure compared with placebo, with no changes to creatinine or cystatin-C estimated glomerular filtration rate or measured glomerular filtration rate during the 24-week follow-up period.

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.

A multi-ancestry genome-wide gene–smoking interaction study identifies 13 new loci associated with serum lipids.

A randomized phase 2 study recently showed that the addition of ATR inhibitor berzosertib to gemcitabine improved PFS compared to gemcitabine alone in patients with ovarian cancer. In this preplanned exploratory study, the authors demonstrate that a genomic biomarker of replication-stress is associated with outcome to gemcitabine alone and may predict which patients benefit from addition of the ATR inhibitor berzosertib.

Variability in human longevity is genetically influenced. Using genetic data of parental lifespan, the authors identify associations at HLA-DQA/DRB1 and LPA and find that genetic variants that increase educational attainment have a positive effect on lifespan whereas increasing BMI negatively affects lifespan.

Long-read single-cell RNA sequencing is capable of detecting isoform-level gene expression and genomic alterations such as mutations and gene fusions, thereby providing cell-specific genotype-phenotype information. Here, the authors use long-read scRNA-seq on metastatic ovarian cancer samples and detect cell-type specific isoforms and gene fusions that may otherwise be misclassified in short-read data.

A genetic study identifies hundreds of loci associated with risk tolerance and risky behaviors, finds evidence of substantial shared genetic influences across these phenotypes, and implicates genes involved in neurotransmission.

An expanded GWAS of birth weight and subsequent analysis using structural equation modeling and Mendelian randomization decomposes maternal and fetal genetic contributions and causal links between birth weight, blood pressure and glycemic traits.

The function of many bacterial processes depends on the formation of functional membrane microdomains (FMMs), which resemble the lipid rafts of eukaryotic cells. Here, Ukleja et al. show that FMMs mediate ATP-independent stabilization of unfolded proteins, which is essential for bacterial viability under cellular stress and during infection.

Quantifying forest degradation and biodiversity losses is necessary to inform conservation and restoration policies. Here the authors analyze a large dataset for the Atlantic Forest in South America to quantify losses in forest biomass and tree species richness, functional traits, and conservation value.

This cross-sectional study in two independent middle-aged and aged cohorts investigates whether psychological characteristics associated with varying dementia risk aggregate into psychological profiles and relate to aging brain health.

Hundreds of genetic loci associated with age at menopause, combined with experimental evidence in mice, highlight mechanisms of reproductive ageing across the lifespan.

Trans-ancestry meta-analysis of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) from 1,046,070 individuals identifies 264 associated loci, providing a resource of molecular targets for translational research of chronic kidney disease.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis of individuals with clinically assessed or self-reported depression identifies 44 independent risk loci. Comparisons with other psychiatric disorders and candidate gene analyses provide new insights into major depressive disorder.

Embedding of a new engineered thermostable hydrolase into polymer materials enables the production of biodegradable and home-compostable plastics suitable for industrial packaging applications.

Association analyses in over 1 million individuals identify 535 new loci influencing blood pressure traits. The results provide new insights into blood pressure regulation and highlight shared genetic architecture between blood pressure and lifestyle exposures.

Functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity are expected to be positively correlated. Here the authors show that the covariation between these metrics in vascular plant communities around the world is often either inconsistent or negative.

The quest for miniaturisation of electromechanical nanosystems requires the use of single molecules as active components. Here, the authors develop a piezoresistor based on a single bullvalene molecule that changes its shape by a Cope rearrangement.

Multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies new risk loci for CAC. Functional evidence implicates candidate causal genes as regulators of smooth muscle cell-mediated calcification.

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.

Similarities in cancers can be studied to interrogate their etiology. Here, the authors use genome-wide association study summary statistics from six cancer types based on 296,215 cases and 301,319 controls of European ancestry, showing that solid tumours arising from different tissues share a degree of common germline genetic basis.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias identifies new loci and enables generation of a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Trans-ethnic analyses of exome array data identify new risk loci for type 2 diabetes. Fine-mapping analyses using genome-wide association data show that the index coding variants represent the likely causal variants at only a subset of these loci.

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.

In this disease mapping study, the authors estimate disability-adjusted life year rates for three of the major causes of mortality for children under five 43 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. They identify significant heterogeneity at the subnational level, highlighting the need for a targeted intervention approach.

The study reports the application of data-driven techniques to structural neuroimaging data of people with recent-onset psychosis or recent-onset depression and matched controls for the prediction of transdiagnostic clinical symptom severity and clinical outcomes.

The authors report genome-wide data from 34 ancient individuals spanning the Holocene, from what is now Brazil, illuminating connections and disjoints between Sambaqui shellmound societies and preceding and later peoples.

NK cells constrain infection by cytomegalovirus. Romagnani and colleagues show that human NKG2C⁺ NK cells recognize distinct HCMV UL40 viral peptides, which can vary among viral isolates. NKG2C⁺ NK cells thereby demonstrate adaptive-like recognition that can discriminate between closely related viral strains.

In this paper, the authors present findings demonstrating that variations of the MET gene are associated with specific structural differences in key language regions in individuals with schizophrenia.

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.

Magnetic excitations in infinite-layer cuprates have been intensively studied. Here the authors use resonant inelastic x-ray scattering and theoretical calculations to study magnons in thin films of SrCuO₂, finding distinct magnon dispersion attributed to renormalization due to quantum fluctuations.

Combined analysis of new genomic data from 116 ancient hunter-gatherer individuals together with previously published data provides insights into the genetic structure and demographic shifts of west Eurasian forager populations over a period of 30,000 years.

The authors present palaeoclimatic data in the form of stable isotope records from equid teeth spanning 12,500 years of human occupation at the site of Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany, including the earliest occupation of the site by Homo sapiens ~45,000 years ago.

Thyroid dysfunction is involved in many diseases. Here, the authors provide insights into the genetics and biological pathways influencing important thyroid function parameters, showing potential causal effects on many clinical outcomes.

A catalogue of the vascular flora of New Guinea indicates that this island is the most floristically diverse in the world, and that 68% of the species identified are endemic to New Guinea.

Global ocean microbiome survey reveals the bacterial family ‘Candidatus Eudoremicrobiaceae’, which includes some of the most biosynthetically diverse microorganisms in the ocean environment.

Our understanding of the functional link between differential DNA methylation and type 2 diabetes and obesity remains limited. Here the authors present a blood-based EWAS of fasting glucose and insulin among 4808 non-diabetic Europeans and identify nine CpGs not previously implicated in glucose, insulin homeostasis and diabetes.

Here, the authors analyze the relation of fecal microbiota diversity and composition with depressive symptoms in 1,054 participants from the Rotterdam Study cohort and in 1,539 subjects of the Amsterdam HELIUS cohort, finding associations with bacteria known to be involved in the synthesis of key neurotransmitters for depression.

Active coacervate droplets are droplets coupled to a chemical reaction that maintains them out of equilibrium, which can be used to drive active processes, but coacervates are still subject to passive processes that compete with or mask growth. Here, the authors present a nucleotide-based model for active coacervate droplets that form and grow by fuel-driven synthesis of ATP, and, importantly, do not undergo Ostwald ripening.

Superluminous supernova SN 2017egm has a complex light curve that is well modelled by successive collisions of a shockwave with dense circumstellar shells ejected by its massive progenitor star during the pair-instability pulsation stage. Such a scenario might be responsible for providing a power source for superluminous supernovae in general.

Quantitative multimodal 3D reconstruction of human pancreatic tissue at single-cell resolution reveals a high burden of multifocal, genetically heterogeneous pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias in the normal adult pancreas.

Changes to structural and functional connectivity can give rise to neurodegeneration and neurodevelopmental diseases. Here the authors investigate molecular and connectomic patterns in 13 different neurological, psychiatric and neurodevelopmental diseases from the ENIGMA consortium.

Fernando Rivadeneira and colleagues in the Genetic Factors for Osteoporosis Consortium report a large-scale meta-analysis identifying new loci associated with bone mineral density (BMD) and risk of fracture. Thirty-two new loci are found to be associated with BMD, and 6 loci confer higher risk for low-trauma bone fracture.

Epigenome profiling in combination with imaging-based chemosensitivity and integrative bioinformatic analysis establishes a method for detecting therapy-induced vulnerabilities, as shown here for ibrutinib-treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Ruth Loos and colleagues report results of a large genome-wide association study for body mass index. They identify 18 new loci associated with this trait, some of which map near key hypothalamic regulators of energy balance.