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Accounting for water hosted in serpentinsed peridotites (not preferentially located near fracture zones) increases by 50% the budget of water subducted by Atlantic crust, according to assessment of P- and S-wave seismic velocities.

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).

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Sera from vaccinated individuals and some monoclonal antibodies show a modest reduction in neutralizing activity against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2; but the E484K substitution leads to a considerable loss of neutralizing activity.

Chronic infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to the emergence of viral variants that show reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies in an immunosuppressed individual treated with convalescent plasma.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

Serpentine subducted below the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc supplies water to the arc, controlling the location of seismicity, volcanic productivity and thickness of crust.

Imaging of the mantle transition zone beneath the Lesser Antilles shows a basalt-rich region within the subducting slab near the proposed location of a subducted extinct spreading ridge, implying ancient tectonics play a role in influencing slab trajectories.

A hypothesis for the permanent isolation of Britain from mainland Europe during interglacial high sea levels has been confirmed. Gupta et al. analysed a new regional bathymetric map of part of the area, finding a valley with landforms indicating large-scale subaerial erosion by high-magnitude water discharges. They suggest breaching of a rock dam at the Dover Strait instigated drainage of a large lake in the North Sea basin.

The rifting of the Seychelles microcontinent from India involved two phases of extensional activity. The initial separation of the Laxmi Ridge from India was accompanied by extensive magmatism but the later separation of the Seychelles from the Laxmi Ridge was only weakly magmatic.

Individuals over eighty years of age are less likely to mount a good immune response against SARS-CoV-2 (measured by neutralization titres) after the first dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine, but achieve good neutralization after the second dose.

Rifting and magmatism are fundamental geological processes that shape our planet's surface, but the nature of the relationship between these processes has been controversial. Here a numerical model that explicitly accounts for the effects of earlier episodes of extension has been applied to compare magmatism generated at different locations during continental rifting. The findings show that the volume of rift-related magmatism generated depends not only on the mantle temperature but also on the rift history.

A study of SARS-CoV-2 variants examining their transmission, infectivity, and potential resistance to therapies provides insights into the biology of the Delta variant and its role in the global pandemic.

Analyses of the relationships between temperature, moisture and seven key plant functional traits across the tundra and over time show that community height increased with warming across all sites, whereas other traits lagged behind predicted rates of change.

Seismic imaging of subducted plates offers a way to improve plate tectonic reconstructions. Here, Braszus et al. use new ocean-bottom seismometer data from the Lesser Antilles to locate subducted spreading centres and faults thus providing a new understanding of the evolution of the Caribbean plate.

Britain’s separation from mainland Europe is believed to be the result of spillover from a proglacial lake in the North Sea, but this has remained unproven. Here, the authors show that the opening of the Dover Strait occurred in two episodes, where initial lake spillover was followed by catastrophic flooding.

Jennifer Rohn, editor of the webzine LabLit.com, asks why so many novels with scientists as central characters have been published this year.

To address the question of whether a recurrent tumour is genetically similar to the tumour at diagnosis, the evolution of medulloblastoma has been studied in both an in vivo mouse model of clinical tumour therapy as well as in humans with recurrent disease; targeted tumour therapies are usually based on targets present in the tumour at diagnosis but the results from this study indicate that post-treatment recurring tumours (compared with the tumour at diagnosis) have undergone substantial clonal divergence of the initial dominant tumour clone.

Continental margins record the last stages of rifting before a new ocean basin is formed, with their variety reflecting interactions between tectonic, magmatic, sedimentary and hydrothermal processes. This Review provides a process-based understanding of rifted margin formation, gaining insights into their resource potential for the energy transition.