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Serum urate concentration can be studied in large datasets to find genetic and epigenetic loci that may be related to cardiometabolic traits. Here the authors identify and replicate 100 urate-associated CpGs, which provide insights into urate GWAS loci and shared CpGs of urate and cardiometabolic traits.

Many genetic loci have been identified to be associated with kidney disease, but the molecular mechanisms are not well understood. Here, the authors perform epigenome-wide association studies on kidney function measures to identify epigenetic marks and pathways involved in kidney function.

Research on superconductivity in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene reveals unconventional behaviour, an anisotropic gap and a significant role of quantum geometry, using combined d.c. transport and microwave measurements, suggesting new insights into superconductivity mechanisms.

Response to anti-PD-1 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma is associated with clonal expansion of intratumoral CXCL13⁺ CD4⁺ helper T cells and effector-like CD8⁺ T cells, and local dendritic cells enriched in expression of maturation and regulatory molecules help facilitate CD8⁺ T cell differentiation.

Convergent mutations in hot spots of the spike proteins of currently circulating SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants increase the binding affinity for the host receptor and promote more efficient fusion with host cell membranes.

A multi-ancestry transcriptome-wide association study using an optimal linear combination of association statistics provides insights into tobacco use biology and suggests opportunities for drug repurposing.

Large quantum computers are likely to require methods of connecting devices by transmitting and absorbing photons. Entanglement between two superconducting qubit devices has now been established using a waveguide with tunable directionality.

Designing complex synthetic materials for enzyme immobilization could unlock the utility of biocatalysis in extreme environments. Here, the authors report on random copolymer brushes as dynamic immobilization supports that enable supra-biological catalytic performance of immobilized enzymes.

Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission impact on asteroid Dimophos resulted in an elliptical ejecta plume. Here, the authors show that this elliptical ejecta is due to the curvature of the asteroid and makes kinetic momentum transfer less efficient.

Unconventional oil and gas production has increased drastically in the US, but its environmental impacts are not well known. Here, the authors show that these wells can be associated with elevated levels of airborne particle radioactivity in downwind locations.

Christopher Newton-Cheh and colleagues report genome-wide association analyses for QT interval, an electrocardiographic measure reflecting myocardial repolarization, in 100,000 individuals. They identify 35 loci associated with QT interval and highlight a role for calcium regulation in myocardial repolarization.

The antibody response to COVID-19 vaccines varies among individuals. Here the authors find that older age, male sex, smoking, higher BMI, vaccine type, and certain comorbidities are associated with lower anti-S1 antibody levels after COVID-19 vaccinations, indicating that certain groups might benefit from higher frequency or doses of vaccination.

The health impacts of air pollution at low concentrations are unclear. Here, using a double negative control approach to capture omitted confounders, the authors show increased cardiovascular risk associated with long-term air pollution exposure below US regulatory standards, suggesting the need to tighten the current standards.

Parallel-plate capacitors of the two-dimensional materials hBN and NbSe₂ are integrated with aluminium Josephson junctions to realize transmon qubits with coherence times reaching 25 μs.

Here, using clinical samples and autopsy tissues, the authors combine fast-colorimetric test (LAMP) for SARS-CoV-2 infection and large-scale shotgun metatranscriptomics for host, viral, and microbial profiling and provide a map of the viral genetic features of the New York City outbreak and associate specific host responses and gene expression perturbations with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Air pollution has been linked to neurodegenerative disease. Here the authors carried out a population-based cohort study to investigate the association between long-term exposure to PM_2.5, NO₂, and warm-season O₃ on dementia and Alzheimer’s disease incidence in the United States.

AI-driven daily 1-km gapless PM_2.5 data reveal the dynamics of unhealthy air around the world, stark disparities exist between nations and among neighbourhoods. Drastic air quality changes are associated with implementation and lifting of lockdown policies.

The study evaluated the impact of PM2.5 and its constituents on hospital admissions from non-respiratory infection. Here, the authors showed that nonrespiratory infections are an under-appreciated health effect of PM2.5 while Sulfates contributed the largest weights in the observed associations

A randomized trial in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 showed no benefit and potentially increased harm associated with the use of convalescent plasma, with subgroup analyses suggesting that the antibody profile in donor plasma is critical in determining clinical outcomes.

Brazil is a wildfire-prone region, and few studies have investigated the health impacts of wildfire exposure. Here, the authors show that wildfire waves are associated with an increase of 23% in respiratory hospital admissions and an increase of 21% in circulatory hospital admissions in Brazil.

Microfold cells (M-cell) are specialized cells of the intestine that sample luminal microbiota and dietary antigens. Here the authors show that epithelial non-canonical NFκB signalling, as induced by NIK, is important for M-cells maintenance, yet constitutive NIK activation is associated with gut inflammation and inflammatory bowel disease.

Light could be used to carry quantum information in networks, but this requires methods to prepare and control individual photons. A superconducting circuit can controllably emit photons in either direction along a microwave waveguide.

Analysis of whole-genome sequences of 25,465 individuals of European ancestry shows that rare variants contribute substantially to the heritability of height and body mass index.

Protein modules that dimerize rapidly upon exposure to light are reported. They permit light-induced control of dimerization of fused protein targets and can be manipulated with two-photon illumination for experiments in thick samples and in vivo.

Modelling shows that although the impact of warmer summers and winters may cancel each other out, climate change could still have a significant impact on mortality rates in New England owing to changes in temperature variability.

Reduced glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is a hallmark of chronic kidney disease. Here, Pattaro et al. conduct a meta-analysis to discover several new loci associated with variation in eGFR and find that genes associated with eGFR loci often encode proteins potentially related to kidney development.

Engineering qubits with long coherence times requires the ability to distinguish multiple noise sources, which is not possible with typical two-level qubit sensors. Here the authors utilize the multiple level transitions of a superconducting qubit to characterize two common types of external noise.

With a few keystrokes and mouse button clicks on a UNIX workstation, the entire Protein Data Bank archive is now available for searching and displaying the three-dimensional protein structures contained within.

There are increasing questions about emissions from unconventional oil and gas exploration, and the impact of such exploration on health outcomes has not been thoroughly studied. Looking at data from 2.5 million wells and more than 15 million medical beneficiaries, Li et al. find an increased mortality risk for beneficiaries downwind of unconventional plays.

The Omicron variant is partially attenuated, likely because it fails to efficiently infect lung cells. Here, Hoffmann et. al. show that this defect can be lost during Omicron evolution as demonstrated for the subvariant BA.5 that robustly infects lung cells in vitro and in vivo.

Liu et al. investigate sex-specific associations between DNA methylation and serum urate levels before and after BCG vaccination. They identify distinct epigenetic signatures linked to urate levels in males and females, offering insights for personalized approaches to urate-related disease management.

This study reveals that population aging intensifies heat- and cold-related deaths, more so than climate change, in 50 countries. At 1.53 °C global warming, aging contributes to rising heat-related deaths, offsetting declines in cold related death.

Understanding the tumor microenviroment is important before it can be exploited therapeutically. Here, the authors use single cell sequencing to study stromal cells in mouse tumors and identify a subset of interferon-licensed cancer associated fibroblasts that appear after anti-TGFβ treatment.