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The work shows that volcanic-related elevated continental chemical weathering could have played a significant role in global environmental perturbations during the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction.

In ancient cultures without a writing system, it is difficult to infer the basis of status and rank. Here the authors analyse ancient DNA from nine presumed elite individuals buried successively over a 300-year period at Chaco Canyon, and show evidence of matrilineal relationships.

How tropical cyclones have varied in intensity and frequency in the past is not well known as longer records are rare. Here, the authors show that changes in observing practices explain the recorded century scale increase in Atlantic major hurricane frequency, and recent increases are not part of a century-scale trend.

The amygdala, a brain region important for learning fearful memories, is thought to have a role in generalized anxiety, but the critical subregions and connections are unknown. This paper shows that optogenetic stimulation of basolateral amygdala (BLA) terminals in the central nucleus of the amygdala of rats with channelrhodopsin has an anxiolytic effect, whereas inhibition of the same projection with eNpHR3.0 increases anxiety related behaviours. These effects were not observed with direct optogenetic control of BLA somata themselves, indicating that selective activation of certain connections can have different effects.

Susan Slager and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). They identify nine loci newly associated with CLL.

The authors show that the ventrolateral aspect of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl), a region previously implicated in attack behavior, can also drive flexible aggression-seeking behavior. When male mice learn a task to seek out attack opportunities, activity in the VMHvl tracks and bidirectionally modulates the seeking behavior that leads to future attack.

Sven van der Lee, Julie Williams, Gerard Schellenberg and colleagues identify rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3 and TREM2 associated with Alzheimer's disease. These genes are highly expressed in microglia and provide additional evidence that the microglia-mediated immune response contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

It remains unclear whether exotic and native species are functionally different. Using a global grassland experiment, Seabloomet al. show that native and exotic species respond differently to two globally pervasive environmental changes, addition of mineral nutrients and alteration of herbivore density.

The authors measured high-resolution fMRI activity from eight individuals who saw and memorized thousands of annotated natural images over 1 year. This massive dataset enables new paths of inquiry in cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligence.

Jones et al. examine the generalizability of the valence–dominance model of social judgements of faces in 41 countries across 11 world regions. They find evidence of both generalizability and variation, depending on the analytical method.

A network of optical atomic clocks based on three different atomic species is reported and their frequency ratios are measured with uncertainties at or below 8 × 10⁻¹⁸.

Tim Chan and colleagues report the identification of recurrent somatic mutations in FAT1 in glioblastoma, colon cancer and head and neck cancer and show that inactivation of FAT1 promotes Wnt signaling and tumorigenesis.

Myofibroblast-derived R-spondin 3 orchestrates regeneration of antral stomach epithelium via Wnt signalling in Axin2⁺ stem cells.

An instrument for whole-genome optical mapping is used to assemble the genome of the domestic goat into super-long scaffolds.

Structural genomics and binding studies show that a cyclic peptide produced by Streptomyces griseus, griselimycin, exhibits high binding selectivity for diverse DNA polymerase binding sites of various infectious Gram-negative bacteria.

A new ice core from West Antarctica shows that, during the last ice age, abrupt Northern Hemisphere climate variations were followed two centuries later by a response in Antarctica, suggesting an oceanic propagation of the climate signal to the Southern Hemisphere high latitudes.

Joseph Gleeson and colleagues report that mutations in TMEM216 cause Joubert, Meckel and related syndromes. They further show that TMEM216 localizes to the base of cilia and that its loss leads to defects in ciliogenesis and centrosome docking.

DNA methylation is associated with breast cancer risk. Here the authors measure DNA methylation in the blood of individuals from 25 Australian families with multiple cases of breast cancer but not known mutations associated with breast cancer risk to identify possible heritable methylation markers.

The Impact of Genomic Variation on Function Consortium is combining single-cell mapping, genomic perturbations and predictive modelling to investigate relationships between human genomic variation, genome function and phenotypes and will provide an open resource to the community.

Sharon Savage and colleagues report the results of a genome-wide association study of osteosarcoma. They identify two susceptibility loci for this primary bone malignancy, including variants within the metabotropic glutamate receptor gene GRM4.

A metabolomics study on the ischaemic heart identifies succinate as a metabolite that drives the production of reactive oxygen species and contributes to ischaemia-reperfusion injury; pharmacological inhibition of succinate accumulation ameliorates ischaemia-reperfusion injury in a mouse model of heart attack and a rat model of stroke.

Kuan, Phelps, et al. used synchrotron X-ray imaging and deep learning to map dense neuronal wiring in fly and mouse tissue, enabling examination of individual cells and connectivity in circuits governing motor control and perceptual decision-making.

Rui Chen and colleagues identify mutations in NMNAT1 as a new cause of Leber congenital amaurosis. They further show that all examined individuals with NMNAT1 mutations have macular colobomas, a condition marked by severe degeneration of the central retina.

Cataloging microbial genomes from Earth’s environments expands the known phylogenetic diversity of bacteria and archaea.

This Perspective describes the development and capabilities of SciPy 1.0, an open source scientific computing library for the Python programming language.

Mutation of isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) is shown to induce DNA hypermethylation and to remodel the epigenome to resemble that of gliomas with the CpG island methylator phenotype.

A global study suggests that mycorrhizal fungi play a key role in determining forest diversity patterns and community structure, with mycorrhizal tree type systematically mediating the strength of conspecific negative density dependence.

Dennis et al. investigate potential breast cancer associations with rare germline copy number variants (CNVs) by conducting a genome-wide analysis in a large breast cancer case-control dataset. The authors detected associations with exonic deletions in established breast cancer susceptibility genes and suggestive associations for a number of non-coding CNVs.

The risk of germline copy number variants (CNVs) in BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers in breast cancer is assessed, with CNVs overlapping SULT1A1 decreasing breast cancer risk in BRCA1 carriers.

As tundra ecosystems respond to rapid Arctic warming, satellite records suggest a widespread greening. This Perspective highlights the challenges of interpreting complex Arctic greening trends and provides direction for future research by combining ecological and remote sensing approaches.

Amanda Spurdle and colleagues report results of a genome-wide association study of endometrial cancer. They identify a risk variant near HNF1B that has previously been associated with increased risk of prostate cancer and with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.

Nitric oxide donors protect from myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, but the underlying mechanisms have been unclear. Edward T Chouchani et al. uncover the molecular target of such donors, a cysteine residue in a subunit of complex I of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, and suggest that this cysteine residue has a general role in regulating complex I activity and modulating ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Timothy Chan and colleagues report exome and genome sequencing of 60 adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) tumor-normal pairs. They identify multiple pathways recurrently disrupted in ACC and provide evidence that KDM6A and PIK3CA are functionally relevant candidate ACC driver genes.