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A 3-wave study of 1427 climate-action supporters tests predictors of conventional versus radical climate activism. Radical intentions were rare and linked most strongly to youth, personality and collective victimhood rather than ideology or efficacy.

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).

How socially transmitted behaviours spread and persist is shown in a wild animal population, revealing an effect of social conformity.

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.

Transient depletion of the gut microbiome by antibiotics in early life reduces systemic levels of the metabolite indole-3-propionic acid, which causes long-lasting mitochondrial damage to lung epithelial cells and increases susceptibility to airway inflammation in adult mice.

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.

Lipid transport regulates activation of intestinal T helper 17 cells and thereby limits dietary fat absorption and diet-induced weight gain.

Strontium isotope analysis can be applied to animal and plant tissues to help determine their provenance. Here, the authors generate a strontium isoscape of sub-Saharan Africa using data from 2266 environmental samples and demonstrate its efficacy by tracing the African roots of individuals from historic slavery contexts.

The recent plasmid-mediated spread of the mobilized colistin resistance gene mcr-1 poses a significant public health threat, requiring worldwide monitoring and surveillance. Here, Wang et al. compile and analyze a data set of 457 mcr-1-positive sequenced isolates to investigate the origin and global distribution of mcr-1.

A population-genomic analysis of more than 800 isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, representing the breadth of host-species diversity, reveals details of the pathogen’s evolutionary trajectory, including how this has been influenced by animal domestication and antibiotic use.

Stress-induced gut leakage and immune activation lead to the release of IL-22, which acts directly on septal neurons in the brain to dampen their activation and protect against anxiety behaviour.

Flocking, schooling, and swarming prey are thought to benefit from a confusion effect. However, here the authors show that hawks attacking swarming bats avoid confusion by steering towards a fixed point in the swarm instead of targeting any one individual.

The authors show that captive populations of zebra finches, which have been kept in isolation for up to 100 generations, have diverged in song dialect. When individuals singing different dialects are mixed, mating is assortative for song dialect.

Transient skin inflammation in early life leads to the development of T helper 2 cell–fibroblast niches that alter wound repair responses and may drive fibrotic pathology later in life.

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.

Age-associated defects in dendritic cells can be corrected by hyperactivating adjuvants containing an oxidized phospholipid to induce effective antitumour responses in mice.

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.

Researchers have identified a subset of T helper cells that is found predominantly in individuals with multiple sclerosis. The subset is defined by expression of GM-CSF and CXCR4 and may be important in disease pathology.

Commensal-specific T cells promote the regeneration of damaged sensory nerves in the skin, through an IL-17-dependent pathway.

Kiourtis et al. show that liver senescence triggers senescence and dysfunction in other organs through TGFβ secretion from the liver.

T cell responses can be generated to either pathogen infection or from priming with a vaccine. Here the authors compare T cell generation, phenotype and single cell transcriptome of participants vaccinated with a mpox vaccine or infected with the virus showing that the virus induced T cells showed more effective function and phenotype.

A new study shows that even a short-term switch to a low-fibre diet suppresses immunity to bacterial infection and compromises effector T cell responses.

Analysing camera-trap data of 163 mammal species before and after the onset of COVID-19 lockdowns, the authors show that responses to human activity are dependent on the degree to which the landscape is modified by humans, with carnivores being especially sensitive.

B cells that expand following infection with EBV can colonize the brain, where they recruit activated T cells that have potential to cause neuronal damage, thereby providing a mechanism to explain the link between EBV and increased MS risk.

Sterol metabolism drives T helper 17 cell differentiation.

Neutrophil cytoplasts promote T helper 17 cell responses that propagate neutrophilic inflammation in severe asthma.

Myeloid cells acquire memory to previously encountered MHC alloantigens, showing antigen specificity akin to adaptive immune memory. This myeloid cell memory response mediates allograft rejection.

CD4⁺ T cell cytokines in the intestinal crypts balance intestinal stem cell renewal and differentiation.

Commensal-specific T cells in the skin have built-in flexibility. They are pre-committed to a type 17 programme but are poised to produce type 2 cytokines following exposure to inflammatory mediators or tissue injury.

Microbial metabolite inosine improves antitumour responses to immune checkpoint blockade therapy.

Group 2 innate lymphoid cells drive memory T helper 2 cell responses by licensing dendritic cells.

A high-quality sequence assembly of the zebrafish genome reveals the largest gene set of any vertebrate and provides information on key genomic features, and comparison to the human reference genome shows that approximately 70% of human protein-coding genes have at least one clear zebrafish orthologue.

Control of excessive T helper 2 cell-type immune responses is mediated by casein kinase 2 (CK2) in regulatory T cells.

Single-cell RNA sequencing identifies T helper 17 cell heterogeneity and regulators of pathogenicity.

T helper 17 (T_H17) cells transdifferentiate into T regulatory type 1 (T_R1) cells and contribute to the resolution of inflammation in mice.

Interleukin-9 secreted by T helper 9 cells impairs intestinal barrier function and exacerbates ulcerative colitis.