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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.

It is thought that the Earth's atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations did not fall below about 200–250 parts per million during the past 24 million years despite the drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide by high rates of global silicate rock weathering. Simulations of terrestrial and geochemical carbon cycles now suggest that limited vegetation activity in regions of active mountain ranges effectively diminished biotic-driven silicate rock weathering and thereby provided a negative feedback mechanism to stabilize carbon dioxide concentrations.

Deforestation by the ancient Maya led to a destabilization of organic carbon preserved in the underlying soils and reduced the magnitude of the soil carbon sink in this region.

Whole-genome sequence data for 108 individuals representing 28 language groups across Australia and five language groups for Papua New Guinea suggests that Aboriginal Australians and Papuans diverged from Eurasian populations approximately 60–100 thousand years ago, following a single out-of-Africa dispersal and subsequent admixture with archaic populations.

Deep whole-genome sequencing of 300 individuals from 142 diverse populations provides insights into key population genetic parameters, shows that all modern human ancestry outside of Africa including in Australasians is consistent with descending from a single founding population, and suggests a higher rate of accumulation of mutations in non-Africans compared to Africans since divergence.

Whole-genome sequencing of individuals from 125 populations provides insight into patterns of genetic diversity, natural selection and human demographic history during the peopling of Eurasia and finds evidence for genetic vestiges of an early expansion of modern humans out of Africa in Papuans.

Earth-system climate sensitivity includes the effects of long-term feedbacks such as changes in continental ice-sheet extent and terrestrial ecosystems. A reconstruction of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels 4.5 million years ago suggests that Earth-system climate sensitivity is significantly higher than that estimated from global climate models, which includes only fast feedback mechanisms such as changes in clouds and sea ice.

Ethiopia is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse countries. Here, the authors look at genetic and cultural variation in 1,214 Ethiopians to unravel the relationship between genetic admixture and cultural factors.

During the early Pliocene epoch, tropical sea surface temperatures were thought to be similar to those of today, even though global mean temperatures were several degrees warmer. Temperature reconstructions now suggest that the Pliocene tropical warm pools were about two degrees warmer than those at present.

Identification of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence shows that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from roughly 18 degrees Celsius to over 23 degrees Celsius — such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming.

It is widely accepted that an ice-covered Antarctica first occurred ∼34 million years ago, but the glacial history of the northern hemisphere is less clear. This paper investigates the possibilities of when the continental-scale glaciation of the north occurred with a global climate/ice-sheet model that takes into account the long-term decline of atmospheric CO₂ levels during this period. The CO₂ threshold for glaciation in the north seems to be much lower, and so will have been crossed much later than ∼34 million years ago, suggesting that episodic northern-hemispheric ice sheets have been possible only for the past ∼25 million years.

The Human Microbiome Project Consortium has established a population-scale framework to study a variety of microbial communities that exist throughout the human body, enabling the generation of a range of quality-controlled data as well as community resources.

The Human Microbiome Project Consortium reports the first results of their analysis of microbial communities from distinct, clinically relevant body habitats in a human cohort; the insights into the microbial communities of a healthy population lay foundations for future exploration of the epidemiology, ecology and translational applications of the human microbiome.

Orbitally triggered decomposition of soil organic carbon in terrestrial permafrost is suggested as an explanation for a series of sudden and extreme global warming events that occurred about 55 million years ago.

A GM study diachronically examined evolution of the medial longitudinal arch and variation as expressed by the navicular bone, identifying navicular traits associated with particular locomotor behaviors, subsistence strategies, and foot types