Search

Genome-wide association meta-analyses of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptom measures and clinical diagnoses identify new risk loci, highlight putative effector genes and yield improved polygenic risk scores.

Meteorite impacts can create long-lived hydrothermal systems that may spark onset of microbial life. At Finland’s Lappajärvi crater, minerals in fractures contain biosignatures of microbial life related to the hydrothermal circulation, offering clues to deep microbial colonization of Earth and beyond.

This Article provides evidence for apatite in a ferroan anorthosite clast in a lunar meteorite, allowing direct measurement of the volatile systematics of the primary products of the lunar magma ocean and the earliest lunar crust.

Analysis of northern elephant seal populations shows no evidence of inbreeding depression, probably because a recent extreme bottleneck purged much of the genetic load.

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.

Blooms of pigmented microalgae accelerate glacier and ice sheet melting by reducing the surface albedo. Here, Halbach et al. use single-cell measurements of elemental composition and nutrient assimilation rates of glacier ice algae, showing that the algae are well adapted to the ice’s oligotrophic conditions and exhibit no significant changes in productivity in response to nutrient additions.

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is an anti-inflammatory drug proposed as a treatment for COVID19. Here the results are reported from a randomised trial testing DMF treatment in 713 patients hospitalised with COVID-19. DMF was not associated with any improvement in day 5 outcomes.

Here the authors show how metabolic alteration of acyl chain composition affects phosphoinositide-driven signaling to initiate and sustain CD8⁺ T cell effector function during cell differentiation.

Amphetamines are known to enhance extracellular dopamine levels, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Utilising a new pH biosensor for synaptic vesicles, the authors show that amphetamines diminish vesicle pH gradients, disrupting dopamine packaging and leading to increased neurotransmitter release.

Understudied in the Antarctic system are the subsurface interfaces between ice-sheet, ocean and geological substrate. Here, the authors review our understanding of these components and propose new avenues of holistic dynamic modeling to achieve a unified understanding of past, present and future polar climate.

A genome-wide association study for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) identifies 12 loci and implicates neurodevelopmental pathways and conserved regions of the genome as being involved in underlying ADHD biology.

Urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UCAR) is associated with various clinical outcomes such as kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. Here, the authors report genome-wide meta-analysis in over 500,000 individuals and find 68 UACR loci, followed by statistical fine-mapping, gene prioritization and experimental validation in flies.

COVID-19 can be associated with neurological complications. Here the authors show that markers of brain injury, but not immune markers, are elevated in the blood of patients with COVID-19 both early and months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly in those with brain dysfunction or neurological diagnoses.

The recent discovery of diamond graphite inclusions in the Earth's oldest zircon grains from the Jack Hills metasediments in Western Australia provides a unique opportunity to investigate Earth's earliest known carbon reservoir. This paper reports ion microprobe analyses of the carbon isotope composition of these diamond-graphite inclusions and finds low carbon isotopic ratios, which may reflect deep subduction of biogenic surface carbon. But such carbon isotope values may also be produced by inorganic chemical reactions.

Evidence for multicellular life before 1.6–1.0 billion years ago is scarce and controversial. Here the authors report organized, macroscopic structures from Gabon that date to 2.1 billion years ago, have a consistent structure and seem to show evidence of multicellular colonial organization. Coming not long after the rise in atmospheric oxygen concentration, these fossils might be considered harbingers of the multicellular life that drastically expanded about a billion years later.

Precipitation of ¹³C-depleted authigenic carbonate is a tracer of sulphate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation, particularly in marine sediments. Here, the authors present extremely ¹³C-depleted carbonates from deep granitoid rocks suggesting the presence of microbial sulphate reducers and methane oxidisers.

Openshaw and colleagues find myeloid inflammation and complement activation signatures in patients with long COVID who were previously hospitalized.

Primitive lavas of the Fagradalsfjall eruption present a window into the deep roots of a magmatic system previously inaccessible to near-real-time investigation, showing that eruptible batches of basaltic magma mix on a timescale of weeks.

Subduction zone volcanoes are underlain by extensive magma plumbing systems, which can obscure original mantle source signals. Here, the authors show that intra-crystal oxygen isotope analysis of clinopyroxenes from the Sunda arc (Indonesia) reveal the δ18 O value of the sub-arc mantle.

Fractured rocks of impact craters have been suggested to be suitable hosts for deep microbial communities on Earth, and potentially other terrestrial planets, yet direct evidence remains elusive. Here, the authors show that the Siljan impact structure is host to long-term deep methane-cycling microbial activity.

Sulfur is one of the key volatiles in Earth’s chemical cycles; however, sulfur speciation, isotopic composition, and flux during the subduction cycle remain unclear. Here, the authors provide direct constraints on subduction zone sulfur recycling from high-pressure rocks and explore implications for arc magmatism.

Deep subsurface microorganisms play an important role in nutrient cycling, yet little is known about deep continental fungal communities. Here, the authors show organically preserved and partly mineralized fungi at 740 m depth, and find evidence of an anaerobic fungi and sulfate reducing bacteria consortium.

Early-life complications modulate the association of genomic risk and schizophrenia.

Chain-forming diatoms are key organisms in the biotic transfer of CO₂ from the atmosphere to the ocean interior. Here, the authors show that turbulence stimulates and links small-scale and large scale processes from CO₂ assimilation at a diatom cell level to nitrogen cycling in fast-sinking diatom aggregates.

Genome-wide analysis of self-reported dyslexia identifies 42 associated loci, including 27 not previously associated with cognitive traits. Dyslexia shows genetic correlation with ambidexterity but not neuroanatomical measures of language-related circuitry.

Three techniques for estimating mass losses from the Greenland Ice Sheet produce comparable results for the period 1992–2018 that approach the trajectory of the highest rates of sea-level rise projected by the IPCC.

Isotopic compositions of ancient zircons from the NWA 7034 Martian meteorite suggest that Mars must have formed its primordial crust extremely swiftly, less than 20 million years after the formation of the Solar System.

Strain engineering can be used to control the properties of thin-film ferroelectric materials, which are promising for electronic, thermal, photovoltaic and transduction applications. This Review addresses fundamental aspects, novel ways to control materials properties and the development of new ferroelectric-based devices.

Mass-independent fractionation of sulphur isotopes in basalts from the oceanic island of Mangaia (Cook Islands) indicates ancient subducted Archaean (>2.45 Gyr) oceanic crust and lithosphere survives in the mantle to be sampled beneath hotspot volcanoes.

Genetics is slowly explaining variations in drug response, but applying this knowledge depends on implementation of a host of policies that provide long-term support to the field, from translational research and regulation to professional education.