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Mussels are masters of sticking on wet surfaces. Here, authors discover a histidine-rich coiled coil protein in mussel glue that challenges the prevailing understanding of how mussel stick tight, with the findings relevant to the design of improved glues.

The burden of dengue disease in infants has increased in Brazil over the last 25 years. Here, the authors analyse spatiotemporal heterogeneity in disease incidence to characterise the contribution of changing maternal immunity to infant dengue risk.

As Nature Aging celebrates its fifth anniversary, the journal asks some of the researchers who contributed to the journal early on to reflect on the past and the future of aging and age-related disease research, the impact of the field on human health now and in the future, and what challenges need to be addressed to ensure sustained progress.

Career progression.

The APOE-ε4 allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, but it is not deterministic. Here, the authors show that common genetic variation changes how APOE-ε4 influences cognition.

Conventional type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1) can boost the precursor exhausted T cell population thought to be essential for efficacy of immune checkpoint therapy. Here the authors enhance this cellular network using Flt3L to expand cDC1s and then map the movement of T cells and DCs between tumors and lymph nodes.

cellSTAAR advances noncoding rare variant association analysis by integrating single-cell genomics data.

A completely solid-state, single-chip, microwave-frequency surface acoustic wave phonon laser can generate coherent phonons from thermal noise or resonantly amplify injected phonons using only a direct current bias field.

A disc device integrating chromatography, centripetal liquid transfer and bead-based vesicle capture enables extracellular vesicle isolation and labelling, achieving high accuracy in cancer detection and tumour classification.

A cavity-array microscope is realized using intra-cavity lenses to create a two-dimensional array of over 40 modes, each coupled to a single atom in free-space.

A specialized, open-source, retrieval-augmented language model is introduced for answering scientific queries and synthesizing literature, the responses of which are shown to be preferred by human evaluations over expert-written answers.

Scourzic et al. show that germinal centre B cells display an enhanced ability to reprogram to induced pluripotent stem cells compared to mature B cells. This ability indicates their higher plasticity level and is T follicular helper cell-dependent.

Genetic mapping in mice identified Homer1a as a key modifier of attention. Developmental downregulation in the prefrontal cortex enhances inhibitory tone, neural signal to noise and adult attentional performance, revealing a new control mechanism and target.

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome is characterized by premature aging with cardiovascular disease being the main cause of death. Here the authors show that inhibition of the NAT10 enzyme enhances cardiac function and fitness, and reduces age-related phenotypes in a mouse model of premature aging.

The authors present an integrated acousto-optic modulator fabricated in a wafer-scale process that realizes efficient, high-speed modulation of visible light with high optical power handling.

Ahmad et al. show that soluble histone H4 binds at histone genes and acts as a repressor of their expression. These findings suggest that histone H4 is a sensor of ongoing DNA replication. Ongoing chromatin assembly uses up soluble H4 and relieves histone gene repression; however, once DNA replication ceases, soluble H4 accumulates and represses the histone genes.

The world is just enough.

Polygenic scores for body mass index and obesity constructed using data from 5 million people with different ancestries were associated with distinct weight gain trajectories from early childhood to adulthood.

CONCORD generates denoised cell encodings that preserve key biological structures in single-cell datasets.

A protocol for cryogenic 3D correlative focused ion beam milling using an integrated fluorescence light microscope and montage cryo-ET for nonadherent and adherent mammalian cells, as well as primary Drosophila melanogaster neurons.

A large genome-wide association study of more than 5 million individuals reveals that 12,111 single-nucleotide polymorphisms account for nearly all the heritability of height attributable to common genetic variants.

An interview to remember.

Here, the authors report recent updates to the ENCODE data portal including a redesigned home page, an improved search interface, custom-designed pages highlighting biologically related datasets and an enhanced cart interface for data visualisation plus user-friendly data download options.

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.

The authors find that TDP-43 loss of function—the pathology defining the neurodegenerative conditions ALS and FTD—induces novel mRNA polyadenylation events, which have different effects, including an increase in RNA stability, leading to higher protein levels.

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).

Here they identify a short-lived vascular endothelial progenitor pool that predominantly vascularizes the mouse liver during postnatal growth and contributes to liver size control.

Typical quantum error correcting codes assign fixed roles to the underlying physical qubits. Now the performance benefits of alternative, dynamic error correction schemes have been demonstrated on a superconducting quantum processor.

This study presents a data-driven framework for the design of streamflow monitoring networks across various scales that improves hydrological predictions while also accommodating socio-environmental constraints.

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.

A study using iPhones and Apple Watches to track and analyze cognitive health over 18 months in more than 23,000 US adults demonstrates the feasibility of remote cognitive health monitoring and uncovers potential methods for early detection of cognitive decline.

Stability and flexibility are important, if antagonistic, features of memory. Here the authors show that a class of inhibitory neurons regulate plasticity and therefore the stability of memory representations in novel contexts requiring flexibility.

The Global Flourishing Study provides a comprehensive view of the distribution and determinants of well-being by assessing domains such as health, happiness, meaning, character, relationships and financial security. Initial findings reveal significant variations in flourishing across countries and demographic groups, with factors such as age, marital status and religious service attendance showing strong associations with well-being.

Optical control of atomic quantum systems poses stringent requirements on modulators. Here, the authors present a piezoelectrically actuated silicon-nitride-based high-speed spatial light modulator technology meeting those needs.

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.

Detailed knowledge of the low-energy electronic structure is required to understand the Mott insulating phase of Ca₂RuO₄. Here, Sutter et al. provide directly the experimental band structure of the paramagnetic insulating phase of Ca₂RuO₄and unveil the electronic origin of its Mott phase.

A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.

This study presents a BRET biosensor that measures how anticancer drugs cooperatively engage PRMT5 complexes in cells, revealing how cellular metabolites such as SAM and MTA enhance drug action and enable precision therapies for MTAP-deleted tumors.

As Nature Chemical Biology approaches its third decade we asked a collection of chemical biologists, “What do you think are the most exciting frontiers or the most needed developments in your main field of research?” — here is what they said.

Retirement plans.

Mussels produce a dynamic bio-interface between their living tissue and their non-living byssus attachment, relevant for design of implant devices. Here, authors discover a mechanoresponsive protein that may mediate mechanosensing at the interface.

X-ray free electron lasers are increasingly available for use in macromolecular structure determination. Here, the authors describe the successful use of selenium single-wavelength anomalous diffraction data to calculate experimentally derived phases.

Here the authors perform a trans expression quantitative trait locus meta-analysis study of over 3,700 people and link a USP18 variant to expression of 50 inflammation genes and lupus risk, highlighting how genetic regulation of immune responses drives autoimmune disease and informs new therapies.

In gastrointestinal stromal tumours early mutations in known genes are frequently followed by chromosome 14q deletion. Here the authors find mutations resulting in loss of MAX protein expression conserved between primary tumours and metastases in the same patients, suggesting thatMAXmutation is an early event.

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.