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Centromeres play an essential function in faithful chromosome segregation. Here, the authors demonstrate the mechanism by which human cells dynamically modulate the activity of the Bloom’s syndrome helicase complex to safeguard centromere integrity throughout mitotic progression.

The role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in human cortical development remains largely unexplored. Here authors investigate CHRNA7 and CHRFAM7A, uncovering their involvement in radial glial cell proliferation and neuronal differentiation, and identify YAP1 as a downstream effector of cholinergic signaling.

Controlling nanoscale colloidal crystallization is not straightforward. Such control is now achieved by leveraging a metastable liquid phase of charged nanocrystals.

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.

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).

Frances Arnold, Gregory Winter and George Smith controlled evolution in the lab to produce greener technologies and new medicines.

Single-cell analysis of patient brains and cortical organoids links disrupted developmental metabolic reprogramming to postnatal synaptic dysfunction in dup15q syndrome, revealing shared neuronal changes with idiopathic autism.

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.

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.

Sangha, Dhingra et al. develop and validate a deep learning model to diagnose hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from electrocardiographic images, demonstrating its effectiveness across multiple 12-lead layouts.

Selection drives divergence between species, contributing to speciation, while simultaneously favoring extensive diversity that is maintained across populations within a species. This study demonstrates how the selection landscape is complex and multidimensional across three species of Phlox flowers.

Genome-wide analyses identify 30 independent loci associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder, highlighting genetic overlap with other psychiatric disorders and implicating putative effector genes and cell types contributing to its etiology.

Superlattices, with a length scale and structure that differs from the parent lattice of the host material, are well-known to allow for remarkable new electronic and magnetic properties. Here, Xie et al. synthesize Cr_1/4TaS₂, and find that it exhibits an unusual anomalous Hall effect below the Néel temperature even in stoichiometric high-quality crystals.

Analysis of data from multiple instruments reveals a giant exoplanet in orbit around the 0.2-solar-mass star TOI-6894. The existence of this exoplanetary system challenges assumptions about planet formation and it is an excellent target for atmospheric characterization.

Here, the authors leverage whole-genome sequencing from >88,000 diverse individuals to uncover 18 BMI-related genetic signals, including novel variants in participants of African genetic ancestry, highlighting the value of diversity in genetic discovery.

Microglial states are dynamically regulated during development and disease. Here, the authors show that these changes are mediated by cell autonomous TGF-β signaling in microglia, which is developmentally regulated by ITGB8 in radial glia.

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

‘The timing and ecological dynamics of extinction in the late Pleistocene are not well understood. Here, the authors use sediment ancient DNA from permafrost cores to reconstruct the paleoecology of the central Yukon, finding a substantial turnover in ecosystem composition between 13,500-10,000 years BP and persistence of some species past their supposed extinctions.’

Interactions between respiratory viruses in co-infections may impact their transmission dynamics but impacts at the individual-level are not well understood. Here, the authors use data from a prospective household-based cohort study to investigate the impact of co-infection on transmission and acquisition of influenza and RSV.

Using a molecular catalyst and a proton–electron transfer mediator in tandem delivers efficient electroreduction of nitrogen to ammonia at modest potentials, an approach that could be used to improve other important reactions.

A randomized trial in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 showed no benefit and potentially increased harm associated with the use of convalescent plasma, with subgroup analyses suggesting that the antibody profile in donor plasma is critical in determining clinical outcomes.

Directed evolution is a powerful method to optimize protein fitness. Here, authors develop an active learning workflow using machine learning to more efficiently explore the design space of proteins.

In lung cancer, relatively few germline mutations are known to impact risk. Here the authors looked at rare variants in 39,146 individuals and find novel germline mutations associated with risk, as well as implicating ATM and a new candidate gene for lung cancer risk.

Large genome-wide meta-analysis of clinically diagnosed late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) from 94,437 individuals identifies new LOAD risk loci and implicates Aβ formation, tau protein binding, immune response and lipid metabolism.

Polymers cross-linked with dynamic bonds can switch the phase from solid to fluid upon stimulus but return quickly to the solid state once the stimulus is removed. Here the authors report a light triggered permanent solid to fluid transition at room temperature with inherent spatiotemporal control in either direction

Siglec-glycolipid interactions are often studied outside the context of a lipid bilayer. Here, the authors combine a variety of chemical biology techniques to demonstrate a unique and physiologically relevant ability of Siglec-6 to recognize glycolipids in a membrane.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have improved our understanding of the genetic basis of lung adenocarcinoma but known susceptibility variants explain only a small fraction of the familial risk. Here, the authors perform a two-stage GWAS and report 12 novel genetic loci associated with lung adenocarcinoma in East Asians.

Statins, which have anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic properties, could have effects in COVID-19 patients. Here, the authors find in a retrospective analysis of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 that antecedent statin use is associated with lower inpatient mortality.

X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, structural modelling, biochemistry, cell biology, and evolutionary analysis enable characterization of ORF2p, the reverse transcriptase of the ancient ‘parasitic’ LINE-1 retrotransposon that has written around one-third of the human genome.

Hruska et al. suggest an architectural basis for NMDAR-dependent spine plasticity mediated by addition of unitary pre- and postsynaptic nanomodules that function as building blocks of synaptic organization and enable structural plasticity.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterised by progressive pulmonary vascular remodelling. Here, Arnold et al. develop a therapeutic antibody targeting osteoprotegerin and find it attenuates pulmonary vascular remodelling in multiple rodent models of PAH, alone or in combination with standard of care vasodilator therapy.

Modern culture appears to change at a rapid rate compared with biological evolution. Lambert et al. test this and find that the pace of modern cultural evolution is surprisingly slow—slower than, for example, changes seen in Darwin’s finches.

Australian archaeological finds of 12,000-year-old fireplaces and artefacts match nineteenth-century GunaiKurnai ritual practices. They represent approximately 500 generations of cultural transmission of this ritual.

A strategy using engineered functional customized viral receptors enables the development of functional infection models for coronaviruses whose native cellular receptors are unknown.

Inspired by the art of kirigami, a haptic device based on a miniaturized electromechanical structure combined with skin as an elastic, energy-storing element demonstrates bioelastic state recovery and can be used in sensory substitution.