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Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

Photonic waveguide lattices implementing continuous quantum walks have a wide range of applications yet remain based on static devices. Here, the authors demonstrated a fully programmable waveguide array by implementing various Hamiltonians.

Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

In this single-arm phase 2 trial in patients with HR⁺HER2⁻ advanced breast cancer, treatment with the HER3-targeting antibody–drug conjugate paritumab deruxtecan led to encouraging objective response rates, and comprehensive exploratory analyses indicate potential biomarkers of response.

The detection of the auroral footprint of Jupiter’s moon Callisto is challenging, but a shift in Jupiter’s bright main auroral oval could provide an opportunity for potential detections. Here, the authors show observation of the ultraviolet footprint of Callisto using Juno spacecraft data, benefiting from such opportunity.

In this Consensus Statement, a consortium of microbiome scientists discuss current sequencing data sharing policies and propose the use of a Data Reuse Information (DRI) tag to promote equitable and collaborative data sharing.

Species’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. Here, the authors find that dominant tree species are taller and have softer wood compared to rare species and that these trait differences are more strongly associated with temperature than water availability.

Certain antimetabolites used to treat cancer are more neurotoxic than others, and it is now shown that this is due to their greater tendency to generate DNA double-stranded breaks, whereas less neurotoxic agents induce single-stranded breaks.

Literature produced inconsistent findings regarding the links between extreme weather events and climate policy support across regions, populations and events. This global study offers a holistic assessment of these relationships and highlights the role of subjective attribution.

Integrative analyses of transcriptome and whole-genome sequencing data for 1,188 tumours across 27 types of cancer are used to provide a comprehensive catalogue of RNA-level alterations in cancer.

The authors describe a sensory circuit involving the medial septum (MS), where MS glutamatergic neurons integrate food odours to prime satiety and regulate nutrient intake.

What is the state of trust in scientists around the world? To answer this question, the authors surveyed 71,922 respondents in 68 countries and found that trust in scientists is moderately high.

Giant planets on wide, eccentric orbits—like the putative Planet Nine—may form from dynamical planetary instabilities when stars are embedded in their natal stellar clusters. Simulations suggest a 1–5% chance of such planets forming in exoplanetary systems and up to 40% in the Solar System.

Timothy Frayling, Joel Hirschhorn, Peter Visscher and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for adult height in 253,288 individuals. They identify 697 variants in 423 loci significantly associated with adult height and find that these variants cluster in pathways involved in growth and together explain one-fifth of the heritability for this trait.

Arrays of superconducting transmon qubits can be used to study the Bose–Hubbard model. Synthetic electromagnetic fields have now been added to this analogue quantum simulation platform.

The localization properties of waves in the quasiperiodic chains described by the Aubry–André model and Fibonacci model are investigated. Passing from one model to the other, the system develops a cascade of delocalization transitions.

Measurements of fission fragments for 100 fissioning systems are used to map an asymmetric fission island, providing evidence for the role played by the deformation induced by a closed 36-proton shell.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

A genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI) detects 97 BMI-associated loci, of which 56 were novel, and many loci have effects on other metabolic phenotypes; pathway analyses implicate the central nervous system in obesity susceptibility and new pathways such as those related to synaptic function, energy metabolism, lipid biology and adipogenesis.

Psoriasis is a partially heritable skin disorder, the genetic basis of which is not fully understood. Here, the authors use genome-wide association meta-analysis to discover psoriasis susceptibility loci and genes, which encode existing and potential new drug targets.

Conducting atom-optical experiments in space is interesting for fundamental physics and challenging due to different environment compared to ground. Here the authors report matter-wave interferometry in space using atomic BECs in a sounding rocket.

Multi-omic analysis of the developing mouse kidney shows strong sex-dependent differences in gene expression during development and aging. These differences are likely mediated by sex hormones.

Wood density is an important plant trait. Data from 1.1 million forest inventory plots and 10,703 tree species show a latitudinal gradient in wood density, with temperature and soil moisture explaining variation at the global scale and disturbance also having a role at the local level.

A multi-ancestry genome-wide association study for age at menarche followed by fine mapping and downstream analysis implicates 665 pubertal timing genes, such as the G-protein-coupled receptor 83 (GPR83) and other genes expressed in the ovaries involved in the DNA damage response.

Analysis of a large cohort of metastatic breast cancer samples shows that APOBEC mutational signatures are enriched in post-treatment samples. APOBEC activity was also associated with mutations known to drive drug resistance.

Genome-wide association meta-analyses of waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index in more than 224,000 individuals identify 49 loci, 33 of which are new and many showing significant sexual dimorphism with a stronger effect in women; pathway analyses implicate adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution.

Understanding the chemistry of perovskite precursor solutions enables improved film optoelectronic properties, allowing the fabrication of multijunction solar cells achieving power conversion efficiencies beyond the radiative limit of single-junction cells.

The biological understanding of poor prognosis associated with lymph node metastasis in head and neck cancer (HNC) remains crucial. Here, a proteomic characterisation of 140 multisite samples from a 59-HNC patient cohort and machine learning reveals potential biomarkers and metastasis related signatures.

Trastuzumab deruxtecan, an anti-HER2–drug conjugate, exhibits the highest objective response rate in patients with HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer, but clinical activity is also observed in patients with HER2-low or non-expressing tumors, potentially pointing to additional determinants of drug efficacy.

The goals, resources and design of the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) programme are described, and analyses of rare variants detected in the first 53,831 samples provide insights into mutational processes and recent human evolutionary history.

Erik Ingelsson and colleagues report a large-scale genome-wide meta-analysis for associations to the extremes of anthropometric traits, including body mass index, height, waist-to-hip ratio and clinical obesity. They identify four loci newly associated with height and seven loci newly associated with clinical obesity and find overlap in the genetic structure and distribution of variants identified for these extremes of the trait distributions and for the general population.

Genome-wide association analyses of prostate cancer in men from sub-Saharan Africa identify population-specific risk variants and regional differences in effect sizes. Founder effects contribute to continental differences in the genetic architecture of prostate cancer.

Inbreeding depression has been observed in many different species, but in humans a systematic analysis has been difficult so far. Here, analysing more than 1.3 million individuals, the authors show that a genomic inbreeding coefficient (FROH) is associated with disadvantageous outcomes in 32 out of 100 traits tested.

A genetic study identifies hundreds of loci associated with risk tolerance and risky behaviors, finds evidence of substantial shared genetic influences across these phenotypes, and implicates genes involved in neurotransmission.

This cross-sectional study in two independent middle-aged and aged cohorts investigates whether psychological characteristics associated with varying dementia risk aggregate into psychological profiles and relate to aging brain health.

Analysing >1,700 inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network, the authors show that the majority of Amazon tree species can occupy floodplains and that patterns of species turnover are closely linked to regional flood patterns.

Inventory data from more than 1 million trees across African, Amazonian and Southeast Asian tropical forests suggests that, despite their high diversity, just 1,053 species, representing a consistent ~2.2% of tropical tree species in each region, constitute half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees.

Multicriteria optimization identifies global priority areas for ecosystem restoration and estimates their benefits for biodiversity and climate, providing cost–benefit analyses that highlight the importance of optimizing spatial planning and incorporating several biomes in restoration strategies.

Moreno-Loaiza et al. found that interleukin-1β, acting upon cardiac resident macrophages, promotes atrial fibrillation in mice, and this mechanism may represent a common pathway connecting various risk factors to this arrhythmia.

Analysis of ground-sourced and satellite-derived models reveals a global forest carbon potential of 226 Gt outside agricultural and urban lands, with a difference of only 12% across these modelling approaches.

Phylogenomic analysis of 7,923 angiosperm species using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes produced an angiosperm tree of life dated with 200 fossil calibrations, providing key insights into evolutionary relationships and diversification.

André Uitterlinden and colleagues report loci at 9q31.2 and LIN28B associated with age at menarche from a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies including 17,510 females from eight different population-based cohorts.

A multi-ancestry genome-wide gene–smoking interaction study identifies 13 new loci associated with serum lipids.

The Anderson localization of light within disordered media has become a topic of great interest in recent years. Here the characterization of the effect and its related phenomena are reviewed, with a discussion on the role that nonlinearity and quantum correlated photons can play.

Alternative stable states in forests have implications for the biosphere. Here, the authors combine forest biodiversity observations and simulations revealing that leaf types across temperate regions of the NH follow a bimodal distribution suggesting signatures of alternative forest states.