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Small cell lung cancer cells form functional synapses with glutamatergic neurons, receiving synaptic transmissions and deriving a proliferative advantage from these interactions.

In breast cancer the contribution of different genetic variants to disease heritability is complex and not fully understood. Here, the authors present a network-based analysis in 84,567 patients studying ~7.3 million variants, identifying gene modules associated with breast cancer survival.

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.

Transcription factors shape cell identity, but mapping their genomic targets remains challenging. Here the authors present DynaTag, a modified CUT&Tag method for profiling TF occupancy in bulk and single cells, and apply it to assess changes in TF activity in SCLC tumours following chemotherapy.

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.

Hundreds of genetic loci associated with age at menopause, combined with experimental evidence in mice, highlight mechanisms of reproductive ageing across the lifespan.

Oncolytic virus holds potential as a cancer therapy, but further optimization is desirable. Here the authors screen existing drug to find talazoparib, a PARP inhibitor, synergizing with reovirus type 3 Dearing (RT3D) to induce cancer cell apoptosis, anti-tumor immunity, as well as control of primary and rechallenge tumor in mouse models.

Many genetic loci have been identified to be associated with kidney disease, but the molecular mechanisms are not well understood. Here, the authors perform epigenome-wide association studies on kidney function measures to identify epigenetic marks and pathways involved in kidney function.

Serum urate concentration can be studied in large datasets to find genetic and epigenetic loci that may be related to cardiometabolic traits. Here the authors identify and replicate 100 urate-associated CpGs, which provide insights into urate GWAS loci and shared CpGs of urate and cardiometabolic traits.

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.

The topological Hall effect usually results from a static scalar spin chirality. Here, through a combination of neutron scattering and transport measurements, Baral et al. demonstrate the emergence of a room temperature topological Hall effect due to dynamic scalar spin chirality in a topologically non-trivial phase in Fe3Ga4

Microresonator frequency combs are versatile tools for sensing, data transmission and quantum applications. In this work the authors present the generation of low-noise frequency combs at repetition rates of 100 GHz by utilizing a cascaded forward-propagating Brillouin scattering process to seed soliton frequency comb generation.

From 1980 to 2018, the levels of total and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreased in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe.

Fine-mapping of causal variants and integration of epigenetic and chromatin conformation data identify likely target genes for 150 breast cancer risk regions.

In plant-bacteria symbiosis, frontiers between mutualism and parasitism are often crossed. Here, the authors identify a bacterial clade that includes rhizobial strains displaying both pathogenic and nodulating abilities on a single legume host.

Fine-scale geospatial mapping of overweight and wasting (two components of the double burden of malnutrition) in 105 LMICs shows that overweight has increased from 5.2% in 2000 to 6.0% in children under 5 in 2017. Although overall wasting decreased over the same period, most countries are not on track to meet the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025.

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.

In a post-approval study including more than 17,000 patients on the safety of pulsed field ablation, a new method for treatment of atrial fibrillation, the procedure was found to have a low rate of adverse events but was associated with some unexpected rare complications that will need further study.

A genome-wide association study including over 76,000 individuals with schizophrenia and over 243,000 control individuals identifies common variant associations at 287 genomic loci, and further fine-mapping analyses highlight the importance of genes involved in synaptic processes.

X-chromosomal genetic variants are understudied but can yield valuable insights into sexually dimorphic human traits and diseases such as chronic kidney disease (CKD). Here, the authors perform a sex-stratified, cross-ancestry X-chromosome-wide association meta-analysis of seven kidney-related traits, with results including identification of four novel loci associated with the CKD-defining trait eGFR.

CDK4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) have improved cancer patient outcomes but shown limited benefits for those with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Here, the authors report that CDK4/6 inhibition prevents CDK4 enhanced mitochondria-endoplasmic reticulum interactions, inhibiting mitochondrial apoptosis and driving resistance to CDK4/6i in TNBC models.

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.

Across 26 countries, Imhoff et al. find that conspiracy mentality is more prevalent at both ends of the political spectrum than the centre. This U-shaped pattern is accentuated for supporters of political parties not in government, particularly on the political right.

Over 170 susceptibility loci have been identified by genome-wide association studies in breast cancer. Here, the authors interrogated the role of risk-associated variants from non-breast tissue, and using expression quantitative trait loci, identify potential target genes of known breast cancer susceptibility variants, as well as 11 regions not previously known to be associated with breast cancer risk.

Analysis of HbA1c and FPG levels across 117 population-based studies demonstrates regional variation in prevalence of previously undiagnosed screen-detected diabetes using one or both measures and suggests that use of elevated FPG alone could underestimate diabetes prevalence in low- and middle-income countries.

Chalcogenide radical cations are usually short-lived intermediates, making their isolation challenging. Here, the authors report the stabilization of these species by using the M^SFluind (dispiro[fluorene-9,3’-(1’,1’,7’,7’-tetramethyl-s-hydrindacen-4’-yl)-5’,9”-fluorene]) substituent to produce [M^SFluindPhE][B(C₆F₅)₄] (E = S, Se, Te) radical cation salts, which they characterize using electron paramagnetic spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, optical absorption spectroscopy, single crystal X-ray diffraction and quantum mechanical computations.

A genome-wide association study in ~3 million individuals identifies 3,952 independent variants associated with educational attainment. A polygenic index explains 12–16% of variance for this trait and contributes to risk prediction for ten diseases.

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.

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.

Gene discovery and polygenic predictions from a genome-wide association study of educational attainment in 1.1 million individuals.

Some magnetic phase transitions can be understood as Bose–Einstein condensation of magnons. Close to a quantum critical point, YbCl₃ now provides a realization of a Bose–Einstein condensate that is dominated by two-dimensional physical behaviour.

Paul Pharoah and colleagues report the results of a large genome-wide association study of ovarian cancer. They identify new susceptibility loci for different epithelial ovarian cancer histotypes and use integrated analyses of genes and regulatory features at each locus to predict candidate susceptibility genes, including OBFC1.

Ageing increases the risk of many diseases. Here the authors compare blood cell transcriptomes of over 14,000 individuals and identify a set of about 1,500 genes that are differently expressed with age, shedding light on transcriptional programs linked to the ageing process and age-associated diseases.

A massive galaxy observed with the JWST indicates that the bulk of its stars formed within the first 500 million years of the Universe.

Contrary to the view that urbanization is a major driver of the global rise in obesity, the global increase in body-mass index is shown to be mostly due to increases in the body-mass indexes of rural populations.

Genome-wide association analyses identify new susceptibility loci for Brugada syndrome. Functional studies implicate microtubule-related trafficking effects on sodium channel expression as an underlying molecular mechanism.

Low total energy expenditure (TEE) has been a hypothesized risk factor for weight gain, but longitudinal repeatability of TEE is incompletely understood. Here the authors report that TEE is repeatable for adults, but not for children, and increases in TEE (adjusted for fat-free mass, fat mass, age and sex) are not associated with body composition changes in short-term longitudinal analyses.

Analysis of genomic data from 25 distantly related plant species shows signatures of selection on the same gene families and functions that repeatedly contributed to local adaptation to climate.

Focusing on mountain plant communities across Europe, a study shows that ongoing climate change causes a gradual decline in cold-adapted species and a corresponding increase in warm-adapted species, which could be an early sign that mountain plant diversity is at risk.

Chiea Chuen Khor, Tin Aung, Francesca Pasutto, Janey Wiggs and colleagues report a global genome-wide association study of exfoliation syndrome and a fine-mapping analysis of a previously identified disease-associated locus, LOXL1. They identify a rare protective variant in LOXL1 exclusive to the Japanese population and five new common variant susceptibility loci.

John Perry, Ken Ong and colleagues analyze genotype data on ∼370,000 women and identify 389 independent signals that associate with age at menarche, implicating ∼250 genes. Their analyses suggest causal inverse associations, independent of BMI, between puberty timing and risks for breast and endometrial cancers in women and prostate cancer in men.