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Here, the authors present a comparative analysis of the diet, microbiome and metabolome of rural and urban Xhosa people in South Africa, associating urban diets with higher abundances of pro-neoplastic microbial metabolites.

HDAC6 is a tau deacetylase and acetylation of tau inhibits its function and promotes aggregation. Here the authors show that HDAC6 protects against tau accumulation in a mouse model of tauopathy.

Senescent melanocytes of skin nevi drive hyperactivation of hair growth through the signalling factor SPP1.

Mechanical solitons are notoriously difficult to control. Here, the authors report a theoretical framework for programming static periodic topological solitons into a metamaterial, and demonstrate its implementation in real metamaterials computationally and experimentally.

Electric-field-induced cracks are generally detrimental to functionality of ferroelectric ceramics. Liu et al. use an intermetallic alloy and ferroelectric oxide junction to mediate the reversible formation of cracks at nanoscales, resulting in colossal electroresistance modulation for memory applications.

Trans-ancestry meta-analysis of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) from 1,046,070 individuals identifies 264 associated loci, providing a resource of molecular targets for translational research of chronic kidney disease.

The role of IgG glycosylation in the immune response has been studied, but less is known about IgM glycosylation. Here the authors characterize glycosylation of SARS-CoV-2 spike specific IgM and show that it correlates with COVID-19 severity and affects complement deposition.

The Kondo insulator samarium hexaboride exhibits low-temperature transport anomalies, which might be due to topological surface states. Here Jiang et al.perform angle-resolved photoemission and its circular dichroism measurements, which suggest that the anomalies might be of topological origin.

Metallic oxide SrNbO₃has been identified as an efficient hydrogen evolution photocatalyst. Here, Venkatesan and co-workers show that its visible light absorption stems from plasmon resonance, thanks to its large carrier density (despite a large 4.1 eV bandgap), as opposed to from an interband transition.

A combination of genome-wide CRISPR screens in target cancer cells identifies pathways that regulate γδ T cell killing and BTN3A cell surface expression.

A comparison of fetal hemoglobin gene editing strategies using human sickle cell disease donor cells and in vivo transplantation finds that adenine base editing of the –175A>G site in the γ-globin gene promoters results in durable and potent expression.

T cells with a chimaeric antigen receptor specific for fluorescein isothiocyanate can be directed against solid tumours via the intratumoural administration of a fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated amphiphile that inserts itself in cell membranes.

Analysis of whole-genome sequencing data across 2,658 tumors spanning 38 cancer types shows that chromothripsis is pervasive, with a frequency of more than 50% in several cancer types, contributing to oncogene amplification, gene inactivation and cancer genome evolution.

To fully exploit the potential of multiferroic materials the control of their intrinsic degrees of freedom is a prerequisite. Here, the control of spin orientation in strained BiFeO₃ films is demonstrated elucidating the microscopic mechanism of the complex interplay of polar and magnetic order.

Efficient, large-scale genomic analysis is facilitated on the cloud by a computational tool with error-diagnosing and self-healing capabilities.

Experimental study of the Kondo insulator SmB₆ provides an alternative route to realize a Fermi surface in the absence of a conventional Fermi liquid.

PKCε is known to exert a role in genome protection by directly phosphorylating and switching the specificity of Aurora B. Here the authors identify SERBP1 as a parallel mitotic PKCε substrate controlling translation and ensuring the integrity of chromosome segregation and successful cell division.

Strong quantum correlations in an ultracoherent optomechanical system are used to demonstrate a displacement sensitivity that is below the standard quantum limit.

Polar skyrmions are topologically protected structures that can exist in (PbTiO₃)_n/(SrTiO₃)_n superlattices. Here, it is shown that they have negative permittivity at the surface, and that they can undergo a reversible phase transition with large dielectric tunability under an electric field.

AMBRA1 is the main regulator of the degradation of D-type cyclins, and loss of AMBRA1 promotes cell proliferation and tumour growth, and reduces the sensitivity of cancer cells to inhibition of CDK4 and CDK6.

The interplay between amyloid and tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease is still not well understood. Here, the authors show that amyloid-related increased in soluble p-tau is related to subsequent accumulation of tau aggregates and cognitive decline in early stage of the disease.

Experiments realizing the indirect-drive fast ignition scheme for inertial confinement fusion are reported. Enabled by a tightly compressed target, an increase of neutron yield is observed.

Direct observation of the dynamic evolution of polar domain structures at atomic level remains challenging. Here, the authors report the observation of real-time topological transformations of polar structures in PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ multilayers.

Previous work has suggested that the histone deacetylase HDAC1 promotes and canonical Wnt signaling antagonizes oligodendrocyte differentiation. Here, Ye et al. show that HDAC1/2 directly interferes with canonical Wnt signaling in oligodendrocyte precursors by competing with β-catenin for interaction with the transcriptional co-factor TCF7L2. TCF7L2 itself is shown to be crucial for oligodendrocyte development.

Haplotypes in CNR1, the gene encoding the cannabinoid receptor CB1, are known to influence HDL cholesterol levels. Here Feng and colleagues identify rs806371 as a novel regulatory element reducing CNR1 gene expression and as the causal allele driving the association between CNR1 and HDL cholesterol levels in humans.

Deep whole-genome sequencing of serial blood samples and matched metastatic tissue reveals that circulating tumour DNA profiling enables detailed study of treatment-driven subclone dynamics, epigenomics and genome-wide somatic evolution in metastatic human cancers.

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.

The development of complex societies and their agricultural bases underlies key challenges we still face. This study demonstrates sustainable intensification of a pig and millet system that helped feed the earliest complex societies in North China.

Recently triggered seismic events such as the Pohang earthquake have exceeded predictions of average energy releases by a factor of 1000. A new framework is proposed to define maximum event magnitudes as a function of pre-existing critical stresses and fluid injection volume.

It remains an open question as to whether the quantum spin liquid state survives material disorder, or is replaced by some spin-liquid like state. Here, Rao et al succeed in resolving a resolving a κ₀/T residual in the thermal conductivity of YbMgGaO₄ strongly suggesting the survival of the quantum spin liquid state.

The intensity of radio emission from a pulsar is shown to relate to the quantity of particles discharging in the magnetosphere rather than to changes of the structure of the magnetic field in the magnetosphere itself.

An engineered Cas12a enables higher-order combinatorial functional genomic screens using CRISPR interference.

Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) is still not well understood. Here the authors provide patient reported outcomes from 590 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and show association of PASC with higher respiratory SARS-CoV-2 load and circulating antibody titers, and in some an elevation in circulating fibroblast growth factor 21.

OligoFISSEQ combines Oligopaints with fluorescence in situ sequencing to enable the 3D mapping of many regions across the genome in human cells to interrogate genome organization at improved genomic resolution. OligoFISSEQ is compatible with immunochemistry and OligoSTORM for super-resolution imaging.

Here, Chen et al. describe the role of the G protein–coupled receptor GPR17 in oligodendrocytes and show that it acts as a negative regulator of oligodendrocyte maturation and myelination.

The LHCb Collaboration reports the observation of an exotic, narrow, tetraquark state that contains two charm quarks, an up antiquark and a down antiquark.

In heart muscle cells, sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium overload leads to spontaneous calcium waves that can cause arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. S.R. Wayne Chen and his colleagues now detail the molecular mechanism by which intra–sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ions interact with the gate of the calcium release channel RyR2, explaining how calcium waves are initiated and thereby contribute to calcium-triggered arrhythmias.

Examining drivers of the latitudinal biodiversity gradient in a global database of local tree species richness, the authors show that co-limitation by multiple environmental and anthropogenic factors causes steeper increases in richness with latitude in tropical versus temperate and boreal zones.

The measurement of the total cross-section of proton–proton collisions is of fundamental importance for particle physics. Here, the first measurement of the inelastic cross-section is presented for proton–proton collisions at an energy of 7 teraelectronvolts using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider.

Emergent phenomena often appear in crystals in the two-dimensional limit but are rare in bulky compounds. Here, Guo et al. report a quasi-two-dimensional superconductivity in a bulk material AuTe₂Se_4/3 at 2.85 K, potentially owing to a topological transition.

Activated hepatic stellate cells (aHSC) promote hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here the authors show that selective ablation of stearoyl CoA desaturase-2 in aHSC suppresses leukotriene B4 receptor 2-dependent nuclear β-catenin signaling, preventing liver tumorigenesis.

How accurate are social scientists in predicting societal change, and what processes underlie their predictions? Grossmann et al. report the findings of two forecasting tournaments. Social scientists’ forecasts were on average no more accurate than those of simple statistical models.

Analysis of mitochondrial genomes (mtDNA) by using whole-genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancer samples across 38 cancer types identifies hypermutated mtDNA cases, frequent somatic nuclear transfer of mtDNA and high variability of mtDNA copy number in many cancers.