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Bacteria secrete polysaccharides essential for colonization and infections. Here, the authors reveal the structure and mechanism of WzaB, a Class-3 OPX protein, uncovering a distinct trans-envelope secretion complex driving critical polysaccharide export in diderm bacteria.

Hiʻiaka is the largest moon of the distant dwarf planet Haumea. Here, the authors report the first multi-chord stellar occultations of Hiʻiaka, revealing its size, shape, and density, suggesting an origin from Haumea’s icy mantle.

The Early Cretaceous Aptian stage represents an interval of major dramatic climate changes, but there is no consensus on its lower boundary age. Here, the authors present an astro-chronological framework that offers new age constraints on the onset and duration of Aptian ocean anoxic events and the ‘cold snap’, among other significant climatic events.

Here, using ex-vivo human adult cortical tissue and a mouse model, the authors investigate the functional consequences of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in the adult brain, and show that ZIKV causes synapse damage and altered brain function that impacts cognition via activation of innate and inflammatory factors.

Sperm chromatin retains post-translationally modified histones whose function, after delivery to egg, is unclear. Using H2AK119Ub1 edited sperm the authors show that a sperm derived epigenetic cue is necessary for frog embryo development.

The Pliocene–early Pleistocene interval was characterized by climatic fluctuations. Here, the authors apply a bipartite network analysis to a database of planktic foraminifera, finding localized community restructuring through this interval.

Electron–phonon interactions in van der Waals layered materials can occur either within the same layer (intralayer) or in different layers (interlayer). Here, the authors use multi-wavelength Raman spectroscopy to probe intra- and inter-layer electron–phonon interactions in twisted graphene heterostructures.

To evaluate the effectiveness of current national policies in achieving global temperature targets is important but a systematic multi-model evaluation is still lacking. Here the authors identified a reduction of 3.5 GtCO₂ eq of current national policies relative to a baseline scenario without climate policies by 2030 due to the increasing low carbon share of final energy and the improving final energy intensity.

Here, using a dynamic modelling approach, the authors find that the spread of dengue through Mexico and Brazil is shaped by specific interactions between human mobility, climate, and the environment. Their models can also be applied to predict future spread in these geographic areas.

Incidence of COVID-19 has been high in parts of South America including Brazil, and information on effective intervention strategies is needed. Here, the authors use mathematical modelling to show that reductions in social distancing should be made gradually to avoid a severe second peak of cases.

The search for antivirals against SARS-CoV-2 continue due to the emergence of variants of concerns, able to escape the vaccinal humoral response. In this work, authors pre-clinically explore the potential of kinetin against SARS-CoV-2, which could be used alone or in combination with other antivirals.

SARS-CoV-2 variants with mutations in spike have emerged during the pandemic. Magaret et al. show that in Latin America, efficacy of the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine against moderate to severe–critical COVID-19 varied by sequence features, antibody escape scores, and neutralization impacting features of the SARS-CoV-2 variant.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infects humans and causes chronic arthritic diseases, yet information on CHIKV immune epitopes is still lacking. Here the authors stimulate peripheral blood cells from CHIKV patients with a peptide pool covering the full CHIKV proteome to define CD4 + T cell epitopes as well as to map cross-reactivity with closely related alphaviruses.

The breakup of Gondwana saw gradual climatic shifts, including an Aptian cooling tied to the South Atlantic’s opening and later high greenhouse temperatures due to reduced carbon burial, reflecting changes in rifting and environmental transitions, as revealed through a magneto-cyclostratigraphic age model from the Aptian São Luís-Grajaú Basin.

Defects in materials can be used to detect magnetic fields at the nanoscale. Here the authors show that a carbon-related defect in hexagonal boron nitride acts as a robust nanoscale sensor capable of vectorial magnetic field detection.

Schnabel et al. identify and characterize piperine synthase in developing black pepper fruits which catalyses the formation of piperine from piperoyl coenzyme A and piperidine. A member of BAHD-type acyltransferases, this enzyme can be useful for bio-production of a broad range of medicinally relevant piperamides.

The interaction between spins in magnetic materials gives rise to a number of interesting effects. An example is the discovery of an unusual magnetic state based on a long-range ordering force between magnetic domain walls that is analogous to the interaction between protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei.

Quantum strategies can help to make parameter-estimation schemes more precise, but for noisy processes it is typically not known how large that improvement may be. Here, a universal quantum bound is derived for the error in the estimation of parameters that characterize dynamical processes.

Quantum communication promises important advances in information and communication technology, yet it suffers from alignment sensitivity. Here, an alignment-free approach is demonstrated using liquid crystal devices, allowing for broader applications, including satellites.

Counter-rotating gases demonstrate external gas acquisition in galaxies, but their presence in blue, star-forming galaxies has not been studied systematically. Here, the authors analyse the MaNGA survey data to find a fraction of counter-rotators among blue galaxies whose central regions show ongoing growth.

Wood density is a key control on tree biomass, and understanding its spatial variation improves estimates of forest carbon stock. Sullivan et al. measure >900 forest plots to quantify wood density and produce high resolution maps of its variation across South American tropical forests.

Using HDX-MS, X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, and MD simulations, the authors examined the conformational dynamics of GAD65 in its apo- and holo- states and its interaction with the autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2-associated autoantibody b96.11.

Gene-drives use CRISPR-Cas9 to be transmitted in a super-Mendelian fashion. Here the authors develop an allelic-drive for selective inheritance of a desired allele.

This study uncovers a distinct mechanistic pathway for bio-olefin production from industrial feedstocks by fatty acid peroxygenases through unconventional decarboxylation, paving the way for sustainable bio-based hydrocarbon production.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in pregnant women has been associated with fetal developmental defects. Here, the authors show that a Brazilian ZIKV isolate causes fetal demise in non-human primates and that antibody treatment at time of peak viremia is insufficient to clear ZIKV replication from amniotic fluid.

Combinatorial optimization problems might be solvable more efficiently with quantum computing, but near-term quantum optimization solvers are limited in qubit size. Here, the authors propose and demonstrate a variational quantum algorithm that polynomially reduces the qubit overhead for applications like MaxCut.

Agouti-related peptide (AgRP) producing neurons regulate food intake and metabolic processes in peripheral organs. Here, the authors show that hypothalamic AgRP neurons alter whole body substrate utilization to favour carbohydrate usage and lipid storage.

Understanding the structural origin of the anomalous properties of SiO₂ liquid and glass at high pressures is fundamental in wide range of scientific fields. Here, the authors find experimental evidence of a bimodal behavior in the translational order of silicon’s second shell and breaking of local tetrahedral symmetry in SiO₂ glass under pressure.

Speleothems from the Savanna region in Brazil documents the occurrence of an unprecedented long-term drought driven by anthropogenic forcing. Staring in the 1970´s the current drought is the most severe that has struck the region in the past 700 years.

Chaotic dynamics can arise in quantum systems as well as classical ones, leading to its own interesting phenomena. Using an all-optical approach, Lemos et al. study the quantum-kicked harmonic oscillator and its nonlinear dynamics, controlling and mapping the transition into quantum chaotic behaviour.

Pulses of adjustable duration are generated by a mode-locked random fibre laser that can drive advances in sensing. Rayleigh backscattering from cm-long sections of telecom fibre provides laser feedback and spectral selectivity to the Fourier limit.