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Degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's are associated with the misfolding of many diverse proteins, yet the amyloid fibrils formed by all these proteins are similar. David Eisenberg and colleagues have now identified 30 short fibril-forming peptides implicated in a range of amyloid diseases and have solved 13 of their atomic structures, revealing variations in one common feature — the 'steric zipper'.

An optical detection and analysis platform quantifies aggregate density, distribution and size in fluorescently labelled post-mortem human brain tissue.

Two bead-based approaches for CRISPR diagnostics increase sensitivity and deployability in resource-constrained settings.

The neuronal architecture that develops after spinal cord injury and causes autonomic dysreflexia is uncovered.

Many animals display brilliant colors thanks to the precise formation of guanine crystals within specialized organelles. Here, the authors demonstrate that dynamic pH shifts orchestrate this process: an initially acidic lumen stabilizes amorphous, protonated guanine and subsequent alkalinization triggers its crystallization.

Prions can adopt a transmissible β-sheet-rich conformation and also form strains with different structural and biological properties. Polymorphic crystal structures of peptides from prion- and other amyloid-forming proteins suggest the structural basis for prion strains, revealing two potential mechanisms: packing and segmental polymorphism.

Retrovirus capsids are polymorphic, consisting of variable hexamer and pentamer aggregates that are thought to reflect fullerenes. This paper reports the cryo-electron microscopy analysis of RSV capsid protein visualizing pentamers, and confirms that retrovirus capsid has a fullerene-based architecture.

Self-organising systems have huge potential in device design and fabrication; however, demonstrations of this are limited. Here, the authors report on a combination of disordered proteins and graphene oxide which allows spatio-temporal patterning and demonstrate the fabrication of microfluidic devices.

Iceberg calving can act as a submarine melt amplifier through excitation of transient internal waves.

Overfishing and nutrient pollution can damage coral reefs in part by increasing coral-algal competition. Here the authors simulate these stressors in a three year field experiment, and show that they interact to enhance sensitivity to temperature, predation and bacterial opportunism.

Predictive protein design and experiments are combined to develop anisotropic bifaceted protein nanomaterials using pseudosymmetric hetero-oligomeric building blocks.

During much of the last ice age, continental ice sheets prevented humans from migrating into North America from Siberia; an environmental reconstruction of the corridor that opened up between the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets reveals that it would have been inhospitable to the initial colonizing humans, who therefore probably entered North America by a different route.

Synthesis of metastable materials away from thermodynamic equilibrium has been a challenge in materials chemistry, but thin-film methods often struggle to yield ground-state structures. Now, a synthesis pathway to thin films of stable layered ternary nitrides is revealed, and the tendency for metastable intermediate formation is discussed.

Deep learning methods have been used to design proteins that can neutralize the effects of three-finger toxins found in snake venom, which could lead to the development of safer and more accessible antivenom treatments.

Recent estimates of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) intake are generally unavailable. Here the authors show a global SSBs intake of 2.7 servings/week in 2018 in adults (range: 0.7 South Asia, 7.8 Latin America/Caribbean); intakes were higher among males, younger, more educated, and urban adults.

This study reports on excavations of hearths and stone artefacts from 20,000-year-old deposits at Dargan Shelter, which at an elevation of 1,073 m is believed to be the oldest occupied high-altitude site in Australia.

A new class of organometallic compound has been made that has a distinctive geometry and electronic structure — with potential for catalysis and materials science.

Chemical, physical and biological forces all act to weather minerals. Rebecca Lybrand explores how mineral transformations are ubiquitous in the environment and in our daily lives.

Sediment lenses trailing subducting seamounts could maintain long-lasting fluid pressures and support slow-slip behaviour at sediment-rich subduction zones, according to three-dimensional seismic surveys of the Hikurangi margin.

Myeloid-derived growth factor (MYDGF) is an angiogenic growth factor with therapeutic potential for ischemic tissue repair and the receptor is still unknown. Here the authors present the crystal structure of human MYDGF and identify its functional epitope through mutagenesis studies.

Injectable hydrogels have gained significant interest; yet, due to high viscosity, many are unsuitable for catheter delivery. Here, the authors report on cyclic peptides with low viscosity for catheter delivery, which form self-assembled peptide hydrogels following enzymatic cleavage and demonstrated delivery in vivo.

An online, manually curated and continually updating database of fungal antimicrobial resistance mutations provides a starting point for further research in fungal AMR.

Arctic marine ecosystems have experienced significant change through the Holocene. Here, the authors used sedaDNA from Northern Greenland to reconstruct marine mammal occurrence, demonstrating the impact of air temperature and sea ice cover over the past 12000 years.

Ice loss from the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica is rapidly accelerating. Here, the authors reveal that this region also underwent thinning and retreat from 9 to 6 thousand years ago, due to atmospheric connections with a warming tropical Pacific.

The Thwaites Glacier grounding zone has experienced sustained pulses of rapid retreat over the past two centuries, according to sea floor observations obtained by an autonomous underwater vehicle.

Patagonian ice sheet changes largely mirrored those of the Northern Hemisphere over the last glacial cycle owing to displacements of the southern westerly winds, according to beryllium isotope constraints.

The lineage-specific receptor CSF1R controls macrophage development and homeostasis. Here the authors show that deletion of a conserved Csf1r enhancer (FIRE) selectively depletes brain microglia and resident macrophages in the epidermis, kidney, heart and peritoneum of otherwise healthy mice.

The strength of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, as traced in sediment cores from the Pacific Southern Ocean, shows no linear long-term trend over the past 5.3 Myr; instead, the strongest flow occurs consistently in warmer-than-present intervals.

An analysis based on data from the Global Dietary Database shows mean animal-sourced food intakes among children and adolescents increased modestly from 1990 to two portions per day in 2018, but remain low in sub-Saharan Africa, India and Bangladesh.

Dietary quality is reported at the global, regional and national level across 185 countries. Though diet quality increased modestly since 1990 at the global level, in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa it did not improve. In some regions, children’s dietary quality is lower than that of adults.

Iceberg-trajectory models along with multi-proxy evidence from sediment cores from the Indian Ocean show that northward shifts in Antarctic iceberg melt redistributed freshwater in the Southern Ocean during the Pleistocene.

β-propeller domains are an important class of folding substrates for the eukaryotic cytosolic chaperonin CTT. Here the authors find that CTT contributes to the folding and assembly of two β-propeller proteins from mTOR complexes, mLST8 and Raptor, and determine the 4.0 Å cryoEM structure of a human mLST8-CCT intermediate that shows mLST8 in a near-native state.

Modeling analysis from the Global Dietary Database estimated that 70% of new global cases of type 2 diabetes are attributable to suboptimal intake of 11 dietary factors, with substantial differences in dietary risks across world regions and nations.

Rapid diagnosis and implementation of treatments is crucial in many genetic conditions. Here the authors describe Genome-to-Treatment, a virtual disease management system that can achieve a rapid diagnosis by expedited whole genome sequencing in 13.5 hours and provide guidance to clinicians for possible therapies.

Mast cells are shown to function as sensor cells linking antigen recognition in type 2 immunity to antigen-specific avoidance behaviour, preventing immune activation and inflammation.

Solid organ transplant recipients are at increased risk of infectious disease and have unique molecular pathophysiology. Here the authors use host-microbe profiling to assess SARS-CoV-2 infection and immunity in solid organ transplant recipients, showing enhanced viral abundance, impaired clearance, and increased expression of innate immunity genes.

Pfs48/45 is a promising component for a transmission-blocking malaria vaccine. Here, the authors develop a system to produce full-length Pfs48/45 for immunisation, characterise a panel of monoclonal antibodies and determine the structure of a potent transmission-blocking epitope.

Semaphorin 5A (Sema5A) forms complexes with heparan and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans to regulate neuronal migration. Here, the authors show that the thrombospondin-like repeat 4 (TSR4) of Sema5A enables glycosaminoglycan association, multimerization, and neural progenitor cell distribution.

We investigate the de novo design of allostery and suggest that it can arise from global coupling of the energetics of protein substructures without optimized allosteric communication pathways, providing a roadmap for the design of switchable molecular systems.

The Vip3 family proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis are thought to exert their insecticidal activity through pore formation. Here authors present cryo-EM structures of a Vip3 family toxin in both inactive and activated forms and show the activated Vip3Bc1 in its pore forming conformation on the membrane.

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.

Analysis of satellite imagery suggests that slush accounts for approximately half of the total meltwater area across Antarctic ice shelves.

A high-resolution local palaeoclimatic archive is correlated to the early Holocene human behavioural record at the British Mesolithic site of Star Carr. Despite environmental stresses at this time, intensive human activity persisted over centuries, suggesting resilience to climate change.

The immune responses to SARS CoV-2 infection in children are less well understood than in adults. Here the authors characterise immune responses to newer omicron lineages and relate these to previous infection with earlier lineages of SARS-CoV-2, implicating a reduced immunogenicity from omicron variants and imprinting from previous virus strains.

An implantable bioartificial kidney with a cell-containing bioreactor could be used to treat end-stage renal disease. Here the authors demonstrate the feasibility of an implantable bioreactor by maintaining human cell viability and functionality after implantation in a xenograft model.