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High-resolution proxy records are essential for understanding the interactions between ocean, ice sheet and atmosphere. Here the authors present a high-resolution record of Younger Dryas sea surface conditions in Baffin Bay and show that ocean surface warming triggered the retreat of Jakobshavn Isbræ ice stream.

To celebrate almost 50 years from the discovery of tubulin, six eminent researchers reflect on how the field of microtubule research has advanced over the past five decades, discuss impacts on clinical translation, and provide their thoughts on what key questions need to be addressed in the near future.

Contact-angle and spectroscopy experiments on clean supported graphene and graphite show that these surfaces become more hydrophobic as they adsorb airborne hydrocarbons. Furthermore, the water contact angle on these graphitic surfaces decreases if these contaminants are partially removed by both thermal annealing and controlled ultraviolet–ozone treatments, suggesting that graphitic surfaces are more hydrophilic than previously believed.

Genome editing in human zygotes shows that OCT4 is required for normal development at an earlier stage in humans than in mice.

Assessing tumour contamination in normal samples is critical for accurate variant calling in cancer samples. Here, the authors develop TINC, a computational method to determine the level of tumour in normal contamination, and demonstrate its application in the Genomics England 100,000 Genomes Project dataset.

The authors show that post-transcriptional regulation of the cilia-driven leftward flow target dand5 is central to symmetry breakage in frog, fish and mouse and is mediated by a 139 nt Bicc1 responsive element in the dand5 3′UTR, and they present evidence that Pkd2 regulates this Bicc1/dand5 module.

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) enables recording both morphological and biochemical information, but image acquisition time and geometric distortions limit its clinical applicability. Here the authors overcome these challenges with an endoscope combining HSI and white light to correct for image distortion during freehand operation.

There is a need for improved in vitro models of host-microbe interactions in the lung. Here, Barkal et al. present a microscale organotypic model of the human bronchiole for studying pulmonary infection, including volatile compound communication between microbial populations and host cells.

Schiebel and colleagues use in vitro techniques and yeast genetics to study the role of GTP binding in the microtubule nucleation activity of γ-tubulin.

Identifying the mutational landscape of tumours from cell-free DNA in the blood could help diagnostics in cancer. Here, the authors present ichorCNA, software that quantifies tumour content in cell free DNA, and they demonstrate that cell-free DNA whole-exome sequencing is concordant with metastatic tumour whole-exome sequencing.

In vitro and in vivo analyses show that the aggregation mechanism of polyalanine expansions is based on assembly into α-helical clusters with diverse oligomeric species, in contrast to that of polyglutamine expansions, which form amyloid fibrils.

Crystal structures of a five-protein complex comprising the inner-membrane components of the bacterial lipopolysaccharide transporter provide insight into the mechanism of extraction of lipopolysaccharide from the inner membrane and its transport to the outer membrane.

Annexin-A1 shields against hypertension-induced cardiovascular damage, with heightened effects in females. Estrogen-driven upregulation of annexin-A1 unveils a novel, sex-specific protective axis, offering innovative targets for tailored cardiovascular therapies.

de Vries, Conomos, Singh and Nicholson et al. identify two additional loci associated with coronary artery calcification (ARSE and MMP16) via a genome-wide association study in 22,400 participants from multiple ancestral groups and prove that ARSE is a mediator of vascular smooth muscle cell calcification and phenotype switching.

To guide the safe implementation of the next generation of surgical robots, the IDEAL Robotics Colloquium provides recommendations for their evaluation throughout the product life cycle—considering multiple perspectives within and beyond the surgical team.

None of the advocacy techniques, such as norms, number-focused manipulations, and emotional language, were effective in increasing US policymakers’ engagement with a climate change factsheet, according to an analysis that used email message trials and statistical analysis.

This study demonstrates that bacteria use a ubiquitin transferase-like enzyme to prime cGAS/DncV-like nucleotidyltransferase activation and use a deubiquitinase-like enzyme to decrease activity. 

Loss of miR-145 promotes remyelination in a chronically demyelinated animal model, implicating it as a factor in remyelination failure in human Multiple Sclerosis lesions and highlighting in as a potential therapeutic target for progressive MS.

Structural and biochemical investigation on GPR180, which is as a new member of the Golgi dynamics domain seven-transmembrane helix (GOST) protein family, due to its intracellular localization and a potential pH-dependent effect on its conformation.

Combination of epidemiology, preclinical models and ultradeep DNA profiling of clinical cohorts unpicks the inflammatory mechanism by which air pollution promotes lung cancer

An international blind study confirms that smFRET measurements on dynamic proteins are highly reproducible across instruments, analysis procedures and timescales, further highlighting the promise of smFRET for dynamic structural biology.

The Fdc1 protein from Aspergillus niger (which is homologous to the UbiD enzyme) uses a new prenylated flavin cofactor to achieve 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition chemistry and catalyse the reversible decarboxylation of aromatic carboxylic acids.

As phase 1 of the Earth Microbiome Project, analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA sequences from more than 27,000 environmental samples delivers a global picture of the basic structure and drivers of microbial distribution.

Comparison of DNA methylation profiles from isolated cell types of cord and adult blood reveals that lymphoid cells develop antigen-driven epigenetic variability during maturation, while myeloid cells, especially monocytes, are more stable.

Semple et al. review the literature to assess the effects of pharmacologic or surgical interventions in monogenic insulin resistance when stratified by genotype. The evidence guiding genotype-specific treatment of monogenic insulin resistance is of low to very low quality, but suggestive of benefits of metreleptin, thiazolidinediones, and rhIGF-1.

Reticulocyte-binding protein homologue 5 (PfRH5) of Plasmodium falciparum, the malaria parasite, is known to be necessary for red blood cell invasion, making PfRH5 a promising vaccine candidate; here the X-ray crystallographic structure of PfRH5 in complex with basigin and with inhibitory antibodies is determined.

This Primer summarizes the epidemiology, mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of degenerative mitral regurgitation. This disorder is a type of valvular heart disease and occurs when there is direct damage to the mitral valve apparatus causing mitral leaflet coaptation failure.

Ludwine Messiaen and colleagues report the identification of constitutional LZTR1 mutations in individuals with schwannomatosis, an autosomal dominant inherited disorder of multiple schwannomas.

In this Perspective, Börner et al. discuss initiatives by 16 consortia to construct a Human Reference Atlas (HRA) comprising reference organs linked to tables that name major anatomical structures, cell types, plus biomarkers (ASCT+B) and present examples of HRA usage.