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Species interactions that can enhance habitat heterogeneity such as facilitation cascades of foundation species have been overlooked in biodiversity models. This study conducted 22 geographically distributed experiments in different ecosystems and biogeographical regions to assess the extent to which biodiversity is explained by three axes of habitat heterogeneity in facilitation cascades.

Herle et al. provide evidence that common genetic variants associated with BMI are also associated with eating behaviour trajectories in childhood, supporting the behavioural susceptibility theory of obesity.

Skyrmions are topological spin textures, which have been proposed as useful for a diverse array of applications. One such proposal is to make use of a skyrmion’s thermally activated Brownian-like diffusive motion for unconventional computing and true random number generation. Here, Dohi et al show how, in a synthetic antiferromagnet, this diffusive motion can be significantly enhanced.

Electro-optomechanical conversion between optical and microwave photons is achieved with minimal added noise by cooling the mechanical oscillator to its quantum ground state. This has potential for future coherence-preserving transduction.

Santhi Ganesh and colleagues report meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies of six erythrocyte traits within the CHARGE consortium, with replication in cohorts of the HaemGen consortium. They report 23 loci associated with a range of clinically relevant red blood cell traits.

Most data-independent acquisition (DIA) methods depend on mass spectral libraries for peptide identification but tools to assess library quality are lacking. Here, the authors develop DIALib- QC for the systematic evaluation and correction of spectral libraries.

Activatable fluorophores are of interest for a wide range of applications but the need for caging groups complicates their development and application. Here, the authors report on a photoactivatable silicon rhodamine derivative and its application in live cell imaging and single-particle tracking.

The spatial architecture of multiple myeloma remains to be explored. Here, the authors perform bulk and single cell sequencing for samples from newly diagnosed patients and reveal gene signatures associated with focal lesions and spatial heterogeneity in the tumour microenvironment.

Transfer of senescent cells into naive, young mice can induce physical dysfunction, and a senolytic can reverse this dysfunction and potently increase lifespan in aged mice.

On the electrocardiogram, the PR interval reflects conduction from the atria to ventricles and also serves as risk indicator of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Here, the authors perform genome-wide meta-analyses for PR interval in multiple ancestries and identify 141 previously unreported genetic loci.

An intrinsic antiferromagnetic skyrmion is located entirely within a single atomic layer, rather than two coupled layers. Here, the authors predict the existence of intrinsic antiferromagnetic skyrmions in a chromium monolayer deposited on a PdFe/Ir(111) substrate, which can form interlinked chain structures.

In this study, Aggarwal and colleagues perform prospective sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates derived from asymptomatic student screening and symptomatic testing of students and staff at the University of Cambridge. They identify important factors that contributed to within university transmission and onward spread into the wider community.

SNAIL promotes tumour metastasis through inducing epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). Here the authors report that SNAIL bypasses senescence and regulates cell cycle progression to promote pancreatic carcinogenesis and this is independent of EMT induction.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis of individuals with clinically assessed or self-reported depression identifies 44 independent risk loci. Comparisons with other psychiatric disorders and candidate gene analyses provide new insights into major depressive disorder.

Genetic and testing data from England show that the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern B.1.1.7 has a transmission advantage over other lineages.

Sera from vaccinated individuals and some monoclonal antibodies show a modest reduction in neutralizing activity against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2; but the E484K substitution leads to a considerable loss of neutralizing activity.

Panos Deloukas, Nilesh Samani and colleagues report a large-scale association analysis using the Metabochip array in 63,746 coronary artery disease cases and 130,681 controls. They identify 15 susceptibility loci, refine previous associations and use network analysis to highlight biological pathways.

Sensing DNA bases by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) in plasmonic nanopores has suffered from rapid flow through of molecules. Here, the authors attach DNA molecules to gold nanoparticles which, due to electro-plasmonic trapping, allow for controlled residence times and discrimination of single nucleotides.

In BaFe₂As₂, the lattice couples strongly to the magnetic and electronic degrees of freedom, providing a way to control them. Here, by means of time-resolved X-ray scattering, the authors measure rapid lattice oscillations, which can induce changes in the material’s electronic and magnetic properties.

Interactions between germline variants and somatic mutations is a relatively unexplored topic in cancer. Here, in Ewing sarcoma, the authors show that binding of the oncogenic EWSR1-FLI1 fusion transcription factor to a polymorphic enhancer-like DNA element controls MYBL2, whose high expression correlates with prognosis.

Post-international travel quarantine has been widely implemented to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but the impacts of such policies are unclear. Here, the authors used linked genomic and contact tracing data to assess the impacts of a 14-day quarantine on return to England in summer 2020.

Benchmarking of tumor subclonal reconstruction algorithms finds that interalgorithm variability overwhelms intertumor variability and identifies key quality metrics.

Natural killer (NK) cells can acquire ‘memory’ signatures. Sun and colleagues examine the dynamic ATAC-seq and functional RNA-seq changes observed upon generation of NK cell memory and show distinct roles for transcription factors STAT1 and STAT4.

Time- and momentum-resolved spectroscopy gives dynamical information on complex materials, enabling disentanglement of their coupled degrees of freedom. Using time-resolved X-ray diffraction at a free electron laser, Leeet al. investigate the charge order parameter in a striped nickelate.

Aluminium and silicon, two Earth-abundant, well-understood elements, typically form weak Al–Si bonds. Now, complexes featuring an anionic Al–Si core stabilized by bulky substituents and a Si–Na interaction have been isolated. This Al–Si interaction possesses partial double bond character, which can be increased by sequestration of the sodium counterion.

Cecilia Lindgren and colleagues report results of a large-scale genome-wide association study for waist-to-hip ratio, a measure of body fat distribution. They identify 13 new loci associated with this trait, several of which show stronger effects in women than in men.

Alborzinia et al. report that MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma undergoes ferroptosis in the absence of intracellular cysteine, suggesting a combination of cysteine depletion and concomitant GPX4 inactivation as a potential therapeutic approach.

Chronic infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to the emergence of viral variants that show reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies in an immunosuppressed individual treated with convalescent plasma.

US funding agency disagreed with university’s assessment of potential threats.

Within microbial communities, microorganisms adopt different lifestyle strategies to use the available resources. Here, the authors use an integrated ‘multi-omic’ approach to study niche breadth (generalist versus specialist lifestyles) in oleaginous microbial assemblages from an anoxic wastewater treatment tank.

Improved electron microscopy methods are used to map a mammalian retinal circuit of close to 1,000 neurons; the work reveals a new type of retinal bipolar neuron and suggests functional mechanisms for known visual computations.

Saur and colleagues perform a high-throughput combinatorial drug screen and identify a synergistic combination between nintedanib and trametinib that sensitizes mesenchymal PDAC to immune checkpoint blockade.

Understanding the factors underlying colonization of donor microbes in recipients of fecal microbiota transplantation is a necessary first step to aid development of directed approaches that aim to couple colonization to clinical outcomes.

Nature reported from marches in cities including Sydney, Washington DC and Paris, as people took to the streets in support of science.

As more intersection points between platelets and the immune system are found, the role of platelets for vessel growth in the adult organism remains unclear. The authors demonstrate that platelets negatively modulate revascularization through CXCL4 secretion induced by activation C5aR1 on their surface.

Alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) is associated with a poor outcome in neuroblastoma. Here, the authors find that ALT is associated with mutated ATRX and/or reduced protein abundance, frequent telomeric repeat loci and heterochromatic telomeric chromatin.

In glioblastoma (GBM), tumour microtubes (TM) connect tumour cells to a broader cellular network, with roles in tumour progression and therapy resistance. Here, the authors combine a dye uptake method in GBM xenograft models with subsequent scRNA-seq to infer a TM connectivity signature, finding CHI3L1 as a marker of connectivity.

A study reports on the observation of a new type of molecular bond between an ion and a Rydberg atom and characterizes the resulting molecule using an ion microscope study.

Patankar et al. identify E-type prostanoid receptor 4 as a negative regulator of tumour necrosis factor signalling and mixed-lineage kinase domain-like pseudokinase activation, thereby suppressing necroptosis of intestinal epithelial cells and promoting resolution of intestinal inflammation.

Inhibitors of mitochondrial transcription that target human mitochondrial RNA polymerase provide a chemical biology tool for studying the role of mitochondrial DNA expression in a wide range of pathologies.

Binding of the small molecule BI-3802 to the oncogenic transcription factor B cell lymphoma 6 (BCL6) induces polymerization of BCL6, leading to its ubiquitination by SIAH1 and proteasomal degradation.

Herold et al. present an integrated meta-omics framework to investigate how mixed microbial communities, such as oleaginous bacterial populations in biological wastewater treatment plants, respond with distinct adaptation strategies to disturbances. They show that community resistance and resilience are a function of phenotypic plasticity and niche complementarity.