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A genome-wide association study of critically ill patients with COVID-19 identifies genetic signals that relate to important host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage that may be targeted by repurposing drug treatments.

Corticobasal degeneration is a rare neurodegenerative disorder that can only be definitively diagnosed by autopsy. Here, Kouri et al. conduct a genome-wide-association study and identify two genetic susceptibility loci 17q21 (MAPT) and 3p12 (MOBP), and a novel susceptibility locus at 8p12.

Swarms and statistical physics seem like natural bedfellows, but concepts like scaling are yet to prove directly applicable to insect group dynamics. A study of midges suggests they are, and that they may give rise to a new universality class.

LMD identifies genes localized in high-dimensional transcriptomic neighborhoods, detecting subpopulations missed by clustering. Per-gene analysis reveals condition-specific or shared localization patterns without requiring batch correction.

Journalist and broadcaster who brought science into Italian homes for 50 years.

The pathomechanism of succinyl-CoA ligase (SCL) deficiency, a hereditary mitochondrial disease, is not fully understood. Here, the authors show that increased succinyl-CoA levels contribute to SCL pathology by causing global protein hyper-succinylation.

APOE is the major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. In a large number of neuropathologically confirmed cases and controls, the impact of different APOE genotypes on Alzheimer’s dementia risk was greater than previously thought and APOE2 homozygotes had an exceptionally low risk.

How do flocks of birds remain cohesive while dodging predators? A study tracking up to 400 starlings reveals that information propagates in a linear fashion and with no attenuation, meaning that the language of phase transitions in correlated materials can be used to describe flocking behaviour.

An international consortium reports the genomic sequence for ten Drosophila species, and compares them to two other previously published Drosophila species. These data are invaluable for drawing evolutionary conclusions across an entire phylogeny of species at once.

Giornalista e divulgatore che per 50 anni ha portato la scienza nelle case degli italiani.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) involves a complex interaction between genetic susceptibility and environmental insults. In this Review, Paez-Colasante and colleagues discuss various disease mechanisms that might apply to ALS, with particular emphasis on epigenetic factors. To date, only one treatment even modestly improves survival in patients with ALS, and the authors discuss several potential new therapeutic targets.

Multiple sclerosis is characterized by both demyelination and neurodegeneration. The lack of myelin in the retina makes this an ideal structure in which to visualize the latter process. In this Review, Frohman et al. describe the novel use of retinal imaging technology, and in particular optical coherence tomography (OCT), to model the disease process in multiple sclerosis. They suggest that OCT could ultimately be used to identify strategies aimed at neuroprotection in the CNS.

Experiments at the Joint European Torus tokamak show improved thermal ion confinement in the presence of highly energetic ions and Alfvénic instabilities in the plasma.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a highly inheritable cancer. Here the authors conduct a metaanalysis of four genome-wide association studies and identify three novel loci located near EOMES, SERPINB6 and LPPassociated with risk of this disease.

When it comes to information processing within and between biological cells, diffusion plays an important role. However, the pace with which messages are transmitted could be much faster than the messenger molecules move.

Evolutionarily conserved gene modules mediate neurodegenerative dementia in a variety of mouse models and in postmortem brain tissue from patients.

Transcriptomic and histological profiling of gut biopsies from multiple independent cohorts of patients with inflammatory bowel disease identifies distinct histopathological, molecular and cellular features associated with treatment response, providing insights for patient stratification and precision therapy.

The use of chiral molecules for optoelectronics remains underexplored. Here, the authors perform Mueller matrix spectroscopy on thin films of enantiopure prolinol functionalized squaraines and report an extraordinarily high circular dichroism, thus providing a benchmark material for chiroptical applications.

Modern society relies on many interdependent networks such as electric grids, supply chain networks and ecological networks. This Perspective describes progress and challenges in harnessing insights from statistical physics and control theory to develop better control and management strategies of such complex networks and infrastructure systems.

The developmental Genotype-Tissue Expression (dGTEx) projects will catalogue and integrate gene expression, regulation and genetics data across 120 human donors from birth to adulthood with developmentally matched non-human primates, including 126 rhesus macaques and 72 common marmosets.

Precise Doppler tracking of the Juno spacecraft in its polar orbit around Jupiter is used to determine the planet’s gravity harmonics, showing north–south asymmetry caused by atmospheric and interior flows.

The determination of Jupiter’s odd gravitational harmonics by the Juno spacecraft reveals that the observed jet streams extend to about three thousand kilometres below the cloud tops.

Power exhaust is one of the biggest challenges stopping fusion energy. This article shows experimental evidence for strategically shaping the power exhaust region as a solution to this challenge, utilising physics understanding to strike a balance between engineering complexity and power exhaust benefits, consistent with reduced models and simulations.

Sven van der Lee, Julie Williams, Gerard Schellenberg and colleagues identify rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3 and TREM2 associated with Alzheimer's disease. These genes are highly expressed in microglia and provide additional evidence that the microglia-mediated immune response contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Gerard Schellenberg and colleagues report a genome-wide association study of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD), as part of the Alzheimer Disease Genetics Consortium. They identify common variants in MS4A4/MS4A6E, CD2AP, CD33 and EPHA1 associated with LOAD.

The melt growth of ice - crystallization from supercooled water - has complex anisotropic kinetics, closely related to the rich variety of snowflake crystals. Here, molecular dynamics simulations shed light on its microscopic mechanism, identifying a layer of ultralow density water at the growth interface.

That the dynamical properties of a glass-forming liquid at high temperature are different from behaviour in the supercooled state has already been established. Numerical simulations now suggest that the static length scale over which spatial correlations exist also changes on approaching the glass transition.

In this Review, Schurman and Scheinman detail the clinical and genetic features of syndromes with a defined genetic basis that are characterized by the concomitant presence of abnormalities of the central nervous system and kidneys. The authors focus their attention on the oculocerebrorenal syndrome of Lowe and on ciliopathies—particularly Joubert syndrome and Bardet–Biedl syndrome.