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A major Chilean earthquake shows how two physical processes cohesively make intermediate-depth quakes bigger. This allows ruptures to extend into previously assumed stable rocks, posing a greater destructive potential than previously understood.

Here, global mantle flow is computed on the basis of recent, high-resolution seismic tomography, to investigate the role of buoyancy-driven and plate-motion-induced mantle circulation in the Mediterranean region. The findings show that mantle flow explains much of the observed dynamic topography and microplate motion in the region. Small-scale convection in the uppermost mantle may also hold the key to understanding complex mobile belts elsewhere.

The crystal structures and cryo-electron microscopy reconstructions of eEF3 on its own and attached to the ribosome are resolved, providing an insight into how eEF3 functions as a translation factor on the A and E sites on a ribosome.

Drip-like features imaged in a seismic tomography model are consistent with extensive ongoing thinning of cratonic lithosphere beneath North America.

Platelet aggregation is associated with myocardial infarction and stroke. Here, the authors have conducted a whole genome sequencing association study on platelet aggregation, discovering a locus in RGS18, where enhancer assays suggest an effect on activity of haematopoeitic lineage transcription factors.

Results from mantle flow models reveal a relationship between seismicity away from the plate boundary in the western United States and the rate change of the vertical normal stress from mantle flow, showing that mantle flow plays an important part in shaping topography, tectonics and seismic hazard within such intraplate settings.

A partially molten low-seismic-velocity zone in the asthenosphere is globally prevalent, but partial melting is not the primary control of low asthenospheric viscosity, according to analysis of seismic waves travelling through the mantle.

Inbreeding depression has been observed in many different species, but in humans a systematic analysis has been difficult so far. Here, analysing more than 1.3 million individuals, the authors show that a genomic inbreeding coefficient (FROH) is associated with disadvantageous outcomes in 32 out of 100 traits tested.

Expression of ADAM8, a metalloprotease disintegrin, correlates with worse prognosis in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Here Schlomann et al. show that ADAM8 promotes PDAC invasiveness, and develop a peptide inhibitor that blocks ADAM8 function and impedes PDAC progression in mouse models.

mRNA surveillance is essential to maintain homeostasis in eukaryotes and is activated by mRNAs lacking a stop codon. Here the authors describe a high resolution cryo-EM structure of a nonstop complex that shows how arrested ribosome recognition is achieved during Dom34-mediated mRNA surveillance.

Here, the authors compared measurements between 34 laboratories from 19 countries, to quantify by mass spectrometry four ceramides of clinical relevance in human blood plasma Standard Reference Materials. The main goals were to evaluate concordance obtained in a large inter-laboratory trial and to report absolute concentrations of four circulating lipids in a publicly available standard.

Plants have evolved pattern-recognition receptors to perceive pathogens. Here, the authors demonstrate that microbial small cysteine-rich proteins are eminent immune targets that led to convergent evolution of distinct immune receptors in plants.

Prior to collision with Eurasia, the Indian Plate rapidly accelerated northwards. Numerical simulations show that the combined pull of two slabs in two parallel, north-dipping subduction systems could have caused this pulse of rapid movement.

Subducting slabs can influence mantle flow, but the importance of neighbouring continental cratons is little understood. Geodynamical modelling, constrained by seismic data that identify regions of mantle flow beneath the Caribbean–South American Plate margin, shows that the deep-rooted South American craton acts to deflect and enhance mantle flow into a narrow channel.

Messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that induce stalling during translation are degraded by a quality control mechanism known as no-go decay (NGD). The aberrant mRNAs are recognized by two factors, Dom34 and Hbs1. Using cryo-EM to visualize NGD intermediates bound to a stalled ribosome, Beckman and coworkers suggest how binding of Dom34-Hbs1 may lead to ribosome disassembly and recruitment of mRNA degradation factors.

High mutation rates in the influenza A virus facilitate the generation of viral escape mutants, rendering vaccines and drugs potentially ineffective, but targeting host cell determinants could prevent viral escape. Here, 287 human host cell genes influencing influenza A virus replication are found using a genome-wide RNA interference screen. An independent assay is then used to investigate overlap between genes necessary for different viral strains.

The path of the river Nile has been stable for as long as 30 million years, sustained by mantle convection, according to geophysical and geological evidence and geodynamic model simulations.

A cryo-EM structure of the bacterial ribosome–SecYEG complex in a so-called Nanodisc allows for the molecular interpretation of the SecYEG complex in its natural lipid bilayer environment. Molecular dynamics simulations based on the structure reveal stable interactions between ribosomal RNA and the membrane that may contribute to the insertase activity of the protein-conducting channel.

Closure of the Tethys Seaway marked the last connection between the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific oceans. This Review explores how mantle convection and associated volcanic activity caused Tethys Seaway closure and discusses the implications for ocean circulation, faunal diversification and climate.

A user-friendly ImageJ plugin enables the application and training of U-Nets for deep-learning-based image segmentation, detection and classification tasks with minimal labeling requirements.

Frank Rutsch and colleagues show that the cblF inborn error of vitamin B₁₂ metabolism, which is characterized by accumulation of free vitamin B₁₂ in lysosomes, is caused by mutations in the gene encoding the lysosomal membrane protein LMBD1. These findings suggest a critical function for LMBD1 in exporting cobalamin from lysosomes.

Mantle plumes are an integral aspect of Earth’s convection system, yet, difficulty in imaging mantle upwellings led to controversies surrounding their origin, dynamics and composition. This Review synthesizes geophysical, geodynamic and geochemical constraints on mantle plumes and their importance in the Earth system.