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Chromosome 8q24 is known to be a major susceptibility region for prostate cancer risk. Here the authors analyze genetic data across the 8q24 region from 71,535 prostate cancer patients identifying 12 risk loci, three previously unreported, highlighting the contribution of germline variation at this locus.

Julie Williams and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for Alzheimer's disease. They identify variants at the CLU and PICALM loci associated with susceptibility to late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

This paper identified >500 genetic loci associated with behaviors and disorders related to self-regulation, including addiction and child behavior problems. The resulting genetic risk scores predict several behavioral, medical and social outcomes.

COVID-19 can be associated with neurological complications. Here the authors show that markers of brain injury, but not immune markers, are elevated in the blood of patients with COVID-19 both early and months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly in those with brain dysfunction or neurological diagnoses.

Evidence synthesized from 252 large-herbivore exclusion studies suggests that herbivore-induced change in dominance, independent of site productivity or precipitation, best predicts herbivore effects on biodiversity in grassland and savannah sites.

One aspect of ageing on immunity is attributed to accelerated thymic atrophy, but the underlying mechanism is still lacking. Here the authors show, using conditional reporter mouse models, that both atrophy and regeneration of the thymus are regulated by rate-limiting morphological changes in epithelial stroma, independent of cell death or proliferation.

The genomic sequences of 12 Drosophila species for conserved elements and describe the relationship between conservation and function for many specific sequence motifs.

Openshaw and colleagues find myeloid inflammation and complement activation signatures in patients with long COVID who were previously hospitalized.

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.

Mixing with non-black carbon can enhance the radiative effect of black-carbon aerosols. Lab and field measurements of aerosol properties reveal that the mass ratio of black to non-black carbon determines the amount of enhancement.

Jeramiah Smith, Weiming Li and colleagues report the whole-genome sequence of the sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, representing a vertebrate lineage diverged from humans ~500 million years ago. Their analyses define key evolutionary events in vertebrate lineages and provide evidence for two whole-genome duplication events occurring before the divergence of the ancestral lamprey and jawed vertebrate (gnathostome) lineages.

Answer ALS is a resource of patient-derived iPS cell lines, multi-omic data derived from iPS neurons and longitudinal clinical and smartphone data from over 1,000 patients with ALS. This serves as a foundation to identify distinct disease subgroups.

Richard Houlston, Kari Hemminki and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of multiple myeloma and identify a variant in the CCDN1 gene that influences risk for developing a specific tumor karyotype with the t(11;14)(q13;q32) translocation.

The Hsp90 chaperone cycle is influenced by multiple phosphorylation events but their regulatory functions are poorly understood. Here, the authors show that phosphorylation and unfolding of cochaperone Cdc37 tailors the Hsp90 chaperone cycle by recruiting kinases that promote distinct phosphorylation patterns.

The genetic basis of metabolic diseases is incompletely understood. Here, by high-throughput phenotyping of 2,016 knockout mouse strains, Rozman and colleagues identify candidate metabolic genes, many of which are associated with unexplored regulatory gene networks and metabolic traits in human GWAS.

Phenotypic variation and diseases are influenced by factors such as genetic variants and gene expression. Here, Barbeira et al. develop S-PrediXcan to compute PrediXcan results using summary data, and investigate the effects of gene expression variation on human phenotypes in 44 GTEx tissues and >100 phenotypes.

Zika virus infection during pregnancy can result in birth defects, but underlying pathogenesis at the maternal-fetal interface is unclear. Here, the authors use non-invasive in vivo imaging of Zika-infected rhesus macaques and show that infection results in abnormal oxygen transport across the placenta.

MicroRNAs play important roles in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis through the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Here, the authors implicate loss of the miRNA biogenesis factor Drosha and altered miRNA maturation in tumour progression under hypoxic conditions.

This genome-wide study of age at first sexual intercourse and first birth identifies 371 signals driven by reproductive biology, externalising behaviour and environmental effects, with later onset associated with lower incidence of some diseases.

ERK reversibly regulates embryonic stem cell transcription via selective redistribution of co-factors and RNA polymerase from pluripotency to early differentiation enhancers, while leaving transcription factors bound to their enhancers, thus preserving plasticity.

Genome-wide association meta-analyses among 1.4 million individuals identify 318 new risk loci for type 2 diabetes and provide insight into the contribution of these risk variants to diabetes-related vascular outcomes.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is highly heritable but the mechanisms of sporadic ALS are not fully understood. In this study, the authors identify drivers of variation and disease-relevant changes in the epigenomic profile of iPSC-derived motor neuron lines generated from ALS patients and healthy controls as part of the Answer ALS program.

Research newsletters may be the untraceable publishing the uncitable. But they help keep the wheels of biological science turning.

An integrated genomic analysis of 456 human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas identifies four subtypes defined by transcriptional expression profiles and show that these are associated with distinct histopathological characteristics and differential prognosis.

Measuring multiple neurophysiologic variables usually requires bulky benchtop optical systems and working with anesthetized animals. Here the authors present a miniature portable microscope for neurovascular imaging in awake rodents, combining fluorescence, intrinsic optical signals and laser speckle contrast.

Genome-wide association studies have uncovered several loci associated with diabetes risk. Here, the authors reanalyse public type 2 diabetes GWAS data to fine map 50 known loci and identify seven new ones, including one near ATGR2 on the X-chromosome that doubles the risk of diabetes in men.

Contrary to the view that urbanization is a major driver of the global rise in obesity, the global increase in body-mass index is shown to be mostly due to increases in the body-mass indexes of rural populations.

Because octogenarian patients have not been adequately represented in randomized trials comparing CABG and PCI, the most appropriate method of revascularization for this group of patients has not been determined. In this paper the authors performed a systematic review and a meta-analysis of 66 studies of coronary revascularization in patients aged over 80 years. Their data shows that revascularization can be performed in octogenarians with acceptable short-term and long-term outcomes. Furthermore, it is unclear whether octogenarians derive greater survival benefit from CABG or from PCI because preprocedural risk profiles differ between intervention types.

Whole-exome analysis of individuals with developmental disorders shows that de novo mutations can equally cause loss or altered protein function, but that most mutations causing altered protein function have not yet been described.

Chromodomain Helicase DNA-binding (CHD) proteins have been implicated in neurodevelopmental processes. Here, the authors identify missense variants in CHD3 that disturb its chromatin remodeling activities and cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with macrocephaly and speech and language impairment.

The early Eocene was characterized by exceptionally high global temperatures and no polar ice. Here, clumped isotope paleothermometry of glendonite calcite from the Danish Basin shows that these were formed in waters below 5 °C, indicating that regionalised cool episodes punctuated the background warmth of the early Eocene.

In online experiments with monkeys the authors demonstrate, for the first time, that incorporating neural dynamics substantially improves brain–machine interface performance. This result is consistent with a framework hypothesizing that motor cortex is a dynamical machine that generates movement.

Aerial and underwater survey data combined with satellite-derived measurements of sea surface temperature over the past two decades show that multiple mass-bleaching events have expanded to encompass virtually all of the Great Barrier Reef.

A machine learning workflow enables auto-deconvolution of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry data.

The evolutionary origin of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has been much debated. Genetic analysis of a large number of faecal samples from wild-living African apes now shows that Plasmodium parasites from Western gorillas are most closely related to the human parasite. The data suggest that human P. falciparum evolved from a gorilla parasite after a single host transfer event.

Kim Worley and colleagues report the whole-genome sequence of the common marmoset, Callithrix jacchus, the first New World monkey to be sequenced.