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An extreme flare has been seen from a supermassive black hole at redshift z = 2.6. First detected in 2018, it is 30 times brighter than similar events. The most likely cause is the shredding of a star of 30 solar masses or more.

A large multinational survey of perceived energy affordability shows that it concerns individuals regardless of the countries’ level of income, although some patterns also related to regional, economic and cultural factors.

Claudin 18.2 (CLDN18.2) has emerged as a target for gastrointestinal cancer, however, on-target/off-tumor toxicities have been also reported. Here, after reporting evidence of erosive gastritis in patients treated with CLDN18.2 targeted immunotherapies, the authors develop and characterize CLDN18.2 fully-human VH-only single domain CARs, showing that a lower affinity CAR mitigates on-target/off-tumor toxicity while preserving anti-tumor efficacy in gastric cancer models.

The Omicron variant evades vaccine-induced neutralization but also fails to form syncytia, shows reduced replication in human lung cells and preferentially uses a TMPRSS2-independent cell entry pathway, which may contribute to enhanced replication in cells of the upper airway. Altered fusion and cell entry characteristics are linked to distinct regions of the Omicron spike protein.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

Observations of optical flares from AT2022tsd (the ‘Tasmanian Devil’) show that they have durations on the timescale of minutes, occur over a period of months, are highly energetic, are probably nonthermal and have supernova luminosities.

This Consensus Statement clarifies the existing subset-based nomenclature for T cells. Furthermore, it proposes an alternative modular nomenclature that is designed to be brief and flexible and to avoid ambiguity and unwanted implications. The authors also provide guidance on how T cell nomenclature should be described in research papers.

Joint initiatives by state and non-state actors launched at climate summits are expected to enhance climate governance. However, those launched at earlier summits often perform better, as do initiatives in areas such as transport, energy and industry and ones with robust institutional arrangements.

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.

Laboratory simulation experiments with isomer selective photoionization detection techniques reveal that octasulfur (S₈) and sulfanes can be easily formed in low temperature H₂S interstellar ice analogues exposed to ionizing radiation, suggesting a critical link between sulfur chemistry on ice coated nanoparticles in molecular clouds and the inventory of sulfur compounds in our Solar System.

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.

Spatially resolved transcriptomic profiling of primary tumours and metastases from patients with pancreatic cancer provides insight into the evolutionary progression to metastasis, and the variation in clonal architecture within and between individuals.

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.

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.

A stripped-envelope supernova, SN 2022jli, shows 12.4-day periodic undulations during the declining light curve, and narrow Hα emission is detected in late-time spectra with concordant periodic velocity shifts.

The Zwicky Transient Facility has observed a transitioning white dwarf with two faces, with one side of its atmosphere dominated by hydrogen and the other by helium.

The AIDS pandemic is caused by human immunodeficiency virus, which was discovered at the Institut Pasteur in 1983. In May 2008, scientists met in Paris to discuss the progress and setbacks of 25 years of research in this field and to debate future directions.

ZTF J1406+1222 is a wide hierarchical triple system that hosts a low-metallicity subdwarf star and a ‘black widow’ millisecond pulsar that has a highly varying optical flux and a 62-minute period.

Sequencing data from two large-scale studies show that most of the genetic variation influencing the risk of type 2 diabetes involves common alleles and is found in regions previously identified by genome-wide association studies, clarifying the genetic architecture of this disease.

Results of the TRACERx study shed new light into the association between body composition and body weight with survival in individuals with non-small cell lung cancer, and delineate potential biological processes and mediators contributing to the development of cancer-associated cachexia.

Pharmacologic inhibition of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) shows limited efficacy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) models. Here the authors find that targeting the anti-apoptotic protein BCL-XL synergizes with DHODH inhibition in promoting apoptosis in PDAC cells, patient-derived organoids, and PDAC mouse models.

The tidal disruption event AT2019dsg is probably associated with a high-energy neutrino, suggesting that such events can contribute to the cosmic neutrino flux. The electromagnetic emission is explained in terms of a central engine, a photosphere and an extended synchrotron-emitting outflow.

Vein of Galen malformations (VOGMs) are severe congenital brain arteriovenous malformations. Here the authors work to elucidate the pathogenesis of VOGMs by performing an integrated analysis of 310 VOGM proband family exomes and 336,326 human cerebrovasculature single-cell transcriptomes to identify mutations of key signaling regulators.

Fifty years ago, Köhler and Milstein introduced the world to hybridoma technology for the generation of monoclonal antibodies. Scientists have subsequently built upon this seminal discovery to develop antibody-based therapies for numerous diseases, with millions of patients benefiting from such drugs. To mark 50 years of monoclonal antibodies, this Review from Chan, Martyn and Carter provides an overview of how antibody engineering strategies have continued to improve antibody-based therapeutics, chiefly focusing on antibody-mediated targeting of B cells and also human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)⁺ cancers. The authors also highlight the promise of emerging tools, including artificial intelligence, for development of the next generation of antibody-based therapeutics.

A binary star merger has produced a white dwarf with a spin period of under 7 minutes, a magnetic field of 600 to 900 million gauss and a radius only slightly larger than that of our Moon.

To fully catalogue rare genetic variation in humans, many samples need to be examined. In this study, Coventryet al. resequenced two genes, KCNJ11 and HHEX, in 13,715 humans, and concluded that most of the sequence variation arose recently and that variation is greater than expected.

Knowledge about detection latency provides a guideline to reduce the timing jitter of niobium nitride superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. A timing jitter of 2.6 ps at visible wavelength and 4.3 ps at 1,550 nm is achieved.

Neural processing speed slows with age, but the relationship between this slowing and brain atrophy is unknown. Here, authors show that age-related functional brain differences in auditory and visual processing are partly due to structural differences in the distinct brain regions underlying these processes.

An integrated analysis of de novo and inherited coding variants in 42,607 individuals with autism spectrum disorder identifies 60 risk genes of which five have not previously been associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.

A comprehensive multi-omics reference atlas of prenatal human skin shows that innate immune cells crosstalk with non-immune cells to perform pivotal roles in skin morphogenesis, including the formation of hair follicles.

More than one-third of wild deer tested in northeast Ohio showed evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection of human origin.

Wastewater treatment plants are important reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Here, the authors analyze ARGs in a global collection of samples from wastewater treatment plants across six continents, providing insights into biotic and abiotic mechanisms that appear to control ARG diversity and distribution.

Lava–seawater interaction plumes have contrasting volatile metal compositions to associated magmatic plumes emitted at volcanic vents, including elevated concentrations of chloride-complexing metals, according to direct measurements of the 2018 Kīlauea eruption.

Increased UV–optical nuclear emission in a nearby galaxy together with a spectrum showing emission lines typical of unobscured AGNs and Bowen fluorescence features suggests a longer-term event of intensified accretion onto the central supermassive black hole.

A search of a data set of light curves for 247,000 known, spectroscopically confirmed quasars with a temporal baseline of about 9 years reveals a strong, smooth periodic signal in the optical variability of quasar PG 1302−102 with a mean observed period of 1,884 ± 88 days, indicating a possible supermassive black-hole binary.

Large-scale screens of chemical and genetic vulnerabilities in cancer are typically limited to simple readouts of cell viability. Here, the authors develop a method for profiling post-perturbation transcriptional responses across large pools of cancer cell lines, enabling deep characterization of shared and context-specific responses.

How long does the average person sleep? Here, Kocevska et al. conducted a meta-analysis including over 1.1 million people to produce age- and sex-specific population reference charts for sleep duration and efficiency.

Polymerase (POL) θ inhibitors display synthetic lethality in tumours with homologous recombination repair deficiency. Here, the authors demonstrate that POLθ inhibition with novobiocin activates the cGAS/STING pathway in BRCA-deficient cancers.

Genome assembly of durum wheat cultivar Svevo enables genome-wide genetic diversity analyses highlighting modifications imposed by thousands of years of empirical selection and breeding.