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Global analysis of obesity trends from 1980 to 2024 in 200 countries and territories using data from 4,050 population-based studies reveals that framing obesity as a single global epidemic masks the highly varied dynamics across countries and age groups.

Spatial transcriptomics platforms span multicellular to subcellular resolutions but lack methods to reconstruct single-cell transcriptomes across them. Here, the authors introduce STARS, a unified deep learning framework that integrates histology and transcriptomics to infer single-cell gene expression across resolutions.

Predicting progression from ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) to invasive breast cancer remains challenging. Here, deep whole genome sequencing of DCIS samples highlights possibilities for personalized medicine and identifies genomic sites, termed SHOREs, that may initiate structural variations leading to subsequent evolution.

A large-scale study on the replicability of claims from social and behavioural science journals reports that about half of the results replicate in the same patterns as the original study.

Global Burden of Disease analysis found that in 2023, suboptimal diet was estimated to be responsible for 4 million deaths and 97 million morbidity burdens from ischemic heart disease.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

When 100 social and behavioural science claims were examined, 34% of reanalyses closely matched the original results, with 74% reaching the same conclusion, revealing limited robustness of single-path analyses and the need to address analytical uncertainty.

Despite enormous resources expended, lead exposure in endangered California condors has risen. The authors show lead ammunition bans and outreach are effective, with changing hunting patterns and wilder condor behavior explaining exposure increases.

In this Resource paper, Krummel and colleagues provide analysis of 15 commonly used syngeneic mouse tumor models and compare these to the diversity of human tumor microenvironments.

A phylogenetic analysis examined the origins of the first mpox outbreak in Sierra Leone and found evidence of an emerging lineage (G.1) that has likely descended from the Nigerian epidemic and emerged in Sierra Leone months before first detection.

Robustness checks and reproduction of analyses with existing and updated data based on 110 articles in economics and political science journals with data and code-sharing requirements found high levels of robustness and reproducibility and determined that robustness was not dependent on author characteristics or data availability.

The effects of global biodiversity loss on local plant communities have been equivocal. Across 57,398 European time series, covering > 100 years, local plant diversity gains are often associated with rises in generalist and non-native plants.

Here, the authors elucidate TMPRSS2 protease recognition of the SARS-CoV-2 spike S₂′ cleavage site, revealing the molecular basis of activation of membrane fusion, and show that antibodies recognizing the S₂′ site or TMPRSS2 block viral entry by interfering with TMPRSS2 access.

Ozone-depleting substances (ODS) are banned from emissive uses. However, they are still allowed to be used as feedstocks and ODS emissions from this source have been higher than assumed. This could delay the recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer.

Snyder et al. analyze two population-based birth cohorts to test associations of newborn metabolite concentrations and childhood respiratory outcomes. C4, C10:1, C18:2, and citrulline are associated with early-life wheezing and asthma, with C18:2 specifically associated with increased non-allergic asthma risk.

The authors resolve 63 structurally diverse haplotype structures for the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome region. Deletion risk differs depending on structure; individuals of African ancestry are enriched for inverted repeats that predispose to inversion.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Many thermophiles that are abundant in geothermal systems have never been cultivated and are poorly understood. Here, Lai et al. describe the cultivation of one such organism, a deeply branching member of the archaeal phylum Thermoproteota, and provide evidence that it has evolved to specialize in branched-chain amino acid metabolism.

Genome-wide analyses identify genetic loci and plasma proteins associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This study highlights the hormonal and metabolic foundations of the disease and explores the impact of polygenic risk for PCOS in both sexes.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

This study compiles detailed data on urban green spaces and analyzes the quantity and spatial configuration of green spaces in 371 cities in 11 countries in Latin America. Although there is high heterogeneity, climate seems to be the main determinant of differences in green space amount among cities compared with socioeconomic conditions and the built environment.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

Coherent exciton dynamics in antiferromagnetic CrSBr are studied by petahertz field-resolved spectroscopy, revealing how laser-imprinted exciton coherence persists beyond excitation and is modulated by spin and lattice modes.

The authors have applied an eight-tissue rat multi-omic dataset to analyze the gene regulatory landscape of endurance exercise training, identifying tissue-specific regulatory patterns involved in muscle function, metabolism and immune response.

Meningiomas are common brain tumors with variable behavior. This study reveals high STING expression across multiple cell types in the meningioma microenvironment. STING agonism triggers tumor cell death via programmed necrosis and pyroptosis, enhancing survival in preclinical models.

cellSTAAR advances noncoding rare variant association analysis by integrating single-cell genomics data.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

An analysis of 2,954 genomes from 38 cancer subtypes identified 19,166 retrotransposition events in 35% of samples. Aberrant LINE-1 retrotranspositions can lead to the deletion of tumor-suppressor genes as well as the amplification of oncogenes.

The authors present SVclone, a computational method for inferring the cancer cell fraction of structural variants from whole-genome sequencing data.

Androgen activity in the male embryonic hindbrain prolongs hindbrain differentiation in male individuals and drives sex differences in the incidence and prognosis of posterior fossa type A (PFA) ependymoma, an aggressive childhood brain tumour.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

Curiosity detected over 20 organic molecules in 3.5-billion-year-old Martian rocks using a wet chemistry experiment, showing complex carbon compounds can survive for billions of years and may preserve clues about Mars’ past habitability

Momin et al. develop an antibody–siRNA conjugate to inhibit the secretion of osteopontin by the TREM2⁺ macrophages that expand during human atrial fibrillation. In mice, this approach reduced fibrosis and atrial fibrillation vulnerability.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.

Termite reproductives are long-lived and their genomes have abundant selfish genetic elements. Using long-read sequencing to profile transposable elements and DNA methylation, Qiu et al. uncover evolutionary arms races between TEs and host defences.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

Integrative analyses of transcriptome and whole-genome sequencing data for 1,188 tumours across 27 types of cancer are used to provide a comprehensive catalogue of RNA-level alterations in cancer.

In this study the authors consider the structural variants (SVs) present within cancer cases of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. They report hundreds of genes, including known cancer-associated genes for which the nearby presence of a SV breakpoint is associated with altered expression.

In somatic cells the mechanisms maintaining the chromosome ends are normally inactivated; however, cancer cells can re-activate these pathways to support continuous growth. Here, the authors characterize the telomeric landscapes across tumour types and identify genomic alterations associated with different telomere maintenance mechanisms.

Whole-genome sequencing data from more than 2,500 cancers of 38 tumour types reveal 16 signatures that can be used to classify somatic structural variants, highlighting the diversity of genomic rearrangements in cancer.

Viral pathogen load in cancer genomes is estimated through analysis of sequencing data from 2,656 tumors across 35 cancer types using multiple pathogen-detection pipelines, identifying viruses in 382 genomic and 68 transcriptome datasets.