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Genome-wide ancient DNA data from individuals from the Middle Bronze Age to Iron Age documents large-scale movement of people from the European continent between 1300 and 800 bc that was probably responsible for spreading early Celtic languages to Britain.

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.

Fine-mapping of causal variants and integration of epigenetic and chromatin conformation data identify likely target genes for 150 breast cancer risk regions.

This work integrates duplex sequencing with cost-effective Ultima sequencing to enhance the accuracy of whole-genome circulating cell-free DNA profiling.

Reforestation has been recently identified as a promising climate mitigation option. In Southeast Asia, 120 million ha of land are biophysically suitable for reforestation. However, financial, land-use and operational factors constrain mitigation potential to a fraction of its total possible value.

Decoupling emission reduction target determination, air pollution modelling, and health benefit estimation complicates control strategy design. Here an integrated approach identifies strategies to reduce health damages of air pollution, showing that benefits can be achieved cost-effectively by electrifying sources with high primary PM_2.5 emission intensities.

The genetic architecture underlying Sjögren’s syndrome is not fully understood. Here, the authors perform a genome-wide association study to identify 10 new genetic risk regions, implicating genes involved in immune and salivary gland function.

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.

Genome-wide analyses identify 30 independent loci associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder, highlighting genetic overlap with other psychiatric disorders and implicating putative effector genes and cell types contributing to its etiology.

A large resource of shared tumor neoepitopes aims to accelerate cancer immunotherapy.

There is a balance in mitigation pathway design between economic transition cost and physical climate threats. This study provides a comprehensive framework to assess the near- and long-term risks under various warming scenarios globally and in particular regions.

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.

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.

China has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality in 2060. Here the authors find a promising option to abate 1.0 Gt CO₂-eq yr⁻¹ of carbon emissions at a marginal cost of $69 (t CO₂-eq)⁻¹ by retrofitting 222 GW of coal power plants to co-fire with biomass and upgrading to CCS operation across 2836 counties in China.

New study finds cobalt-free batteries and recycling progress can significantly alleviate long-term cobalt supply risks, however a cobalt supply shortage appears inevitable in the short- to medium-term, even under the most technologically optimistic scenario.

The US government must make the Department of Defense a key customer for energy technologies and make greenhouse-gas reductions a public good, say John Alic, Daniel Sarewitz, Charles Weiss and William Bonvillian.

Electrodes available for deep brain recording and stimulation have a number of limitations. Here the authors describe a thin-film depth electrode that may offer improved spatial and temporal resolution for recording brain activity.

In this cross-species translational study, the authors look at the longitudinal consequences of stress during adolescent development on HPA function and postpartum behaviors in mice and in humans and suggest that glucocorticoid receptor antagonists may serve as a potential treatment for postpartum depression.

Swanton and colleagues present a clonal expression signature, ORACLE, which, in combination with clinicopathological and molecular risk factors, can predict survival of patients with lung adenocarcinoma, and they prospectively validate its prognostic value.

The genomic landscape of diffuse gliomas remains to be characterised. Here, the authors perform whole genome sequencing of 403 tumours and identify recurrent coding and non-coding genetic mutations, their associations with clinical outcomes and potential therapeutic targets.

With the construction of two new manufacturing plants, the bioplastics market emerges. Daniel Grushkin reports.

The T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 is detected by a PCR assay on whole blood.

Satisfying Both FDA and SEC When Disseminating Information about New Drug Development

To guide research and implementation of aqueous organic redox flow batteries it is essential to estimate their potential costs. In this perspective, the authors present an overview of the potential cost of organic active materials for aqueous flow batteries and identify cost reduction routes.

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.

A study aimed at revealing the role of small-scale fisheries in sustainable development shows they provide at least 40% of the global fishing catch and affect the livelihoods of 1 in 12 people in the world, among other important contributions.

Strengthening regulations and domestic supply chains could be key to making nuclear power more economically viable.

A spatiotemporal quantification of Fusarium head blight (FHB) mycotoxins in European food and feed wheat highlights the omnipresence of deoxynivalenol and increasing detection of other FHB mycotoxins. These potential health and economic costs emphasize the need to monitor FHB mycotoxin outbreaks and to understand what is driving this change, so that we can develop appropriate mitigation strategies.

Timothy Frayling, Joel Hirschhorn, Peter Visscher and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for adult height in 253,288 individuals. They identify 697 variants in 423 loci significantly associated with adult height and find that these variants cluster in pathways involved in growth and together explain one-fifth of the heritability for this trait.

Ageing increases the risk of many diseases. Here the authors compare blood cell transcriptomes of over 14,000 individuals and identify a set of about 1,500 genes that are differently expressed with age, shedding light on transcriptional programs linked to the ageing process and age-associated diseases.

Analysis of whole-genome sequencing data from Iceland and the UK Biobank identifies an excess burden of rare loss-of-function variants in HECTD2 and AKAP11 in individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

High-temperature hydrocarbon conversions often face issues like coke buildup and catalyst deactivation. Here, the authors show a general approach: balancing key reaction steps to achieve coke-free processes, exemplified in a 1000-hour coke-free dry reforming of methane process by optimizing C-H activation and C removal steps.

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.

Known genetic loci account for only a fraction of the genetic contribution to Alzheimer’s disease. Here, the authors have performed a large genome-wide meta-analysis comprising 409,435 individuals to discover 6 new loci and demonstrate the efficacy of an Alzheimer’s disease polygenic risk score.

Glacierized regions that are projected to become ice-free in this century could provide substantial water storage and hydroelectric power, according to this worldwide theoretical assessment.

Environmental influences during prenatal development may have implications for health and disease later in life. Here, Czamara et al. assess DNA methylation in cord blood from new-born under various models including environmental and genetic effects individually and their additive or interaction effects.

Polygenic risk scores for Alzheimer’s disease derived from individuals of European ancestry can show improved performance in multiancestry settings after incorporating genome-wide association summary statistics from diverse populations.

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a rare autoantibody-mediated disease affecting the neuromuscular junction. Here, the authors discover common genetic variation associated with the disease, increasing understanding of the genetic basis.

Coffea stenophylla is a recently rediscovered, narrow-leaved wild coffee from Upper West Africa. Rigorous sensory evaluation (tasting) rates its flavour profile as analogous to high-quality Arabica coffee, but it can grow at much higher temperatures.

A global energy system model finds that planned fossil fuel extraction is inconsistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, because the majority of fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground.

A study using iPhones and Apple Watches to track and analyze cognitive health over 18 months in more than 23,000 US adults demonstrates the feasibility of remote cognitive health monitoring and uncovers potential methods for early detection of cognitive decline.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis of individuals with clinically assessed or self-reported depression identifies 44 independent risk loci. Comparisons with other psychiatric disorders and candidate gene analyses provide new insights into major depressive disorder.

Ancient DNA analyses reveal that Viking Age migrations from Scandinavia resulted in differential influxes of ancestry to different parts of Europe, and the increased presence of non-local ancestry within Scandinavia.

Large genome-wide meta-analysis of clinically diagnosed late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) from 94,437 individuals identifies new LOAD risk loci and implicates Aβ formation, tau protein binding, immune response and lipid metabolism.