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Plasmablastic lymphoma (PBL) is an aggressive lymphoma subtype characterized by poor prognosis but the molecular knowledge of the disease is limited. Here, the authors perform whole exome sequencing and copy number determination of primary samples highlighting IRF4 and JAK-STAT pathways as therapeutic targets for PBL.

Biomarker analysis of the phase 4 R4RA trial identifies pretreatment synovial biopsy features selectively associated with response to rituximab or tocilizumab, and leads to the development of models that might predict treatment benefit in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

The authors defined a roadmap for investigating the genetic covariance between structural or functional brain phenotypes and risk for psychiatric disorders. Their proof-of-concept study using the largest available common variant data sets for schizophrenia and volumes of several (mainly subcortical) brain structures did not find evidence of genetic overlap.

Manipulation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) affects HIV-1 infection and latency reversal. Here, the authors show that HIV-1 is endocytosed and recognized by TLR8 in human primary CD4+T cells and that TLR8 stimulation induces an inflammatory response that promotes HIV-1 replication and reversal of latency.

Measurements of an intense radio burst from a Galactic magnetar provide evidence that magnetars are the probable source of some fast radio bursts.

Here, a genome-wide CRISPR–Cas9 screen is used to identify the Wnt receptors frizzled as physiologically relevant Clostridium difficile toxin B receptors, providing new therapeutic targets for treating C. difficile infections.

Enterovirus HEV71 is responsible for recurring epidemics in developing countries. New structural analyses coupled with in silico docking methods have allowed for the generation of potent inhibitors of viral-envelope uncoating that block subsequent insertion of viral RNA into the host cell.

Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is a measure of kidney function and used to characterize chronic kidney disease. Here, Graham et al. identify 53 novel loci for eGFR in a GWAS meta-analysis, a subset of which are associated with other common diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, based on PheWAS.

Ambrosia artemisiifolia is an invasive weed and primary cause of pollen-induced hayfever. Here, the authors report its chromosome-level phased genome assembly, examine genome-wide variation among modern and historic accessions, and identify large haploblocks underling rapid adaptation.

Gut microbiome alterations have been linked to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and obesity. Here, the authors characterize the metagenomes of four large human cohorts and perform co-abundance network analysis showing that dysbiosis in disease is marked by the altered co-abundance relationships, suggesting that pathway coabundance networks are more heterogeneous than species network.

Drugs targeting cardiovascular disease (CVD) can have negative consequences for liver function. Here, the authors combine genome wide analyses on 69,479 individuals to identify loss-of-function variants with beneficial effects on CVD-related traits without negative impacts on liver function.

Multi-proxy core data and model simulations support the presence of temperate rainforests near the South Pole during mid-Cretaceous warmth, indicating very high CO₂ levels and the absence of Antarctic ice.

Biochemical, structural and functional studies on the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) papain-like protease PLpro reveal that it regulates host antiviral responses by preferentially cleaving the ubiquitin-like interferon-stimulated gene 15 protein (ISG15) and identify this protease as a potential therapeutic target for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Improving the stability of proteins for biotechnological applications is challenging. Now, Gillam and co-workers show that the thermal stability and longevity of enzymes can be remarkably enhanced in a single step from sequences of recent ancestors of primitive vertebrates that existed in mild conditions.

Ruggeri et al. tested perceptions of opposing political party members in 10,207 participants from 26 countries. Results show that beliefs about others are overly negative but could be more realistic with transparency about actual group beliefs.

Here, the authors show that the balance between excitation and inhibition in two cortical areas is differentially related to maximizing immediate rewards, and to weighting the cost against long-term gains of moving to a new environment.

Asymmetry is a key organising principle of the brain. Here the authors leveraged rare genetic mutations to revisit structural brain asymmetry showing the planum temporale is susceptible to deletions & duplications of specific gene sets.

Changes in body mass index (BMI) during infancy and childhood follow a well-characterized pattern. Here, Helgeland et al. perform genome-wide association studies for BMI at 12 time points between birth and 8 years of age and find transient associations at the LEP and LEPR loci.

Like their classical counterparts, quantum computers can, in theory, cope with imperfections—provided that these are small enough. The regime of fault-tolerant quantum computing has now been reached for a system based on trapped ions, in which a gate operation for entangling qubits has been implemented with a fidelity exceeding 99%.

Thrombospondin-1 (THSB1) is a component of the ECM with a role in regulating cancer development and tumour vasculature. Here, the authors show that TGF-beta-induced THBS1 expression contributes to the invasive behaviour of GBM cells and promotes resistance to antiangiogenic therapy partially through interaction with CD47.

Oxylipin profiling in the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana with different symbionts identifies stereospecific lipid signals. Results suggest that oxylipin regulatory pathways shape cnidarian–dinoflagellate symbiosis, homeostasis, and resilience.

Water electrolysis offers a promising means for green hydrogen production, however current electrolysers do not provide a competitive edge over fossil fuels. Here, authors develop a capillary-fed electrolyser setup that avoids bubble formation to achieve a high-performance, cost-competitive device.

Encephalization—increase of brain size relative to body size—has occurred in two distinct evolutionary lineages; Neanderthals and modern humans. However, the 3D endocranial surface shape analysis reported here reveals unique structures at the base of the brain inHomo sapiens, which may have contributed to learning and social capacities.

Evolutionarily conserved gene modules mediate neurodegenerative dementia in a variety of mouse models and in postmortem brain tissue from patients.

Research on microbes that inhabit the Earth's subsurface is mostly based on metagenomic information only. Here, Probst et al. combine metagenomics with ultrastructural and functional analyses to study the biology of a group of uncultivated subsurface archaea, the SM1 Euryarchaeon lineage.

Intestinal dysbiosis is associated with an ever-growing list of autoimmune diseases. Here the authors show that both mice and humans with autoimmune arthritis can have dysbiosis and barrier leakiness prior to major signs of inflammatory arthritis, and treatment of mice with a zonulin antagonist can limit collagen-induced arthritis.

The dynamics of liquid water is rich due to its complex, highly disordered hydrogen-bond network, which hasn’t been fully understood. Perakis et al. measure water dynamics at sub-100 fs and show that it cannot be described by simple thermal motion due to the build-up of tetrahedral structures upon supercooling.

Research on plant root-associated microbial communities may help develop more efficient or sustainable crop production methods. Here the authors analyse the citrus rhizosphere microbiome, using both amplicon and deep shotgun metagenomic sequencing of samples collected across six continents.

Assortative mating could violate the assumption of random mating used in many genetic studies. Here, the authors study more than 25,000 Norwegian families to find genetic similarity between partners, siblings, and in-laws in genetic factors related to educational attainment, height, and depression.

Boztug and colleagues identify an immunodeficient patient with a deficiency in the guanine-nucleotide-exchange factor RASGRP1. They find that human RASGRP1 is important for the function of T cells, B cells and NK cells and that it has a role in the regulation of the cytoskeleton.

John Maris, Jan Molenaar, Gudrun Schleiermacher and colleagues performed whole-genome sequencing of 23 paired diagnostic and relapsed neuroblastomas, showing enrichment for mutations in the RAS-MAPK signaling pathway. These mutations render neuroblastoma cell lines susceptible to MEK inhibition.

During the early Holocene epoch—and since the 1940s—variations in Southern Hemisphere westerly winds controlled the upwelling of Circumpolar Deep Water and seemingly ice-sheet retreat in West Antarctica.

Though people learn that certain choices may be more advantageous, they often do not choose this option. Here, the authors explain this behaviour: people learn how good a choice is relative to the choices it has been associated with previously, and this learning takes place in the striatum.

The detection of spin–orbit torques in a non-centrosymmetric magnetic Heusler alloy at room temperature could guide the search for materials whose magnetism can efficiently be manipulated using electrical currents.

Skyrmions are promising for spintronics but usually require large spin-orbit coupling of 5d-metals and external magnetic field. Here the authors realize stabilization of isolated skyrmions at a 4d-metal interface of weak chiral interaction and magnetic anisotropy down to vanishing field.

The authors found that the key elements of plant form and function, analysed at global scale, are largely concentrated into a two-dimensional plane indexed by the size of whole plants and organs on the one hand, and the construction costs for photosynthetic leaf area, on the other.

Ewing sarcoma (EWS) is a rare pediatric bone cancer typically involving the EWSR1-FLI1 fusion. Here the authors perform a genome-wide association study and report three new EWS risk loci that reside near GGAA repeat sequences, and identify candidate genes (RREB1 and KIZ) from eQTL analysis.

Topological insulators have been predicted and recently demonstrated experimentally in a series of binary alloys. It is now show theoretically that about 50 Heusler compounds show features similar to those of the confirmed topological insulator HgTe, which considerably expands the possibility of realizing quantum topological phenomena.

Proteasomal degradation of EZH2 in AML patients in response to therapy triggers the expression of stem cell markers and has been identified as an epigenetic pathway leading to acquired drug resistance. Treatments aimed to restore EZH2 expression in relapsed AML patients have shown clinical efficacy and constitute a viable approach to re-sensitize tumors to chemotherapy.

Meredith Yeager and colleagues with the Cancer Genetics Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) initiative report a new association to prostate cancer at chromosome 8q24. This defines a new locus, region 4, which shows association to prostate cancer susceptibility independent of previously reported associations at 8q24.

How traits specific to modern humans have evolved is difficult to study. Here, Gokhman et al. compare measured and reconstructed DNA methylation maps of present-day humans, archaic humans and chimpanzees and find that genes that affect vocal tract and facial anatomy show methylation changes between archaic and modern humans.

Real-time deformability cytometry allows the continuous mechanical characterization of cells with high throughput and is applied to distinguish cell-cycle phases, track differentiated cells and profile cell populations in whole blood.

Fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs) form part of interstitial muscle connective tissue (MCT) in adults but the origin of this non-myogenic lineage is unclear. Here, the authors show that Odd skipped related 1 (Osr1) in mice marks embryonic MCT, giving rise to FAPs, and loss of Osr1 in the limb causes muscle defects.