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Large-effect variants in autism remain elusive. Here, the authors use long-read sequencing to assemble phased genomes for 189 individuals, identifying pathogenic variants in TBL1XR1, MECP2, and SYNGAP1, plus nine candidate structural variants missed by short-read methods.

Vortex dynamics and mutual friction in quantum fluids are intimately connected to the fundamental properties of superfluids. Here, the authors reveal previously unexplored mechanisms underlying the mutual friction coefficients in ultracold Fermi superfluids in the unitary limit, suggesting bound quasiparticles within the vortex core play a significant role.

The authors report an experimental study of the Hall effect measuring electrical quantities in ultracold fermionic quantum simulators. This provides a way forward in measuring transport properties in these platforms and verifying long-standing theoretical predictions.

Measurements of carbon fluxes and wood phenology are used to assess carbon sources from photosynthesis and their sink into woody growth along a thermal gradient. The authors show that stem growth advances slower than photosynthesis per degree Celsius, creating a phenological mismatch for carbon.

Researchers demonstrate a receiver based on an all-Si eight-channel avalanche photodiode, which operates at a data rate of 160 Gb s⁻¹ per channel and has an aggregate rate of 1.28 Tb s⁻¹.

RAPID (rapid autofocusing via pupil-split image phase detection) is a sample-agnostic real-time autofocus method for widefield microscopy. RAPID removes most image degradation in large, cleared samples for enhanced quantitative analyses.

Disordered photonic materials have the ability to control the flow of light through random multiple scattering. This has the drawback of randomizing both the direction and phase of the propagating light. Now, confined and interacting light modes are demonstrated for a two-dimensional disordered photonic structure.

Frequency comb synthesizers are important for metrology, but they have been difficult to use as frequency rulers in the terahertz region due to their low power. Consolinoet al. phase-lock a quantum cascade laser to a free-space-propagating terahertz comb, demonstrating that they can overcome this limitation.

A Mott insulator forms when strong interactions between particles cause them to become localized. A cold atom simulator has now been used to realize a selective Mott insulator in which atoms are localized or propagating depending on their spin state.

A new method based on the Josephson effect is described, allowing to measure the superfluid fraction of a supersolid, which captures the effect of spatially periodic modulation leading to reduction in the stiffness of superfluids.

The mobility edge characterizes the transition from localization to diffusion. This key parameter in Anderson localization was measured for a system of ultracold atoms in a tunable disordered potential created by laser speckles.

Two adjacent layers flowing at different velocities in the same fluid are subject to flow instabilities. This phenomenon is now studied in atomic superfluids, revealing that quantized vortices act as both sources and probes of the unstable flow.

Active control of optical fields at the nanoscale is difficult to achieve. Here, the authors fabricate an on-chip graphene NEMS suspended a few tens of nanometres above nitrogen vacancy centres and demonstrate electromechanical control of the photons emitted by electrostatic tuning of the graphene NEMS position.

Genome-wide association analyses of 41,917 bipolar disorder cases and 371,549 controls of European ancestry provide new insights into the etiology of this disorder and identify novel therapeutic leads and potential opportunities for drug repurposing.

A genome-wide association study including over 76,000 individuals with schizophrenia and over 243,000 control individuals identifies common variant associations at 287 genomic loci, and further fine-mapping analyses highlight the importance of genes involved in synaptic processes.

By using laser tweezers, the authors show that a single α-catenin molecule does not resist force on F-actin. However, clustering of multiple molecules and force applied toward F-actin pointed end engage a molecular switch in α-catenin, which unfolds and strongly binds F-actin.

Plectasin, a natural host defence peptide of fungal origin, uses a calcium-sensitive supramolecular killing mechanism to block bacterial cell wall synthesis.

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.

Liquid water shows anomalous behaviour, which is expected to be related with critical phenomena below its melting temperature. Taschinet al.experimentally identify two intermolecular vibrational modes that provide evidence for the coexistence of high-density and low-density water forms.

An analysis of 52 million births in 26 countries shows small reductions in preterm birth during the first to third months of lockdown. Further research is needed to examine causal pathways.

Earthquakes have been theorised to produce gravity signals that may arrive before seismic waves, but until now they had not been detected. Montagneret al. have detected prompt gravity signals from the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake thus allowing an early warning of earthquakes before seismic wave arrival.

Understanding species’ spatiotemporal dynamics is key to predicting their responses to climate change. Here, the authors combine landscape genomics, demographic reconstructions, and species distribution models to assess lineage-specific responses to past and future climate in a migratory raptor.

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.

The authors showcase a five-channel silicon microring modulator array with a total data rate in the terabit range. Each microring is equipped with two separate Z-shape junctions to overcome the bandwidth and modulation efficiency trade-off, providing a pathway for future 200 Gb/s/lane silicon optical interconnects.

An ultracold gas trapped in a symmetric double-well potential should populate both wells equally; however, the gas spontaneously localizes in one well when the interaction between atoms reaches a critical value, thus breaking parity symmetry.

Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission’s impact on asteroid Dimorphos has led to various impact related features. Here, the authors show that those features result naturally from the dynamical interaction of the ejecta with the binary system and solar radiation pressure.

Using a combination of methods, the mechanism of the antibiotic teixobactin is revealed.

The Asian black-spined toad is a widespread, poisonous, invasive amphibian. Here, the authors use genomic and DNA-barcoding data from this toad to document its complex evolutionary history, two distinct species, and potential historic dispersal assisted by humans.

X-ray polarimetry observations with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer constrain the accretion geometry in an X-ray pulsar and provide evidence for a misalignment of the spin, magnetic and orbital axes in Her X-1.

The potential for neutrinos to travel faster than light challenges fundamental physics, yet remains unconfirmed. The authors utilize the KM3NeT neutrino telescope to impose stringent constraints on Lorentz-violating superluminal neutrino velocities, reinforcing the standard understanding of Lorentz symmetry and impacting future theoretical and experimental explorations in particle physics.

By controlling the generation and collision of individual vortices in atomic Fermi superfluids, a study provides a comprehensive view of vortex decay due to mutual friction and vortex–sound interaction.

Inventory data from more than 1 million trees across African, Amazonian and Southeast Asian tropical forests suggests that, despite their high diversity, just 1,053 species, representing a consistent ~2.2% of tropical tree species in each region, constitute half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees.

The NMR chemical shifts of a substance in urine strongly depend on the composition of the mixture itself, and this makes automatic assignment for quantification very difficult. Here the authors show the chemical shifts of signals and the concentration of NMR-invisible inorganic ions in urine, are predictable.

European forest tree species experienced strong climatic fluctuations over Quaternary. In spite of these pronounced environmental changes, population genomic analyses reveal that major forest tree species managed to retain their evolutionary potential over the period.

The interaction between graphene and the spins of molecular magnets grown on it has been studied. The coupling between graphene phonons, spins and Dirac fermions modifies—and may be used for controlling—the quantum spin dynamics.

Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission impact on asteroid Dimophos resulted in an elliptical ejecta plume. Here, the authors show that this elliptical ejecta is due to the curvature of the asteroid and makes kinetic momentum transfer less efficient.

A genome-wide association study of critically ill patients with COVID-19 identifies genetic signals that relate to important host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage that may be targeted by repurposing drug treatments.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are known to have impact on Earth’s lower ionosphere, but GRB impacts on the upper ionosphere was not observed before. Here, the authors show strong electric field variation at 500 km in the ionosphere caused by GRB221009A.

X-ray polarization measurements of the Crab nebula and pulsar by the IXPE satellite reveal a global toroidal magnetic field with large variations in local polarization, suggesting a more complex turbulence distribution than anticipated.

Examining drivers of the latitudinal biodiversity gradient in a global database of local tree species richness, the authors show that co-limitation by multiple environmental and anthropogenic factors causes steeper increases in richness with latitude in tropical versus temperate and boreal zones.

An experimental demonstration of how destructive quantum interference effects can increase the performance of single-molecule field-effect transistors to reach levels similar to those of nanoelectronic transistors.

Polarization measurements are reported for the blazar Mk501, revealing a degree of X-ray polarization that is more than twice the optical value and supporting the shock-accelerated energy-stratified electron population scenario.

Cosmic ray positrons are known to be produced by interactions in the interstellar medium, but they might also originate in primary sources, such as pulsars, micro-quasars or through dark matter annihilation. Adriani et al. report that the positron fraction increases sharply over much of the energy range 1.5–100 GeV, which appears to be completely inconsistent with secondary sources—they therefore conclude that a primary source is necessary.