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A large brain imaging study of over 2000 people worldwide shows that fear conditioning engages brain regions linked to emotion and attention, with differences in individuals with anxiety or depression and strong influences from task design.

Accurate modeling of conical intersections is essential for describing the nonadiabatic molecular dynamics behind photoinduced processes, but conventional single-reference electronic structure methods fail to capture the associated ground state intersections. In this work, the authors propose a modified Hartree–Fock framework, referred to as Convex Hartree–Fock, that optimizes the reference within a tailored subspace by removing projections along selected Hessian eigenvectors, offering an alternative to more expensive multiconfigurational approaches.

The photophysics of thymine in the gas phase are still under debate. Here the authors perform coupled-cluster-based dynamics simulations to predict time-resolved X-ray absorption spectra and reveal a hydrogen dissociation channel.

Tracking ultrafast electronic changes in molecules is challenging, especially in liquids. An X-ray spectroscopy study in pyrazine now shows electronic dynamics created at conical intersections that are rapidly suppressed when the molecule is in water.

Accurate modeling of X-ray absorption (XA) is necessary to interpret experimental spectra. Here, the authors use coupled cluster models and path-integral ab initio molecular dynamics to provide insights into the XA spectrum of liquid water.

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.

Theoretical description of light-matter coupling in the strong-coupling regime is challenging. Here the authors introduce a fully consistent ab-initio method of molecular orbital theory applicable to material systems in quantum electrodynamics environments.

A study of myeloid cells in gliomas, a type of brain tumour, used a factor-based computational framework to reveal four immunomodulatory gene-expression programs that are expressed across myeloid cell types, driven by microenvironmental cues and predictive of therapeutic response.

Cryptochrome 4 from the night-migratory European robin displays magnetically sensitive photochemistry in vitro, in which four successive flavin–tryptophan radical pairs generate magnetic-field effects and stabilize potential signalling states.

Liquid (organic) hydrogen carriers form a toolbox for the storage and transport of green hydrogen but organic salts have been scarcely investigated. Here, the authors present a potassium formate/potassium bicarbonate hydrogen storage and release energy system, that is applicable and shows stability over months.

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.

Antenatal glucocorticoid therapy is indicated for mothers at risk of preterm delivery. Here, the authors show that the circadian phase of antenatal glucocorticoid treatment affects the risk of behavioral disorders later in life in mice and in a retrospective observational study in human infants.

Hydrogen carriers play an important role in the hydrogen economy. Now, methyl formate is proposed as a suitable chemical hydrogen source for a carbon-neutral hydrogen energy cycle, and faster catalytic hydrogen production rates are achieved compared with those from the widely investigated formic acid and methanol.

In hepatocellular carcinoma driven by non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, aberrant T cell activation and impaired immune surveillance seem to make hepatocellular carcinoma less responsive to anti-PD1 or anti-PDL1 immunotherapy.

Diagnosis of vascular dementia is hampered by the lack of biochemical markers for this disease. Here, the authors show that vascular dementia is associated with increased lipocalin-2 in cerebrospinal fluid, compared to controls and patients with other forms of dementia.

William Isaacs and colleagues report evidence for a second prostate cancer risk locus in the HNF1B gene at 17q12, ∼26 kb from the previously reported risk locus in this region. The two loci are separated by a recombination hot spot and contribute independently to prostate cancer risk.

In addition to promoting overconsumption, palatable diets dampen daily intake patterns, which further augments metabolic dysfunction. Here, the authors find that in mice, circadian clocks in dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area drive hedonic appetite rhythms.

Systemic dissection of sexually dimorphic phenotypes in mice is lacking. Here, Karp and the International Mouse Phenotype Consortium show that approximately 10% of qualitative traits and 56% of quantitative traits in mice as measured in laboratory setting are sexually dimorphic.

Nitrile reduction is a simple method for the generation of amines, though successful catalysts use expensive precious metals such as ruthenium. Here, the authors use an iron complex, demonstrating its application in the hydrogenation of nitriles and dinitriles to primary amines.

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.

Many photo-induced processes such as photosynthesis occur in organic molecules, but their femtosecond excited-state dynamics are difficult to track. Here, the authors exploit the element and site selectivity of soft X-ray absorption to sensitively follow the ultrafast ππ*/nπ* electronic relaxation of hetero-organic molecules.

Cortex morphology varies with age, cognitive function, and in neurological and psychiatric diseases. Here the authors report 160 genome-wide significant associations with thickness, surface area and volume of the total cortex and 34 cortical regions from a GWAS meta-analysis in 22,824 adults.

The RRP7A a gene is involved in ribosome biogenesis. Here the authors report a homozygous missense mutation segregating with primary microcephaly, and show that this occurs via functional defects in both nucleoli and primary cilia disrupting cell proliferation and neurogenesis.

Common polygenic variation at chromosome 16p and rare recurrent deletions of 16p11.2 influencing autism risk are associated with reduced expression of genes throughout the 16p region, suggesting functional convergence of rare and common variant effects.

Openshaw and colleagues find myeloid inflammation and complement activation signatures in patients with long COVID who were previously hospitalized.

A four-wave mixing technique is developed in the hard X-ray range. A diamond phase grating in an X-ray beam path creates a periodic excitation pattern on a sample via the Talbot effect. The response of the periodic excitation is probed by an optical pulse.

Statistical analysis of velocity fluctuations in the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Milky Way and NGC 4321 show that the motion of molecular gas over scales ranging from 0.1 to 1,000 pc is similar, and consistent with that generated by a combination of gravity and turbulence. ISM structure at one scale is therefore linked to structure at other scales.

Group 3 innate lymphoid cells are recruited to the lung and involved in the immune response to infection with tuberculosis in humans and mice, as a reduction in group 3 innate lymphoid cells in the lung impaired early immune control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in mice.

Sakari Kauppinen and colleagues report a method for silencing miRNA families in vivo. They find that seed-targeting 8-mer LNA oligonucleotides, termed tiny LNAs, can lead to long-term miRNA silencing in normal tissues and breast tumors in mice.