Search

Marine protected areas have both positive and negative effects across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals and are more effective as targeted interventions rather than broad policy for sustainability, based on an analysis of existing literature.

A trans-ancestry meta-analysis of GWAS of glycemic traits in up to 281,416 individuals identifies 99 novel loci, of which one quarter was found due to the multi-ancestry approach, which also improves fine-mapping of credible variant sets.

Across 26 countries, Imhoff et al. find that conspiracy mentality is more prevalent at both ends of the political spectrum than the centre. This U-shaped pattern is accentuated for supporters of political parties not in government, particularly on the political right.

CREBBP mutations in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) are linked to poor prognosis and chemoresistance. Here, the authors show that genetic or pharmacological inactivation of CREBBP sensitizes B-ALL cells to the BCL2 inhibitor Venetoclax, inducing ferroptotic cell death and extending survival in B-ALL preclinical mouse models.

Primary biliary cirrhosis is an autoimmune liver disease with poor therapeutic options. Here Cordell et al. a perform meta-analysis of European genome-wide association studies identifying six novel risk loci and a number of potential therapeutic pathways.

Here, the authors leverage whole-genome sequencing from >88,000 diverse individuals to uncover 18 BMI-related genetic signals, including novel variants in participants of African genetic ancestry, highlighting the value of diversity in genetic discovery.

Data from questionnaires distributed to hunters and wild meat vendors in Nigeria suggest that most captured pangolins are not specifically targeted and that the animals are primarily captured for their meat, which is mostly consumed by hunters’ households, rather than for their scales.

Multiancestry genome-wide association analyses identify new risk loci for stroke and stroke subtypes. Fine mapping and bioinformatics analyses of these risk loci point to mechanisms not previously implicated in stroke pathophysiology.

Polymorphism is a property that allows a material to exist in two or more crystal structures. Here the authors observe thermal-induced structural polymorphism in a bent-core liquid crystal compound and show that by choosing the cooling rate, different structures with distinct structural colours are obtained.

The defaunation of vertebrates may disrupt forest functioning through the loss of plant-animal interactions, but impacts on forests remain unquantified. Here the authors show that seed dispersal is a key interaction and defaunation of primates and birds negatively impacts forest regeneration.

Independent statistical reconstructions of the global mean surface temperature from either ocean or land data show that existing estimates of early-twentieth-century ocean surface temperatures are too cold.

Human-tiger conflict occurs where there is a higher risk of encountering tigers. Here, Struebig et al. use geographic profiling to predict risk of encounters in Sumatra, and show that combining risk measures with social data on tolerance could help prioritise regions for conflict mitigation efforts.

Little is known about people’s preferred responses to norm violations across countries. Here, in a study of 57 countries, the authors highlight cultural similarities and differences in people’s perception of the appropriateness of norm violations.

Evidence for a past large explosive eruption within the Santorini caldera suggests that early stages of silicic caldera cycles can be more hazardous than previously assumed, according to analyses of intra-caldera deposits from the Kameni Volcano.

Topological defects play important roles in determining material properties, whilst their core regions remain unexplored due to strongly distorted structures. Zhouet al. take advantage of extended core regions in a chromonic liquid crystal and show both a radial and azimuthal dependent director and scalar order parameter.

Genome-wide association analyses of two oral glucose tolerance test-derived measures of postprandial insulin resistance discover ten new loci. Functional characterization identifies nine candidate genes implicated in the regulation of GLUT4.

Understanding the topological arrangement and transition dynamics of mesoscale assemblies is complicated by their molecular complexity. Here, the authors use DNA origami nanosprings to show that mesoscale helical handedness is dictated by backbone torque rather than achiral orientation.

Analysis of blood from a healthy human show that haematopoietic stem cells increase rapidly in numbers through early life, reaching a stable plateau in adulthood, and contribute to myeloid and B lymphocyte populations throughout life.

Pashos et al. show that H3K36 methylation maintains intestinal epithelial fate commitment, whereas its suppression, which is also observed upon injury, induces a plastic state and expression of genes involved in regeneration.

Despite net cropland expansion in recent decades, substantial areas of cropland have been abandoned for a variety of socioeconomic reasons. This study evaluates the effects of such cropland abandonment on bird and mammal species across four continents.

Here the authors conduct a multi-ancestry meta-analysis of telomere length, used diverse approaches to identify genes underlying association signals, and experimentally validated POP5 and KBTBD6 as regulators of telomere length in human cells.

Comprehensively understanding the ultrafast dynamics of the insulator-to-metal transition in vanadium dioxide is a long-standing challenge. Here, the authors measure the electronic and structural phase transitions in the first hundred femtoseconds.

STAARpipeline is a comprehensive framework for flexible and scalable rare-variant association analysis using whole-genome sequencing data and annotation information.

Surface interactions are usually polar along the normal to the interface and apolar within the interface. Here, the authors find that polar in-plane surface interactions produce domain structures in the bulk of a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal.

A multi-ancestry genome-wide gene–smoking interaction study identifies 13 new loci associated with serum lipids.

Analysis of 97,691 high-coverage human blood DNA-derived whole-genome sequences enabled simultaneous identification of germline and somatic mutations that predispose individuals to clonal expansion of haematopoietic stem cells, indicating that both inherited and acquired mutations are linked to age-related cancers and coronary heart disease.

Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome (SDS) is an inherited ribosome assembly disorder that increases the risk for haematopoietic malignancies. Here, the authors analysed clonal selection and evolution in SDS by sequencing patient-derived haematopoietic stem/progenitor cell colonies and exploring the function of key drivers in model organisms.

A large empirical assessment of sequence-resolved structural variants from 14,891 genomes across diverse global populations in the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD) provides a reference map for disease-association studies, population genetics, and diagnostic screening.

Solitary waves which maintain their shape have many fascinating physical and mathematical properties. Here the authors observe waves trapped along three spatial dimensions in nematic liquid crystals due to an electric field and show that these director bullets can re-form after collisions.

Whole-genome sequencing analysis of individuals with primary immunodeficiency identifies new candidate disease-associated genes and shows how the interplay between genetic variants can explain the variable penetrance and complexity of the disease.

A global multi-taxon extinction risk assessment of freshwater fauna for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species finds one-quarter of species to be at high risk of extinction.

Multi-ancestry genome-wide analyses identify 95 loci associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and implicate candidate genes, pathways and neurobiological systems underlying its pathophysiology.

The origin of the genus Homo is debated. Here, the authors investigate the morphology of the H. habilis enamel-dentine junction using a sample of 911 hominin and extant ape teeth, finding that H. habilis has more in common with Australopithecus than later members of the genus Homo.

Whole genome sequences enable discovery of rare variants which may help to explain the heritability of common diseases. Here the authors find that ultra-rare variants explain ~50% of coronary artery disease (CAD) heritability and highlight several functional processes including cell type-specific regulatory mechanisms as key drivers of CAD genetic risk.

A genomic constraint map for the human genome constructed using data from 76,156 human genomes from the Genome Aggregation Database shows that non-coding constrained regions are enriched for regulatory elements and variants associated with complex diseases and traits.

The goals, resources and design of the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) programme are described, and analyses of rare variants detected in the first 53,831 samples provide insights into mutational processes and recent human evolutionary history.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have been updated to include antigens from new variants. Here, the authors analyse data from published studies to investigate whether updating vaccines provides additional immunity to subsequent emerging strains compared to using original vaccines.

Uprooting stem cells from their native environment and transplanting them to other individuals exaggerates selective pressures, distorting and accelerating the loss of clonal diversity in contrast to the unperturbed haematopoiesis of donors.

Minimal bacterial genomes still contain hundreds of genes of unknown function. Here the authors use in silico annotation methods and identify the environmental factors shaping a minimal genome.

Differential cross-reactivity to haemagglutinin of various influenza B viruses shows lineage-specific susceptibility that varies between birth cohorts and was determined by early exposure to specific strains.