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Genetic analyses in more than 15,000 individuals from across the Americas, including individuals with autism and family members, define the genetic landscape of autism in Latin American populations and identify significant overlap with other ancestries.

A meta-analysis of plant nuclear genomic data provides fundamental insights into the genomic nature of differences between plant species and informs future strategies for DNA-based identification of plants using nuclear genomes.

Personal names vary across cultures. Here, the authors show how historical name systems share a common information structure, reflecting pressure for efficient communication, as well as laws changing these systems and introducing systematic bias.

The APOE-ε4 allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, but it is not deterministic. Here, the authors show that common genetic variation changes how APOE-ε4 influences cognition.

Yamazoe et al. show that B cell-derived autoantibodies contribute to the development of atrial fibrillation, suggesting that targeting the humoral immune response may represent a viable therapeutic approach.

Enzymes are powerful catalysts for chemical synthesis because they are capable of providing unparalleled levels of selectivity; however, in nature they only catalyse a limited collection of reactions. Now, it has been shown that non-natural reactions that proceed via free-radical intermediates can be catalysed with high selectivity by using an exogenous photoredox catalyst in conjunction with enzymes.

Gene therapies often fail to reach tissues beyond the liver after intravenous delivery. Here, authors present MARVEL, a strategy that combines red blood cell hitchhiking with VEGF-induced vascular permeabilization to enhance lung targeting and deep tissue gene expression.

Two intervals of distinctly lower Indian Ocean sea level during the last two millennia occurred during times of relatively low incoming solar radiation, according to an analysis of U–Th dated coral microatolls in the Maldives.

Little sulfur from the 2022 Hunga submarine eruption reached the atmosphere due to seawater–magma interactions, indicating that the climate impact of this type of eruption may be underestimated, according to analysis of ash collected throughout the event.

In somatic cells the mechanisms maintaining the chromosome ends are normally inactivated; however, cancer cells can re-activate these pathways to support continuous growth. Here, the authors characterize the telomeric landscapes across tumour types and identify genomic alterations associated with different telomere maintenance mechanisms.

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.

Implanting an electrode into the cortex activates microglia, triggers the foreign body response, and impedes intracortical brain-computer interface. Here, the authors apply low-intensity pulsed ultrasound stimulation (LIPUS) after probe insertion to reduce microglia-mediated neuroinflammation.

By dissecting natural variants, Zhang et al. uncover design principles for engineering the FLS2 immune receptor with broad recognition spectra to detect evasive bacterial pathogens, offering a promising strategy to improve crop disease resistance.

Sudan virus (SUDV) outbreaks in Uganda created public health concerns due to a lack of approved vaccines. In this study, the authors develop a repRNA SUDV vaccine and demonstrate full protection of a single dose of this vaccine in a lethal SUDV guinea pig model.

A high-bandwidth neuromotor interface offers performant out-of-the-box generalization across people.

A murine colorectal cancer (CRC) model shows that mutant KRAS-STAT4-mediated upregulation of Y chromosome KDM5D contributes to the sex differences in KRAS-mutant CRC, providing an actionable therapeutic strategy for metastasis risk reduction for men afflicted with KRAS-mutant CRC.

Water scarcity is intensifying in China, India, and the USA, with growth in unsustainable water demand equaling or outpacing that of total water demand. These nations are increasingly relying on water in already stressed regions to meet their needs.

The teeth of Mesozoic marine reptiles are used to establish a dietary guild system for the species of the Jurassic Sub-Boreal Seaway over about 18 million years, revealing that niche partition and spatial distribution that varied following sea depth enabled species coexistence, as with marine faunas today.

Monoclonal antibodies hold promise for combating serious respiratory virus infections but viruses may evolve to evade them. Here, using structural analysis, the authors show how human parainfluenza virus adapts to escape a powerful antibody by modulating its cell entry mechanism.

Sensory cortex spiking is well known to predict trial-to-trial variability in perceptual choice, but the origins of this choice-related activity are not fully understood. In the mouse somatosensory system, electrophysiology, imaging and optogenetic experiments reveal a progression of choice-related activity as touch signals flow from primary afferents to cortex.

Adaptation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to the host environment is principally mediated through its transcription factors. Here, the authors report the DNA binding and transcriptional profile of ~80% of all predicted M. tuberculosistranscription factors, and find wide-spread dormant DNA binding.

Life lessons.

High-energy batteries require electrolytes with a wide electrochemical stability window. Building on the water-in-salt electrolyte concept, the authors develop a ternary eutectic electrolyte with substantially reduced salt concentrations that enable high-performance Li_1.5Mn₂O₄ || Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ batteries

Halide perovskites are promising materials for light-emitting devices, given their narrowband emission and solution processability. However, detailed information on device degradation during operation is required to improve their stability, and this is challenging to obtain. Ji et al. propose a self-supervised deep learning method to capture multi-dimensional images of such devices in their operating regime faster than allowed by conventional imaging techniques.

Surface air temperatures at the South Pole warmed at over three times the global rate in recent decades. Research shows this trend was driven remotely by the tropics and locally by a positive phase of the Southern Annular Mode, increasing the influx of warm moist air atop anthropogenic warming.

Tropical deforestation rates are linked to large-scale land investments, according to georeferenced land deal records and remote sensing of forest loss over the past two decades.

Farmer livelihoods and food production are impacted by water shortages in many regions globally. These shortages can be mitigated by changing the mix of crops produced in water-scarce regions, potentially resulting in reduced irrigation needs of 28–57%.

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.

Zhang et al. show that bone marrow fatty acid metabolism fuels expanded leukocyte production after myocardial infarction and, based on mouse, pig and human data, suggest that lipolysis in marrow adipocytes provides fatty acids to hematopoietic stem cells.

Islet transplantation for diabetes treatment requires immunosuppression to control rejection. A microgel presenting Fas ligand with immunomodulatory properties is now shown to prolong the survival of allogeneic islet grafts in vivo.

Mutational signatures induced by ionising radiation remain largely unexplored. Here in TP53 mutant mice, the authors characterise the genomic landscape of tumours induced by high- and low-energy radiation.

Spines are an important physical defense for many plant species. Here, the authors describe seven different spine morphologies from the Eocene of central Tibet associated with regional aridification and expansion of herbivorous mammals.

How ribosomes differ in composition and function to regulate gene expression is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that ribosome composition changes during stem cell differentiation and identify a ribosomal protein that regulates production of the mesoderm lineage.

In a human pilot trial, ingestible electronic capsules, which can sense oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide gas in the gut, have been shown to be capable of monitoring changes in a person’s diet.

Distinguishing between periods of unrest and the run-up to eruption is a major challenge at volcanoes around the globe. Here, we leverage multidisciplinary data to show that the Mauna Loa 2022 eruption was caused by 2 months of magma intrusion.

Physical realizations of qubits are often vulnerable to leakage errors, where the system ends up outside the basis used to store quantum information. A leakage removal protocol can suppress the impact of leakage on quantum error-correcting codes.

Enhancers for endodermal organs are primed at the chromatin level prior to lineage induction by FOXA pioneer transcription factors; how pervasive this is, is not well known. Here the authors show that only a small subset of organ-specific enhancers are bound and primed by FOXA prior to lineage induction, whereas the majority do not undergo chromatin priming and engage FOXA upon lineage induction.

Dense calcium imaging combined with co-registered high-resolution electron microscopy reconstruction of the brain of the same mouse provide a functional connectomics map of tens of thousands of neurons of a region of the primary cortex and higher visual areas.

Atmospheric rivers provide the majority of water vapour transport to the high latitudes. This Review summarizes Antarctic atmospheric river dynamics and climatology and discusses their impacts on the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet.

More than 2 million hectares of Cambodian land have been leased to investors since 2000. Combined satellite and local records show that deforestation on leased land is 29% to 105% higher than in comparable unleased areas.

Spatial connectivity between kelp forests and sandy beaches, in terms of kelp subsidies, is highly localized and primarily dependent on kelp canopy biomass. However, attributes of the beach including width and orientation are also important.

Analysis of chromatin state and accessibility in mouse tissues from twelve sites and eight developmental stages provides a comprehensive view of chromatin dynamics.

Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) is promising to host features of topological superconductivity. Here, de la Barrera et al. study layered compounds, 2H-TaS₂ and 2H-NbSe₂, in their atomic layer limit and find a largest upper critical field for an intrinsic TMD superconductor.

The Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network reports an integrative analysis of more than 400 samples of clear cell renal cell carcinoma based on genomic, DNA methylation, RNA and proteomic characterisation; frequent mutations were identified in the PI(3)K/AKT pathway, suggesting this pathway might be a potential therapeutic target, among the findings is also a demonstration of metabolic remodelling which correlates with tumour stage and severity.

Climate model simulations show that Earth’s current climate is near a stability optimum, with warming and substantial cooling both leading to less stable and hence more sensitive climates.