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Human impacts on marine ecosystems are increasing the likelihood of pathogenic outbreaks, harmful algal blooms and coral stress. Here the authors develop a CRISPR biomonitoring tool that can help detect key marine species that are important to public health, the aquaculture sector and marine ecosystems.

Here, the authors perform metagenomic analysis of Ecuadorian mothers and children showing that improved WASH and reduced animal exposure can lower antimicrobial resistance in the gut but may reduce gut microbial diversity, with the strongest effects observed in mothers.

Analysis of the 3D chromatin architecture and cis-regulatory elements in a sea urchin and a sea star reveals mechanisms of 3D chromatin organization in echinoderms and the long-term evolutionary dynamics of cis-regulatory elements in animals.

PU.1^low CD28-expressing microglia may act as suppressive cells in Alzheimer’s disease, mitigating its progression by reducing neuroinflammation and amyloid plaque load, indicating potential immunotherapeutic approaches for treatment.

Barcia Durán, Dayasagar, et al. map the expression of immune checkpoints in human atherosclerosis and examine the influence of lipid-lowering treatments and type 2 diabetes to understand how immune checkpoint inhibitors worsen cardiovascular risk in survivors of cancer.

In this study, the authors describe SANA, a nitroalkene derivative of salicylate, as a potential activator of creatine-dependent energy expenditure and thermogenesis in adipose tissue. Preclinical and clinical data from this paper also suggest that SANA improves glucose homeostasis and promotes weight loss in mice and humans.

In protostomes the mouth develops from the embryonic blastophore, whereas in deuterostomes it develops separately. A comparison between two related protostomal and deuterostomal brachiopod species shows the role of Wnt signalling and mesoderm formation in this fundamental dichotomy of bilaterian animal body plan.

Mosses support carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition and plant pathogen control in soils across the globe, according to a global survey of soil attributes in ecosystems with and without mosses.

Managing power exhaust in fusion reactors is a key challenge, especially in compact designs for cost-effective commercial energy. This study shows how alternative divertor configurations improve exhaust control, enhance stability, absorb transients and enable independent plasma regulation.

Wood density is a key control on tree biomass, and understanding its spatial variation improves estimates of forest carbon stock. Sullivan et al. measure >900 forest plots to quantify wood density and produce high resolution maps of its variation across South American tropical forests.

The authors show that the Martian crust, ~4300 km from the InSight landing site, has a subsurface interface similar to that beneath the lander, suggesting it is a regional or global feature that may be related to the closure of pore spaces at depth.

Microbes can establish mutualistic interactions with plants and insects. Here, Kim et al. show that Streptomyces bacteria can protect strawberry plants and honeybees from pathogens, can move into the plant vascular tissue from soil and from flowers, and are transferred among flowers by the pollinators.

Protection afforded by inorganic minerals is assumed to make mineral-associated organic carbon less susceptible to loss under climate change than particulate organic carbon. However, a global study of soil organic carbon from drylands suggests that this is not the case.

The second Global Amphibian Assessment finds that the status of amphibians is continuing to deteriorate globally, driven predominantly by climate change, disease and habitat loss.

Edge-localized plasma modes in a tokamak can damage its innermost wall. Simulations now show that fast ions can modify the spatio-temporal structure of these modes. These effects need to be considered in the optimization of control techniques.

Analysis of 20 chemical and morphological plant traits at diverse sites across 6 continents shows that the transition from semi-arid to arid zones is associated with an unexpected 88% increase in trait diversity.

How invertebrates with spiral cleavage establish their body plans is unclear. Here the authors show that, like molluscs, a basal annelid uses ERK1/2 to instruct body patterning, suggesting that this is a deep ancestral trait in animal embryogenesis.

Vesicular stomatitis virus is shown to establish collective infectious units, enabling virions to enter cells as a group. This is exacerbated in host fluids, decreases virus titre, and could facilitate both viral evolution and antiviral defence.

In global drylands, soils tend to be more fertile beneath tree, shrub and grass islands. Soil fertility was greater beneath taller and wider plants but was unaffected by either grazing pressure or the type of herbivore.

Annelid worms have colonised extreme ecological niches, such as hydrothermal vents and whale falls thanks to symbiotic bacteria. This study finds that Osedax worms and the related Vestimentifera have evolved different genomic adaptations to sustain their bacterial symbioses and exploit different resources, such as decaying bone.

Predictions suggest that a high proportion of plant species will be threatened with extinction in the near future. A global assessment of the threat status of cacti suggests that these iconic plants are amongst the most threatened taxonomic groups, with 31% of the 1,478 evaluated species at risk of extinction.

An investigation using various methods reports an association between adeno-associated virus 2 and paediatric hepatitis of unknown aetiology.

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.

The bacterium Helicobacter pylori, often found in the human stomach, can be classified into distinct subpopulations associated with the geographic origin of the host. Here, the authors provide insights into H. pylori population structure by collecting over 1,000 clinical strains from 50 countries and generating and analyzing high-quality bacterial genome sequences.

In bilaterian animals, the final configurations of central nervous systems seem unrelated to neuroectodermal patterning systems, so it is likely that the various architectures of the ventral nerve cords evolved convergently, many times.

Identification of divisome proteins related to human gephyrin and its membrane receptor in non-model Gram positive Corynebacteriales could provide new antibiotic targets for important pathogens including M. tuberculosis and C. diptheriae.

Plasma turbulence is the main driver to deteriorate the performance of fusion power plants. This work presents an unprecedented comparison of plasma turbulence between experiment and simulation, proving that the gyrokinetic model GENE reached a high level of maturity to predict core turbulence.

Wind tunnel experiments and numerical modelling reveal the existence of two distinct ripples on Earth: centimetre-scale impact ripples and decimetre-scale hydrodynamic ripples, akin to those in water and on Mars.

Löhning and colleagues identify an alternative promoter for the Il1rl1 gene that drives IL-33 receptor expression in cytotoxic T cells and T-helper 1 cells

This study provides a cell atlas of the sea lamprey brain based on single-cell RNA-seq and in situ sequencing data and includes comparative analyses with other vertebrates that reveal key features of the ancestral vertebrate brain as well as traits that arose later in evolution.

Using multiply diffracted P waves and first-principles computations of the thermoelastic properties of liquid iron-rich alloys, we show that the core of Mars is smaller and denser than previously thought.

Data from 42 chronosequence sites show a geater abundance of legumes in seasonally dry forests than in wet forests, particularly during early secondary succession, probably owing to legumes’ nitrogen-fixing ability and reduced leaflet size.

A case–control study investigating the causes of recent cases of acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology in 32 children identifies an association between adeno-associated virus infection and host genetics in disease susceptibility.

The suppression of edge-localized modes in tokamak plasmas is crucial to prevent them from damaging the walls of the chamber. Now experiments confirm the role that magnetic islands play in suppressing these detrimental modes.

Damaged brains try to repair themselves by producing neurons in areas where neurogenesis does not normally occur. Here, the authors show that brain endothelial cells provide microvesicle-encased signals that convert parenchymal astrocytes into neural progenitors, thus improving outcomes after stroke.

Neotropical tree community composition shows opposing successional pathways for wet and dry forests, but as vegetation cover increases over time, trends converge. Selecting species that have similar wood density to early successional communities could improve reforestation prospects.

Comparative chromosome-scale genome sequencing and transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling of three different species of annelid provide insight into the evolutionary origin of larvae.

A global field survey that analyses samples of soil from all continents identifies hotspots for soil nature conservation, and shows that different ecological dimensions of soil are associated with different priority areas for conservation.

Two very-high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (at 2,132 Hz and 4,250 Hz) are detected within the initial hard spike of a magnetar giant flare originating from the galaxy NGC 253, and detailed temporal and spectral analyses are performed.

Dry-season climate variability is a primary driver of tropical tree growth, according to observations from a pantropical tree-ring network.