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Low oxidation state aluminium complexes have gained wide recognition as discrete and versatile 2-electron reductants, but neutral trimeric structures remain elusive. Here the authors report the synthesis and characterization of two neutral Al(I) trimers whose trimeric structure is retained in solution.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

Reconstructing bacterial diversity dynamics from phylogenies, the authors estimate that there are about 1.4–1.9 million extant bacterial lineages and that diversity has been continuously increasing over the past 1 billion years, although most lineages to have inhabited Earth are now extinct.

Here, using samples from ~1,100 individuals, the authors define the nasal microbiome linked to Staphylococcus aureus colonization, identifying seven communities- either S. aureus-dominated or dominated by other bacteria.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

A combination of high-resolution spatial imaging, spatial proteomics and transcriptional data reveals sparse and heterogeneous bacterial signals in gliomas and brain metastases.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

Previous reports of microbial endemism have been restricted to sub-genus level taxa. Here, Power et al. present evidence supporting that a bacterial genus, Venenivibrio, is endemic to Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Electron distributions exhibit velocity-space signatures indicative of the rapid energy released by magnetic reconnection explosions occurring in Earth’s magnetosphere and in plasmas throughout the universe. Here, the authors discover a smile-shaped signature in the electron gradient distribution associated with reconnection occurring at Earth’s dayside magnetopause boundary.

H5N1 avian influenza viruses caused an outbreak in dairy cattle. We show that the potential for avian viruses to replicate in cow cells varies across H5N1 evolution, suggesting that the risk of spillover into mammals differs between variants.

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.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

The LGN is a critical stage between the retina and visual cortex, but the properties of human LGN neurons are not fully understood. Here the authors report that they closely resemble those in monkeys and that closure of one eye increases the activity of putative inhibitory neurons connected to that eye.

Covalent KRAS inhibitors show initial responses but resistance limits durability. Here drug-induced hapten peptides are identified and characterized, enabling production of high affinity, cross-HLA T cell engagers that stabilize low density hapten peptide MHCs to drive tumor-specific killing.

Mussels produce a dynamic bio-interface between their living tissue and their non-living byssus attachment, relevant for design of implant devices. Here, authors discover a mechanoresponsive protein that may mediate mechanosensing at the interface.

CD16a triggers antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity but CD16a shedding dampens its anti-tumor activity. Here the authors develop a monoclonal antibody (F9H4) that prevents CD16a shedding, which synergizes with a tumor cell opsonizing antibody (cetuximab) to elicit natural killer cell-driven immunity.

The International Brain Laboratory presents a brain-wide electrophysiological map obtained from pooling data from 12 laboratories that performed the same standardized perceptual decision-making task in mice.

The Omicron variant evades vaccine-induced neutralization but also fails to form syncytia, shows reduced replication in human lung cells and preferentially uses a TMPRSS2-independent cell entry pathway, which may contribute to enhanced replication in cells of the upper airway. Altered fusion and cell entry characteristics are linked to distinct regions of the Omicron spike protein.

As phase 1 of the Earth Microbiome Project, analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA sequences from more than 27,000 environmental samples delivers a global picture of the basic structure and drivers of microbial distribution.

A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.

Quantifying genomic aberrations resulting from designer nucleases activity is essential for gene therapy clinical translation. Here, the authors present a modular digital PCR technique that profiles DNA repair precision and cut-repair cycles at the edited loci, exposing current evaluation biases.

Here Jaster et al., show a single psilocybin dose produce sex-specific post-acute changes in opioid reward and withdrawal via 5-HT2A receptors in frontal cortex-to–nucleus accumbens circuits, with epigenetic and synaptic changes shaping therapeutic potential.

Extracellular electron transfer is a ubiquitous process that occurs in natural microbial communities. Here, Ishii et al.identify specific microbial strains and genes involved in extracellular electron transfer in a biofilm community that is associated with a microbial fuel cell.

Chronic infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to the emergence of viral variants that show reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies in an immunosuppressed individual treated with convalescent plasma.

Sera from vaccinated individuals and some monoclonal antibodies show a modest reduction in neutralizing activity against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2; but the E484K substitution leads to a considerable loss of neutralizing activity.

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 BioDIGS project is a nationwide initiative involving students, researchers and educators across more than 40 research and teaching institutions. Participants lead sample collection, computational analysis and results interpretation to understand the relationships between the soil microbiome, environment and health.

HTLV-1 type-C causes more severe disease than type-A, but the underlying reason is unclear. Here the authors show in a macaque model how type-C orf-I affects lung pathogenesis and the immune response to HTLV-1, providing a model to test viral targets for disease prevention.

In this study, Aggarwal and colleagues perform prospective sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates derived from asymptomatic student screening and symptomatic testing of students and staff at the University of Cambridge. They identify important factors that contributed to within university transmission and onward spread into the wider community.

A machine-learning approach accounting for methodological differences in studies and complex interactions among taxa allows independent soil studies to be combined at the taxonomy-based level to assess bacterial community structure.

Brain-wide recordings in mice reveal that prior expectations are distributed through recurrent loops across all levels of cortical and subcortical processing.

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

Post-international travel quarantine has been widely implemented to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but the impacts of such policies are unclear. Here, the authors used linked genomic and contact tracing data to assess the impacts of a 14-day quarantine on return to England in summer 2020.

Polygenic scores for body mass index and obesity constructed using data from 5 million people with different ancestries were associated with distinct weight gain trajectories from early childhood to adulthood.

Genetic and testing data from England show that the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern B.1.1.7 has a transmission advantage over other lineages.

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.

Madruga and colleagues present an open-source, miniature 2-photon microscope that can fit on a mouse’s head. Using this system, the authors perform high-resolution brain activity measurements in fine neuronal structures, which they can achieve even in conditions where the mouse is freely-moving within its cage.

Antarctic ice cap discovered to be home to huge (6% of the currently mapped area identified as terrestrial photosynthetic life in Antarctica) and unique photosynthetic microbe community but their darker colour on the surface is likely to make the snow and ice melt faster.

Cardiovascular function declines with age. In this study, the authors show that the BAT-derived lipokine 12,13-diHOME preserves cardiac function in aged mice by attenuating pathological CaMKII activity.

The Sargasso Sea is a natural laboratory for understanding future conditions of warmer oceans and associated nutrient limitation. Here, the authors combined short- and long-read sequencing to survey Sargasso Sea viral communities.

Clinical benefit or intestinal toxicity resulting from combined immune checkpoint blockade in patients with melanoma associates with prevalent commensal bacteria and can be decoupled by IL-1R inhibition.

Edited bacteria were stably maintained in mouse gut for at least 42 days following the delivery of a base editor using an engineered phage-derived particle to modify Escherichia coli colonizing the gut.