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Extreme rainfall increases with temperature and this is predicted to continue in a future warmer climate. Whilst a downturn in rainfall scaling is observed at high temperatures in the present day, this does not imply an upper limit on rainfall extremes in the future.

Chemical and structural imaging of Komodo dragon teeth reveals that they maintain their sharp cutting edges through iron-enriched coatings, a unique adaptation compared with theropod dinosaurs (for which they have previously been used as an extant model).

Biomphalaria glabrata is a fresh water snail that acts as a host for trematode Schistosoma mansoni that causes intestinal infection in human. This work describes the genome and transcriptome analyses from 12 different tissues of B glabrata, and identify genes for snail behavior and evolution.

Determining stratospheric ozone levels from before instrumental records began has proved difficult. Measurements of the chemical composition of plant spore walls suggest that ultraviolet-B-absorbing compounds have the potential to act as a proxy for past changes in ultraviolet-B radiation and stratospheric ozone.

Here, the authors perform transcriptional profiling on tracheal aspirates of adults requiring mechanical ventilation for SARS-CoV2-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and identify a dysregulated host response predicted to predicted to be potentially modulated by dexamethasone.

IL-33 plays a central role in type II immune responses and is generally thought to be released following cellular damage and processed extracellularly. Rothenberg and colleagues describe a new ripoptosome pathway that is assembled following exposure to various unrelated environmental allergens and that processes IL-33 into an active form intracellularly.

The impact of the DART spacecraft on the asteroid Dimorphos is reported and reconstructed, demonstrating that kinetic impactor technology is a viable technique to potentially defend Earth from asteroids.

The authors use long-term satellite tracking to project climate-induced shifts in whale shark distributions and understand their potential future risk of ship-strike. Under high-emission scenarios, the movement of sharks to current range-edge habitat is linked to 15,000-fold increased co-occurrence with ships.

Unlike Amazonian forests, African forests have maintained their carbon sink until recently but by 2030 the African carbon sink will have shrunk by 14 per cent and the Amazonian sink will reach almost zero.

Including participants from 45 countries, Bago et al. find that the situational factors that affect moral reasoning are shared across countries, with diminished observed cultural variation.

The authors link intensification of cold upwelling in two western boundary currents to the observed death of marine organisms, and upwelling avoidance behaviour in bull sharks. They raise concerns of increased risk of cold-mortality events for climate migrants at their poleward distribution limits.

This Resource describes data, code and tools developed for the Human Reference Atlas and the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program for building and navigating a multiscale human atlas.

Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis (SDSE) is an emerging cause of human infection closely related to Streptococcus pyogenes. Here the authors investigate the degree of genomic similarity between the two species and assess implications for development of vaccines.

Hypophosphatasia — a form of metabolic bone disease characterized by low serum alkaline phosphatase activity — results from loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding the tissue-nonspecific isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP). Here, Michael Whyte discusses the aetiology, nosology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of hypophosphatasia, which is particularly timely given the recently reported successes and approvals of treating the disease using asfotase alfa, a bone-targeted, recombinant TNSALP.

Protecting the ocean from increasing threats requires the development of high-seas marine reserve networks. An approach that optimizes biodiversity, minimizes climate change exposure and reduces fisheries conflict enables low-regret climate-smart conservation areas to be identified.

A microcosm experiment replicated across 14 laboratories shows that deliberate inclusion of genetic variation enhances the reproducibility of an ecological study.

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic allergic inflammatory disease with a complex underlying genetic etiology. Here, the authors identify a series of rare variants in DSP and PPL in multiplex families with EoE and uncover a pathogenic role for desmosomal dysfunction in EoE.

Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017 and resulted in a complete loss of activity of the Public Health Laboratories. Here, the authors discuss the approach taken and tools developed to re-establish activity in these laboratories using a quality management system and the lessons learned in this process.

Interleukin-33 (IL-33) can be released as a cytokine or transported into the nucleus, but the significance of this nuclear shuttling is not fully understood. Here the authors show that chromatin-binding of IL-33 alters, unexpectedly, the activity of IL-33 both in alarmin release kinetics and receptor signaling capacity.

Multi-year field experiments across six continents suggest that insects have an important contribution to decomposition and carbon release from forest deadwood.

Local extinction of the butterfly Euphydryas editha occurred after the population was caught in an eco-evolutionary trap set when the insects evolved unanimous preference for an exotic host, Plantago lanceolata, and sprung when that host became embedded in grasses after humans removed cattle.

Marine biodiversity is at risk as the ocean warms, but currently the focus has been at the surface as the deep ocean has warmed less. Climate velocity—the speed and direction of isotherm displacement—is calculated to be faster in the deep ocean, and projections show this difference will grow.

Age at onset of X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism is 50% explained by the length of a repeat in an SVA insert. The authors perform a GWAS for genetic modifiers and discover three more loci, accounting for another 13% of variability in age at onset with the protective alleles delaying onset by seven years.

This Registered Report presents evidence from 87 countries and regions showing that brief emotion-regulation interventions consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ticks transmit a large number of pathogens that cause human diseases. Here, the authors sequence the genome of the tick Ixodes scapularisand uncover expansion of genes associated with parasitic processes unique to ticks and tick-host interactions.

The transcription factor c-Myc is essential for T cell proliferation after priming; however, its expression is transient. Egawa and colleagues show that the transcription factor AP4 is induced by c-Myc and sustains the activation of CD8⁺ T cells.

Chronic inflammation can promote the development of various cancers. In this Review, the current clinical advances in ameliorating inflammation for the prevention or treatment of cancer are highlighted, and the experimental insights into the biological mechanisms supporting current and potential novel anti-inflammatory approaches to the management of cancer are discussed.

Around 48% of tree species in an aseasonal forest in Borneo, Malaysia had reduced growth during heavy rains, and 92% of species showed reduced survival, whereas as little as 4% of species had a decrease in growth or survival during dry periods during 2004–2017, according to an analysis of tree dynamics data from 25 tropical species.

Sunshine et al use a combination of rat models and in silico modeling to show that temporal interference stimulation can prevent fatal apneas after opioid overdose, and can activate the diaphragm after spinal cord injury. This potentially paves the way for an alternative and minimally invasive treatment