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Thermoluminescence dating of fire-heated flint artefacts, and directly associated newly discovered remains of Homo sapiens, indicate that the Middle Stone Age site of Jebel Irhoud in Morocco is 383–247 thousand years old.

Percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN) navigation can be improved using an endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) probe. By using human kidney specimen, Chen Wang and colleagues report a probe that has been tested feasible for accurate tissue and blood vessel identification during PCN.

The authors discovered that proinflammatory senescent myeloid cells may recruit peripheral immune cells in the aged mouse brain. Their findings implicate senescent cell clearance as a strategy to counter aged brain inflammation and cognitive decline.

Australian archaeological finds of 12,000-year-old fireplaces and artefacts match nineteenth-century GunaiKurnai ritual practices. They represent approximately 500 generations of cultural transmission of this ritual.

Human populations in the southern Africa interior were collecting non-utilitarian objects at around 105,000 years ago, suggesting that the development of this innovative behaviour did not depend on exploiting coastal resources.

The authors review recent archaeological and palaeoanthropological discoveries from China and discuss how they change our understanding of human evolution.

Optical dating of sediments containing stone artefacts newly excavated at Madjedbebe, Australia, indicate that human occupation began around 65,000 years ago, thereby setting a new minimum age for the arrival of people in Australia.

A genome-wide association study of Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates finds mutations in prpR that alter propionate metabolism and mediate multidrug tolerance.

The ergodic hypothesis is used to produce a statistical solution to the chaotic non-hierarchical three-body problem.

The GIAB genomic stratification resource defines challenging regions in three commonly used human genome references, including the first complete human genome (CHM13). These help understand strengths and weaknesses of sequencing and analysis methods.

Analyses of the hominin skull from Broken Hill, Zambia, place it at an earlier date than previously thought, confirming that later Middle Pleistocene Africa was home to at least three lineages of hominin.

Stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of mammal teeth associated with stone tools and cut-marked bone dated to between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago reveals that, at the time of the earliest-known hominin presence, the Arabian peninsula was home to productive grasslands similar to modern-day African savannahs.

New excavations in Sulawesi, where in situ stone artefacts associated with fossil remains of megafauna have been recovered from stratified deposits between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago, suggest that Sulawesi was host to a long-established population of archaic hominins.

How Indigenous populations in the southern tip of South America have changed over time has been unclear. Here the authors generate genome-wide data for 20 ancient individuals and examine how past migrations and admixture events correlate to geography and shifts in the archaeological record.

The formation mechanisms of fullerenes remain unclear. This study shows that fullerenes self-assemble through a closed network growth mechanism in which atomic carbon and C₂are incorporated into the growing closed cages.

Combined patch clamp recording, biocytin staining and single-cell RNA-sequencing of human neurocortical neurons shows an expansion of glutamatergic neuron types relative to mouse that characterizes the greater complexity of the human neocortex.

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.

Anthropogenic stressors affect many aspects of marine organismal health. Here, the authors expose surgeonfish to temperature and pesticide stressors and show that the stressors, separately and in combination, have adverse effects on thyroid signaling, which disrupts several sensory systems and important predation defenses.

Stratigraphic, chronological, environmental and faunal context are provided to the newly discovered fossils of hominins that lived in the So’a Basin in Flores, Indonesia, 700,000 years ago; the stone tools recovered with the fossils are similar to those associated with the much younger Homo floresiensis from Flores, discovered in Liang Bua to the west.

A directly dated Homo sapiens phalanx from the Nefud desert reveals human presence in the Arabian Peninsula before 85,000 years ago. This represents the earliest date for H. sapiens outside Africa and the Levant.

One hundred and ten Zika virus genomes from ten countries and territories involved in the Zika virus epidemic reveal rapid expansion of the epidemic within Brazil and multiple introductions to other regions.

Genome sequencing of Zika virus samples from infected patients and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Florida shows that the virus was probably introduced into the United States on multiple occasions, and that the Caribbean is the most likely source.

Stable carbon isotope analysis of modern and archaeological pandanus nutshell from Australia’s oldest known archaeological site of Madjedbebe reveals precipitation fluctuations over the last 65,000 years.

Recently, rich condensed matter physics has emerged from the interplay between band topology and magnetic order. Here, the authors characterize the magnetic Weyl semimetal CeAlGe and find evidence for the role of Weyl fermions in stabilizing the magnetic order above the local transition temperature.

Chemical imaging of maize roots reveals differential patterns of TCA cycle metabolites along the axis of development. Root growth is affected in distinct ways by exogenous treatments and tissue-specific genetic manipulation of TCA metabolites.

Bayesian modelling of radiometric age estimates provides a robust chronology for Homo erectus at Ngandong (Java), confirming that this site currently represents the last known occurrence of this species.

Chromosome-scale assembly for the cultivated octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) uncovers the origin and evolutionary processes that shaped this complex allopolyploid, providing a useful resource for genome-wide analyses and molecular breeding.

Analysis of exomes and transcriptomes from 100 African American patients with acute myeloid leukemia identifies ancestry-related variation in mutation profiles and survival. Refined risk classification suggests clinical relevance of these ancestry-associated differences.

The structure of a complex of native plant photosystem I, its electron donor plastocyanin and acceptor ferredoxin, has been solved using a new cryo-EM technique, revealing the contact sites and modes of interaction between the interacting electron carriers.

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.

Decline of the Tasmanian devil due to transmissible cancer has allowed mesopredator release of the spotted-tailed quoll. Population genomic analysis of the quoll shows the effect of devil decline on population structure, and selection on genes, including those for muscle development and locomotion.

Homo erectus adapted to hyper-arid climatic conditions one million years ago through the strategic use of rivers and ponds, and this facilitated geographic expansion within and beyond Africa, as shown by multi-proxy data from Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania.

An effective Hamiltonian exhibiting \({\Bbb Z}_2\) symmetry has been engineered by implementing a Floquet-based method on ultracold bosons in an optical lattice, providing a first step towards quantum simulation of \({\Bbb Z}_2\) lattice gauge theories with ultracold matter.

Quantifying the temperature impacts of anthropogenic emissions helps monitor proximity to the Paris Agreement goals. Human activities warmed global mean temperature during the past decade by 0.9 to 1.3 °C above 1850–1900 values, with 1.2 to 1.9 °C from greenhouse gases and −0.7 to −0.1 °C from aerosols.

Around 31,000 years ago, a young individual from Borneo had part of their left lower leg surgically amputated, probably as a child, and lived for another 6–9 years after amputation.

Polar temperatures have been warming significantly over the past few decades. A comparison between observational temperature records and model simulations shows that temperature changes in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions can be attributed to human activity.

Safely opening university campuses has been a major challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, the authors describe a program of public health measures employed at a university in the United States which, combined with other non-pharmaceutical interventions, allowed the university to stay open in fall 2020 with limited evidence of transmission.

An inhibitor of the deubiquitinase (DUB) USP10 regulates the degradation of oncogenic FLT3, thus defining USP10 as a DUB for FLT3 and providing a therapeutic approach for human acute myeloid leukemia in which FLT3 activation is dysregulated.

It has been hypothesized that domestication can occur through the ‘commensal pathway’ in which the domesticate takes advantage of a niche created as a byproduct by the domesticator. Here, Brooker et al. provide evidence for a commensal domestication process between longfin damselfish and mysid shrimps.

Genome-wide association analyses identify variants associated with thoracic aortic diameter. A polygenic score for ascending aortic diameter was associated with a diagnosis of thoracic aortic aneurysm in independent samples.

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