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NiPS₃ is a van der Waals antiferromagnetic semiconductor where the exciton formation is strongly influenced by the magnetic ordering. Previous studies have been limited to magneto-optical approaches, but here, Lebedev, Gish and coauthors succeed in making field effect transistors that operate below the Néel temperature and observe an ultranarrow electroluminescence with a high degree of linear polarization.

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.

Earthworms contribute to plant growth. Here, Fonte et al. conduct a global meta-analysis and estimate that earthworms contribute to roughly 6.5% of global grain (maize, rice, wheat, barley) production and 2.3% of legume yields, equivalent to over 140 million metric tons annually.

The patterns of how yield gaps change can suggest likely future outcomes for crop growth. This study conducts a spatial and temporal analysis of yield gaps for ten major crops from 1975 to 2010 and identifies regions where crops are experiencing ‘ceiling pressure’, signalling opportunities to improve future food security.

Demand for crops is increasing, but it is not clear whether the yields can meet this demand. Using crop yield observations, this study analyses global trends and finds that while yields continue to increase in some areas, across 24–39% of crop-growing regions, yields have stagnated or declined over the past 50 years.

Estimating the global cropland N₂O mitigation potential is limited by the uncertainty and variability of direct emission factors (EFs). Here, using a data-driven approach with 1,507 chamber-based field observations of EFs, the study shows that EF variation is primarily driven by climatic and edaphic factors. Two-thirds of the mitigation potential could be achieved on one-fifth of the global harvested area, mainly located in humid subtropical climates and across gleysols and acrisols.

Extreme high temperature events are increasing in frequency and severity, threatening the capacity for crops and farmers alike to adapt. Here Sloat and colleagues track the movement of cereal crops over the past 40 years, finding a global migration away from warming climates.

Global high-resolution crop-specific estimates of greenhouse gas emissions intensity (in 2000) reveal that certain cropping practices contribute disproportionately to emissions, making them suitable targets for climate mitigation policies.

Despite its utility for climate change adaptation, US irrigation produces 18.9 MtCO₂e yr⁻¹ from groundwater degassing, elevated N₂O and energy use. This county-level analysis reveals opportunities for geographically targeted emissions mitigation.

Global yields of major crops are analysed using climate, irrigation and new nutrient data to show that large production increases are possible from closing yield gaps to 100% of attainable yields, and that changes in management practices needed to close yield gaps vary considerably by region and current intensity.

Agriculture dependent on snowmelt will face serious challenges under climate change, which increases risks for countries that import these crop products. Food security and livelihoods in countries heavily exposed to global food trade may be vulnerable even though domestic production is not affected.

The Zika viral protease NS2B-NS3 is a crucial target for antiviral drug development due to its role in processing viral polyproteins. Here, the authors utilize crystallographic fragment screening and deep mutational scanning to identify binding sites for resistance-resilient inhibitors.

Trends in the rate of region- and sector-specific land-use greenhouse gas emissions in 1961–2017 show an acceleration of about 20% per decade after 2001.

Quantifying the long-term (LT) response of crop yields to nitrogen fertilizer is critical to improving nutrient management practices. Based on 25 LT field experiments, this study develops a generic LT nitrogen response function for global cereals to characterize the yield impacts, associated LT economic benefits and external costs of changing nitrogen inputs.

Geospatial estimates of the prevalence of anemia in women of reproductive age across 82 low-income and middle-income countries reveals considerable heterogeneity and inequality at national and subnational levels, with few countries on track to meet the WHO Global Nutrition Targets by 2030.

There are big uncertainties in the contribution of irrigation to crop yields. Here, the authors use Bayesian model averaging to combine statistical and process-based models and quantify the contribution of irrigation for wheat and maize yields, finding that irrigation alone cannot close yield gaps for a large fraction of global rainfed agriculture.

Snowmelt runoff is an important source of water for irrigating agricultural crops in high-mountain Asia, Central Asia, western Russia, western US and the southern Andes. Climate change places water resources in these basins at risk, indicating the need to adapt water management.

Existing datasets of nitrogen (N) balance in agriculture are often discrepant. Comparing 13 of them regarding five metrics (fertilizer application, manure application, biological N fixation, atmospheric deposition, and N harvested as crop products) over 1961–2015 reveals why. Recommendations for improving N quantification and an N budget benchmark dataset are also proposed.

This study demonstrates the energy use of US pump irrigation produced 12.6 million tonnes CO₂e in 2018, with spatial variability modulated by water source and fuel choice. These county-level estimates can inform strategic irrigation expansion and emissions reduction efforts.

The global agrarian transition is characterized by a rise in large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs), whose energy impacts are unknown. Here, the authors assess how LSLAs change land use, finding that they necessitate greater investment in energy to meet demands, and greater greenhouse gas emissions.

Different functional variants in ADH1B (and elsewhere) in Europeans and Africans strongly affect risk for alcohol dependence. Dependence only partly genetically correlates with consumption, with strong correlations to other psychiatric disorders.

Perennial crops such as fruits and nuts, important to dietary diversity and nutrition, represent almost 40% of California’s agriculture by economic value. Here, the impacts of climate change and ozone on historical and future yields of perennial crops in California are assessed.

Using multi-ancestry genome-wide association study and fine-mapping, 298 loci and 36 credible genes are identified in the aetiology of bipolar disorder.

Irrigation expansion is expected to meet increasing food demand and help agriculture adapt to climate change. This Review article synthesizes the various linkages between irrigation and climate, evaluating their impacts on each other and presenting innovative solutions for sustainable irrigation under climate change.

Climate change will impact agriculture, and this study shows cropping frequency and caloric yield are negatively impacted on the global scale by warming. While cold regions will increase cropping frequency, warm regions will see greater decreases, resulting in an overall decline in production.

Global geospatial datasets and a regression discontinuity design enable the country-level effects, such as agricultural policies, on crop yields and nitrogen pollution to be quantified. The influences of countries were much larger on nitrogen pollution than on crop yields.

Increases in temperature extremes are of major concern for agricultural production. However, this study identifies a connection between agricultural intensification and less extreme summer temperatures over the agriculturally dominated US Midwest.

Genome-wide comparative analysis of DNA binding for 200 transcription factors in two maize inbred lines reveals prevalent genotype-specific variation that is associated with gene expression differences and agronomic traits.

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.

Spirulina is used to manufacture a therapeutic antibody against campylobacter.

The vulnerability of barley production and beer supply to future weather extremes remains unknown. A study using modelling finds that weather extremes associated with climate change would threaten the availability and economic accessibility of beer.

Irrigation accounts for a substantial proportion of global water usage and can have biophysical and biogeochemical impacts on Earth systems. This Review outlines key irrigation–Earth system interactions, and discusses the effect of future climate and socioeconomic changes on irrigation patterns and their interaction.

Small transporters pose a challenge for cryo-EM structure elucidation. Here, the authors tackled this limitation by rigidly fusing a fiducial marker to a transporter C-terminus, enabling multiple structures to be elucidated from a single sample.

Plasmon-enhanced photocatalysis holds promise for the control of chemical reactions. Here the authors report an Al@Cu₂O heterostructure based on earth abundant materials to transform CO₂ into CO at significantly milder conditions.

Genome-wide association analyses of 41,917 bipolar disorder cases and 371,549 controls of European ancestry provide new insights into the etiology of this disorder and identify novel therapeutic leads and potential opportunities for drug repurposing.

Water scarcity associated with large-scale land acquisitions is exacerbated by adoption of water-intensive crops and expansion of irrigation, which in turn increases rival water uses.

The draft genome of the Norway spruce (P. abies) is presented; this is the first gymnosperm genome to be sequenced and reveals a large genome size (20 Gb) resulting from the accumulation of transposable elements, and comparative sequencing of five other gymnosperm genomes provides insights into conifer genome evolution.

Here, the authors describe the global distribution of crAssphage, its presence in Old-World and New-World primates, and its association with gut bacterial communities and dietary factors, providing insights into the origin, evolution and epidemiology of human gut crAssphage.

A combined screening and selection approach enables the evolution of the generalist transcription factor RamR into specific and sensitive biosensors for various alkaloids and in turn a streamlined pathway for tetrahydropapaverine biosynthesis.

Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) is associated with pathogenic germline TP53 variants and predisposes patients to cancer; understanding the evolution and drivers of LFS-related tumours remains crucial. Here, the authors analyse 22 LFS tumours using whole-genome sequencing and reconstruct the evolution and timing of somatic driver alterations.

Cryo-EM analysis of the quinolone transporter NorA in complex with synthetic antigen-binding fragments (Fabs) inspired peptide mimics of the Fabs that inhibit methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in combination with the antibiotic norfloxacin.

In vivo microelectrode arrays allow the measurement of action potentials from individual neurons in awake animals to better understand the function of the brain and the peripheral nervous system. In this Primer, Williams et al. cover the different designs, experimental set-ups and applications of this technology and discuss data processing steps for electrophysiological data.

Fine-scale estimates of the prevalence of HIV in adults across sub-Saharan Africa reveal substantial within-country variation and local differences in both the direction and rate of change in the prevalence of HIV between 2000 and 2017.

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.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias identifies new loci and enables generation of a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.