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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.

Analysis of a fossilized front flipper of the Jurassic ichthyosaur Temnodontosaurus that preserves details of soft tissue indicates the presence of a serrated trailing edge that would have reduced noise generated while swimming, enabling stealth hunting and hiding from predators.

Ruth Loos and colleagues report results of a large genome-wide association study for body mass index. They identify 18 new loci associated with this trait, some of which map near key hypothalamic regulators of energy balance.

Bedload can dominate river sediment flux after a major earthquake for a prolonged time period.

Large genome-wide meta-analysis of clinically diagnosed late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) from 94,437 individuals identifies new LOAD risk loci and implicates Aβ formation, tau protein binding, immune response and lipid metabolism.

Robert Macfarlane reflects on the recent resurgence in nature writing.

Cecilia Lindgren and colleagues report results of a large-scale genome-wide association study for waist-to-hip ratio, a measure of body fat distribution. They identify 13 new loci associated with this trait, several of which show stronger effects in women than in men.

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.

Bhattacharjee and Schaeffer et al. map exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) in 94 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), finding increased EBF practice and reduced subnational variation across the majority of LMICs from 2000 to 2018. However, only six LMICs will meet WHO’s target of ≥70% EBF by 2030 nationally, and only three will achieve this in all districts.

Genome-wide analyses identify common variants associated with 11 distinct neuropathology endophenotypes, providing insights into the mechanisms underlying the genetic risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

In this disease mapping study, the authors estimate disability-adjusted life year rates for three of the major causes of mortality for children under five 43 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. They identify significant heterogeneity at the subnational level, highlighting the need for a targeted intervention approach.

Fine-scale geospatial mapping of overweight and wasting (two components of the double burden of malnutrition) in 105 LMICs shows that overweight has increased from 5.2% in 2000 to 6.0% in children under 5 in 2017. Although overall wasting decreased over the same period, most countries are not on track to meet the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025.

In situ 4D experiments at high temperature and moderate pressure reveal that rapid dendritic crystallization in hydrous basaltic magmas promotes a rheological transition within minutes, controlling magma mobility within the Earth’s crust.

Global temperature fluctuations during the last 2,000 years caused consistent changes in ocean evaporation and atmospheric moisture condensation processes, reflected in coherent water isotope signals in a large compilation of proxy records.

This very large genome-wide association study identifies hundreds of new genetic variants influencing adult height in at least 180 loci enriched for genes involved in skeletal growth defects. The results show that the likely causal gene is often located near the most strongly associated variant, that many loci have multiple independently associated variants and that associated variants are enriched for likely functional effects on genes.

Policies aiming to preserve vegetated coastal ecosystems (VCE) to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions require national assessments of blue carbon resources. Here the authors assessed organic carbon storage in VCE across Australian and the potential annual CO₂ emission benefits of VCE conservation and find that Australia contributes substantially the carbon stored in VCE globally.

Understanding what happens to the liquid in melt pools during welding and metal-based additive manufacturing remains a challenge. Here, the authors directly image internal melt pool dynamics using synchrotron radiation to show surface tension affects flow speed, orientation and surface turbulence.

APOE is the major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. In a large number of neuropathologically confirmed cases and controls, the impact of different APOE genotypes on Alzheimer’s dementia risk was greater than previously thought and APOE2 homozygotes had an exceptionally low risk.

Photochemical reduction of CO₂ usually requires the use of a sacrificial electron donor (reductant). Here, a tertiary amine reductant is described that can be regenerated by H₂ addition. This permits the formal coupling of CO₂ reduction to photochemical water splitting, thereby offering an approach to artificial photosynthesis.

Additive manufacturing of metals is now widely available, but the interaction of the metal powder with the laser remains unclear. Here, the authors use X-rays to image melt features and pore behaviour during laser melting of powders.

Evans, Blake, Longworth and colleagues identify and characterize a tumour-suppressive role for microglia that mediate a pro-inflammatory response to restrict brain metastasis in breast cancer.

Volcanoes that typically erupt effusively can generate highly explosive eruptions of basaltic lava under specific temperature and viscosity conditions, suggest crystallization experiments combined with numerical models of magma fragmentation.

Sven van der Lee, Julie Williams, Gerard Schellenberg and colleagues identify rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3 and TREM2 associated with Alzheimer's disease. These genes are highly expressed in microglia and provide additional evidence that the microglia-mediated immune response contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Understanding fast phenomena that happen in hot and opaque environments, such as during metal foaming, remains a challenge. Here, the authors use ultra-fast imaging of more than 200 three-dimensional volumes per second to explore bubble coalescence in an aluminium alloy.

Keri Monda, Kari North, Christopher Haiman and colleagues report a meta-analysis of GWAS for body mass index that is composed of 39,144 individuals of African ancestry, followed by further genotyping in 32,268 individuals of African ancestry. The study also includes analysis of publicly available data from the GIANT consortium of ~124,000 individuals of European ancestry. The paper reports evidence for two new loci near GALNT10 and MIR148A.

Integrative single-cell RNA sequencing and immunological profiling reveal that older adults have reduced antigen-specific cellular and humoral responses accompanied by increased cytokine storm and myeloid cell recruiting factors in response to acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.

A modeling study using case and mortality data from the first 8 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States explores five potential future scenarios of social distancing mandates and mask use at the state level, with projections of the course of the epidemic through winter 2021.

Using whole-genome data for single-nucleotide polymorphism and results from genome-wide association studies, the authors show that people’s preference for pairing with those with similar phenotypic traits has genetic causes and consequences.

Exclusive breastfeeding in Africa is highly varied within and between countries, with many countries unlikely to reach World Health Organization 2025 targets without urgent action.