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High-pressure measurements of the electrical conductivity of (Mg,Fe)O, used as an analogue for basal magma ocean material, indicate that the conductivity is high enough to produce a dynamo much stronger than a core-driven dynamo for super-Earths larger than 3–6 Earth masses.

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).

Here, the authors perform a meta-analysis in 26,699 people with seizures and 492,324 controls to identify 25 genome-wide significant copy-number variants. The discovered loci point to known disease genes and associations with clinical annotations.

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.

This study shows that long-term climate change systematically alters small-scale wind variability and its vertical velocity, influencing cloud microphysics and the Earth’s radiative balance.

Structural variants (SVs) in human genomes contribute diversity and diseases. Here, the authors use a multi-platform strategy to generate haplotype-resolved SVs for three human parent–child trios.

Here, the authors examine the mechanisms behind cheatgrass’s successful invasion of North American ecosystems. Their genetic analyses and common garden experiments demonstrate that multiple introductions and migrations facilitated cheatgrass local adaptation.

Human challenge studies with SARS-CoV-2 have shown changes in the innate and adaptive immune response. Here the authors are examining potential correlates of infection in virus challenged recipients by assessing baseline immune parameters and how this predicts virus control.

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.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) onsets in COVID-19 patients with manifestations similar to Kawasaki disease (KD). Here the author probe the peripheral blood transcriptome of MIS-C patients to find signatures related to natural killer (NK) cell activation and CD8+ T cell exhaustion that are shared with KD patients.

Here the authors provide an explanation for 95% of examined predicted loss of function variants found in disease-associated haploinsufficient genes in the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD), underscoring the power of the presented analysis to minimize false assignments of disease risk.

Stem cell repair of injured monkey spinal cords restores hand function in 53% of trials.

Analysis of rare protein-truncating, damaging missense and copy number variants from exome sequencing of 63,237 individuals identifies 72 genes associated with autism spectrum disorder.

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.

New field measurements and modeling show meltwater refreezing in Greenland’s bare ice may reduce runoff to surrounding oceans, highlighting a process climate models can incorporate for improved predictions of future sea-level rise.

The properties of materials can be drastically modified under extreme pressure. Here the authors investigate ramp-compressed sodium to 5 million atmospheres with in situ X-ray diffraction and optical reflectivity, revealing a complex temperature-driven polymorphism and suggesting the formation of a previously predicted electride phase.

A large empirical assessment of sequence-resolved structural variants from 14,891 genomes across diverse global populations in the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD) provides a reference map for disease-association studies, population genetics, and diagnostic screening.

Typical quantum error correcting codes assign fixed roles to the underlying physical qubits. Now the performance benefits of alternative, dynamic error correction schemes have been demonstrated on a superconducting quantum processor.

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.

The homeostasis of myelin in the central nervous system is highly regulated, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here, the authors show that the FBXW7 protein has a role in constraining myelin growth in the developing and adult central nervous system, preventing the accumulation of myelin abnormalities. FBXW7 acts in part through targeting the MYRF transcription factor for degradation.

A method termed ac⁴C-seq is introduced for the transcriptome-wide mapping of the RNA modification N⁴-acetylcytidine, revealing widespread temperature-dependent acetylation that facilitates thermoadaptation in hyperthermophilic archaea.

An integrated data and sample repository for clinical, cellular and multi-omics research from diverse spaceflight missions known as Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) is presented.

Experimental measurements of high-order out-of-time-order correlators on a superconducting quantum processor show that these correlators remain highly sensitive to the quantum many-body dynamics in quantum computers at long timescales.

A trans-ancestry meta-analysis of GWAS of glycemic traits in up to 281,416 individuals identifies 99 novel loci, of which one quarter was found due to the multi-ancestry approach, which also improves fine-mapping of credible variant sets.

A study reports whole-genome sequences for 490,640 participants from the UK Biobank and combines these data with phenotypic data to provide new insights into the relationship between human variation and sequence variation.

A large genome-wide association study of more than 5 million individuals reveals that 12,111 single-nucleotide polymorphisms account for nearly all the heritability of height attributable to common genetic variants.

A consensus cell type atlas for the fly brain provides both an intellectual framework and open-source toolchains for brain-scale comparative connectomics.

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of Tetrahymena telomerase with telomeric DNA at several steps of nucleotide addition provide insights into the structural basis of telomere repeat synthesis.

Exome-sequencing analyses of a large cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes and control individuals without diabetes from five ancestries are used to identify gene-level associations of rare variants that are associated with type 2 diabetes.

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is an anti-inflammatory drug proposed as a treatment for COVID19. Here the results are reported from a randomised trial testing DMF treatment in 713 patients hospitalised with COVID-19. DMF was not associated with any improvement in day 5 outcomes.

Multi-species occupancy modelling using camera-trap data from 725 sites across 20 North American cities shows how environmental and climate characteristics interact with species traits to influence the effects of urbanization on wildlife communities.

Some RNA polymerase (POLR) 3-related leukodystrophy cases do not have the causal mutations in POLR3A and POLR3B. Here, by exome sequencing, the authors identify recessive mutations in POLR1C, a gene encoding a shared POLR1 and POLR3 subunit, impairing assembly and nuclear import of POLR3, but not POLR1.

Rift valley fever virus (RVFV) infection during pregnancy has been associated with late-term fetal loss. Here, the authors show that a neutralizing monoclonal antibody can prevent vertical transmission of RVFV when administered either pre- or post-infection in a rodent model.

A genomic constraint map for the human genome constructed using data from 76,156 human genomes from the Genome Aggregation Database shows that non-coding constrained regions are enriched for regulatory elements and variants associated with complex diseases and traits.

A genome-wide association study of critically ill patients with COVID-19 identifies genetic signals that relate to important host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage that may be targeted by repurposing drug treatments.

The authors report on a temperate Earth-sized planet orbiting the cool M6 dwarf LP 791-18 with a radius of 1.03 ± 0.04 R_⊕ and an equilibrium temperature of 300–400 K, with the permanent night side plausibly allowing for water condensation.

Rab6 is a key regulator of the Golgi apparatus, the central sorting organelle of eukaryotic cells. Here the authors use cryo-electron microscopy and functional experiments to reveal how Rab6 is activated by the Ric1-Rgp1 complex.

Collins and Talkowski provide a broad overview of structural variation in the human genome that covers their mutational properties, the dynamics of population genetics and functional consequences in disease as well as promising directions for future research.

A Review of the impacts of short-lived halogens on air quality and climate identifies gaps in our knowledge of short-lived halogen emissions, chemistry, and the environmental and climate impacts.

Reversion of adult skeletal stem cells to a developmental state underlies the growth of new bone during jaw regeneration, in a process that relies on mechanotransduction via the focal adhesion kinase protein.

The mechanisms underlying drought-induced tree mortality are not fully resolved. Here, the authors show that, across multiple tree species, loss of xylem conductivity above 60% is associated with mortality, while carbon starvation is not universal.

FlyWire presents a neuronal wiring diagram of the whole fly brain with annotations for cell types, classes, nerves, hemilineages and predicted neurotransmitters, with data products and an open ecosystem to facilitate exploration and browsing.

Reducing direct economic losses from disasters is part of mitigating disaster impacts. This study presents an update to the leading dataset on normalized US hurricane losses in the continental United States from 1900 to 2017.

An assay leveraging the target-specific splinted ligation of DNA probes to generate expression cassettes for the cell-free synthesis of reporter proteins accurately detects nucleic acids at ambient temperature.

A new phylogenomic tree for butterflies is constructed using 391 genes from 2,300 species, representing 92% of genera. It suggests that butterflies originated around 100 million years ago in what is now the Americas and originally fed on Fabaceae.

By bringing together whole exome and genome sequencing data from five cohorts, the authors assess the contribution of rare germline variants to prostate cancer risk and severity, further validating previously reported genes, and implicating a role for genes not previously reported.

Peer review information

Nature Communications thanks the anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.