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Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

Identifying jets originating from heavy quarks plays a fundamental role in hadronic collider experiments. In this work, the ATLAS Collaboration describes and tests a transformer-based neural network architecture for jet flavour tagging based on low-level input and physics-inspired constraints.

Simon J. James looks back at the richly varied contribution of the science-fiction writer and science popularizer.

A global research network monitoring the Amazon for 30 years reports in this study that tree size increased by 3% each decade.

Species’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. Here, the authors find that dominant tree species are taller and have softer wood compared to rare species and that these trait differences are more strongly associated with temperature than water availability.

Limited diagnostic capacity for asymptomatic individuals hinders malaria elimination efforts in Africa. Here, the authors present a near point-of-care method based on colorimetric LAMP detection that outperforms expert microscopy and commercial rapid diagnostic tests for Plasmodium detection in asymptomatic and submicroscopic individuals.

Many genetic loci have been identified to be associated with kidney disease, but the molecular mechanisms are not well understood. Here, the authors perform epigenome-wide association studies on kidney function measures to identify epigenetic marks and pathways involved in kidney function.

Serum urate concentration can be studied in large datasets to find genetic and epigenetic loci that may be related to cardiometabolic traits. Here the authors identify and replicate 100 urate-associated CpGs, which provide insights into urate GWAS loci and shared CpGs of urate and cardiometabolic traits.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis study of blood lipid levels in roughly 1.6 million individuals demonstrates the gain of power attained when diverse ancestries are included to improve fine-mapping and polygenic score generation, with gains in locus discovery related to sample size.

An integrated analysis of de novo and inherited coding variants in 42,607 individuals with autism spectrum disorder identifies 60 risk genes of which five have not previously been associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Inventory data from more than 1 million trees across African, Amazonian and Southeast Asian tropical forests suggests that, despite their high diversity, just 1,053 species, representing a consistent ~2.2% of tropical tree species in each region, constitute half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees.

This Consensus Statement presents the standards for technical reporting in environmental and host-associated microbiome studies (STREAMS) guidelines.

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.

Rinkevich and colleagues show that preexisting matrix is transferred by neutrophils across organs into injured sites in a manner dependent on integrin activation.

Analysing >1,700 inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network, the authors show that the majority of Amazon tree species can occupy floodplains and that patterns of species turnover are closely linked to regional flood patterns.

A series of four storms appeared on Saturn’s northern polar region in 2018, unusually close to each other in space and time. By their dimension and the energy needed to form them, they appear to be a hitherto unobserved kind of storm at Saturn, intermediate between the regional- and the global-sized ones.

Wood density is an important plant trait. Data from 1.1 million forest inventory plots and 10,703 tree species show a latitudinal gradient in wood density, with temperature and soil moisture explaining variation at the global scale and disturbance also having a role at the local level.

Surface wrinkling reduces the performance of mixed-halide perovskite solar cells. Here, the authors identify that sequential nucleation of bromide-rich and iodide-rich domains results in compositional heterogeneity and subsequent wrinkling.

Extensive scars develop in deep wounds as opposed to superficial wounds but it is unclear why. Here, the authors use live imaging of physiologic wounds and scars formed ex vivo to show that fascia fibroblasts upregulate N-cadherin allowing coordinated cell migration that drives extensive scar formation of deep wounds.

Multiancestry genome-wide association analyses identify new risk loci for stroke and stroke subtypes. Fine mapping and bioinformatics analyses of these risk loci point to mechanisms not previously implicated in stroke pathophysiology.

The authors analyse tree responses to an extreme heat and drought event across South America to understand long-term climate resistance. While no more sensitive to this than previous lesser events, forests in drier climates showed the greatest impacts and thus vulnerability to climate extremes.

Tree mortality has been shown to be the dominant control on carbon storage in Amazon forests, but little is known of how and why Amazon forest trees die. Here the authors analyse a large Amazon-wide dataset, finding that fast-growing species face greater mortality risk, but that slower-growing individuals within a species are more likely to die, regardless of size.

Lung fibrosis development involves alveolar macrophages, with mechanisms that are incompletely understood. Here, the authors show that alveolar macrophages mediate the disassembly of pleuro-alveolar junctions, driving fibrosis via connective tissue transfer, and demonstrate that targeting this process can reverse chronic fibrosis in mice.

Steele et al. use single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics to provide an atlas of adult human skin fibroblasts in healthy and diseased human skin.

Cells that populate scar tissue in mammalian skin migrate to wounds as prefabricated matrix from the subcutaneous fascia, including embedded blood vessels, macrophages and peripheral nerves.

Jiang et al. trace two embryonic fibroblast lineages in the mouse, one that does not express engrailed and mediates early dermal development and one that expresses engrailed and mediates scar tissue formation.

Similarities in cancers can be studied to interrogate their etiology. Here, the authors use genome-wide association study summary statistics from six cancer types based on 296,215 cases and 301,319 controls of European ancestry, showing that solid tumours arising from different tissues share a degree of common germline genetic basis.

Alternative stable states in forests have implications for the biosphere. Here, the authors combine forest biodiversity observations and simulations revealing that leaf types across temperate regions of the NH follow a bimodal distribution suggesting signatures of alternative forest states.

Here, using a dynamic modelling approach, the authors find that the spread of dengue through Mexico and Brazil is shaped by specific interactions between human mobility, climate, and the environment. Their models can also be applied to predict future spread in these geographic areas.

Lineage-restricted transcription factor PAX8 is oncogenic in ovarian cancer cells. Here the authors show that PAX8 interacts and recruits a splice variant of the MECOM locus PRDM3 to control the gene expression module involved in adhesion and extracellular matrix, and consequently promotes ovarian tumorigenesis.

Retinoblastoma is the most frequent intraocular paediatric malignancy whose molecular basis remains poorly understood. Here, the authors perform multi-omic analysis and identify two subtypes; one in a cone differentiated state and one more aggressive showing cone dedifferentiation and expressing neuronal markers.

A cross-ancestry meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies association signals for stroke and its subtypes at 89 (61 new) independent loci, reveals putative causal genes, highlighting F11, KLKB1, PROC, GP1BA, LAMC2 and VCAM1 as potential drug targets, and provides cross-ancestry integrative risk prediction.

A pan-Amazon study of forests shows large variations in drought tolerance traits and finds that forests in regions of pronounced climate change are losing biomass and may be operating beyond their hydraulic limits.

The Born–Oppenheimer approximation is the prevailing assumption for interpreting ultrafast electron dynamics in solids. Evidence now suggests that collisions between electrons and lattice not captured by this approximation play an important role.

Adipocyte plasticity during injury repair is debated. Here, the authors find that injury causes temporary adipocyte migration, but without lineage conversion to myofibroblasts. Distinct migration patterns, transcriptomics and ECM depositions indicate that adipocytes, unlike fibroblasts, do not contribute to fibrotic scars.

Genomic surveillance has been important for tracking the evolution and spread of SARS-CoV-2. Here, the authors analyse ~300,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes from two years of sequencing in the Latin America and Caribbean regions and describe the emergence and spread of different lineages over time.

It is difficult to detect low abundance RNAs in sequencing experiments, and biochemical methods to enrich or deplete specific RNAs are time-consuming, costly and can damage RNA. Here, authors develop a biochemical-free technology to enrich or deplete RNA classes in real-time during direct RNA sequencing.

Availability of intense hard X-ray pulses allows exploration of multiple ionization effects in heavier elements. Here, the authors measure the complex charge state distributions of xenon and found a reasonable agreement by comparing with the model including the relativistic and resonance effects.

A protocol for broad-spectrum, in vivo fluorescent labeling and tracking of extracellular matrix proteins through the systemic or local application of N-hydroxysuccinimide esters. This flexible approach can be adapted for a variety of organ systems and wounding models.

Using 13 functional traits we characterize the Amazonian trees and the communities they form. Amazonian tree communities are distributed along a fast-slow-spectrum. This results in clear differences in traits among these forests, as well as their biomass and biomass productivity.

Possible effects of weather conditions on COVID-19 transmission are debated. Here, the authors analyse data from early in the pandemic and show that although temperature and humidity had small effects on transmission, they were far out-weighed by the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions.

Induction of protective immunity mediated by CD8⁺ T cells has been a long sought goal in vaccinology. Here, Ewer et al. report induction of protective efficacy against Plasmodium falciparummalaria in a phase IIa prime-boost vaccine trial where efficacy correlates strongly with induced CD8 T-cell responses.

Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and plaque are associated with subclinical atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD). Here, the authors identify and prioritize genetic loci for cIMT and plaque by GWAS and colocalization approaches and further demonstrate genetic correlation with CHD and stroke.

Integrating inventory data with machine learning models reveals the global composition of tree types—needle-leaved evergreen individuals dominate, followed by broadleaved evergreen and deciduous trees—and climate change risks.

T cells communicate with antigen-presenting cells (APC) via the signaling crosstalk at the immunological synapse (IS). Here the authors use bead-supported lipid bilayers as synthetic APCs to find that trans-synaptic vesicles produced by T cells in the IS carry specialized cargos distinct from constitutive extracellular vesicles to serve as intercellular messengers.