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Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

The authors synthesize bee assemblage data from 681 crop fields across three continents, finding that local pesticide hazards and decreasing adjacent semi-natural habitats both negatively affected wild bee abundance and species richness in crop fields, while pesticides also reduced functional diversity.

How climate services support on-farm management is not well understood. Here research shows that multi-decadal projections help farmers better identify future climate risks through reducing complexity and psychological distance, although this may be impeded by lack of confidence in data.

An analysis involving the shotgun sequencing of more than 300 ancient genomes from Eurasia reveals a deep east–west genetic divide from the Black Sea to the Baltic, and provides insight into the distinct effects of the Neolithic transition on either side of this boundary.

Integrated data, including 100 human genomes from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods show that two major population turnovers occurred over just 1,000 years in Neolithic Denmark, resulting in dramatic changes in the genes, diet and physical appearance of the local people, as well as the landscape in which they lived.

Optimal risk management involves maintaining formal and informal risk instruments, which is difficult under increasing climate risks. A study now investigates the issue and finds that policies cultivating moderate altruism and solidarity can help farmers better manage climate risks.

Genomic and phenomic screens of 827 wheat landraces from the A. E. Watkins collection provide insight into the wheat population genetic background, unlocking many agronomic traits and revealing haplotypes that could potentially be used to improve modern wheat cultivars.

Ethylene is synthesized from the non-proteinogenic amino acid ACC. Here, Mou et al. show that ACC itself acts independently of ethylene to trigger secretion of a pollen tube attractant in the sporophytic tissue of Arabidopsis ovules and can activate Ca²⁺-currents via GLUTAMATE RECEPTOR-LIKE channels.

Gene cloning in wheat has long been hampered by its exceptionally large and complex genome, and long life cycle. Here, the authors report an optimized, high-throughput disease resistance gene cloning workflow and demonstrate its application in cloning stem rust resistance gene Sr6.

The ankylosaurian dinosaur Spicomellus afer possessed a tail weapon and uniquely elaborate dermal armour.

Birch pitch is thought to have been used in prehistoric times as hafting material or antiseptic and tooth imprints suggest that it was chewed. Here, the authors report a 5,700 year-old piece of chewed birch pitch from Denmark from which they successfully recovered a complete ancient human genome and oral microbiome DNA.

Sequences of 137 ancient and 502 modern human genomes illuminate the population history of the Eurasian steppes after the Bronze Age and document the replacement of Indo-European speakers of West Eurasian ancestry by Turkic-speaking groups of East Asian ancestry.

Agriculture emerged in West Africa 5,000 years ago but how this impacted the population of rainforest hunter-gatherers (RHGs) is unknown. Here, the authors show that modern-day RHG populations present up to 50% of farmer ancestry but admixture only occurred in the last 1,000 years.

Building productive relationships between farmers and scientists is critical to developing new innovation pathways to solve the challenges of contemporary agriculture. On-farm experimentation (OFE) is an effective approach that brings agricultural stakeholders to support farmers’ own management decisions for agricultural innovation, with digitalization playing a key role in motivating and enabling OFE.

A framework for capturing the key dimensions of small-scale actors in aquatic food supply chains is explored—with recommendations for supporting their viability and adaptability in sustainable food systems

An analysis of 101 ancient human genomes from the Bronze Age (3000–1000 bc) reveals large-scale population migrations in Eurasia consistent with the spread of Indo-European languages; individuals frequently had light skin pigmentation but were not lactose tolerant.

Analysis of DNA from ancient individuals of the Near East documents the extreme substructure among the populations which transitioned to farming, a structure that was maintained throughout the transition from hunter–gatherer to farmer but that broke down over the next five thousand years.

By harvesting aquatic vegetation that provides habitat for snails that harbour Schistosoma parasites and converting it to compost and animal feed, a trial reduced schistosomiasis prevalence in children while providing wider economic benefits.

Ancient DNA analyses reveal that Viking Age migrations from Scandinavia resulted in differential influxes of ancestry to different parts of Europe, and the increased presence of non-local ancestry within Scandinavia.

A reconstruction of the genomic history of japonica and indica rice over 9,000 yr with geographic, environmental, archaeobotanical and paleoclimate data.

An investigation using various methods reports an association between adeno-associated virus 2 and paediatric hepatitis of unknown aetiology.

A small number of patients who received growth hormone preparations contaminated with seeds of the amyloid-beta protein developed Alzheimer’s disease many years after treatment.

Solid-phase extraction combined with charged aerosol detection is demonstrated to allow quantification of organosulphates in ambient aerosols without reliance on authentic standards.

Immune checkpoint blockade can result in good outcomes in patients with metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), but not those with locally advanced disease. Here, the authors demonstrate that the addition of anti-NKG2A and anti-PD-L1 blockade to ATR inhibition and radiotherapy in the adjuvant setting can induce a robust antitumour immune response in mice.

Synergies between agroecology and nutrition are explored in this Perspective, with a view towards developing a framework to transform agroecology for improved nutrition.

The global genetic diversity of cassava and related Manihot species is revealed by sequencing of 53 cultivated and wild accessions and genotyping of 268 African cassavas, providing a vital resource for breeding.

Bladder cancer is a complex genetic disease and a common cause of death due to malignancy. Here, the authors carry out whole-genome sequencing of 14 bladder cancers to characterize the genomic landscape of the disease and show that mutational burden is associated with tumour progression in these samples.

Analysis of ancient genomic data of 51 humans from Eurasia dating from 45,000 to 7,000 years ago provides insight into the population history of pre-Neolithic Europe and support for recurring migration and population turnover in Europe during this period.

Future agricultural productivity is threatened by high temperatures. Here, using 9 crop models, Schaubergeret al. find that yield losses due to temperatures >30 °C are captured by current models where yield losses by mild heat stress occur mainly due to water stress and can be buffered by irrigation.

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.

Results from 316 Bombus terrestris colonies at 106 agricultural sites across eight European countries find pesticides in bumble bee pollen to be associated with reduced colony performance, especially in areas of intensive agriculture.

Hunt, Malalasekera et al. recorded populations of prefrontal neurons from monkeys performing a visual attention-guided-choice task. The results revealed that distinct computations in three PFC subregions as information was sampled guided the eventual decision.

A complete pre-agricultural European human genome from a ∼7,000-year-old Mesolithic skeleton suggests the existence of a common genomic signature across western and central Eurasia from the Upper Paleolithic to the Mesolithic, and ancestral alleles in several skin pigmentation genes suggest that the light skin of modern Europeans was not yet ubiquitous in Mesolithic times.

A case–control study investigating the causes of recent cases of acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology in 32 children identifies an association between adeno-associated virus infection and host genetics in disease susceptibility.

The strength of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, as traced in sediment cores from the Pacific Southern Ocean, shows no linear long-term trend over the past 5.3 Myr; instead, the strongest flow occurs consistently in warmer-than-present intervals.

Human intestinal organoids are endowed with immune cells by transplantation into humanized mice.

Biofortification is an effective means to reduce micronutrient malnutrition. Here, the authors review recent advances in biofortification and propose stacking multiple micronutrient traits into high-yielding varieties through the combination of conventional breeding and genetic engineering approaches.

New genome-wide data for ancient, Bronze Age individuals, including Minoans, Mycenaeans, and southwestern Anatolians, show that Minoans and Mycenaeans were genetically very similar yet distinct, supporting the idea of continuity but not isolation in the history of populations of the Aegean.

Metabolomics is improved by using a reference library of both known and unknown molecules.

An exciting genome-wide association study in the British population for seven common diseases. This analysis confirms previously identified loci and provides strong evidence for many novel disease susceptibility loci.

Over much of Africa, the potential for groundwater pumping with the help of photovoltaic energy is constrained by aquifer conditions, and not irradiance, according to continent-wide simulations to map the performance of photovoltaic water pumping systems.