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Safeguarding existing forests is an important ecological concern but constrains the expansion of farmland to feed the growing world population. Here the authors analyse the option space for future changes in agriculture and diets compatible with a no-deforestation goal.

We combine data from global forest resource assessments with a forest model to quantify the role of major drivers of net carbon fluxes from global forest biomass at national resolution between 1990 and 2020. We find that growth-condition changes, more than reforestation, counteracted forest biomass carbon emissions mostly driven by deforestation.

Unlike animals, plants prevent pathological polyQ aggregation through chloroplast proteostasis. Expression of the chloroplast protein SSP in human cell and nematode models prevents disease-related protein aggregation and neurodegeneration.

Analysis of 179 new Ebola virus sequences from patient samples collected in Guinea between March 2014 and January 2015 shows how different lineages evolved and spread in West Africa.

A genome-wide association study in ~3 million individuals identifies 3,952 independent variants associated with educational attainment. A polygenic index explains 12–16% of variance for this trait and contributes to risk prediction for ten diseases.

Here the authors provide a single-cell characterization of cerebrospinal fluid and blood of newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, revealing altered composition of lymphocyte and monocyte subsets, validated by other methods including the interrogation of the TFH subset in mouse models of MS.

Schad et al. find that, during Pavlovian conditioning, model-free striatal reward prediction errors are present in a group of sign-tracking humans, while goal-tracking humans show learning signals from a model-based system instead.

A number of disease-causing human transthyretin (TTR) mutations are known to lead to amyloid formation. Here the authors combine neutron crystallography, native mass spectrometry and modelling studies to characterize the T119M and S52P-TTR mutants, providing mechanistic insights into TTR amyloidosis.

Researchers create high ionization states, up to Xe³⁶⁺, using 1.5 keV free-electron laser pulses. The higher than expected ionization may be due to transient resonance-enhanced absorption and the effect may play an important role in interactions of intense X-rays with high-Z elements and radiation damage.

A genetic study identifies hundreds of loci associated with risk tolerance and risky behaviors, finds evidence of substantial shared genetic influences across these phenotypes, and implicates genes involved in neurotransmission.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for cognitive ability identifies 190 new loci and implicates 939 new genes related to neurogenesis, neuron differentiation and synaptic structure.

Previous studies identified an association between the 2q35 locus and breast cancer. Here, the authors show that a SNP at 2q35, rs4442975, is associated with oestrogen receptor positive disease and suggest that this effect is mediated through the downregulation of a known breast cancer gene, IGFBP5.

The central amygdala relies on inhibitory circuitry to encode fear memories, but how this information is acquired and expressed in these connections is unknown. Two new papers use a combination of cutting-edge technologies to reveal two distinct microcircuits within the central amygdala, one required for fear acquisition and the other critical for conditioned fear responses. Understanding this architecture provides a strong link between activity in a specific circuit and particular behavioural consequences.

Where and how the brain learns from experience is not fully understood. Here the authors use a hierarchical approach from behavioural modelling to systems fMRI to cellular coding reveals brain mechanisms for history informed updating of future predictions.

Most SNPs are located in non-coding genomic regions and their function remains elusive. Here, the authors perform a genome-wide scan of expression and DNA methylation quantitative trait loci in human hippocampal tissue to provide a resource for the functional interpretation of SNPs in brain disorders.

Induced neurons, but not induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neurons, preserve age-related traits. Here, the authors demonstrate that blood-derived induced neural stem cells (iNSCs), despite lacking a pluripotency transit, lose age-related signatures.

Extreme electronic anisotropy is revealed in the high-temperature superconductor FeSe through tour de force experiments on detwinned crystals.

A new small-molecule inhibitor of the Hedgehog signaling pathway acts independently of Smoothened (Smo). Rather than acting through Smo, which is a GPCR-like protein of the pathway, the compound acts through the orphan GPCR GPR39, with the level of GPR39 activation correlating with Hh pathway inhibition.

Brain tumours are difficult to treat because of their propensity to infiltrate brain tissue; here long processes, or tumour microtubes, extended by astrocytomas are shown to promote brain infiltration and to create an interconnected network that enables multicellular communication and that protects the tumours from radiotherapy-induced cell death, suggesting that disruption of the network could be a new therapeutic approach.

Tchorz and colleagues identify a role for the RSPO–LGR4/5–ZNRF3/RNF43 module as master regulator of Wnt/β-catenin-mediated metabolic liver zonation and hepatic growth/size control during development, homeostasis and regeneration.

Impulsivity is a multi-dimensional construct, and it is plausible that distinct brain networks contribute to its different aspects. Here the authors identify distinct cortical and subcortical networks underlying cognitive, clinical and genetic dimensions of impulsivity in a large sample of adolescents.

On the basis of the IMAGEN database of 2,000 Caucasian adolescents, Jia et al identify neural patterns of activity during reward anticipation and motor inhibition associated with different externalising symptoms for ADHD and conduct problems.

Integrative analyses that incorporate different levels of ‘-omics’ data represent a powerful tool for deciphering the biological mechanisms that underlie environmental influences on mental health and disease. This Comment highlights various aspects of such multi-omics approaches, using the example of the EU-funded environMENTAL project.

The focus of much of contemporary research ethics is on compliance with established protocols. However, large data-driven neuroscience research raises new ethical concerns that have no agreed-upon solution. Here we reflect on these challenges and propose better integration of public and patient involvement in this evolving landscape.

Sarah von Spiczak, Holger Lerche and colleagues identify mutations in GRIN2A that cause idiopathic focal epilepsy with rolandic spikes.

In this Perspective, the authors present a model of assessing urban environmental factors’ impact on mental health by using UrbanSat measures and data from adolescents in the ABCD Study.

This Comment explores new approaches to enrich large-scale population data, including incorporating macro-environmental and digital health measures.

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is genetically linked to autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive mutations. Here, Marini et al. describe two families with X-chromosome-linked OI with mutations in MBTPS2 that alter regulated intramembrane proteolysis and subsequent defects in collagen crosslinking and osteoblast function.

Many factors have been proposed as contributors to risk of alcohol abuse, but quantifying their influence has been difficult; here a longitudinal study of a large sample of adolescents and machine learning are used to generate models of predictors of current and future alcohol abuse, assessing the relative contribution of many factors, including life history, individual personality differences, brain structure and genotype.

Genome-wide association studies are used to identify common genetic variants that affect the structure of selected subcortical regions of the human brain; their identification provides insight into the causes of variability in brain development and may help to determine mechanisms of neuropsychiatric dysfunction.

Paul Thompson and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for hippocampal, intracranial and total brain volume. They identify a locus at 12q24 associated with hippocampal volume and a locus at 12q14 associated with intracranial volume.