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The biological basis of brain aging is not well understood, but it has implications for human health. Here, the authors explore the genetic basis of human brain aging, finding genetic variants, genes and potential causal relationships with disease.

Here, the authors employ multi-omics on a cohort comprising three generations of family members, showing that fecal microbiota populations, functions, and metabolome of infants vary greatly from their maternal lineage, exhibiting a less diverse microbiota and differences in various metabolite classes including short- and branched-chain fatty acids.

Here, Simpson et al. analyze data from 3.6 million COVID-19 vaccine second doses (ChAdOx1 and BNT162b2) in Scotland for risk of thrombocytopenic, thromboembolic and hemorrhagic events. Borderline increased risks of immune thrombocytopenic purpura and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis were found for the ChAdOx1 vaccine. These events were rare and usually short-lived.

Lung adenocarcinomas frequently harbour KRAS mutations, of which a subset are characterized by co-mutation of KEAP1. Here the authors show, in mice, that Kras^G12D mutant tumours are metabolically distinct, with a bronchiolar cell-of-origin.

Corrosion is a ubiquitous failure mode in materials. Here the authors report a percolating 1D wormhole corrosion morphology using advanced electron microscopy and theoretical simulations. The work presents a vacancy mapping method with nm-resolution, identifying the incubation sites of the wormholes.

Genome-wide meta-analysis of SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and severity phenotypes in up to 756,646 samples identifies a rare protective variant proximal to ACE2. A 6-SNP genetic risk score provides additional predictive power when added to known risk factors.

Two quantum point contacts are used to respectively inject and detect spins by purely electrical means in an all-semiconductor spin transistor.

Harnessing nonlinear optics in optoelectronic devices requires a platform that exhibits both giant optical nonlinearity and is compatible with photonic-circuit fabrication. Here, the authors demonstrate such a system that uses strong light–matter coupling between waveguide photons and quantum-well excitons.

Neurons are subjected to strains due to body movements and their locations within organs and tissues. Here the authors show that UNC-70/β-spectrin and TBC-10 dynamically maintain attachment of the axon within the epidermis non-cell-autonomously by stabilizing hemidesmosome attachment, preventing axon degeneration.

The simplicity of particle suspension reactors and the precise synthetic control afforded by silicon nanowire growth are used to develop a system that can produce hydrogen fuel by splitting water with sunlight.

In situ Hi-C and other genome-wide and imaging analyses in different mouse embryonic cell types reveal that the noncanonical SMC protein Smchd1 regulates long-range chromatin interactions and the developmental silencing of Hox genes.

Metal alloys consisting of three or more major elemental components show enhanced mechanical properties, which are now shown to be correlated with short-range order observed with electron microscopy.

Wherry and colleagues define the kinetics of vaccine-primed recall immune responses during severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) breakthrough infection, highlighting rapid activation of memory T cells and broadly enhanced immune responses in previously vaccinated individuals.

An analytical framework based on transcriptome-wide association and electronic medical records provides insights into the relationship between plasma lipids and complex diseases on a phenome-wide scale.

Abnormal PR interval duration is associated with risk for atrial fibrillation and heart block. Here, van Setten et al. identify 44 PR interval loci in a genome-wide association study of over 92,000 individuals and find genetic overlap with QRS duration, heart rate and atrial fibrillation.

Quantum tomographic techniques enable the complete characterisation of continuous variable quantum states. Here the authors demonstrate a broadband tomography protocol for single electrons that goes beyond the bandwidth restrictions of existing methods.

Characterising associations between the methylome, proteome and phenome may provide insight into biological pathways governing brain health. Here, blood protein markers of brain health are integrated with omics data to reveal DNA methylation differences that associate with these protein markers.

An outbreak of diarrhoea and haemolytic uraemic syndrome in Germany in 2011 was caused by a Shiga toxin-producing enteroaggregative E. coli, which carried the aggregative adherence plasmid pAA. Here, the authors show that autotransporters, but not pAA, are required for intestinal colonization in an infant rabbit model.

The RNA pseudoknot of SARS-CoV-2 promotes -1 programmed ribosomal frameshifting. Here the authors use single molecule force spectroscopy to study the folding of this pseudoknot, showing that it forms at least two different pseudoknot conformers with distinct fold topologies.

Electric-field-induced cracks are generally detrimental to functionality of ferroelectric ceramics. Liu et al. use an intermetallic alloy and ferroelectric oxide junction to mediate the reversible formation of cracks at nanoscales, resulting in colossal electroresistance modulation for memory applications.

Data on the safety of COVD-19 vaccines in early pregnancy are limited. Here, the authors assess the rates of miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy following vaccination using electronic health record data from Scotland, and find no evidence of increased risks.

Circulatory system diseases and nervous system disorders often co-occur in patients. Here the authors use eMERGE and UK BioBank data to identify genomic regions associated with both phenotypes, providing insight into the relationship between these conditions.

The development of spintronics relies on the exploitation of techniques to control different spin species separately. Here the authors make use of spin orbit coupling to spatially separate two spin populations and control the subsequent coherent evolution.

Heart failure is a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Here, the authors report results of a genome-wide association study meta-analysis, characterizing the role of common genetic variants in heart failure, finding overlap with common cardiovascular risk factors and imaging measures of cardiac structure/function.

Results for the final phase of the 1000 Genomes Project are presented including whole-genome sequencing, targeted exome sequencing, and genotyping on high-density SNP arrays for 2,504 individuals across 26 populations, providing a global reference data set to support biomedical genetics.

Photoinduced changes in transmission, reflection and scattering prevent conventional pump-probe spectroscopy to unambiguously assign the origin of spectral signatures. Ashoka et al. have developed an optical modelling technique to extract quantitative and unambiguous changes in the dielectric function from standard pump-probe measurements.

Jones et al. examine the generalizability of the valence–dominance model of social judgements of faces in 41 countries across 11 world regions. They find evidence of both generalizability and variation, depending on the analytical method.

The spliceosome consists of five RNAs and more than 100 associated proteins. One of these, PRP8, is both one of the largest and most highly conserved spliceosomal proteins. Previous genetic and cross-linking data pointed to the importance of ___domain IV of PRP8 in spliceosome assembly and/or catalysis. Its structure has now been solved and found to contain an RNase H fold, suggestive of an RNA binding surface. The RNA binding data suggest that the PRP8 core recognizes, rather than a specific sequence, a structure resembling the four-helix junction proposed for the catalytically active U2/U6 snRNA interaction.

The authors find that the Avpr1a gene, encoding the vasopressin-1A receptor, is responsible for strain-dependent pain sensitivity of mice to formalin and capsaicin. In humans, a single nucleotide polymorphism in AVPR1A was found to affect capsaicin pain and desmopressin analgesia. In both species, the effects were male specific and dependent on stress levels at the time of testing.

The function of the lymphocyte-expressed receptor CD96 is almost entirely unknown. Smyth and colleagues demonstrate that it serves a key role in restraining activation of NK cells in part by competing with the activating receptor CD226 (DNAM-1).

Genetic variation in ANGPTL4 is associated with lipid traits. Here, the authors find that predicted loss-of-function variants in ANGPTL4 are associated with glucose homeostasis and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and that Angptl4^−/− mice on a high-fat diet show improved insulin sensitivity.

We report that fatigue cracks in pure metals can undergo intrinsic self-healing; they were observed to heal by crack flank cold welding induced by local stress state and grain boundary migration.