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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.

Stereotactic needle biopsies are currently performed for diagnosis only in glioblastoma; this study highlights the depth of information available through multi-omics analysis.

A modelling approach predicts SARS-CoV-2 variant dynamics on the basis of immunity and cross-neutralization, which was shaped by a region’s SARS-CoV-2 infection history.

The accuracy of melanoma diagnosis can vary considerably among clinicians, impacting both patient outcomes and the performance of related AI tools. Here, the authors systematically assess interrater variability among expert pathologists reviewing histopathological images and clinical metadata of melanoma-suspicious lesions collected at eight German hospitals.

Confident molecular identification is key for studying complex biochemistry. Here, the authors employ Quantum-Cascade Laser-based Mid-infrared imaging for rapid identification of ROIs, followed by MALDI imaging prm-PASEF for in-depth lipid identifications directly on complex tissues.

Authors utilise a murine model of infection to provide mechanistic insight into how antimicrobial therapy may be a predisposing risk factor for hospital-acquired pneumonia. They show that antibiotic-induced microbiota perturbations compromise inflammatory monocytes and thereby impair antibacterial defence.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

Type IV pili (T4P) are thin filaments on the bacterial cell surface that are involved in surface colonization and motility, and serve as receptors for phages. Here, Hendrix et al. identify a protein that interacts with a T4P chaperone and inhibits pilus assembly and adsorption of T4P-dependent phages in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Few aerobic hyperthermophilic microorganisms are known to degrade polysaccharides. Here, Nou et al. use genomic information to enrich and optical tweezers to isolate an aerobic hyperthermophilic bacterium that can grow at 65–87.5 °C using polysaccharides as sole carbon sources.

The decision to form a fruiting body have been studied extensively, however, the mechanical events that trigger the creation of multiple cell layers is poorly understood. Here the authors find M. xanthus cells adjust their reversal frequency to control mechanical stresses that triggers layer formation in the colonies.

Recent studies raised concerns over the state of AI benchmarking, reporting issues such as benchmark overfitting, benchmark saturation and increasing centralization of benchmark dataset creation. To facilitate monitoring of the health of the AI benchmarking ecosystem, the authors introduce methodologies for creating condensed maps of the global dynamics of benchmark.

Analysis of genotyping-by-sequencing data for more than 20,000 barley accessions from a German genebank provides a framework for genomics-assisted genebank management and analysis of large germplasm collections for important crops.

A study reporting the results of a clinical trial co-administering the GDF-15-blocking antibody visugromab with the anti-PD-1 antibody nivolumab demonstrates that neutralizing GDF-15 can overcome resistance to immune checkpoint inhibition in cancer.

NASA’s Cold Atom Lab has operated on the International Space Station since 2018 to study quantum gases and mature quantum technologies in Earth’s orbit. Here, Williams et al., report on a series of pathfinding experiments exploring the first quantum sensor using atom interferometry in space.

Cytokine storm seems to be a common feature of severe COVID-19 pathology. Here, the authors show a reduced rate of SARS-CoV2 positivity in a large population of patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases if they are already being treated with cytokine or JAK inhibitors, indicating these treatments are safe to continue and are possibly protective against COVID19.

Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1) is a zoonotic pathogen endemic in bicoloured white-toothed shrews in Central Europe that can cause fatal encephalitis in humans and other mammals. Here, the authors investigate the molecular epidemiology and phylogeography of BoDV-1 using newly collected and archived samples.

Closely related plant species can have drastically different abundances of transposable elements. Now it is shown that the genome of Arabis alpina has experienced a striking expansion of retrotransposons, probably shaped by reduced DNA methylation.

In hepatocellular carcinoma driven by non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, aberrant T cell activation and impaired immune surveillance seem to make hepatocellular carcinoma less responsive to anti-PD1 or anti-PDL1 immunotherapy.

The conversion of alkenes to esters is performed on a large scale worldwide, but relies on the use of toxic and flammable carbon monoxide. Here, the authors show a catalytic system where carbon dioxide—normally unreactive, but cheap and abundant—can be employed instead.

Systemically injected lipid–polymer nanoparticles encapsulating small interfering RNA for silencing genes in bone-marrow endothelial cells of mice improved the healing of the mice after myocardial infarction.

A population of highly interconnected cells in glioblastoma makes these tumours resistant to general damage but vulnerable to targeted disruption of this small fraction of cells and their rhythmic Ca²⁺ oscillations.

Test, trace, and isolate programmes are central to COVID-19 control. Here, Viola Priesemann and colleagues evaluate how to allocate scarce resources to keep numbers low, and find that if case numbers exceed test, trace and isolate capacity, there will be a self-accelerating spread.

Andre Franke and colleagues perform a genome-wide association study for the gut microbiome, examining the influence of host genetics on overall microbial variation and individual taxa. They find significant associations at the VDR (vitamin D receptor) locus and observe correlations between microbiota and metabolites of VDR, including bile acids.

An online approach for the DNA methylation-based classification of central nervous system tumours across all entities and age groups has been developed to help to improve current diagnostic standards.

A genome-wide association study including over 76,000 individuals with schizophrenia and over 243,000 control individuals identifies common variant associations at 287 genomic loci, and further fine-mapping analyses highlight the importance of genes involved in synaptic processes.

Using upgraded hardware of the multiuser Cold Atom Lab (CAL) aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) of two atomic isotopes are simultaneously created and used to demonstrate interspecies interactions and dual species atom interferometry in space.

Fanconi anemia proteins are required for repair of DNA interstrand crosslinks. Here, the authors show that these proteins are also recruited to DNA double-strand breaks to promote repair by homologous recombination.

Clinical and genetic phenotyping of consanguineous family cases of neonatal syndromic diabetes and type 2 diabetes, combined with in-depth functional studies in pluripotent stem cells, reveals a role for genetic variants of ONECUT1 in monogenic and multifactorial diabetes.

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.

Carbon pricing policies are adopted in many countries around the world to mitigate climate change. This systematic review shows that significant emission reductions of between 5 and 21% are achieved by at least 17 out of 21 reviewed policy schemes.

Whether there are conserved nucleic acid (NA) binding proteins across species is not fully known. Using data from human, mouse and fly, the authors identify common binders, implicate TAOKs and show that these kinases bind NAs across species and promote virus defence in mammalian cells.

Liquid (organic) hydrogen carriers form a toolbox for the storage and transport of green hydrogen but organic salts have been scarcely investigated. Here, the authors present a potassium formate/potassium bicarbonate hydrogen storage and release energy system, that is applicable and shows stability over months.

For archival pathogens, like pH1N1 Influenza A virus the causative agent of 1918/19 pandemic, only few whole genome sequences exist. Here, Patrono et al. provide one complete and two partial genomes from Germany and find variation in two sites in the nucleoprotein gene in pandemic samples compared to pre-pandemic samples, that are associated with resistance to host antiviral response, pointing at a possible viral adaptation to humans.

Merbl and colleagues demonstrate that high expression of the proteasome regulator PSME4 is associated with immune-cold lung tumors and reduced antitumor immune responses, by functioning to modulate the protein degradome and antigen diversity.

Here the authors present a SARS-CoV2 seroepidemiological observational study from a random, household-based study population in a small town in Germany, showing the effect of a super-spreading event on infection rate, severity, and potentially infection fatality rate.

In this work, the authors report that heparin oligosaccharides have a significant impact on the highly dynamic behaviour of netrin-1 by inducing hierarchical and distinct super assemblies leading to unique, yet unknown netrin-1 filament formation.

Poeck and colleagues identify a microbiome signature in patients receiving allogenic stem cell transplantation, which is associated with protective immune-modulatory metabolites, improved survival and less transplant-related mortality.

A phosphorus dopant qubit is positioned within a vertically gated single-electron transistor with <5 nm alignment precision and its spin is read with 97.9% fidelity.

In this study, the authors report that bat H9N2 influenza A virus replicates and transmits in ferrets, efficiently infects human lung explant cultures, evades MxA antiviral activity in mice, and has low antigenic similarity to seasonal N2, meeting pre-pandemic criteria.

Stephanie London, Martin Tobin and colleagues report meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies for forced vital capacity (FVC), a spirometric measure of pulmonary function that reflects lung volume. They identify six regions newly associated with FVC and demonstrate that candidate genes at these loci are expressed in lung tissue and primary lung cells.

Sebastien Gagneux and colleagues analyze a global collection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates to classify sublineages by phylogeography. They find globally distributed ‘generalist’ and geographically restricted ‘specialist’ sublineages of lineage 4, indicating that different evolutionary strategies were adopted to succeed in various ecological niches.

Bacterial cell growth and division require the coordinated action of enzymes that synthesize and degrade cell wall polymers. Here, the authors identify enzymes that cleave the D-arabinan core of arabinogalactan, an unusual component of the cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other mycobacteria.

GWAS in difficult-to-recruit populations identifies variants associated with Lassa fever outcome and susceptibility at loci proximal to LIF, GRM7 and LARGE1.

Swarm Learning is a decentralized machine learning approach that outperforms classifiers developed at individual sites for COVID-19 and other diseases while preserving confidentiality and privacy.

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.

From 1980 to 2018, the levels of total and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreased in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe.