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cis-RNA editing quantitative trait loci, which are associated with immunogenic double-stranded RNAs, underlie genome-wide association study variants in common autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Chronic infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to the emergence of viral variants that show reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies in an immunosuppressed individual treated with convalescent plasma.

Sera from vaccinated individuals and some monoclonal antibodies show a modest reduction in neutralizing activity against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2; but the E484K substitution leads to a considerable loss of neutralizing activity.

Measurements of mercury species and metagenomic analyses of Antarctic snow, brine, sea ice, and seawater suggest that mercury methylation may be conducted by the marine microaerophilic bacterium Nitrospina in Antarctic sea ice.

Integrative data analysis of 1,367 human iPSC lines maps common and rare regulatory variants that colocalize with loci associated with human traits and diseases.

'Whole-environment sequencing' will reveal bugs in urban air.

Biomphalaria glabrata is a fresh water snail that acts as a host for trematode Schistosoma mansoni that causes intestinal infection in human. This work describes the genome and transcriptome analyses from 12 different tissues of B glabrata, and identify genes for snail behavior and evolution.

Ovarian tumors with common mutations in the epigenetic regulator ARID1A are shown to be sensitive to inhibition of EZH2, another epigenetic regulator, showing a synthetic lethality that could potentially be exploited therapeutically

How small-bodied hominins in southeast Asia became so small ~60 thousand years ago is unclear. Here, the authors present hominin remains dated to 700 thousand years ago with even smaller body size, suggesting early evolution and maintained small size in the region.’

The analysis of T-cell antigens in long-term survivors of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma suggests that neoantigen immunogenicity and quality, not purely quantity, correlate with survival.

Post-international travel quarantine has been widely implemented to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but the impacts of such policies are unclear. Here, the authors used linked genomic and contact tracing data to assess the impacts of a 14-day quarantine on return to England in summer 2020.

This month South Africa will officially open the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. But is the country ready to capitalize on its investment? Michael Cherry investigates.

Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) is a rare inflammatory disorder characterised by asthma, eosinophilia and vasculitis. Here, the authors describe a genome-wide association study of EGPA that reveals clinical and genetic differences between subgroups stratified by autoantibody status (ANCA).

A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.

Genetic and testing data from England show that the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern B.1.1.7 has a transmission advantage over other lineages.

The sheep and goat were domesticated ~10,500 years ago in the same region of the Middle-East. Here, Alberto et al compare the genomes of wild Asiatic mouflon and Bezoar ibex with that of domestics from local, traditional and improved breeds and find common targets of selection related to domestication and improvement in sheep and goats.

mProphet, a computational tool for statistically validating selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mass spectrometry data, is described.

Evidence for hominin activity on Flores, Indonesia, has been thought to go back at least 800,000 years, as shown by fission-track dating at Mata Menge in the Soa Basin. However, new research at another locality in the Soa Basin uses the more accurate technique of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating to show that hominins were living on Flores at least a million years ago.

Three-layer heterostructures consisting of an indium gallium arsenide semiconducting film, a lithium niobate piezoelectric film, and a silicon substrate can be used to create acoustoelectric amplifiers that operate at gigahertz frequencies with large non-reciprocal gain and low noise in continuous operation.

The Omicron variant evades vaccine-induced neutralization but also fails to form syncytia, shows reduced replication in human lung cells and preferentially uses a TMPRSS2-independent cell entry pathway, which may contribute to enhanced replication in cells of the upper airway. Altered fusion and cell entry characteristics are linked to distinct regions of the Omicron spike protein.

Modulation of PI3Kγ activity regulates macrophage polarization during inflammation and cancer, whilst combining PI3Kγ inhibition with immune checkpoint inhibitors leads to synergistic tumour-inhibitory effects.

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is an anti-inflammatory drug proposed as a treatment for COVID19. Here the results are reported from a randomised trial testing DMF treatment in 713 patients hospitalised with COVID-19. DMF was not associated with any improvement in day 5 outcomes.

Analyses of the hominin skull from Broken Hill, Zambia, place it at an earlier date than previously thought, confirming that later Middle Pleistocene Africa was home to at least three lineages of hominin.

A region on chromosome 19p13 is associated with the risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer. Here, the authors genotyped SNPs in this region in thousands of breast and ovarian cancer patients and identified SNPs associated with three genes, which were analysed with functional studies.

In this work, the authors transcriptionally and genetically profile 443 caudate nucleus samples, including 154 with schizophrenia, highlighting new genes associated with schizophrenia risk, including the presynaptic DRD2 isoform.

The authors present a computational framework for false-discovery-rate-controlled metabolite annotation from high-resolution imaging mass spectrometry data.

In this Review, Grossart and colleagues conceptualize the spatiotemporal dimensions, diversity, functions and organismic interactions of fungi in structuring aquatic food webs. They focus on currently unexplored aquatic fungal diversity, highlighting poorly understood ecosystems, including emerging artificial aquatic habitats.

StructLMM is a new method to identify genotype–environment interactions (G×E) that involve multiple exposures or environments. When applied to UK Biobank and eQTL data, StructLMM discovers new G×E signals.

A closed-loop machine learning methodology of optimizing fast-charging protocols for lithium-ion batteries can identify high-lifetime charging protocols accurately and efficiently, considerably reducing the experimental time compared to simpler approaches.

Genome-wide association studies have identified regions which confer risk of high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer. Here the authors use expression quantitative train locus analysis to identify candidate genes and functionally characterise them, identifying a role for HOXD9 in ovarian cancer.

New excavations in Liang Bua, where the remains of the ‘Hobbit’ (Homo floresiensis) were discovered, show that this diminutive human species used this cave between 190,000 and 50,000 years ago, and not until as recently as 12,000 years ago as previously interpreted; modern humans have been present in Australia since around 50,000 years ago, so whether Homo floresiensis survived long enough to witness the arrival of modern humans is still an open question.

Stratigraphic, chronological, environmental and faunal context are provided to the newly discovered fossils of hominins that lived in the So’a Basin in Flores, Indonesia, 700,000 years ago; the stone tools recovered with the fossils are similar to those associated with the much younger Homo floresiensis from Flores, discovered in Liang Bua to the west.

This Review addresses the pharmacology and physiology of aspirin use and how it may differ in patients with diabetes mellitus. The clinical trial evidence for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with aspirin therapy in patients with diabetes mellitus will then be examined in light of these potential mechanisms. Finally, suggestions for clinical practice are provided, and the limitations in current evidence as well as the upcoming trials that may help resolve these important clinical issues are highlighted.

New excavations in Sulawesi, where in situ stone artefacts associated with fossil remains of megafauna have been recovered from stratified deposits between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago, suggest that Sulawesi was host to a long-established population of archaic hominins.