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Although iron is essential, its absorption is inefficient; this study uncovers distinct iron uptake strategies in Drosophila, including a previously unrecognized high-affinity system activated during iron starvation.

Broadband Fabry–Pérot etalons are used as calibration sources in radial velocity exoplanet detection. This Article explores their performance limits and models the physical mechanism behind their complex measured chromatic drift.

While alternative splicing is known to drive oncogenesis and be a source of potential therapeutic targets, identifying such drivers on a genome-wide scale has proven difficult. Here, the authors present a computational approach to identify potential cancer-driver exons and evaluate applicability as therapeutic targets.

mRNA medicines hold enormous promise for drugging targets outside the reach of classic small molecules. Here, the authors develop a modular platform to design programmable mRNA therapeutics that act by modifying epigenetic state.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

Different functional variants in ADH1B (and elsewhere) in Europeans and Africans strongly affect risk for alcohol dependence. Dependence only partly genetically correlates with consumption, with strong correlations to other psychiatric disorders.

How the necroptosis executioner, MLKL, converts to a killer form has been mysterious. Here, authors show RIPK3-mediated phosphorylation of human MLKL is the cue for pseudokinase ___domain dimerization before assembly of pro-necroptotic MLKL tetramers.

Observations of TOI-849b reveal a radius smaller than Neptune’s but a large mass of about 40 Earth masses, indicating that the planet is the remnant core of a gas giant.

Similarities in cancers can be studied to interrogate their etiology. Here, the authors use genome-wide association study summary statistics from six cancer types based on 296,215 cases and 301,319 controls of European ancestry, showing that solid tumours arising from different tissues share a degree of common germline genetic basis.

Analysing camera-trap data of 163 mammal species before and after the onset of COVID-19 lockdowns, the authors show that responses to human activity are dependent on the degree to which the landscape is modified by humans, with carnivores being especially sensitive.

The authors report on a temperate Earth-sized planet orbiting the cool M6 dwarf LP 791-18 with a radius of 1.03 ± 0.04 R_⊕ and an equilibrium temperature of 300–400 K, with the permanent night side plausibly allowing for water condensation.

Nitrogen depletion in the ocean provides a favourable niche for nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, which can form symbioses with eukaryotic algae. This study reports the discovery of two distinct marine pennate diatom–diazotroph symbioses, which had previously only been observed in freshwater environments and represent an overlooked but widespread source of bioavailable nitrogen in marine habitats.

Liver X receptor drives epithelial Areg-mediated intestinal regeneration, while preventing tumour growth through adaptive immune responses.

Organic semiconductors provide a platform for flexible lasers, but these are still produced on rigid, thick substrates. Here, Karl et al. develop a method to make freestanding membrane lasers that can be transferred onto any substrate and show that these could be used as anti-counterfeiting labels.

RIPK3-mediated phosphorylation of the mixed lineage kinase ___domain-like (MLKL) pseudokinase is thought to be the trigger for MLKL activation during necroptotic signaling. Here the authors provide evidence that the transition of human MLKL from a monomeric state to a tetramer is essential for necroptosis signalling.

Paul Pharoah and colleagues report the results of a large genome-wide association study of ovarian cancer. They identify new susceptibility loci for different epithelial ovarian cancer histotypes and use integrated analyses of genes and regulatory features at each locus to predict candidate susceptibility genes, including OBFC1.

Genome-wide analyses of vaccine antibody responses in 2,499 infants from Uganda, South Africa and Burkina Faso identify associations between specific HLA genes and response to eight vaccines, providing insights that could be considered for population-adjusted vaccine design strategies.

An analysis based on data from the Global Dietary Database shows mean animal-sourced food intakes among children and adolescents increased modestly from 1990 to two portions per day in 2018, but remain low in sub-Saharan Africa, India and Bangladesh.

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.

Dietary quality is reported at the global, regional and national level across 185 countries. Though diet quality increased modestly since 1990 at the global level, in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa it did not improve. In some regions, children’s dietary quality is lower than that of adults.

Boyle et al. show that ROCK upregulates PERK signalling in epithelia of breast cancer, thereby enhancing recruitment and function of cancer-associated fibroblasts through CRELD2 to promote tumourigenesis.

This Registered Report presents evidence from 87 countries and regions showing that brief emotion-regulation interventions consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

Vesicle transport ensures cargo delivery to cellular targets. Here, Soltani et al. show that Drosophila Evi5, a multiple sclerosis risk gene in humans, controls vesicular transport of iron-bound transferrins and physically interacts with ferritin.

Some science agencies fare well in US president’s budget request, but proposal will meet stiff resistance.

Taphonomic experiments and analyses of fossil feathers reveal that while fossil keratins (formerly known as α-keratins) found in fossil feathers are likely artefacts of fossilization, corneous β-proteins (formerly β-keratins) can survive moderate thermal damage and persist over hundreds of millions of years to inform understanding of feather evolution.

Ruggeri et al. find in a study of 61 countries that temporal discounting patterns are globally generalizable. Worse financial environments, greater inequality and high inflation are associated with extreme or inconsistent long-term decisions.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has identified a nearby, bright, quiescent M dwarf star that hosts two sub-Neptune-sized planets and one super-Earth-sized planet. The system is eminently suitable for follow-up studies of transit timing variations, radial velocity measurements and transmission spectroscopy.

Mixed Lineage Kinase Domain-Like (MLKL) pseudokinase is phosphorylated by RIPK3 kinase prior to cell death by necroptosis. Here, the authors use monobodies that bind to the MLKL pseudokinase ___domain as tools, which allowed them to determine the crystal structures of the MLKL pseudokinase ___domain in two distinct conformations. By combining their structural data with cell signalling assays and MD simulations they provide evidence that endogenous MLKL preassociates with its upstream regulator RIPK3, and that MLKL disengages from RIPK3 following the induction of necroptosis.

Kepler data spur searches for habitable planets around small, low-temperature stars.

Subfunctionalization allows gene paralogues to perform distinct ancestral functions. Now, Glover et al. report the functional divergence of proteins of the TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA 1 (TTG1) WD40-repeat family in Arabidopsis, showing that small changes in highly conserved proteins can result in major changes to their functions.

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.