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The topological character of electrons in semimetals subtly influences their bulk properties, leading typically to weak experimental signatures. Here, Moll et al. report a distinctive anomaly in the magnetic torque upon entering quantum limit state in the Weyl semimetal NbAs, which only appears due to the presence of Weyl fermions.

The spin and valley degrees of freedom are coupled in two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides. Here, the authors use high magnetic fields to optically measure the valley Zeeman effect and diamagnetic exciton shift in tungsten disulphide and molybdenum disulphide, and determine the exciton binding energies.

Szmyd et al. show that DNA repair pathways impact whether cells with DNA lesions arrest in mitosis. The formation of homologous recombination-driven double Holliday junctions elicits mitotic cell death and suppresses inflammatory signalling.

HER2-targeted therapy improves patient’s outcome in early breast cancer. Here, the authors present the efficacy and biomarker analysis of two HER2-targeted combinations (ado-trastuzumab emtansine plus pertuzumab and paclitaxel, trastuzumab and pertuzumab) in the context of the neoadjuvant I-SPY2 phase 2 adaptive platform trial for early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence.

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.

As nature’s most important enzyme, Rubisco fixes carbon dioxide in the Calvin–Benson–Bassham cycle. Its lesser-known side job is supplying pyruvate in the chloroplast, an observation that solves a long-standing paradox of central metabolism.

In this study, Aggarwal and colleagues perform prospective sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates derived from asymptomatic student screening and symptomatic testing of students and staff at the University of Cambridge. They identify important factors that contributed to within university transmission and onward spread into the wider community.

Multi-ancestry meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies for self-reported physical activity during leisure time, leisure screen time, sedentary commuting and sedentary behavior at work identify 99 loci associated with at least one of these traits.

Designing clinical trials that adapt midstream is billed as a cure for drug development blues, one that can save time, money and improve patients' lives. Are these new designs safe and effective or an expensive gimmick?

Waveguides typically function by using boundary conditions to contain light. Here, the authors show that by using space-time wavepackets, light can be guided in an unpatterned planar waveguide as the field remains localized along the unbounded dimension.

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.

Arrayed CRISPR libraries with each plasmid encoding an array of four non-overlapping single-guide RNAs allow for the efficient genome-wide ablation, activation and epigenetic silencing of human protein-coding genes.

Results from the phase 2/3 clinical trial of gantenerumab or solanezumab in dominantly inherited Alzheimer’s disease reveal no beneficial effects on cognitive measures despite a significant reduction in amyloid plaques and other key biomarkers in those treated with gantenerumab.

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.

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.

Exploring the diversity of the wild progenitor of the wheat D subgenome allows for rapid trait discovery.

Kosterlitz–Thouless–Halperin–Nelson–Young (KTHNY) theory describes the melting of an ordered two-dimensional phase to a disordered phase, via a quasi-ordered ‘hexatic’ phase. Magnetic skyrmions, as a phase of two-dimensional quasi-particles may be expected to exhibit a KTHNY melting process, however, observing such a phase transition is difficult. Herein, Meisenheimer et al study the formation of magnetic skyrmions in (Fe_0.5Co_0.5)₅GeTe₂, and, via physical confinement at device scale, succeed in obtaining an ordered skrymion phase.

COVID-19 can be associated with neurological complications. Here the authors show that markers of brain injury, but not immune markers, are elevated in the blood of patients with COVID-19 both early and months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly in those with brain dysfunction or neurological diagnoses.

A randomized crossover study of BPN14770 in adult males with fragile X syndrome shows significant cognitive improvement in domains related to language with corresponding improvement in caregiver scales rating language and daily functioning.

Genetic and epidemiological investigations have yet to reveal what drives the large difference in ASD prevalence between the sexes. Here authors examine chromosome aneuploidy in a large ASD case-control cohort and report sex chromosome haploinsufficiency is a strong ASD risk factor, while the extra Y effect increases ASD risk significantly more than the extra X effect.

Openshaw and colleagues find myeloid inflammation and complement activation signatures in patients with long COVID who were previously hospitalized.

The authors present evidence suggesting that amorphous Bi₂Se₃ displays topological properties, signalling a new regime for the pursuit of topological matter.

CAMPA (Conditional Autoencoder for Multiplexed Pixel Analysis) learns representations of molecular pixel profiles from multiplexed images that can be clustered to quantify subcellular landmarks and capture interpretable cellular phenotypes.

A national prospective study of patients requiring hospitalization for COVID-19 demonstrates global cognitive deficits at 1 year, associated with elevated brain injury markers and reduced gray matter volume.

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.

Individualized genetic therapies present unique challenges for trial design. Here, the authors present a framework which emphasizes scientific rigor, using natural history, tailored clinical outcomes, and statistical considerations to optimize trial efficiency.

Group III/nitride semiconductors have been grown epitaxially on the superconductor niobium nitride, allowing the superconductor’s macroscopic quantum effects to be combined with the semiconductors’ electronic, photonic and piezoelectric properties.

The stay-green G gene, which controls seed dormancy, shows evidence of selection in soybean, rice and tomato. G interacts with NCED3 and PSY and modulates abscisic acid synthesis.

This overview of the ENCODE project outlines the data accumulated so far, revealing that 80% of the human genome now has at least one biochemical function assigned to it; the newly identified functional elements should aid the interpretation of results of genome-wide association studies, as many correspond to sites of association with human disease.

Confining plasma and managing disruptions in tokamak devices is a challenge. Here the authors demonstrate a method predicting and possibly preventing disruptions and macroscopic instabilities in tokamak plasma using data from JET.

In a new study including 200 families who experienced perinatal death, adding genomic analyses to standard autopsies improved the identification of underlying pathogenic causes and informed genetic counseling.

Conservationists should assess organisms on environmental impact rather than on whether they are natives, argue Mark Davis and 18 other ecologists.

The International Strawberry Sequencing Consortium reports the draft genome of the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca). The genome of this diploid species should serve as a reference genome for the Fragaria genus, as the cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) is an octoploid where F. vesca is predicted to be a subgenome donor.

Empirically based models of disease progression in familial frontotemporal dementia reveal the relative ordering of clinical, neuroimaging, and fluid biomarker changes and facilitate novel clinical trial designs