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_{Household survey data is vital to health and development. The study describes and maps data quality in 35 African countries, finding that data quality varies and worsens with distance from towns, indicating a need for investment in data collection.}

This study reveals that rising temperatures and decreased precipitation levels increase walking time for fetching drinking water in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rural areas are most affected, but community electricity access mitigates the walk time burden.

Complete sequences of chromosomes telomere-to-telomere from chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan and siamang provide a comprehensive and valuable resource for future evolutionary comparisons.

Genome-wide analyses identify variants associated with infertility and reproductive hormone levels but find limited polygenic overlap between reproductive hormone levels and infertility at the population level.

Parvalbumin-positive interneurons in the hippocampal CA3 substantially reduce firing on approach to and at goal locations while food-deprived mice learn to find food.

Women of reproductive age may have specific concerns relating to perceived impacts on fertility and menstrual cycles that make them hesitant to receive COVID-19 vaccination. In this study, the authors explore COVID-19 vaccine uptake rates in women of reproductive age using linked data for ~13 million women in England.

This work integrates duplex sequencing with cost-effective Ultima sequencing to enhance the accuracy of whole-genome circulating cell-free DNA profiling.

A fast, automated, high-resolution, low-cost multiplex immunofluorescence method to understand spatial organization of tissue.

Fibrosis arises from pathological fibroblast activation into myofibroblasts, causing tissue stiffening. Fibroblast phenotyping is largely subjective, yet crucial for drug screening. Here, authors develop mathematical descriptors of cell morphology and structures to consistently grade fibroblasts.

Adaptive decision-making often requires an understanding of our agency in a situation; however, chronic stress can disrupt agency and promote inflexible, habitual behaviour by turning off a brain pathway needed for agency and activating one that promotes habit.

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).

Quantum simulations of chemistry and materials are challenging due to the complexity of correlated systems. A framework based on reconfigurable qubit architectures and digital–analogue simulations provides a hardware-efficient path forwards.

Kang et al. reveal that GAB, classically known as a neurotransmitter, can control pro-inflammatory T_H17 cell and anti-inflammatory iT_reg cell differentiation in a cell-autonomous manner, thus modulating T cell-mediated inflammation.

Immune lymphocyte estimation from nucleotide sequencing (ImmuneLENS) infers B cell and T cell fractions from whole-genome sequencing data. Applied to the 100,000 Genomes Project datasets, circulating T cell fraction provides sex-dependent and prognostic insights in patients.

A scheme for watermarking the text generated by large language models shows high text quality preservation and detection accuracy and low latency, and is feasible in large-scale-production settings.

Using genome-wide meta-analyses of clinical measures of depression and biobank data, the authors investigate symptom-specific genetic associations between depression and subsequent risk for Alzheimer’s disease, finding an absence of a putative genetic overlap between disorders.

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.

By engaging a group of 27 certified radiologists in the United States and India, the accuracy and quality of radiology reports generated by a vision–language model is evaluated, exploring synergistic combinations with clinicians.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

Over the last 15 years, the content of Nature Physics has covered an enormous breadth of subjects at the forefront of physics. The journal’s past and present editors recount their favourite papers and what made chaperoning them to publication special.

The distinctive mammalian middle ear evolved by separation of the primary jaw joint from the mandible, requiring breakdown of Meckel’s cartilage. Here, genetic and pharmacological manipulation of mice and opossums is used to mimic transitional forms found in Mesozoic mammals and gain insights into middle ear evolution.

Amyloid fibrils grow through the recruitment of soluble monomer to the fibril end that propagates the fibril structure. Here the transition state, the rate-limiting conformation, of such a reaction has been characterized by Φ-value analysis. An energy landscape model has been developed and fibril growth rates predicted from first principles.

In participants from a randomized controlled trial, doxy-PEP use over 6 months minimally affected the gut microbiome’s taxonomic composition but increased the abundance and active expression of tetracycline antibiotic resistance genes.

Mutations in the NRF2-KEAP1 pathway is found to be related with therapeutic resistance and poor outcomes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here this group reports that cystine/glutamate antiporter system xc−, controlled by NRF2, can be non-invasively imaged by positron emission tomography thereby providing a sensitive and specific marker of NRF2 activation in advanced preclinical models of NSCLC.

Using large-scale mobility data, the authors examine how the quality of food in mobile environments away from home affects food choice.

Across 27 countries, Većkalov and Geiger et al. find that scientific consensus messaging on climate change is an effective, non-polarizing tool for changing misperceptions, beliefs and worry but not support for public action.

Single-cell Proliferation Rate Inference in Non-homogeneous Tumors through Evolutionary Routes (SPRINTER) allows users to infer proliferation rates of individual clones within a tumor from single-cell DNA sequencing data. Applying SPRINTER to human tumor datasets highlighted a link between proliferation and metastatic potential.

Phylogenomic analysis of 7,923 angiosperm species using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes produced an angiosperm tree of life dated with 200 fossil calibrations, providing key insights into evolutionary relationships and diversification.

Analyses of multiregional tumour samples from 421 patients with non-small cell lung cancer prospectively enrolled to the TRACERx study reveal determinants of tumour evolution and relationships between intratumour heterogeneity and clinical outcome.

In this work, authors assess airway microbiome dynamics to show bacterial pneumonia in critically ill COVID-19 patients is significantly associated with death, corticosteroid treatment, disruption of the lung microbiome and a distinct pulmonary host response.

The mechanisms controlling the formation of cellular adhesions are not fully understood. Here, the authors use single molecule tracking and super-resolution imaging to show that the actin cytoskeleton regulates integrin diffusion in the developing Drosophila embryo.

A two-species eco-evolutionary model based on consumer–resource interactions and quantitative genetic inheritance shows how evolution among competitors changes the components of stable coexistence.

Placenta histopathology for maternal and newborn health is highly specialised and time consuming. Here, authors present a deep learning pipeline for quantifying cells and tissues in placenta whole slide images, revealing biological and clinical insights.

Cognitive control is important for later-life success and is often targeted for interventions. Here the authors show that response inhibition training in a large sample of children over 8 weeks did not change their brains or behavior in the short or long term.

Predictive models that relate brain activity to phenotype reliably fail when applied to subgroups of participants who do not fit stereotypical profiles, showing that the utility of a one-size-fits-all modelling approach is limited.

In this work, the authors present E. coli PanSelect, a hybrid selection method for enriching E. coli from low-abundance microbiota, and apply it to stool samples from recurrent UTI sufferers, revealing distinct E. coli transcriptional profiles

This study shows that submesoscale processes at ocean fronts are a significant source of turbulent energy within the ocean boundary layer away from the sea surface, with a contribution reaching 34% of the total energy dissipation in winter.

This study identifies a set of risk factors that fully mediate and uniquely contribute to the relationship between sex assigned at birth and posttraumatic stress disorder severity.

Mixed responses to targeted therapy within a patient are a clinical challenge. Here the authors show that TP53 loss-of-function cooperates with whole genome doubling which increases chromosomal instability. This leads to greater cellular diversity and multiple routes of resistance, which in turn promotes mixed responses to treatment.

Improving air quality by discontinuing combustion-engine vehicles would slash health-care costs in the United States, but the projected savings in rural areas depend on how the replacements are powered.