Volume 590 Issue 7846, 18 February 2021

Two influential books suggest that universities contribute to societal divisions. In fact, they are essential to bridging divides.

To protect the planet’s health, the agency must rediscover its capacity for connecting organizations.

It’s not just the heat: temperature fluctuations also threaten a region’s hopes for greater wealth.

Having companionship might give sociable giraffe cows better access to food.

Technique could help to determine the spin of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our Galaxy.

A pot of 2,700-year-old goo, found in an aristocratic man’s grave, hints at the rise of manufactured beauty-care products.

A huge collection of recipes helps to overturn the idea that spicy food gained popularity for its antimicrobial powers.

The strange-looking sawfish, itself a predator, falls prey to overfishing and habitat destruction.

Photons help to entangle two far-flung atoms, which can then be used for quantum calculations.

The latest science news, in brief.

Investigation team rules out idea that the coronavirus came from a laboratory leak, but offers two hypotheses popular in Chinese media.

UAE’s Hope spacecraft is poised to make pioneering measurements of the Martian atmosphere.

Analyses suggest that China has successfully curbed production of an ozone-depleting chemical, a win for the international treaty that protects the ozone layer.

In the race against emerging coronavirus variants, researchers are looking beyond antibodies for clues to lasting protection from COVID-19.

Combining different coronavirus shots could speed immunization campaigns — and even boost immune response.

Organoids that contain an ancient version of a gene that influences brain development are smaller and bumpier than those with human genes.

Immunologist Kizzmekia Corbett helped to design the Moderna vaccine. Now she volunteers her time talking about vaccine science with people of colour.

Researchers in Japan are enlisting an army of citizens to explore how storms on Earth create extreme bursts of gamma radiation.

A Nature survey shows many scientists expect the virus that causes COVID-19 to become endemic, but it could pose less danger over time.

COVID’s evolution signals the importance of rational vaccine design based on broadly neutralizing antibodies.

Researchers and artists reflect on the partnerships that have created career opportunities and forged a deeper public understanding of science.

Geraldine Cox mixes the palettes of art and physics by illustrating phenomena such as light-interference patterns.

Plastics are invaluable materials, but they use up petroleum resources and persist in the environment. A high-performance plastic derived from renewable oils has been designed at the molecular level to be truly recyclable.

Inclusive fitness theory shows that social partners must be related for altruism to evolve, yet some models suggest that relatedness is not needed. An analysis concludes that assumptions in those models build in a role for relatedness, after all.

The genome sequence of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) sheds light on genetic mechanisms that have enabled the ancestors of this valuable biomass crop to adapt to cycles of climate warming and cooling.

Persistently luminescent nanocrystals have been used to make flexible X-ray detectors that produce better images of 3D objects than do the flat-panel detectors currently widely used in radiography.

For those fortunate enough to have survived a deadly disease, a vital question remains: how long does their hard-earned immunity last? Tracking of antibodies in Ebola survivors reveals a surprising pattern.

Two studies show that some cancers are driven by genetic changes in the NSD3 protein that alter its enzymatic activity. Biochemical and structural characterization hints at a route to pharmacological reversal.

Suitably shaped X-ray pulses are used to coherently steer the quantum dynamics of atoms’ nuclei rather than their electrons, with few-zeptosecond temporal stability of the phase control.

Nano-Raman spectroscopy reveals localization of some vibrational modes in reconstructed twisted bilayer graphene and provides qualitative insights into how electron–phonon coupling affects the vibrational and electronic properties of the material.

Using lanthanide-doped nanomaterials and flexible substrates, an approach that enables flat-panel-free, high-resolution, three-dimensional imaging is demonstrated and termed X-ray luminescence extension imaging.

Mesocrystal formation is investigated for haematite in the presence of oxalate, showing that chemical gradients at interfaces cause nucleation near surfaces rather than in the bulk, followed by particle attachment.

Polycarbonates and polyesters with materials properties like those of high-density polyethylene can be recycled chemically by depolymerization to their constituent monomers, re-polymerization yielding material with uncompromised processing and materials properties.

Atmospheric concentration measurements at remote sites around the world reveal an accelerated decline in the global mean CFC-11 concentration during 2018 and 2019, reversing recent trends and building confidence in the timely recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer.

Atmospheric data and chemical-transport modelling show that CFC-11 emissions from eastern China have again decreased, after increasing in 2013–2017, and a delay in ozone-layer recovery has probably been avoided.

The genome of the biofuel crop switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) reveals climate–gene–biomass associations that underlie adaptation in nature and will facilitate improvements of the yield of this crop for bioenergy production.

This study reveals a functional map for skilled forelimb movements within the lateral rostral medulla of the brainstem on the basis of the identification of specific neuronal populations by axonal targets.

The net PKA activities in each class of spiny projection neuron in the nucleus accumbens of the mouse are dichotomously modulated by asynchronous positive and negative dopamine signals during different phases of learning.

A combination of fluorescent antibodies is used to build visual maps of all myeloid cells in the bone marrow, providing new insight into how the bone marrow microenvironment regulates cell-fate decisions.

X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy structures of the transcriptional repressor of the methylomycin gene cluster, MmfR, reveal the molecular basis for regulation of antibiotic biosynthesis by AHFCA hormones in Actinobacteria.

In many survivors of Ebola virus infection, antibody responses show long-term patterns of decline followed by restimulation, possibly owing to recrudescence of persisting virus.

A subpopulation of astrocytes characterized by the expression of LAMP1 and TRAIL limits inflammation in the central nervous system through a mechanism involving the microbiota-modulated expression of IFNγ in meningeal natural killer cells.

Upon induction by thermogenic stimuli, creatine kinase B traffics to mitochondria to trigger the futile creatine cycle in thermogenic fat.

Aneuploid cancer cell lines show increased dependence on the spindle assembly complex (SAC); initially they are resistant to SAC perturbations, but over time they accumulate chromosomal aberrations that impair their fitness.

Cancer cells that have undergone whole-genome doubling are more reliant than their near-diploid counterparts on DNA-replication factors, the spindle-assembly checkpoint and a mitotic kinesin protein, KIF18A.

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the nucleosome-bound NSD2 and NSD3 histone methyltransferases reveal the molecular basis of their histone modification activity, and show how mutations in these proteins can lead to oncogenesis.

The histone H3K36 methyltransferase NSD3, which is associated with the common 8p11–12 chromosomal amplification, is an oncogenic driver in lung squamous cell carcinoma.

The authors report the structural characterization of the mechanically activated channel MscS in different membrane environments and show how the mechanosensation of MscS can be visualized.