Review Articles, News & Views, Perspectives, Hypotheses, Analyses and Review in 2021

Nature’s pages feature a look at scientific connections to Montpellier and discuss food in Paris during a siege.

A triangulation of linguistic, archaeological and genetic data suggests that the Transeurasian language family originated in a population of grain farmers in China around 9,000 years ago, and that agriculture underpinned its spread.

Palaeoclimate data and models have been used to produce a comprehensive report of Earth’s temperature changes over the past 24 millennia. The results suggest that modern warming differs from the gradual rise of the past 10,000 years.

Nature’s pages feature a textbook that takes a new approach for covering science, and an obituary of Charles Babbage.

Neurons in a brain region called the hippocampus were found to be selectively active when rats are in a specific spatial location during natural navigation. The discovery launched research efforts into how the brain supports spatial memory.

Mice in which organelles called mitochondria are disrupted in vulnerable neuronal cells provide a new model of Parkinson’s disease. The pattern of neurodegeneration challenges long-held ideas about the disease’s motor symptoms.

Analysis of immune cells shows that, unexpectedly, B cells secrete GABA, a molecule best known as a neurotransmitter. B-cell-derived GABA can modulate immune responses against tumours, raising the prospect of new therapies.

Reaching a deeper understanding of the ocean ecosystems that maintain whales might aid conservation efforts. Measurements of the animals’ krill intake indicate that previous figures were substantial underestimates.

How underwater seagrasses obtain the nitrogen they need has been unclear. Evidence has now emerged of a partnership with a bacterium that might be analogous to the system used by many land plants to gain nitrogen.

Variants of the melanocortin 3 receptor are associated with delayed puberty and reduced growth, suggesting that this receptor might integrate signals of metabolic status that affect body growth and sexual maturation.

Entering your personal identification number using the keypad of a cash machine is notoriously insecure. A clever application of the special theory of relativity could make identification safer.

Nature’s pages feature efforts to ensure thermometer accuracy and offer some gardening advice.

To respond better to future pandemics, we must understand how the SARS-CoV-2 virus dispersed so rapidly. A model of COVID-19 spread sheds light on cryptic transmission, undetected by surveillance efforts, in early 2020.

A framework is proposed to start a dialogue on the criteria for assessing claims and supporting evidence for life beyond Earth.

An inventory of the world’s solar-panel installations has been produced with the help of machine learning, revealing many more than had previously been recorded. The results will inform efforts to meet global targets for solar-energy use.

A device that generates exotic fluids of particles at equilibrium conditions and high temperatures could have applications ranging from low-loss electrical cables to memory storage.

Molecular evidence has long indicated that aquatic animals called bryozoans should be found among the fossils of the Cambrian period, around 541 million years ago. Yet they have been conspicuously absent, until now.

The genomes of Bronze Age mummies from the Tarim Basin in northwest China suggest that these individuals were descended from an ancient Asian population that was genetically isolated, despite extensive cultural interactions in the region.

Nature’s pages feature musings about the value of studying wetlands, and a report of the excavation of an ancient city in Sicily.

The protein-coding portions of more than 450,000 individuals’ genomes have been sequenced, and analysed together with the individuals’ health data, revealing rare and common gene variants linked to various health-related traits.