Volume 551 Issue 7680, 16 November 2017

Effort aims to help scientists understand how generations of inbreeding have altered the genetics of research rodents.

A former pharmaceutical boss will help navigate the UK’s exit from the European Union.

While dealing with their own losses, public-health researchers are regrouping to study the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Increased coal use in China appears to be driving the first increase in global greenhouse-gas output since 2014.

Beam generator puts country in elite company for doing experiments in materials science and other fields.

Rosario Isasi examines a study on the societal impact of grand sequencing projects.

Ehsan Masood hails an account of the mixed implications of governments valuing research as an investment.

Aldo Faisal explores the immersive journey of technology pioneer Jaron Lanier.

Modelling suggests that Pluto's atmospheric temperature is regulated by haze, unlike the other planetary bodies in the Solar System. The finding has implications for our understanding of exoplanetary atmospheres. See Letter p.352

Infection with Shigella flexneri bacteria is a major cause of infant death. It emerges that S. flexneri evades intracellular defences by releasing a protein that triggers the destruction of members of a key family of host enzymes. See Letter p.378

Microbial activity in the sea results in a loss of bioavailable nitrogen. It emerges that the climate phenomenon called the El Niño–Southern Oscillation has a surprisingly large effect on the size of this loss.

The treatment of a patient affected by an incurable genetic skin disease demonstrates the efficacy, feasibility and safety of replacing almost the whole skin using genetically corrected stem cells. See Letter p.327

The physical nature of two regions called large low-shear-velocity provinces at the base of Earth's mantle is uncertain. A measurement of their density has implications for our understanding of mantle dynamics. See Article p.321

Statistical analysis of data on threatened species provides a model that can predict how rates of investment in conservation affect biodiversity under changing human population levels and agricultural and economic conditions. See Letter p.364

A single antibody uses multiple antiviral mechanisms to block the replication of influenza B viruses in mice and ferrets. The development could inform research into improved flu vaccines.

A Review of the genetics, biochemistry, ecology and evolution of bacterial quorum sensing.

An estimate of Earth’s deep-mantle buoyancy is derived from GPS-based measurements of body tide deformation and shown to be dominated by dense material possibly related to subducted oceanic plates or primordial rock.

Autologous transgenic epidermal stem cell cultures are used to reconstitute almost the entire epidermis of a patient with severe junctional epidermolysis bullosa.

Profiling of 53,193 individual epithelial cells from the mouse small intestine identifies previously unknown cell subtypes and corresponding gene markers, providing insight into gut homeostasis and response to pathogens.

IgA⁺ B cells expressing programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and interleukin 10 accumulate in the inflamed livers of humans and mice with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease where they promote the progression to hepatocellular carcinoma by limiting the local activation of PD-1-expressing CD8⁺ T cells.

Single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer is used to identify the rate-limiting step and new intermediates in the conformational cycle of the Listeria monocytogenes calcium transporter LMCA1.

Modelling results find that the temperature of Pluto’s atmosphere is regulated by haze particles rather than gas molecules, suggesting that Pluto should be brighter than previously thought at mid-infrared wavelengths.

Sufficiently strong modulation of the interaction strength in a Bose–Einstein condensate induces inelastic atom–atom scattering and causes collective emission of matter-wave jets from the condensate.

The relaxation dynamics of granular materials is more like that of complex fluids than that of thermal glass-forming systems, owing to the absence of the ‘cage effect’.

Empirical two-part models describe the relationship between conservation spending, human development pressures and biodiversity loss and can inform sustainable development strategies by predicting the effects of financing decisions on future biodiversity losses.

In European Neolithic populations, the arrival of farmers prompted admixture with local hunter-gatherers over many centuries, resulting in distinct signatures in each region due to a complex series of interactions.

In the mouse caudal brainstem, functionally distinct neuronal subpopulations, which are distinguishable by neurotransmitter identity, connectivity and location, regulate locomotion parameters.

A Shigella flexneri type III secretion system effector targets cellular proteins for degradation via the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway, suggesting that such effectors help to overcome defences against bacterial infection.

The mechanistic basis for the role of the metabolic enzyme BCAA transaminase 1 (BCAT1) in acute myeloid leukaemias.

A signalling mechanism in human cells for sensing DNA damage induced by alkylation involves ubiquitin-dependent recruitment of the alkylation repair complex ASCC to the vicinity of the damage and co-localization with transcription and splicing factors.

Application of cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging to determine the structure of the Ebola virus nucleocapsid within intact viruses and recombinant nucleocapsid-like assemblies.

Scientists hit hard by powerful hurricanes in 2017 share tips for weathering future disasters.

Cross-cultural chef-turned-scientist cooks up recipe for diversity outreach.