Volume 552 Issue 7685, 21 December 2017

Deposition and spreading of amyloid-β pathology in mice requires binding to microglia-released ASC specks.

In vivo deuterium labelling reveals a quiescent population of long-lived human virus-specific memory CD8 T cells that maintain the epigenetic landscape of effector cells, which facilitates rapid responses to pathogen re-exposure.

The cryo-electron microscopy and crystal structures of several mTORC1 complexes, and accompanying biochemical analyses, shed light on how mTORC1 is regulated and how cancer mutations lead to its hyperactivation.

The spectral variability of the blazar CTA 102 during a recent extreme outburst could be explained by a twisted, inhomogeneous jet containing regions of different orientations that vary in time.

The first interstellar object to be detected in the Solar System is asteroidal in nature and has a shape unlike any Solar System body, with a length about ten times its width.

Electrons derived from cosmic rays become trapped in the radiation belts that surround Earth, but how the electrons are generated has been uncertain; new measurements confirm the involvement of neutron decay.

Cosmic-ray muon radiography has been used to non-invasively visualize the voids in the Great Pyramid (Khufu’s Pyramid), revealing a large void situated above the Grand Gallery.

Modelling the reactions of water with the crusts of early Earth and Mars sheds light on how water was transported through their crusts to give the surfaces we see today.

The recently discovered theropod Halszkaraptor escuillei reveals a novel basal dromaeosaurid clade, and its adaptations that suggest a semi-aquatic predatory lifestyle add an additional ecomorphology to those developed by non-avian maniraptorans.

Metagenomic and biochemical analyses of soil samples from Antarctic desert regions provides evidence that bacteria in these soils derive carbon and energy from atmospheric CO, H₂ and CO₂.

DNA methylation profiling of virus-specific T cells during acute viral infection in mice provides evidence that a fate-permissive subset of effector CD8 T cells dedifferentiates into long-lived memory T cells.

‘Coincidence-detecting’ phosphoinositide sensors are used to study changes in the phosphoinositide lipid species found in membranes during the development and maturation of endocytic clathrin-coated vesicles.

Computationally designed icosahedral protein-based assemblies can protect their genetic material and evolve in biochemical environments, suggesting a route to the custom design of synthetic nanomaterials for non-viral drug delivery.

Cryo-electron microscopy mapping of the calcium-activated chloride channel TMEM16A combined with functional experiments reveals that calcium ions interact directly with the pore to activate the channel.

Electron cryo-microscopy density maps of mouse TMEM16A reconstituted in nanodiscs or solubilized in detergent reveal two functional states of calcium-activated chloride channels.