Volume 594 Issue 7861, 3 June 2021

In the wake of COVID, a pandemic treaty could be a way to agree on data access before the next emergency strikes.

The rise of more-transmissible viral mutants demands new ways to prevent, detect, track and treat SARS-CoV-2 infections.

The animals ate a highly unusual meal, including cooked foods, before they were ceremonially killed some 600 years ago.

A low-tech method called ‘kangaroo mother care’ sharply cuts a high-risk newborn’s risk of death.

A genetic change helps to transform bacteria that live harmoniously on the skin into potential killers.

The fish’s white bands are influenced by the sea anemone in which the young fish shelters.

Seismic activity is unleashed at the world’s southernmost active volcano by major earthquakes in Chile and the Indian Ocean.

Scientists adapt a renowned experiment to make it visible with the naked eye.

Face-to-face interactions beat digital ones for gaining familiarity with someone else’s face.

The latest science news, in brief.

Allegations that COVID escaped from a Chinese lab make it harder for nations to collaborate on ending the pandemic — and fuel online bullying, some scientists say.

Researchers say the complaint filed against Elisabeth Bik could have a ‘chilling effect’ on scholarly criticism.

The International Society for Stem Cell Research relaxed the famous 14-day rule on culturing human embryos in its latest research guidelines.

Key questions remain about how quickly B.1.617 variants can spread, their potential to evade immunity and how they might affect the course of the pandemic.

At the Elliott State Forest in Oregon, researchers will explore how best to balance timber production with conservation.

Archaeological finds suggest that people developed numbers tens of thousands of years ago. Scholars are now exploring the first detailed hypotheses about this life-changing invention.

Starting a research group as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold across the world presented extra challenges.

Maintaining outdated PCs can be a matter of necessity — and a labour of love.

Molecular biophysicist Brighton Samatanga hopes to develop crops resistant to drought and pests.

Organic semiconductors used in a promising class of solar cell are processed in a ‘doping’ step to improve the transport of charge carriers. A fast doping method has been developed that might enable mass production of these cells.

Host cells battle invading bacteria using a degradation process facilitated by the protein ubiquitin. The discovery of the host enzyme responsible and its bacterial target reveals that this process defies convention.

Twelve candidates for the most powerful astrophysical particle accelerators in the Milky Way have been detected. This advance will help to uncover the nature of these exotic objects.

A diet containing insufficient micronutrients can harm human health. Maps that pinpoint areas of Africa associated with micronutrient-poor grains now offer a way to target interventions that tackle such deficiencies.

Observations of γ-rays with energies up to 1.4 PeV find that 12 sources in the Galaxy are PeVatrons, one of which is the Crab Nebula.

Robust heralded entanglement between two solid-state quantum memories with temporal multiplexing is realized using photons at telecommunication wavelengths.

Heralded entanglement is realized between two solid-state absorptive quantum memories 3.5 metres apart and with a bandwidth of 1 gigahertz, and with a fidelity of approximately 80%.

Optical experiments on WSe₂/MoSe₂ heterobilayers reveal signatures of moiré trions, including interlayer emission with sharp lines and a complex charge-density dependence, features that differ markedly from those of conventional trions.

CO₂ and ultraviolet light are used to initiate the p-type doping of spiro-OMeTAD:LiTFSI films, which show enhanced efficiencies when used as hole-transporting layers in solar cells and have shorter fabrication times compared with interlayers doped using conventional methods.

Single-crystal monolayer hexagonal boron nitride is unexpectedly tough owing to its asymmetric lattice structure, which facilitates repeated crack deflection, crack branching and edge swapping, enhancing energy dissipation.

Experimental measurements of vibrational sum-frequency generation spectra indicate that the dielectric response of water near an electrode may be strongly asymmetric, with different responses to positive and negative electrode charge.

Analysis of temperate lakes finds a widespread decline in dissolved oxygen concentrations in surface and deep waters, which is associated with reduced solubility at warmer surface water temperatures and increased stratification at depth.

Geospatial variation in the micronutrient composition (calcium, iron, selenium and zinc) of staple cereal grains is nutritionally important at subnational scales in Ethiopia and Malawi; these data could be used to improve surveillance of micronutrient deficiencies in the region.

A high-quality bonobo genome assembly provides insights into incomplete lineage sorting in hominids and its relevance to gene evolution and the genetic relationship among living hominids.

Three-dimensional imaging of the lingual kinematics of mice drinking from a water spout reveals that successful licks have the hallmarks of online motor control, requiring rapid adjustments controlled by anterolateral motor cortex.

Lungs from patients who died from COVID-19 show atypical fused cells, the formation of which is mediated by the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, and drugs that inhibit TMEM16F can prevent spike-induced syncytia formation.

Specialized somatosensory neurons that express Gα_i-interacting protein (GINIP) promote tissue repair in a model of UV-induced skin damage by secreting the neuropeptide TAFA4, which regulates skin-resident macrophages to release IL-10 and limit fibrosis.

An aged, senescent immune system has a causal role in driving systemic ageing, and the targeting of senescent immune cells with senolytic drugs has the potential to suppress morbidities associated with old age.

A deep-learning-based algorithm uses routinely acquired histology slides to provide a differential diagnosis for the origin of the primary tumour for complicated cases of metastatic tumours and cancers of unknown primary origin.

Upon Salmonella invasion of the mammalian cytosol, ubiquitylation of a non-proteinaceous substrate—the lipid A moiety of bacterial lipopolysaccharide—by the E3 ubiquitin ligase RNF213 marks the bacteria as cargo for antibacterial autophagy.

The natural antisense transcript MAPT-AS1 interferes with translation of mRNA transcript into tau protein in the brain and may represent a general mechanism for controlling levels of intrinsically disordered proteins, with particular relevance for neurodegeneration.

The high-resolution structure of the mammalian pre-initiation complex in different functional states provides detailed insights into the mechanism of transcription initiation.

The structure of a recombinant 20-subunit version of human Mediator bound to the transcription pre-initiation complex is determined, providing insight into the regulation of RNA polymerase II initiation.