Volume 599 Issue 7885, 18 November 2021

Why, as a scientist, I signed an amicus brief for the US Supreme Court’s case on abortion.

A device that can fit in a person’s palm has enough resolution to capture fingerprints for biometric identification.

An insect owes its bright green covering to an unusual type of ‘photonic crystal’.

Experiments involving ‘impossible teleportation’ reveal the cognitive powers of the house cat.

The onslaught of COVID-19 has generated millions of tonnes of plastic waste in the form of gloves, face masks and other items.

Genomic analysis of Pacific rockfishes, which can survive for more than 200 years, provides insight into the biology of longevity.

Temperatures in some settlements approach the limits of human survivability, even as Earth continues to warm.

Imaging technique can pick up micrometre-scale details of intact brains and other organs.

The latest science news, in brief.

The Glasgow Climate Pact is a step forward, researchers say, but efforts to decarbonize are not enough to limit global temperature rises to 2 °C.

Scientists are among hundreds of demonstrators at the COP26 climate conference — and want more to join them.

Drugs such as molnupiravir and Paxlovid could change the course of the pandemic if clinical trial results hold up in the real world.

Jabs from Novavax and other biotech firms are coming. Scientists say they have a lot to offer.

Hundreds of junk-science papers have been retracted from reputable journals after fraudsters used ‘special issues’ to manipulate the publication process. And the problem is growing.

An emerging industry of nuclear-fusion firms promises to have commercial reactors ready in the next decade.

An enthusiastic exploration of how surfaces interact both intrigues and frustrates.

Analysis of how papers and databases are handled and interpreted shows that geneticists in Europe must stamp out unethical research practices at home, not just abroad.

Fewer than half of respondents to Nature’s 2021 salary and satisfaction survey feel positive about their prospects.

Tammy Hsu is finding a way to produce fabric dye with a lower environmental impact.

Solid iodine transforms directly into gas when heated — a property that has been used to create cheap, compact engines that could make large networks of small satellites commercially viable.

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.

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.

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.

The scarcity and high radioactivity of the heaviest actinide elements, such as californium, make their study a formidable challenge. A landmark report describes the first structural characterization of a californium—carbon bond.

A study in humans indicates that certain bile acids that are produced by bacteria and commonly found in people over 100 boost gut health and protect against infection. These findings shed light on the contributors to healthy ageing.

This Review discusses the exciton physics of transition metal dichalcogenides, focusing on moiré patterns and exciton many-body physics, and outlines future research directions in the field.

Experiments with a trapped-ion quantum simulator observe Stark many-body localization, in which the quantum system evades thermalization despite having no disorder.

Four-dimensional electron energy-loss spectroscopy measurements of the vibrational spectra and the phonon dispersion at a heterointerface show localized modes that are predicted to affect the thermal conductance and electron mobility.

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide diodes with defect-free van der Waals contacts allows minimization of the extrinsic interfacial disorder-dominated recombination and access to the intrinsic excitonic behaviour in two-dimensional semiconductor devices.

The successful in-orbit operation of an electric space propulsion system based on iodine, rather than the more expensive and difficult-to-store xenon, is demonstrated.

A study demonstrates that a range of different behaviours—from reversible, through weeping, to explosive—can be exhibited by a chemically homogeneous ceramic system by manipulating conditions of compatibility in unusual ways.

Chemical experiments on californium are stymied by isotope availability and radioactivity considerations, but are advanced here with synthesis and characterization of an organometallic complex.

A survey of climate change simulations from different models indicates widespread changes in surface temperature persistence under global warming that may be attributable to a broad range of physical processes.

The heart of appendicularians has evolved by 'deconstructing' an ancestral ascidian-like gene regulatory network.

MC3R deficiency is associated with a delay in the onset of puberty, and a reduction in growth and lean mass.

Episodic memory and allocentric spatial navigation are interwoven in the activity of hippocampal neuron ensembles via Hebbian plasticity, which allows rats to encode journey-specific episodes.

Dedicated cells in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex map an animal s instantaneous position in space; by contrast, its future goal location is represented in the orbitofrontal cortex, a structure within the broader circuit.

Combined analysis of the connectome and transcriptome in the mouse cortex indicates that dynamic differences in expression levels of largely generic sets of genes regulate differential targeting within neuronal subtypes.

The microbiota of centenarians (aged 100 years and older) comprise gut microorganisms that are capable of generating unique secondary bile acids, including isoallolithocholic acid, a bile acid with potent antimicrobial effects against Gram-positive—but not Gram-negative—multidrug-resistant pathogens.

Optimization of monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 for enhanced Fc-effector function increase their effectiveness for prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in multiple animal models of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

A paper in Nature demonstrates that B cell-derived GABA promotes monocyte differentiation into anti-inflammatory macrophages able to limit anti-tumour T cell cytotoxicity.

Targeting peptides from unmutated cancer drivers that are expressed in tumours but not in normal tissues using peptide-centric chimeric antigen receptors shows potential as treatment for cancer.

Palmitic acid induces stable transcriptional and chromatin changes that lead to long-term stimulation of metastasis in orthotopic models of cancer through the secretion by tumour-associated Schwann cells of a specialized proregenerative extracellular matrix, the ablation of which inhibits metastasis initiation.

Using time-controlled CRISPR screens, the authors identify AKIRIN2 as a factor involved in the nuclear import of the proteasome.

Structural studies on Scytonema hofmanni CRISPR-associated transposon protein complexes indicate a mechanism for RNA-guided DNA transposition involving Cas12k, TnsC and TnsB.

Experiments using endogenous and biomimetic condensates in cells show that nucleation in cells resembles the physical process in inanimate materials, but is tuned by biomolecular features.

Structure-guided design and component-based synthesis are used to produce iboxamycin, a novel ribosome-binding antibiotic with potent activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of pig glycine receptors indicate that they are predominantly assembled with 4α:1β stoichiometry via α-homotrimer and homotetramer intermediates.