Coronavirus is in the air — there’s too much focus on surfaces p.7

Catching the coronavirus from surfaces is rare. The World Health Organization and national public-health agencies need to clarify their advice.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00277-8

Biden has assembled a stellar science team — now they must pull together p.7

A cast of eminent science, health and climate advisers has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring a fresh, cohesive and inclusive perspective on science policy.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00184-y

How to redesign COVID vaccines so they protect against variants p.15

Lineages that can evade immunity are spurring vaccine makers to explore ways to redesign their shots.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00241-6

Novavax offers first evidence that COVID vaccines protect people against variants p.17

Novavax’s experimental shot is highly effective against the variant identified in Britain — but saw a worrying drop in efficacy against a lineage detected in South Africa.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00268-9

Biden’s ambitious COVID plan: what scientists think p.18

From vaccines to testing, the strategy pledges to follow the science — but researchers still anticipate a tough road ahead.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00220-x

Life on Venus claim faces strongest challenge yet p.19

New studies knock down a controversial report observing phosphine in the planet’s atmosphere.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00249-y

Famed Chinese immunologist cleared of plagiarism and fraud p.20

But Cao Xuetao will be barred from applying for grants for a year after investigators found ‘misused images’ in his group’s papers.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00219-4

How gut microbes could drive brain disorders p.22

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00260-3

COVID-19 rarely spreads through surfaces. So why are we still deep cleaning? p.26

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00251-4

Rogue antibodies could be driving severe COVID-19 p.29

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00149-1

The Arctic Ocean might have been filled with freshwater during ice ages p.37

A geochemical study of sediments suggests that, during recent glacial periods, the Arctic Ocean was completely isolated from the world ocean, with fresh water filling the basin for thousands of years.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00208-7

An estimation of undetected COVID cases in France p.38

Most SARS-CoV-2 infections are undocumented. French health-care records and modelling were used to assess the rate of documentation of COVID-19 cases. The findings highlight the need for improved identification of infections.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03513-9

Machine learning made easy for optimizing chemical reactions p.40

An accessible machine-learning tool has been developed that can accelerate the optimization of a wide range of synthetic reactions — and reveals how cognitive bias might have undermined optimization by humans.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00209-6

Food for thought about the immune drivers of gut pain p.41

Debilitating gut pain is common, but the underlying cause is often unclear. It emerges that gut infection triggers localized immune responses that cause normally innocuous foods to be perceived as harmful, leading to persistent pain.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03661-y

A molecular handbook for human development p.43

A large-scale, high-resolution cell atlas of gene expression and regulation in human embryos enables innovative investigation of development through multi‑organ and multi‑modal analysis.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00142-8

Reversal of immune-cell shutdown protects the ageing brain p.44

Immune cells called macrophages have been found to shut down major metabolic pathways during ageing. Restoring metabolism in these cells is sufficient to alleviate age-associated cognitive decline in mice.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00063-6

Function and regulation of the divisome for mitochondrial fission p.57

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03214-x

Developing fibrillated cellulose as a sustainable technological material p.47

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03167-7

Generating conjectures on fundamental constants with the Ramanujan machine p.67

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03229-4

Antiferromagnetic half-skyrmions and bimerons at room temperature p.74

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03219-6

Viscoelastic control of spatiotemporal order in bacterial active matter p.80

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03168-6

Structural and spectroscopic characterization of an einsteinium complex p.85

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03179-3

Bayesian reaction optimization as a tool for chemical synthesis p.89

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03213-y

Glacial episodes of a freshwater Arctic Ocean covered by a thick ice shelf p.97

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03186-y

A genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean p.103

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03053-2

Cortical response selectivity derives from strength in numbers of synapses p.111

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03044-3

Bidirectional perisomatic inhibitory plasticity of a Fos neuronal network p.115

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-3031-0

Restoring metabolism of myeloid cells reverses cognitive decline in ageing p.122

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03160-0

Control of osteoblast regeneration by a train of Erk activity waves p.129

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03085-8

Underdetection of cases of COVID-19 in France threatens epidemic control p.134

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03095-6

Age-specific mortality and immunity patterns of SARS-CoV-2 p.140

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2918-0

Repeated cross-sectional sero-monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 in New York City p.146

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2912-6

Local immune response to food antigens drives meal-induced abdominal pain p.151

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03118-2

Mechanism of EBV inducing anti-tumour immunity and its therapeutic use p.157

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03075-w

Mitochondrial sorting and assembly machinery operates by β-barrel switching p.163

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03113-7