p.7

Batteries are key to humanity’s future — but they come with environmental and human costs, which must be mitigated.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01735-z

p.15

Investigations at Lund University found the high-ranking pair guilty of bullying, but staff members say stronger action is needed to repair the damage.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01621-8

p.17

The rapid rise of the highly transmissible strain in the United Kingdom has put countries in Europe, North America and Africa on watch.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01696-3

p.18

Proof-assistant software handles an abstract concept at the cutting edge of research, revealing a bigger role for software in mathematics.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01627-2

p.20

Fossilized bones found in Israel and China, including a specimen named ‘Dragon Man’, could belong to new types of ancient human. But the findings have sparked debate.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01738-w

p.21

Complacency and a coronavirus variant help to explain why the country, once a pandemic success story, couldn’t withstand the surge now rocking South America.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01714-4

p.22

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01749-7

p.31

A technological platform has been developed in which millimetre-scale cubes are assembled into 3D structures that control capillary action — enabling programmable fluid flows and modelling of a range of fluidic processes.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01708-2

p.32

Understanding how diet affects gut microbes and thereby influences human health might lead to targeted dietary strategies. A clinical trial now provides some steps on the path towards this goal.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01601-y

p.34

Birds that travel long distances can disperse seeds far and wide. An assessment of the timing and direction of European bird migration reveals how these patterns might affect seed dispersal as the planet warms.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01547-1

p.36

A technique reveals how folded chromosomal DNA interacts in the nucleus, providing information at the level of single base pairs. The achievement offers an unprecedented level of detail about how gene activity is regulated.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01494-x

p.39

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03615-y

p.43

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03571-7

p.48

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03560-w

p.53

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03590-4

p.58

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03603-2

p.66

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03608-x

p.70

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03601-4

p.75

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03665-2

p.80

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03652-7

p.85

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03548-6

p.91

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03671-4

p.96

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03597-x

p.101

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03626-9

p.107

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03570-8

p.114

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03569-1

p.120

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03592-2

p.125

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03639-4

p.130

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03579-z