p.7

IPBES, the international panel of leading biodiversity researchers, should be consulted on how best to measure species loss.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02339-3

p.8

Here’s how Afghanistan’s scholars can be supported.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02340-w

p.15

For 20 years, science has blossomed in Afghanistan. Now many researchers are fleeing and those who remain face lost funding and the threat of persecution.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02353-5

p.17

Massive study finds that genetic markers associated with same-sex encounters might aid reproduction. But some scientists question the conclusions.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02312-0

p.18

A volunteer network helps to monitor aftershocks and illuminate the country’s earthquake hazards.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02279-y

p.19

Study finds that the noxious pests have become so numerous, they’ve developed a taste for each other — as well as defences to ward off such attacks.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02317-9

p.20

Faced with government suppression and limited resources, doctors and nurses are quietly working with research networks to report reliable data.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02276-1

p.22

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02343-7

p.33

Benzene rings are almost unbreakable in typical reaction conditions. Chemistry has now been developed that selectively breaks these rings open, highlighting their potential as building blocks for making open-chain molecules.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02322-y

p.34

Aspects of how immune defence processes evolved remain mysterious. Studies of the fly Drosophila melanogaster reveal previously unknown details of a defence pathway with echoes of, but key differences from, a human pathway.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02119-z

p.36

Future progress in computing calls for innovative ways to map the physical characteristics of materials to the logic functions needed by computing architectures. An electronic device called a molecular memristor provides a way forward.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02323-x

p.37

In insects, odorant receptor proteins form membrane ion channels that open on binding to an odorant molecule. The structures of an inactive and an active channel lend insights into how insects detect and distinguish between odours.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02076-7

p.39

In a brain structure called the hippocampus, sharp wave-ripples — oscillatory hallmarks of an ‘offline’ mode of cognitive processing — have been found to predict dips in glucose concentrations in the body.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02122-4

p.41

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03751-5

p.45

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03763-1

p.51

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03748-0

p.57

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03772-0

p.64

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03801-y

p.70

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03735-5

p.77

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03740-8

p.82

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03811-w

p.87

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03844-1

p.92

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03818-3

p.97

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03807-6

p.103

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03817-4

p.109

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03743-5

p.114

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03800-z

p.119

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03850-3

p.126

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03794-8

p.132

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03824-5