Greece used AI to curb COVID: what other nations can learn p.447

Governments are hungry to deploy big data in health emergencies. Scientists must help to lay the legal, ethical and logistical groundwork.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02554-y

Biden must keep funding pledge to historically Black colleges and universities p.448

Congress has eviscerated the US president’s pledge to upgrade research infrastructure at universities that serve underrepresented communities.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02555-x

The fight to manufacture COVID vaccines in lower-income countries p.455

Drug companies and wealthy countries are facing increased pressure to partner with firms in the global south but are reluctant to relinquish control.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02383-z

Did the coronavirus jump from animals to people twice? p.458

A preliminary analysis of viral genomes suggests the COVID-19 pandemic might have multiple animal origins — but the findings still have to be peer reviewed.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02519-1

Australian bush fires belched out immense quantity of carbon p.459

The 2019–20 wildfires generated 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide — but a lot of that might have been mopped up by phytoplankton in the ocean.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02509-3

New type of dark energy could solve Universe expansion mystery p.460

Hints of a previously unknown, primordial form of the substance could explain why the cosmos now seems to be expanding faster than theory predicts.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02531-5

Swedish research misconduct agency swamped with cases in first year p.461

The newly formed government organization tackled 46 research-fraud investigations in 2020 — three times as many as expected.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02451-4

How far will global population rise? Researchers can’t agree p.462

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02522-6

How dangerous is Africa’s explosive Lake Kivu? p.466

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02523-5

Modern Polynesian genomes offer clues to early eastward migrations p.477

A genome-wide analysis of modern populations in Polynesia suggests the direction and timing of ancient Polynesian migrations. This model bears consistencies and inconsistencies with models based on archaeology and linguistics.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01719-z

Ebola virus can lie low and reactivate after years in human survivors p.478

A genomic comparison of Ebola virus from the 2021 outbreak in Guinea with sequences from the West African outbreak that ended in 2016 suggests that the virus can remain latent in human survivors for an extended period of time.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02378-w

Seed-inspired vehicles take flight p.480

Many plant seeds have shapes that aid their efficient dispersal by wind. Inspired by these seeds, a range of fliers have been constructed that could have applications from environmental monitoring to wireless communication.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02490-x

Policy, drought and fires combine to affect biodiversity in the Amazon basin p.481

Analysis of the ranges of nearly 15,000 plant and vertebrate species in the Amazon basin reveals that, from 2001 to 2019, a majority were affected by fire. Drought and forest policy were the best predictors of fire outcomes.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02320-0

Light detection nears its quantum limit p.483

Organic molecules are increasingly crucial in quantum-optics technologies. An experiment shows how the strong coupling between confined organic molecules and light can improve photon detection at room temperature.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02489-4

Quenching of star formation from a lack of inflowing gas to galaxies p.485

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03806-7

Normal, dust-obscured galaxies in the epoch of reionization p.489

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03846-z

Single-photon nonlinearity at room temperature p.493

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03866-9

Electron phase-space control in photonic chip-based particle acceleration p.498

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03812-9

Three-dimensional electronic microfliers inspired by wind-dispersed seeds p.503

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03847-y

Three-dimensional magnetic stripes require slow cooling in fast-spread lower ocean crust p.511

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03831-6

How deregulation, drought and increasing fire impact Amazonian biodiversity p.516

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03876-7

Paths and timings of the peopling of Polynesia inferred from genomic networks p.522

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03902-8

Rare variant contribution to human disease in 281,104 UK Biobank exomes p.527

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03855-y

Bioaccumulation of therapeutic drugs by human gut bacteria p.533

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03891-8

Resurgence of Ebola virus in 2021 in Guinea suggests a new paradigm for outbreaks p.539

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03901-9

An engineered IL-2 partial agonist promotes CD8+ T cell stemness p.544

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03861-0

Inter-cellular CRISPR screens reveal regulators of cancer cell phagocytosis p.549

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03879-4

Using DNA sequencing data to quantify T cell fraction and therapy response p.555

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03894-5

Single-cell Ribo-seq reveals cell cycle-dependent translational pausing p.561

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03887-4

Structural basis for tRNA methylthiolation by the radical SAM enzyme MiaB p.566

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03904-6

Positive allosteric mechanisms of adenosine A₁ receptor-mediated analgesia p.571

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03897-2