US astronomy has ambitious plans — but it needs global partners p.531

Ten-year ‘decadal survey’ sets out plans for a ‘super Hubble’, powerful ground-based telescopes and opportunities for international collaboration.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-03514-2

Researchers at risk in Afghanistan need better tools to find help p.532

Many organizations are ready to help threatened scholars and professionals — but those in peril often struggle to locate them.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-03515-1

Homicide is a top cause of maternal death in the United States p.539

Evaluation of death certificates from national database paints grim picture for pregnant women.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-03392-8

Do childhood colds help the body respond to COVID? p.540

A mechanism known as ‘original antigenic sin’ protects some people from flu; whether it helps immune reactions to coronaviruses is still unclear.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-03087-0

First quantum computer to pack 100 qubits enters crowded race p.542

But IBM’s latest quantum chip and its competitors face a long path towards making the machines useful.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-03476-5

How do people resist COVID infections? Hospital workers offer a hint p.543

Immune cells might ‘abort’ SARS-CoV-2 infection, forestalling a positive PCR or antibody test.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-03110-4

More Alzheimer’s drugs head for FDA review: what scientists are watching p.544

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-03410-9

Do vaccines protect against long COVID? What the data say p.546

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-03495-2

How record wildfires are harming human health p.550

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-03496-1

Tracking the origin of Transeurasian languages p.557

A triangulation of linguistic, archaeological and genetic data suggests that the Transeurasian language family originated in a population of grain farmers in China around 9,000 years ago, and that agriculture underpinned its spread.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-03037-w

Mice with disrupted mitochondria used to model Parkinson’s disease p.558

Mice in which organelles called mitochondria are disrupted in vulnerable neuronal cells provide a new model of Parkinson’s disease. The pattern of neurodegeneration challenges long-held ideas about the disease’s motor symptoms.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02955-z

Electrons reveal the need for improved neutrino models p.560

Experiments on electrons interacting with atomic nuclei have shown that the models used to measure neutrino oscillations — and thereby possibly to understand the formation of the Universe — are less accurate than we thought.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-03456-9

A massive effort links protein-coding gene variants to health p.561

The protein-coding portions of more than 450,000 individuals’ genomes have been sequenced, and analysed together with the individuals’ health data, revealing rare and common gene variants linked to various health-related traits.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02873-0

How to make macroscale non-crystalline diamonds p.563

A diamond shatters easily, despite it being the hardest natural material. Atomically disordered forms of diamond made from buckyballs might not only overcome this problem, but also allow other properties to be optimized.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02957-x

Electron-beam energy reconstruction for neutrino oscillation measurements p.565

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04046-5

Quantum gas magnifier for sub-lattice-resolved imaging of 3D quantum systems p.571

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04011-2

Colossal angular magnetoresistance in ferrimagnetic nodal-line semiconductors p.576

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04028-7

Artificial heavy fermions in a van der Waals heterostructure p.582

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04021-0

On-chip electro-optic frequency shifters and beam splitters p.587

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03999-x

Distribution control enables efficient reduced-dimensional perovskite LEDs p.594

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03997-z

Ultrahard bulk amorphous carbon from collapsed fullerene p.599

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03882-9

Synthesis of paracrystalline diamond p.605

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04122-w

Mechanical forcing of the North American monsoon by orography p.611

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03978-2

Triangulation supports agricultural spread of the Transeurasian languages p.616

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04108-8

A chickpea genetic variation map based on the sequencing of 3,366 genomes p.622

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04066-1

Exome sequencing and analysis of 454,787 UK Biobank participants p.628

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04103-z

Neural dynamics underlying birdsong practice and performance p.635

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04004-1

A human-specific modifier of cortical connectivity and circuit function p.640

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04039-4

Striatal indirect pathway mediates exploration via collicular competition p.645

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04055-4

Disruption of mitochondrial complex I induces progressive parkinsonism p.650

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04059-0

FLC repression" rel="external">Cold-induced Arabidopsis FRIGIDA nuclear condensates for FLC repression p.657

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04062-5

Herpesviruses assimilate kinesin to produce motorized viral particles p.662

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04106-w

Early-life inflammation primes a T helper 2 cell–fibroblast niche in skin p.667

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04044-7

Tumour DDR1 promotes collagen fibre alignment to instigate immune exclusion p.673

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04057-2

Diverse alterations associated with resistance to KRAS(G12C) inhibition p.679

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04065-2

Cell-type specialization is encoded by specific chromatin topologies p.684

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04081-2

Transposon-associated TnpB is a programmable RNA-guided DNA endonuclease p.692

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04058-1

Few-fs resolution of a photoactive protein traversing a conical intersection p.697

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04050-9