Global climate action needs trusted finance data p.7

An agreed system for measuring funding of green projects in poorer nations will be vital to achieving action on climate change in 2021.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03646-x

Is lightning striking the Arctic more than ever before? p.11

Team detects a huge increase and says it could be due to climate change, but others can’t confirm the findings.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03561-1

Prestigious AI meeting takes steps to improve ethics of research p.12

For the first time, the organizers of NeurIPS required speakers to consider the societal impact of their work.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03611-8

Surprise! First peek inside Mars reveals a crust with cake-like layers p.13

NASA’s InSight mission yields the first data on the internal structure of a planet other than Earth.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03562-0

The science events to watch for in 2021 p.14

Climate change and COVID-19 vaccines are among the themes set to shape research.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03651-0

The lightning-fast quest for COVID vaccines — and what it means for other diseases p.16

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03626-1

Hit movie reveals how a tuberculosis drug halts ATP synthesis p.21

Structural data revealing how an anti-tuberculosis drug works could aid efforts to improve therapeutic options for the disease. The findings also uncover aspects of how the drug’s target, the ATP synthase enzyme, operates.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03406-x

Machine learning reveals the complexity of dense amorphous silicon p.22

Transitions between amorphous forms of solids and liquids are difficult to study. Machine learning has now provided fresh insight into pressure-induced transformations of amorphous silicon, opening the way to studies of other systems.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03574-w

A screen of brain organoids to study neurodevelopmental disease p.24

A high-throughput technique has been developed to screen genes implicated in neurodevelopmental diseases in 3D cell cultures. It reveals a mechanism that might be involved in a rare disorder called microcephaly.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03636-z

Artificial intelligence accelerated by light p.25

The explosive growth of artificial intelligence calls for rapidly increasing computing power. Two reported photonic processors could meet these power requirements and revolutionize artificial-intelligence hardware.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-03572-y

Big data and simple models used to track the spread of COVID-19 in cities p.26

Understanding the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infections could help to limit viral spread. Analysing mobile-phone data to track human contacts at different city venues offers a way to model infection risks and explain infection disparities.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-02964-4

Core-collapse supernova explosion theory p.29

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03059-w

Competing magnetic orders in a bilayer Hubbard model with ultracold atoms p.40

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03058-x

11 TOPS photonic convolutional accelerator for optical neural networks p.44

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03063-0

Parallel convolutional processing using an integrated photonic tensor core p.52

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03070-1

Origins of structural and electronic transitions in disordered silicon p.59

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03072-z

Single-defect phonons imaged by electron microscopy p.65

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03049-y

Poleward and weakened westerlies during Pliocene warmth p.70

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03062-1

Drivers and dynamics of a massive adaptive radiation in cichlid fishes p.76

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2930-4

Mobility network models of COVID-19 explain inequities and inform reopening p.82

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2923-3

Neuronal diversity and convergence in a visual system developmental atlas p.88

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2879-3

Coupling of hippocampal theta and ripples with pontogeniculooccipital waves p.96

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2914-4

TRF2-independent chromosome end protection during pluripotency p.103

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2960-y

TRF2-mediated telomere protection is dispensable in pluripotent stem cells p.110

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2959-4

A network of transcriptional repressors modulates auxin responses p.116

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2940-2

Prokaryotic viperins produce diverse antiviral molecules p.120

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2762-2

The coding capacity of SARS-CoV-2 p.125

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2739-1

Commensal-driven immune zonation of the liver promotes host defence p.131

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2977-2

RNA nucleation by MSL2 induces selective X chromosome compartmentalization p.137

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2935-z

Structure of mycobacterial ATP synthase bound to the tuberculosis drug bedaquiline p.143

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-3004-3

Structure of the class D GPCR Ste2 dimer coupled to two G proteins p.148

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2994-1