It’s time to consider a patent reprieve for COVID vaccines p.7

The pandemic is not a competition between companies and will not end without more-equal distribution of coronavirus vaccines.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00863-w

Net-zero carbon pledges must be meaningful to avert climate disaster p.8

More countries are pledging to achieve carbon neutrality. They must now show how they plan to do this.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00864-9

What scientists do and don’t know about the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID vaccine p.15

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00785-7

Long-awaited muon physics experiment nears moment of truth p.17

A result that has been 20 years in the making could reveal the existence of new particles, and upend fundamental physics.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00833-2

Row erupts over university’s use of research metrics in job-cut decisions p.19

Critics say redundancies are being decided using unreliable measures related to funding and citations, highlighting broader unease about the use of metrics in science.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00793-7

Rare COVID reactions might hold key to variant-proof vaccines p.20

Some people mount an immune response able to fend off a menagerie of coronavirus variants.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00722-8

Pandemic whistle-blower: we need a non-political way to track viruses p.21

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00760-2

Why indoor spaces are still prime COVID hotspots p.22

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00810-9

Antimatter cooled by laser light p.27

A laser beam has been used to slow down antihydrogen atoms, the simplest atoms made of pure antimatter. The technique might enable some fundamental symmetries of the Universe to be probed with exceptionally high precision.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00786-6

Bacterial peptides presented on tumour cells could be immunotherapy targets p.28

Protein fragments from bacteria that invade tumour cells can be presented on the tumour-cell surface and recognized by the immune system. This discovery could have implications for cancer immunotherapies.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00640-9

Gut microbes regroup to aid defence after infection p.29

Resident gut microbes can help to block infection, but the mechanisms involved are not fully understood. It has now been found that changes in the microbial community after infection boost the level of a molecule that combats harmful bacteria.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00642-7

Atomic structure of a glass imaged at last p.31

The positions of all the atoms in a sample of a metallic glass have been measured experimentally — fulfilling a decades-old dream for glass scientists, and raising the prospect of fresh insight into the structures of disordered solids.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00794-6

A new phase in meiotic cell division p.32

The exchange of DNA between pairs of chromosomes is key to sexual reproduction. It emerges that one step in this process — the introduction of DNA breaks by the enzyme Spo11 — relies on condensation of proteins into liquid-like droplets.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00512-2

Laser cooling of antihydrogen atoms p.35

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03289-6

Flavour Hund’s coupling, Chern gaps and charge diffusivity in moiré graphene p.43

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03366-w

Stabilization of liquid instabilities with ionized gas jets p.49

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03359-9

Three-dimensional nanoprinting via charged aerosol jets p.54

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03353-1

Determining the three-dimensional atomic structure of an amorphous solid p.60

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03354-0

Soil moisture–atmosphere feedback dominates land carbon uptake variability p.65

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03325-5

Oxygen isotopes trace the origins of Earth’s earliest continental crust p.70

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03337-1

Warming impairs trophic transfer efficiency in a long-term field experiment p.76

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03352-2

Inherent mosaicism and extensive mutation of human placentas p.80

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03345-1

Survey of spiking in the mouse visual system reveals functional hierarchy p.86

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03171-x

Non-coding deletions identify Maenli lncRNA as a limb-specific En1 regulator p.93

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03208-9

An organoid-based organ-repurposing approach to treat short bowel syndrome p.99

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03247-2

Pattern-recognition receptors are required for NLR-mediated plant immunity p.105

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03316-6

Mutual potentiation of plant immunity by cell-surface and intracellular receptors p.110

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03315-7

Spike mutation D614G alters SARS-CoV-2 fitness p.116

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2895-3

SARS-CoV-2 spike D614G change enhances replication and transmission p.122

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03361-1

Skin-resident innate lymphoid cells converge on a pathogenic effector state p.128

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03188-w

Affinity-coupled CCL22 promotes positive selection in germinal centres p.133

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03239-2

Identification of bacteria-derived HLA-bound peptides in melanoma p.138

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03368-8

DNA-driven condensation assembles the meiotic DNA break machinery p.144

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03374-w