Protect precious scientific collaboration from geopolitics p.477

Rivalry between China and other countries could diminish global scientific collaboration — just when it is most needed.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01386-0

A patent waiver on COVID vaccines is right and fair p.478

Wealthier countries must join the United States, Russia and China in recognizing that everyone benefits if vaccine manufacturing is distributed evenly around the world.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01242-1

India’s neighbours race to sequence genomes as COVID surges p.485

From Sri Lanka to Nepal, scientists with limited resources are working feverishly to discover which variants are driving outbreaks.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01287-2

First nuclear detonation created ‘impossible’ quasicrystals p.487

Their structures were once controversial. Now researchers have discovered quasicrystals in the aftermath of a 1945 bomb test.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01332-0

‘It’s a minefield’: COVID vaccine safety poses unique communication challenge p.488

Poll on vaccine hesitancy demonstrates the extraordinary predicament researchers face in transmitting risk information during a pandemic.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01257-8

Open-access publisher PLOS pushes to extend clout beyond biomedicine p.489

The publisher will launch five new journals, and has introduced a new business model that aims to spread the cost of publishing more fairly.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-01907-3

Prestigious European grants might be biased, study suggests p.490

Institutional affiliations of panellists seem to skew European Research Council decisions — especially in the life sciences.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01362-8

Mix-and-match COVID vaccines trigger potent immune response p.491

Preliminary results from a trial of more than 600 people are the first to show the benefits of combining different vaccines.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01359-3

The mini lungs and other organoids helping to beat COVID p.492

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01395-z

What the science says about lifting mask mandates p.495

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01394-0

Fibroblast cells reveal their ancestry p.511

Cells called fibroblasts can boost health yet also drive disease. Cell-lineage analysis has unveiled the first comprehensive atlas of fibroblasts from various healthy and diseased tissues, a result that has major clinical implications.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01204-7

Nanocrystals form a superfluorescent lattice mimicking the atomic structure of perovskite materials p.513

Nanocrystals with tailored shapes and compositions have been shown to form ‘superlattice’ arrays analogous to the ionic lattices of perovskite compounds. One such superlattice exhibits a phenomenon called superfluorescence.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01331-1

A mitochondrial gatekeeper that helps cells escape death by ferroptosis p.514

Ferroptosis is a type of cell death driven by oxidative damage to lipid membranes. The discovery that organelles called mitochondria have an antioxidant system that counteracts ferroptosis might lead to new anticancer therapies.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01203-8

Trip frequency is key ingredient in new law of human travel p.515

An analysis of mobile-phone tracking data has revealed a universal pattern that describes the interplay between the distances travelled by humans on trips and the frequency with which those trips are made.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01355-7

Evidence of hydrogen−helium immiscibility at Jupiter-interior conditions p.517

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03516-0

The universal visitation law of human mobility p.522

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03480-9

Long-range nontopological edge currents in charge-neutral graphene p.528

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03501-7

Perovskite-type superlattices from lead halide perovskite nanocubes p.535

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03492-5

A 10 per cent increase in global land evapotranspiration from 2003 to 2019 p.543

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03503-5

Overriding water table control on managed peatland greenhouse gas emissions p.548

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03523-1

Expanded diversity of Asgard archaea and their relationships with eukaryotes p.553

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03494-3

Fast odour dynamics are encoded in the olfactory system and guide behaviour p.558

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03514-2

The spatial landscape of lung pathology during COVID-19 progression p.564

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03475-6

Response of the microbiome–gut–brain axis in Drosophila to amino acid deficit p.570

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03522-2

Cross-tissue organization of the fibroblast lineage p.575

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03549-5

Mitochondrial TNAP controls thermogenesis by hydrolysis of phosphocreatine p.580

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03533-z

DHODH-mediated ferroptosis defence is a targetable vulnerability in cancer p.586

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03539-7

Replication stress promotes cell elimination by extrusion p.591

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03526-y

Small-molecule inhibition of METTL3 as a strategy against myeloid leukaemia p.597

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03536-w

Global miRNA dosage control of embryonic germ layer specification p.602

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03524-0

Gasdermin D pore structure reveals preferential release of mature interleukin-1 p.607

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03478-3