An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

SARS-CoV-2 infection is initiated by virus binding to ACE2 cell surface receptors1–4, followed by fusion of virus and cell membranes to release the virus genome into the cell. Both receptor binding and membrane fusion activities are mediated by the virus Spike glycoprotein, S5–7. As with other class I membrane fusion proteins, S is post-translationally cleaved, in this case by furin, into S1 and S2

A new type of peptide produces pain so intense that sometimes even morphine cannot quell it.

Advisory groups around the world release guidance to prioritize healthcare workers and others.

We have not met any of the biodiversity targets agreed in 2010 — but there are hopeful signs to build on. Plus, how COVID-19 can damage the brain and a visually sumptuous tour of the latest dinosaur discoveries.

In science news around the world, President Donald Trump admits he knew in February that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was "deadly," even as he publicly called the disease no worse than the seasonal flu. Scientists study the long-term health consequences of smoke from record wildfires on the U.S. West Coast. The virus that causes African swine fever, deadly to pigs, is discovered in Germany

We report instability of a superheated granular layer when a droplet is deposited on top of the layer. We find that the instability caused by evaporating vapor may trap or cause the droplet to sail away from the deposited position. The sailing motion is triggered by an unstable pressure distribution originated from fast fluidization of metallic grains. We provide a predictive model and experimental

Multiorbital systems such as the iron-based superconductors provide a new avenue to attack the longstanding problem of superconductivity in strongly correlated systems. In this work we study the superconductivity driven by a generic bosonic mechanism in a multiorbital model including the full dynamical electronic correlations induced by the Hubbard U and the Hund’s coupling. We show that superconductivity

Symmetry-breaking dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) abound in the fluctuations of nonequilibrium systems. Here we show that the spectral features of a particular class of DPTs exhibit the fingerprints of the recently discovered time-crystal phase of matter. Using Doob’s transform as a tool, we provide a mechanism to build classical time-crystal generators from the rare event statistics of some driven

The hyperfine structures of the 23S1 states of the 6Li+ and 7Li+ ions are investigated theoretically to extract the Zemach radii of the 6Li and 7Li nuclei by comparing with precision measurements. The obtained Zemach radii are larger than the previous values of Puchalski and Pachucki [] and disagree with them by about 1.5 and 2.2 standard deviations for 6Li and 7Li, respectively. Furthermore, our Zemach

With density functional molecular dynamics simulations, we computed the phase diagram of MgO from 50 to 2000 GPa up to 20000 K. Via thermodynamic integration (TDI), we derive the Gibbs free energies of the B1, B2, and liquid phases and determine their phase boundaries. With TDI and a pseudo-quasi-harmonic approach, we show that anharmonic effects are important and stabilize the B1 phase in particular

Selective excitation of a diffusive system’s transmission eigenchannels enables manipulation of its internal energy distribution. The fluctuations and correlations of the eigenchannels’ spatial profiles, however, remain unexplored so far. Here we show that the depth profiles of high-transmission eigenchannels exhibit low realization-to-realization fluctuations. Furthermore, our experimental and numerical

A universal quantum processor is a device that takes as input a (quantum) program, containing an encoding of an arbitrary unitary gate, and a (quantum) data register, on which the encoded gate is applied. While no perfect universal quantum processor can exist, approximate processors have been proposed in the past two decades. A fundamental open question is how the size of the smallest quantum program

As a result of non-equilibrium forces, purely repulsive self-propelled particles undergo macro-phase separation between a dense and a dilute phase. We present a thorough study of the ordering kinetics of such Motility-Induced Phase Separation (MIPS) in Active Brownian Particles in two-dimensions, and we show that it is generically accompanied by micro-phase separation. The growth of the dense phase

We present the results of an all-sky search for continuous gravitational wave signals with frequencies in the 500-1700,Hz range targeting neutron stars with ellipticity of 10−8. The search is done on LIGO O2 data using the Falcon analysis pipeline. The results presented here double the sensitivity over any other result on the same data . The search is capable of detecting low ellipticity sources up

Axion dark matter (DM) may convert to radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation in the strong magnetic fields around neutron stars. The radio signature of such a process would be an ultra-narrow spectral peak at a frequency determined by the mass of the axion particle. We analyze data we collected from the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in the L-band and the Effelsberg 100-m Telescope in the L-Band

Controlling magnetism, essential for a wide-range of technologies, is impaired by the impossibility of generating a maximum of magnetic field in free space. Here, we propose a strategy based on negative permeability to overcome this stringent limitation. We experimentally demonstrate that an active magnetic metamaterial can emulate the field of a straight current wire at a distance. Our strategy leads

At low temperature, collective excitations of one-dimensional (1D) interacting fermions exhibit spin-charge separation, a unique feature predicted by the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) theory, but a rigorous understanding remains challenging. Using the thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz (TBA) formalism, we analytically derive universal properties of a 1D repulsive spin-1/2 Fermi gas with arbitrary interaction

The gyroid lattice is a metamaterial which allows chirality that is tunable by geometry. Gyroid lattices were made in chiral and non-chiral form by 3D printing. The chiral lattices exhibited nonclassical elastic effects including coupling between compressive stress and torsional deformation. Gyroid lattices can approach upper bounds on elastic modulus. Effective modulus is increased by distributed

Information is physical but information is also processed in finite time. Where computing protocols are concerned, finite-time processing in the quantum regime can dynamically generate coherence. Here we show that this can have significant thermodynamic implications. We demonstrate that quantum coherence generated in the energy eigenbasis of a system undergoing a finite-time information erasure protocol

The characterization of quantum features in large Hilbert spaces is a crucial requirement for testing quantum protocols. In the continuous variables encoding, quantum homodyne tomography requires an amount of measurements that increases exponentially with the number of involved modes, which practically makes the protocol intractable even with few modes. Here we introduce a new technique, based on a

Several studies about to start will explore whether near-infrared (NIR) light can improve symptoms of Parkinson's disease—including a study in France in which a fiber optic cable implanted in patients' brains will deliver NIR directly to the substantia nigra, a region that degenerates in Parkinson's disease. Animal models and small tests in people have suggested benefits, but some mainstream Parkinson's

Motivated by non-zero neutrino masses and the possibility of New Physics discovery, a number of experiments search for neutrinoless double beta decay. While hunting for this hypothetical nuclear process, a significant amount of two-neutrino double beta decay data has become available. Although these events are regarded and studied mostly as the background of neutrinoless double beta decay, they can

We describe a new mechanism of dark matter production. If dark matter particles acquire mass during a first order phase transition, it is energetically unfavourable for them to enter the expanding bubbles. Instead, most of them are reflected and quickly annihilate away. The bubbles eventually merge as the phase transition completes and only the dark matter particles which have entered the bubbles survive

Matrix Product States (MPS) and Projected Entangled Pair States (PEPS) are powerful analytical and numerical tools to assess quantum many-body systems in one and higher dimensions, respectively. While MPS are comprehensively understood, in PEPS fundamental questions, relevant analytically as well as numerically, remain open, such as how to encode symmetries in full generality, or how to stabilize numerical

A massive new study of DNA sequences from Viking Age burials around Europe presents the story of the Vikings written in genes. The results, published this week in Nature, trace how the Vikings radiated across Europe from their Scandinavian homeland, and how people with roots elsewhere also took up Viking ways, making "Viking" a job description, not a matter of heredity. Researchers gathered human remains

A major report card on the state of biodiversity gives failing grades to the world's nations. The United Nations's Global Biodiversity Outlook 5, released this week, concludes the world has not met ambitious targets set 10 years ago to protect nature. The new assessment finds some bright spots, such as a substantial rise in the extent of protected areas. But only six of the U.N. Convention on Biological

After Mumbai dentist Azmera Shaikh and her mother tested positive for COVID-19, their neighbors ostracized the rest of her family, refusing to let them put out garbage or help them buy groceries. As the new coronavirus spread around the world early this year, some people around the world responded in similar ways. In Nepal, health workers were thrown out of accommodations. In Chennai, India, some doctors

Chronic kidney disease affects 9% of the global population (1) and can have severe impacts on both the individual and societal levels. Although various conditions, such as diabetes, are well known risk factors for chronic kidney disease, in recent years interest has been growing regarding a potential role for the gut microbiota in modulating outcomes in kidney disease (2). Simultaneously, in the microbiology

Immunotherapy sometimes leads to stunning therapeutic success in a wide range of cancers. However—except in melanoma, microsatellite instable (MSI) colorectal cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and Merkel cell carcinoma—only ∼15 to 30% of cancer patients respond to treatment. Thus, identification of the determinants of response are under intense investigation, and the gut microbiota is proposed to be a critical

“Fugit irreparabile tempus,” wrote Virgil, a reminder that our lives are defined by the irreversible flow of time. As soon as the egg is fertilized, embryonic cells follow a developmental program strictly organized in time. The sequence typically is conserved throughout evolution, but individual events can occur over species-specific time scales. Such differences can have marked effects. For instance

Optically addressed quantum spin systems have been explored for a number of applications, with quantum information being one of the most exciting. However, noise fields destroy quantum information, especially in solids, through a process called decoherence. This process limits how well quantum information devices perform. The spin decoherence problem has been studied for decades, and many protocols

In the past 50 years, the major conceptual revolution in physical oceanography is the transformation from considering the ocean as a large-scale, extremely slowly changing fluid to a fundamentally turbulent one. The ocean changes across a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, from millimeters to 30,000 km and from seconds to multimillennia, with major regional differences. Because ocean exploration

Genome editing technologies provide vast possibilities for societal benefit, but also substantial risks and ethical challenges. Governance and regulation of such technologies have not kept pace in a systematic or internationally consistent manner, leaving a complex, uneven, and incomplete web of national and international regulation (1). How countries choose to regulate these emergent technologies

As Joseph Henrich recounts in his new book, The WEIRDest People in the World, the Tajik civil war—which pitted clan against clan and, sometimes, neighbor against neighbor—resulted in a collapse of trust that made people more suspicious of nonrelatives. This trajectory is puzzling, as it contrasts sharply with political development in Western Europe. There, conflict and intergroup competition paved

"I'm an inveterate storyteller," confesses the celebrated neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks at the start of Oliver Sacks: His Own Life. "I tell many stories, some comic, some tragic." Tales of both types abound in this elegiac yet lighthearted film based on director Ric Burns's interviews with Sacks and his friends, colleagues, family members, and patients in the months before and after the physician's

Although mechanisms of embryonic development are similar between mice and humans, the time scale is generally slower in humans. To investigate these interspecies differences in development, we recapitulate murine and human segmentation clocks that display 2- to 3-hour and 5- to 6-hour oscillation periods, respectively. Our interspecies genome-swapping analyses indicate that the period difference is

Plastic pollution is a pervasive and growing problem. To estimate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce plastic pollution, we modeled stocks and flows of municipal solid waste and four sources of microplastics through the global plastic system for five scenarios between 2016 and 2040. Implementing all feasible interventions reduced plastic pollution by 40% from 2016 rates and 78% relative to

Adsorption involves molecules colliding at the surface of a solid and losing their incidence energy by traversing a dynamical pathway to equilibrium. The interactions responsible for energy loss generally include both chemical bond formation (chemisorption) and nonbonding interactions (physisorption). In this work, we present experiments that revealed a quantitative energy landscape and the microscopic

As rates of new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases decline across Europe owing to nonpharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing policies and lockdown measures, countries require guidance on how to ease restrictions while minimizing the risk of resurgent outbreaks. We use mobility and case data to quantify how coordinated exit strategies could delay continental resurgence and limit

Production of small ribosomal subunits initially requires the formation of a 90S precursor followed by an enigmatic process of restructuring into the primordial pre-40S subunit. We elucidate this process by biochemical and cryo–electron microscopy analysis of intermediates along this pathway in yeast. First, the remodeling RNA helicase Dhr1 engages the 90S pre-ribosome, followed by Utp24 endonuclease–driven

The 90S preribosome is a large, early assembly intermediate of small ribosomal subunits that undergoes structural changes to give a pre-40S ribosome. Here, we gained insight into this transition by determining cryo–electron microscopy structures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae intermediates in the path from the 90S to the pre-40S. The full transition is blocked by deletion of RNA helicase Dhr1. A series

Several species of intestinal bacteria have been associated with enhanced efficacy of checkpoint blockade immunotherapy, but the underlying mechanisms by which the microbiome enhances antitumor immunity are unclear. In this study, we isolated three bacterial species—Bifidobacterium pseudolongum, Lactobacillus johnsonii, and Olsenella species—that significantly enhanced efficacy of immune checkpoint

A fundamental understanding of the unusual properties of water remains elusive because of the limited data at the temperatures and pressures needed to decide among competing theories. We investigated the structural transformations of transiently heated supercooled water films, which evolved for several nanoseconds per pulse during fast laser heating before quenching to 70 kelvin (K). Water’s structure

Decoherence limits the physical realization of qubits, and its mitigation is critical for the development of quantum science and technology. We construct a robust qubit embedded in a decoherence-protected subspace, obtained by applying microwave dressing to a clock transition of the ground-state electron spin of a silicon carbide divacancy defect. The qubit is universally protected from magnetic, electric

Binary interactions dominate the evolution of massive stars, but their role is less clear for low- and intermediate-mass stars. The evolution of a spherical wind from an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star into a nonspherical planetary nebula (PN) could be due to binary interactions. We observed a sample of AGB stars with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and found that their winds

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to accelerated efforts to develop therapeutics and vaccines. A key target of these efforts is the spike (S) protein, which is metastable and difficult to produce recombinantly. We characterized 100 structure-guided spike designs and identified 26 individual substitutions that increased protein yields and stability. Testing combinations of beneficial