Featured
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Research Briefing |
Elephant-nose fish ‘see’ farther by electric sensing when in groups
The elephant-nose fish senses its environment by emitting electrical pulses. A multi-pronged investigation suggests that this remarkable sensing ability is amplified in social groups by individuals ‘listening in’ on the pulses of their neighbours.
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News |
Epic blazes threaten Arctic permafrost. Can firefighters save it?
Some scientists argue that it’s time to rethink the blanket policy of letting blazes burn themselves out in northern wildernesses.
- Jeff Tollefson
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News |
Bird flu virus has been spreading among US cows for months, RNA reveals
Genomic analysis suggests that the outbreak probably began in December or January, but a shortage of data is hampering efforts to pin down the source.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: Why loneliness is bad for your health
New research is revealing the mechanisms linking loneliness and conditions like dementia, depression and cardiovascular disease.
- Saima May Sidik
- & Benjamin Thompson
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News |
Could a rare mutation that causes dwarfism also slow ageing?
People with Laron syndrome have a low risk of heart disease and a number of other age-related disorders, hinting at strategies for new treatments.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Career Feature |
Want to make a difference? Try working at an environmental non-profit organization
Moving to non-profit work requires researchers to shift their mindset to focus on applied science for policymaking and conservation practice.
- Natasha Gilbert
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News |
Rat neurons repair mouse brains — and restore sense of smell
Scientists develop hybrid mice by filling in missing cells and structures in their brains with rat stem cells.
- Sara Reardon
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News Explainer |
Bird flu in US cows: is the milk supply safe?
Pasteurized milk is probably not a threat to people, but fresh milk droplets on milking equipment could be spreading the virus in a herd.
- Julian Nowogrodzki
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Outlook |
Are robots the solution to the crisis in older-person care?
Social robots that promise companionship and stimulation for older people and those with dementia are attracting investment, but some question their benefits.
- Tammy Worth
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News |
Hello puffins, goodbye belugas: changing Arctic fjord hints at our climate future
Stunning images show an ecosystem’s upheaval as it warms at an alarming pace.
- Freda Kreier
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News Explainer |
NATO is boosting AI and climate research as scientific diplomacy remains on ice
As the military alliance created to counter the Soviet Union expands, it is prioritizing studies on how climate change affects security, cyberattacks and election interference.
- Natasha Gilbert
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News |
First glowing animals lit up the oceans half a billion years ago
Family tree of ‘octocorals’ pushes origin of bioluminescence back to 540 million years ago, when the first animal species developed eyes.
- Freda Kreier
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Research Highlight |
This giant extinct salmon had tusks like a warthog
Scientists initially thought that the outsized teeth were fangs, giving rise to the ‘sabre-toothed salmon’ nickname.
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News & Views |
Marsupial genomes reveal how a skin membrane for gliding evolved
A parachute-like skin membrane, the patagium, evolved independently in several marsupial species. Genomic analysis suggests that this trait came about through different changes to the regulation of the same gene.
- Darío G. Lupiáñez
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News & Views |
Tumours form without genetic mutations
Researchers find that brief and reversible inhibition of a gene-silencing mechanism leads to irreversible tumour formation in fruit flies, challenging the idea that cancer is caused only by permanent changes to DNA.
- Anne-Kathrin Classen
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News & Views |
Targeting RNA opens therapeutic avenues for Timothy syndrome
A therapeutic strategy that alters gene expression in a rare and severe neurodevelopmental condition has been tested in stem-cell-based models of the disease, and has been shown to correct genetic and cellular defects.
- Silvia Velasco
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Research Briefing |
A chemical method for selective labelling of the key amino acid tryptophan
A broadly applicable method allows selective, rapid and efficient chemical modification of the side chain of tryptophan amino acids in proteins. This platform enables systematic, proteome-wide identification of tryptophan residues, which can form a bond (called cation–π interaction) with positively charged molecules. Such interactions are key in many biochemical processes, including protein-mediated phase separation.
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Article
| Open AccessWhole-cortex in situ sequencing reveals input-dependent area identity
BARseq interrogates the expression of 104 cell-type marker genes in 10.3 million cells over nine mouse forebrain hemispheres to reveal the role of peripheral inputs on cortical area development.
- Xiaoyin Chen
- , Stephan Fischer
- & Anthony M. Zador
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News |
WHO redefines airborne transmission: what does that mean for future pandemics?
The World Health Organization was criticized for being too slow to classify COVID-19 as airborne. Will the new terminology help next time?
- Bianca Nogrady
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Article
| Open AccessSpatiotemporally resolved colorectal oncogenesis in mini-colons ex vivo
Topobiologically complex mini-colons—which enable the faithful in vitro recapitulation of colorectal cancer tumorigenesis and its environmental determinants—offer the possibility to reduce animal use in a wide range of experimental applications.
- L. Francisco Lorenzo-Martín
- , Tania Hübscher
- & Matthias P. Lutolf
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Article
| Open AccessEmx2 underlies the development and evolution of marsupial gliding membranes
Patagia—the mammalian gliding membrane—repeatedly originated through a process of convergent genomic evolution, whereby the regulation of Emx2 was altered by distinct cis-regulatory elements in independently evolved species.
- Jorge A. Moreno
- , Olga Dudchenko
- & Ricardo Mallarino
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Article
| Open AccessPhylogenomics and the rise of the angiosperms
Phylogenomic analysis of 7,923 angiosperm species using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes produced an angiosperm tree of life dated with 200 fossil calibrations, providing key insights into evolutionary relationships and diversification.
- Alexandre R. Zuntini
- , Tom Carruthers
- & William J. Baker
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Article
| Open AccessPGE2 inhibits TIL expansion by disrupting IL-2 signalling and mitochondrial function
Prostaglandin E2 from the tumour microenvironment impairs interleukin-2 sensing by tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes, restricting proliferative response and promoting T cell death via metabolic impairment and ferroptosis.
- Matteo Morotti
- , Alizee J. Grimm
- & George Coukos
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Arts Review |
Las Borinqueñas remembers the forgotten Puerto Rican women who tested the first pill
Clinical trials of the first oral contraceptive recalled in a bold theatre production.
- Mariana Lenharo
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World View |
Ecologists: don’t lose touch with the joy of fieldwork
Amid the data deluge provided by lab-based techniques, such as environmental-DNA analysis, true connection still comes only in the outdoors.
- Chris Mantegna
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News & Views |
Bioengineered ‘mini-colons’ shed light on cancer progression
Cells grown on a 3D scaffold have generated a ‘mini-colon’ that mimics key features of the organ. Controlled expression of cancer-associated genes in the system offers a way to examine tumour formation over space and time.
- Nicolò Riggi
- & Felipe de Sousa e Melo
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News & Views |
Ancient DNA traces family lines and political shifts in the Avar empire
Genetic pedigrees spanning nine generations uncover the social organization of a nomadic empire that dominated much of central and eastern Europe from the sixth to the early ninth century.
- Lara M. Cassidy
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Article
| Open AccessPGE2 limits effector expansion of tumour-infiltrating stem-like CD8+ T cells
Tumour-derived prostaglandin E2, signaling through its receptors EP2 and EP4, is shown to restrain the responses of tumour-infiltrating stem-like TCF1+CD8+ T lymphocytes, and modulation of T cell EP2 and EP4 can restore anticancer immunity.
- Sebastian B. Lacher
- , Janina Dörr
- & Jan P. Böttcher
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Article
| Open AccessMechanism of single-stranded DNA annealing by RAD52–RPA complex
Single-stranded DNA annealing is driven by RAD52 open rings in association with RPA.
- Chih-Chao Liang
- , Luke A. Greenhough
- & Stephen C. West
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News |
Mini-colon and brain ‘organoids’ shed light on cancer and other diseases
Tiny 3D structures made from human stem cells sometimes offer insights that animal models cannot.
- Sara Reardon
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News Explainer |
Plastic pollution: three numbers that support a crackdown
As negotiators haggle over a global treaty to curb plastics pollution, a flood of data outlines how a treaty could make a difference.
- Nicola Jones
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Nature Podcast |
How gliding marsupials got their ‘wings’
Researchers find the genetic mutations that allow some marsupials to soar, and an ultra-accurate clock is put through its paces on the high seas.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Elizabeth Gibney
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News |
DNA from ancient graves reveals the culture of a mysterious nomadic people
Hundreds of genomes shed light on the marriage habits and social norms of the Avar people of central Europe.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Article
| Open AccessDiscovery of WRN inhibitor HRO761 with synthetic lethality in MSI cancers
HRO761 is a potent, selective, allosteric WRN inhibitor that binds at the interface of the D1 and D2 helicase domains, locking WRN in an inactive conformation.
- Stephane Ferretti
- , Jacques Hamon
- & Marta Cortés-Cros
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Article
| Open AccessAntisense oligonucleotide therapeutic approach for Timothy syndrome
Antisense oligonucleotides effectively decrease the inclusion of exon 8A of CACNA1C in human cells both in vitro and in rodents transplanted with human brain organoids, and a single intrathecal administration rescued both calcium changes and in vivo dendrite morphology of patient neurons.
- Xiaoyu Chen
- , Fikri Birey
- & Sergiu P. Pașca
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Article
| Open AccessSingle-cell analysis reveals context-dependent, cell-level selection of mtDNA
A new method for tracking single-cell heteroplasmy, called SCI-LITE, is combined with mitochondrial DNA base editing to reveal principles of heteroplasmy dynamics in dividing cells.
- Anna V. Kotrys
- , Timothy J. Durham
- & Vamsi K. Mootha
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Article |
Periportal macrophages protect against commensal-driven liver inflammation
A subset of Macro-positive macrophages is identified to have immunosuppressive functions in the periportal vein zones of the liver to mediate excessive inflammation, and their effects depend on commensal gut bacteria.
- Yu Miyamoto
- , Junichi Kikuta
- & Masaru Ishii
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Article
| Open AccessTransient loss of Polycomb components induces an epigenetic cancer fate
A transient perturbation of transcriptional silencing mediated by Polycomb proteins is sufficient to induce an epigenetic cancer cell fate in Drosophila in the absence of driver mutations.
- V. Parreno
- , V. Loubiere
- & G. Cavalli
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Article
| Open AccessStructures of human γδ T cell receptor–CD3 complex
The assembly of the γδ TCR depends on Vγ usage.
- Weizhi Xin
- , Bangdong Huang
- & Qiang Zhou
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Article
| Open AccessNetwork of large pedigrees reveals social practices of Avar communities
Analysis of ancient DNA from 424 individuals in the Avar period, from the sixth to the ninth century AD, reveals population movement from the steppe and the prolonged existence of a steppe nomadic descent system centred around patrilineality and female exogamy in central Europe.
- Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone
- , Zsófia Rácz
- & Zuzana Hofmanová
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Article |
Chemoproteomic discovery of a covalent allosteric inhibitor of WRN helicase
VVD-133214, a clinical-stage, covalent allosteric inhibitor of the helicase WRN, was well tolerated in mice and led to robust tumour regression in multiple microsatellite-instability-high colorectal cancer cell lines and patient-derived xenograft models.
- Kristen A. Baltgalvis
- , Kelsey N. Lamb
- & Todd M. Kinsella
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News & Views |
Charles Darwin investigates: the curious case of primrose punishment
Birds emerge as top suspects for unexplained flower mutilation, and reflections from 1974 mark the 21st anniversary of the discovery of the DNA double helix, in the weekly dip into Nature’s archive.
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Career Feature |
Breaking ice, and helicopter drops: winning photos of working scientists
Nature’s annual photography competition attracted stunning images from around the world, including two very different shots featuring the Polarstern research vessel.
- Jack Leeming
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News |
Monkeypox virus: dangerous strain gains ability to spread through sex, new data suggest
A cluster of mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sparks worries of a wider outbreak.
- Max Kozlov
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News Feature |
Lethal AI weapons are here: how can we control them?
Autonomous weapons guided by artificial intelligence are already in use. Researchers, legal experts and ethicists are struggling with what should be allowed on the battlefield.
- David Adam
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Research Highlight |
Dozens of genes are linked to post-traumatic stress disorder
Findings underscore that genetic factors contribute to development of the condition after a traumatic incident.
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News |
How to freeze a memory: putting worms on ice stops them forgetting
The model organism Caenorhabditis elegans is quick to forget a notable odour — unless it is chilled or given lithium.
- Julian Nowogrodzki
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News |
Your perception of time is skewed by what you see
Features of a scene such as size and clutter can affect the brain’s sense of how much time has passed while observing it.
- Lilly Tozer
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Comment |
Will AI accelerate or delay the race to net-zero emissions?
As artificial intelligence transforms the global economy, researchers need to explore scenarios to assess how it can help, rather than harm, the climate.
- Amy Luers
- , Jonathan Koomey
- & Eric Horvitz
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