Research Highlight |
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News & Views |
A mobile DNA sequence could explain tail loss in humans and apes
The lack of a tail is one thing that separates apes — including humans — from other primates. Insertion of a short DNA sequence into a gene that controls tail development could explain tail loss in the common ancestor of apes.
- Miriam K. Konkel
- & Emily L. Casanova
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News |
How humans lost their tails — and why the discovery took 2.5 years to publish
An elegant run of experiments in mice reveals the genetic changes that led humanity’s ape ancestors to lose the appendage.
- Ewen Callaway
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Article
| Open AccessOn the genetic basis of tail-loss evolution in humans and apes
An insertion of an Alu element into an intron of the TBXT gene is identified as a genetic mechanism of tail-loss evolution in humans and apes, with implications for human health today.
- Bo Xia
- , Weimin Zhang
- & Itai Yanai
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Article |
Symmetry breaking and chiral amplification in prebiotic ligation reactions
A study of a new route to proteinogenic peptides reveals how heterochiral preference can lead to homochiral peptides in a prebiotic world.
- Min Deng
- , Jinhan Yu
- & Donna G. Blackmond
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Comment |
To unravel the origin of life, treat findings as pieces of a bigger puzzle
Explaining isolated steps on the road from simple chemicals to complex living organisms is not enough. Looking at the big picture could help to bridge rifts in this fractured research field.
- Nick Lane
- & Joana C. Xavier
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Nature Podcast |
How whales sing without drowning, an anatomical mystery solved
Baleen whales sing using a modified larynx, but this leaves them them unable to escape human noise.
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Obituary |
Claus Nielsen (1938–2024), zoologist of invertebrates
Danish marine biologist who proposed that the last common ancestor of flies and humans resembled a swimming larva.
- Max Telford
- , Andreas Hejnol
- & Detlev Arendt
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News & Views |
Why reciprocity is common in humans but rare in other animals
Reciprocal cooperation can be advantageous, but why it is more common in humans than in other social animals is a puzzle. A modelling and experimental study pinpoints the conditions needed for reciprocity to evolve.
- Sarah Mathew
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Nature Podcast |
Why are we nice? Altruism’s origins are put to the test
Research suggests a combination of behaviours underlie the evolution of human cooperation, and researchers make an optical disc with enormous storage capacity.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Article
| Open AccessSuper-additive cooperation
Models show that human cooperation cannot evolve reliably under repeated interactions or under intergroup competitions, but combining the two mechanisms predicts a distinctive strategy, observed experimentally in Papua New Guinea, in which individuals exhibit cooperative reciprocity with ingroup partners and uncooperative reciprocity with outgroup partners.
- Charles Efferson
- , Helen Bernhard
- & Ernst Fehr
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Article
| Open AccessPrevalence of persistent SARS-CoV-2 in a large community surveillance study
Using viral sequence data, individuals with persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections were identified, and had higher odds of self-reporting long COVID, in a large community surveillance study.
- Mahan Ghafari
- , Matthew Hall
- & Katrina Lythgoe
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News |
200 years of naming dinosaurs: scientists call for overhaul of antiquated system
Some palaeontologists want more rigorous guidelines for naming species, along with action to address problematic historical practices.
- Katharine Sanderson
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Article
| Open AccessGenomic data in the All of Us Research Program
A study describes the release of clinical-grade whole-genome sequence data for 245,388 diverse participants by the All of Us Research Program and characterizes the properties of the dataset.
- Alexander G. Bick
- , Ginger A. Metcalf
- & Joshua C. Denny
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Article |
Deep whole-genome analysis of 494 hepatocellular carcinomas
The Chinese Liver Cancer Atlas project depicts a panoramic genomic landscape of hepatocellular carcinoma, covering candidate coding and non-coding drivers, mutational signatures, extrachromosomal circular DNA, subclonal catastrophic events and detailed evolutionary history.
- Lei Chen
- , Chong Zhang
- & Hongyang Wang
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News & Views |
From the archive: lonely cells, and Thomas Henry Huxley backs evolution
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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News & Views |
How population size shapes the evolution of guppy fish
A long-term fish experiment reveals how a mechanism called density dependence, in which the population growth rate slows as the number of individuals rises, affects population dynamics on time scales relevant for ecology and evolution.
- Bernt-Erik Sæther
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News & Views |
Absence of female partners can explain the dawn chorus of birds
Why birds sing intensely in a dawn chorus during the early morning has long been debated. Evidence gathered from observing birds in the wild offers a fresh perspective on what might drive this phenomenon.
- Diego Gil
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Where I Work |
I started fossil hunting in my 60s — now I have more than 2,000 pieces
Heather Middleton trawls England’s Jurassic Coast for specimens that might lead to a deeper understanding of palaeontology.
- Rachael Pells
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Book Review |
It’s time to admit that genes are not the blueprint for life
The view of biology often presented to the public is oversimplified and out of date. Scientists must set the record straight, argues a new book.
- Denis Noble
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Research Highlight |
An ancient tree’s oddball shape is revealed by an extraordinary fossil
Many fossilized trees consist of only the trunk, but a specimen from Canada includes most of the crown of leaves.
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Article
| Open AccessHomo sapiens reached the higher latitudes of Europe by 45,000 years ago
Through archaeological excavation, morphological and proteomic taxonomic identification, mitochondrial DNA analysis and direct radiocarbon dating of human remains, a study reports the presence of Homo sapiens in Germany north of the Alps more than 45,000 years ago.
- Dorothea Mylopotamitaki
- , Marcel Weiss
- & Jean-Jacques Hublin
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Career Q&A |
From a pocketful of rocks to scientific director of palaeontological research
PhD candidate Dirley Cortés says that it takes grit and guts to navigate the challenges of being a Latin American woman in palaeontology.
- Efrain Rincon
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News & Views |
Stone tools in northern Europe made by Homo sapiens 45,000 years ago
DNA analyses of skeletal fragments from a site in Germany provide evidence that humans, rather than Neanderthals, were responsible for a particular stone-tool industry called the Lincombian–Ranisian–Jerzmanowician.
- William E. Banks
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Nature Video |
‘Like a moth to a flame’ — this strange insect behaviour is finally explained
Many explanations have been put forward for insects’ attraction to light, but high tech cameras now suggest a different answer.
- Dan Fox
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Article
| Open AccessRedefining the treponemal history through pre-Columbian genomes from Brazil
Reconstruction of four Treponema pallidum genomes associated with human remains from around 2,000 years ago suggests that T. pallidum existed in the Americas and diverged to its modern subspecies before the fifteenth century European contact with the Americas.
- Kerttu Majander
- , Marta Pla-Díaz
- & Verena J. Schuenemann
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Article
| Open AccessThe hagfish genome and the evolution of vertebrates
A chromosome-scale genome assembly for the hagfish Eptatretus atami, combined with a series of phylogenetic analyses, sheds light on ancient polyploidization events that had a key role in the early evolution of vertebrates.
- Ferdinand Marlétaz
- , Nataliya Timoshevskaya
- & Daniel S. Rokhsar
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News |
This is the oldest fossilized reptile skin ever found — it pre-dates the dinosaurs
Permian-period petroleum helped to preserve minute scraps of pebbly hide that probably belonged to a lizard-like creature.
- Emma Marris
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News |
Why did the world’s biggest ape go extinct?
The 300-kilogram primate couldn’t adapt when a changing environment forced a dietary shift.
- Gemma Conroy
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Article
| Open AccessA lethal mitonuclear incompatibility in complex I of natural hybrids
Analysis of naturally hybridizing swordtail fish species reveals a mitonuclear genetic incompatibility among three genes that encode components of mitochondrial respiratory complex I, providing insights into the emergence of hybrid incompatibilities and reproductive barriers.
- Benjamin M. Moran
- , Cheyenne Y. Payne
- & Molly Schumer
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Article
| Open AccessThe selection landscape and genetic legacy of ancient Eurasians
Analyses of imputed ancient genomes and of samples from the UK Biobank indicate that ancient selection and migration were large contributors to the distribution of phenotypic diversity in present-day Europeans.
- Evan K. Irving-Pease
- , Alba Refoyo-Martínez
- & Eske Willerslev
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Research Briefing |
Observing mammalian cerebellum development through an evolutionary lens
Tracking the gene-expression profiles of individual cerebellar cells during development in humans, mice and opossums revealed evolutionarily conserved as well as species-specific cellular and molecular features.
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Research Briefing |
Deadly mismatch between nuclear and mitochondrial genes in swordtail fish hybrids
An analysis of the genomes of hybrids of distinct swordtail fish species uncovered a lethal incompatibility between certain combinations of nuclear and mitochondrial genes that encode subunits of complex I — a component of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. The evolutionary history of this incompatibility indicates that the genes involved were transferred between the species through hybridization in the past.
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Article
| Open AccessThe demise of the giant ape Gigantopithecus blacki
A multiproxy record of Gigantopithecus blacki provides insights into the ecological context of this species, which became extinct around 250,000 years ago, when increased seasonality led to a change in forest cover.
- Yingqi Zhang
- , Kira E. Westaway
- & Renaud Joannes-Boyau
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Article
| Open Access100 ancient genomes show repeated population turnovers in Neolithic Denmark
Integrated data, including 100 human genomes from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods show that two major population turnovers occurred over just 1,000 years in Neolithic Denmark, resulting in dramatic changes in the genes, diet and physical appearance of the local people, as well as the landscape in which they lived.
- Morten E. Allentoft
- , Martin Sikora
- & Eske Willerslev
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Article
| Open AccessPopulation genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia
An analysis involving the shotgun sequencing of more than 300 ancient genomes from Eurasia reveals a deep east–west genetic divide from the Black Sea to the Baltic, and provides insight into the distinct effects of the Neolithic transition on either side of this boundary.
- Morten E. Allentoft
- , Martin Sikora
- & Eske Willerslev
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Article
| Open AccessElevated genetic risk for multiple sclerosis emerged in steppe pastoralist populations
Analysis of a large ancient genome dataset shows that genetic risk for multiple sclerosis rose in steppe pastoralists, providing insight into how genetic ancestry from the Neolithic and Bronze Age has shaped modern immune responses.
- William Barrie
- , Yaoling Yang
- & Eske Willerslev
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Nature Podcast |
The science stories you missed over the holiday period
We highlight some of the Nature Briefing’s stories from the end of 2023, including a polar bear fur-inspired sweater, efforts to open OSIRIS-REx’s sample canister, and a dinosaur’s last dinner.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Noah Baker
- & Flora Graham
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News |
Tasmanian devil die-off is shifting another predator’s genetics
Devil population crashes caused by contagious tumours have knock-on effects elsewhere in the food chain.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Article |
Oldest thylakoids in fossil cells directly evidence oxygenic photosynthesis
We report the oldest direct evidence of thylakoid membranes in a parallel-to-contorted arrangement within the enigmatic cylindrical microfossils Navifusa majensis from the McDermott Formation, Tawallah Group, Australia (1.78–1.73 Ga).
- Catherine F. Demoulin
- , Yannick J. Lara
- & Emmanuelle J. Javaux
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News |
Humans might have driven 1,500 bird species to extinction — twice previous estimates
Humans are probably responsible for the extinction of 12% of bird species, many of which were never documented.
- Gemma Conroy
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News & Views |
Plastic pollution, viral evolution and drowned coasts: wrapping up a year of remarkable science
Highlights from News & Views published in late 2023.
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Article
| Open AccessIndigenous Australian genomes show deep structure and rich novel variation
Analysis of the genomes of 159 individuals from four Indigenous communities in Australia shows a high level of genetic variation and demonstrates the need for greater representation of Indigenous Australians in reference panels and clinical databases.
- Matthew Silcocks
- , Ashley Farlow
- & Stephen Leslie
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Article
| Open AccessConserved and divergent gene regulatory programs of the mammalian neocortex
A single-cell multiomics analysis of over 200,000 cells of the primary motor cortex of human, macaque, marmoset and mouse shows that divergence of transcription factor expression corresponds to species-specific epigenome landscapes, and conserved and divergent gene regulatory features are reflected in the evolution of the three-dimensional genome.
- Nathan R. Zemke
- , Ethan J. Armand
- & Bing Ren
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Article
| Open AccessEvolution of neuronal cell classes and types in the vertebrate retina
Single-cell and single-nucleus transcriptomic analysis of retina from 17 vertebrate species shows high conservation of retinal cell types and suggests that midget retinal ganglion cells in primates evolved from orthologous cells in ancestral mammals.
- Joshua Hahn
- , Aboozar Monavarfeshani
- & Karthik Shekhar
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News |
The world’s largest proteins? These mega-molecules turn bacteria into predators
A candidate for the largest known protein might help killer aquatic bacteria to devour other microbes — but it’s not easy to study the behemoths, or prove they’re even real.
- Ewen Callaway
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Research Highlight |
This bird escaped extinction — but its genes hint at an ominous future
The extravagantly feathered Seychelles paradise flycatcher lacks genetic diversity, which might hamper its resilience to climate change and other threats.
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News Feature |
The race to save humanity’s oldest art
Ancient humans painted scenes in Indonesian caves more than 45,000 years ago, but their art is disappearing rapidly. Researchers are trying to discover what’s causing the damage and how to stop it — before the murals are gone forever.
- Dyani Lewis
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Article |
A genomic mutational constraint map using variation in 76,156 human genomes
A genomic constraint map for the human genome constructed using data from 76,156 human genomes from the Genome Aggregation Database shows that non-coding constrained regions are enriched for regulatory elements and variants associated with complex diseases and traits.
- Siwei Chen
- , Laurent C. Francioli
- & Konrad J. Karczewski
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News & Views |
How hyenas decide whether to form a lion-fighting mob
Monitoring complex hyena societies in the wild sheds light on factors that predict whether individuals will engage in a risky collective activity.
- Mary Abraham
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