Research Highlight |
Featured
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News |
Biggest genome ever found belongs to this odd little plant
The gigantic genome of a type of fork fern smashes the human one in terms of size.
- Max Kozlov
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News |
First pig-to-human liver transplant recipient ‘doing very well’
The transplant aims to prolong the life of the patient and provide important lessons for doctors.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
The cicadas are here! Why US researchers are swarming to study them
Two particular broods of the insects are popping up together for the first time in two centuries, and there’s a lot we don’t know about them.
- Sumeet Kulkarni
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Research Highlight |
Karaoke-related stress soars after a good night of REM sleep
The emotional load of listening to one’s own performance is preserved by a certain type of sleep.
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Research Briefing |
Measuring the forces that shape early human embryos
Contractile forces at the surface of cells of early human embryos bring the cells together. When these forces are absent, the embryo will not develop further. ‘Weak’ cells do not produce these forces and cannot contribute to the embryo. These observations should influence clinical choices during assisted reproductive-technology procedures.
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Career Q&A |
Defying the stereotype of Black resilience
As head of the Black In Neuro network, Kaela S. Singleton argues that Black success should not require hardship or struggle.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
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Nature Podcast |
How AI could improve robotics, the cockroach’s origins, and promethium spills its secrets
We round up some recent stories from the Nature Briefing.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Elizabeth Gibney
- & Flora Graham
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Outlook |
Innovative cancer therapies offer new hope
The arsenal of weapons used to treat these insidious diseases is rapidly expanding.
- Herb Brody
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Research Highlight |
Ancient DNA reveals extinct flightless bird’s superpowers
The little bush moa had small eyes, no wings and some extraordinary skills.
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News |
‘Smart’ antibiotic can kill deadly bacteria while sparing the microbiome
Compound called lolamicin targets a group of harmful microbes but does not disturb those that live peacefully in the gut.
- Fred Schwaller
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Outlook |
AI assistance for planning cancer treatment
Armed with the right data, advances in machine learning could help oncologists to home in quickly on the best treatment strategies for their patients.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Outlook |
Natural killer cells show their cancer-fighting worth
Although natural-killer-cell therapies are safer than T-cell therapies and offer other advantages, they require upgrades to overcome their limited lifespan and susceptibility to immunosuppression.
- Amanda B. Keener
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Research Briefing |
Baobab trees’ evolutionary history could inform conservation efforts
The genomes of all eight living species of baobab tree (Adansonia sp.) reveal the group’s origin and diversification history. Ecological analyses were incorporated to characterize the baobabs’ past population dynamics and were used to propose protection measures for these iconic species, including the reassessment of their conservation status and the close monitoring of several of Madagascar’s baobab species.
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Outlook |
Randomized trials of cancer drugs are for yesterday
Pitting new treatments against old, ineffective agents is neither ethical nor economical.
- Elaine Schattner
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Outlook |
How antibody–drug conjugates aim to take down cancer
Scientists are trying to work out how to balance potency with toxicity and tackle the cost of next-generation therapeutics.
- Benjamin Plackett
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Research Briefing |
Monkey business: primates’ social life tracked with wireless neuronal recording
Primates have rich social lives orchestrated by brain circuits that are still poorly understood, partly because they have not been studied under naturalistic conditions. New wireless technology for recording neuronal activity in freely moving monkeys enabled insights into how neurons track natural social interactions, including reciprocity and social support towards a partner.
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News & Views |
Microbes ‘sieve’ ions on their surface to start the nitrogen cycle
Uptake of ammonium ions by marine microorganisms called archaea is a key first step in the conversion of ammonium to nitrogen found in ecosystems. Structural evidence reveals how archaea capture ammonium in an efficient way.
- Henry van den Bedem
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Outlook |
Turning tumours against themselves
Advances in in situ therapeutic cancer vaccines offer a mode of treatment that could redeem the promise of previous false dawns.
- Liam Drew
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Article
| Open AccessThe complete sequence and comparative analysis of ape sex chromosomes
Reference assemblies of great ape sex chromosomes show that Y chromosomes are more variable in size and sequence than X chromosomes and provide a resource for studies on human evolution and conservation genetics of non-human apes.
- Kateryna D. Makova
- , Brandon D. Pickett
- & Adam M. Phillippy
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Article |
An alternative cell cycle coordinates multiciliated cell differentiation
A distinct cell cycle redeploys many canonical cell cycle regulators to control the differentiation of multiciliated cells, with the transcription factor E2F7 playing a pivotal part in this modified cell cycle.
- Semil P. Choksi
- , Lauren E. Byrnes
- & Jeremy F. Reiter
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Article |
Pro-CRISPR PcrIIC1-associated Cas9 system for enhanced bacterial immunity
Comprehensive analyses of Cas9 proteins shed light on the evolution of the CRISPR–Cas9 system, and identify a pro-CRISPR accessory protein in bacteria that boosts CRISPR-mediated immunity by enhancing the DNA binding and cleavage activity of Cas9.
- Shouyue Zhang
- , Ao Sun
- & Jun-Jie Gogo Liu
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Outlook |
Advances in highly targeted radiation treatment for cancer have ignited interest in a once obscure field
Therapies that treat while diagnosing — theranostics — can extend length of survival and improve the quality of life for some people with advance-stage cancer.
- Rachel Nuwer
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News & Views |
Nitrogen-hungry bacteria added to farm soil curb greenhouse-gas emissions
Innovative solutions are needed to decrease greenhouse-gas emissions. Field trials show that supplementing farm soil with a bacterium that consumes the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide can substantially lower harmful emissions.
- Guang He
- & Frank E. Löffler
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Article
| Open AccessStructural basis for pegRNA-guided reverse transcription by a prime editor
Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the prime editor bound to a prime editing guide RNA and target DNA, in the pre-initiation, initiation and elongation and termination states, provide insights into the mechanism by which prime editing occurs.
- Yutaro Shuto
- , Ryoya Nakagawa
- & Osamu Nureki
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Article
| Open AccessHigh-resolution in situ structures of mammalian respiratory supercomplexes
Mammalian respiratory supercomplexes are imaged in their native membrane environment by in situ cryo-electron microscopy, providing insight into their reactive intermediates and conformational dynamics.
- Wan Zheng
- , Pengxin Chai
- & Kai Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessMembraneless channels sieve cations in ammonia-oxidizing marine archaea
The Nitrosopumilus maritimus surface layer (S-layer) concentrates ammonium ions on its cell-facing side, acting as a multichannel sieve on the cell membrane.
- Andriko von Kügelgen
- , C. Keith Cassidy
- & Tanmay A. M. Bharat
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Article
| Open AccessMolecular basis for differential Igk versus Igh V(D)J joining mechanisms
Experiments in mouse models, and in cell lines that only allow primary Vκ-to-Jκ rearrangements, enable characterization of the mechanisms of V(D)J recombination.
- Yiwen Zhang
- , Xiang Li
- & Hongli Hu
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News Explainer |
Who owns your voice? Scarlett Johansson OpenAI complaint raises questions
In the age of artificial intelligence, situations are emerging that challenge the laws over rights to a persona.
- Nicola Jones
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Article |
Transcriptional control of the Cryptosporidium life cycle
The transcription factor Myb-M is the earliest determinant of male fate in the parasite Cryptosporidium parvum.
- Katelyn A. Walzer
- , Jayesh Tandel
- & Boris Striepen
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Article |
A Gram-negative-selective antibiotic that spares the gut microbiome
Lolamicin, a novel antibiotic developed from a pyridinepyrazole precursor, exhibits potent activity against a broad range of Gram-negative multidrug-resistant clinical isolates, and good efficacy in mouse models of infection without inducing gut dysbiosis.
- Kristen A. Muñoz
- , Rebecca J. Ulrich
- & Paul J. Hergenrother
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Article
| Open AccessThe sex of organ geometry
In fruit flies, three-dimensional organ arrangement is stereotypical, sexually dimorphic and actively maintained by muscle-vessel mechanochemical crosstalk.
- Laura Blackie
- , Pedro Gaspar
- & Irene Miguel-Aliaga
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Correspondence |
Anglo-American bias could make generative AI an invisible intellectual cage
- Queenie Luo
- & Michael Puett
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Comment |
Heed lessons from past studies involving transgender people: first, do no harm
Decades of neuroscientific work have focused on exploring a biological basis for transgender identity — but researchers must take societal factors into account.
- Mathilde Kennis
- , Robin Staicu
- & Felix Duecker
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News Feature |
The AI revolution is coming to robots: how will it change them?
The melding of artificial intelligence and robotics could catapult both fields to new heights.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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News |
Autistic people three times more likely to develop Parkinson’s-like symptoms
Largest study of its kind also finds increased risk in older adults with a range of intellectual disabilities.
- Miryam Naddaf
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News |
The immune system can sabotage gene therapies — can scientists rein it in?
People treated with gene therapy cannot receive a second dose for fear of a dangerous immune response. Researchers hope to find a way around this.
- Heidi Ledford
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: How does ChatGPT ‘think’? Psychology and neuroscience crack open AI large language models
To understand the 'brains' of LLMs, researchers are attempting to reverse-engineering artificial intelligence systems.
- Matthew Hutson
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Technology Feature |
Software tools identify forgotten genes
Find My Understudied Genes and the Unknome database highlight interesting genes that have been neglected by science.
- Matthew Hutson
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News |
Neanderthal–human baby-making was recent — and brief
Analysis of dozens of ancient genomes reveals that close encounters between the two species took place in a narrow time window.
- Michael Eisenstein
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News |
These crows have counting skills previously only seen in people
The corvids are the first animals other than humans known to produce a deliberate number of calls on command.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Research Highlight |
A tiny killer is making an entire region’s sea urchins disintegrate
A single-celled organism is destroying up to 100% of urchins in parts of the Red Sea and the Western Indian Ocean.
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News & Views |
Seed-stashing chickadees overturn ideas about location memory
Certain neurons encode memories of events that occurred in specific physical locations known as place fields. Chickadees show patterns of neuronal activity that are specific to locations of hidden food but independent of place fields.
- Margaret M. Donahue
- & Laura Lee Colgin
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News & Views |
Communication between organs defines their sex-specific shapes
Sex-specific organ shape is usually thought to depend on sex chromosomes or hormones. Now it emerges that crosstalk between organs sculpts sex-specific 3D gut shape in flies, identifying a new way to consider organ growth.
- Akhila Rajan
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News |
Superstar porous materials get salty thanks to computer simulations
Model predicts the structure of previously elusive compounds with practical applications.
- Ariana Remmel
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News |
Who will make AlphaFold3 open source? Scientists race to crack AI model
Researchers are aiming to create fully accessible versions of the latest iteration of DeepMind’s blockbuster protein-structure model.
- Ewen Callaway
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Article |
Bitter taste TAS2R14 activation by intracellular tastants and cholesterol
- Xiaolong Hu
- , Weizhen Ao
- & Zhi-Jie Liu
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Editorial |
AlphaFold3 — why did Nature publish it without its code?
Criticism of our decision to publish AlphaFold3 raises important questions. We welcome readers’ views.
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Article |
Legionella effector LnaB is a phosphoryl-AMPylase that impairs phosphosignalling
- Ting Wang
- , Xiaonan Song
- & Yongqun Zhu
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