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The time frame of a species’ origins provides context for evolutionary questions. However, dates from fossils are often inconsistent with estimates from genetic data. Emerging evidence points to a new explanation for this discrepancy.
GPS data reveal that people travel far from home to buy food in the United States, challenging ideas about how access to food relates to unhealthy eating habits.
A team of amateur and professional astronomers has determined that a satellite one-third of the size of a tennis court is one of the brightest objects in the sky — with dire consequences for ground-based astronomy.
Assemblies of protein and RNA called stress granules appear in response to stressful conditions. The discovery that these granules can plug holes in punctured organelles sheds light on cellular defences against damage and infection.
Causal evidence shows that referring people who are at risk of developing diabetes to a nationwide lifestyle-change programme can result in health improvements — but only if programme participation can be sustained.
A 3D printer uses machine vision to solve a problem that has plagued 3D inkjet printers, increasing the range of materials that can be used, and enabling the rapid production of complex objects such as a robot hand.
A type of magnetic resonance imaging, known as low-field MRI, could make the technique more widely accessible, but only if the image quality can be improved. A deep-learning protocol might hold the key.
By casting large-language-model-based dialogue-agent behaviour in terms of role play, it is possible to describe dialogue-agent behaviour such as (apparent) deception and (apparent) self-awareness without misleadingly ascribing human characteristics to the models.
Experiments reveal flat bands in the relationship between the energy and the momentum of electrons in a 3D solid. Such behaviour is indicative of unusual physical phenomena, and has previously been seen only in 2D materials.
Observations have shown that some dwarf galaxies lose their stars through interactions with more massive galaxies. The dense nuclei that remain are ultra-compact dwarf galaxies, the origin of which has long been a subject of debate.
This Perspective reviews successful applications of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and presents a case for fMRI as a central hub on which to integrate the dispersed subfields of systems, cognitive, computational and clinical neuroscience.
The mechanisms by which mitochondria are transferred between cells and how intercellular mitochondria transfer regulates physiological processes and disease pathogenesis are discussed.
Technical developments and large collaborative research networks in neurogenomics promise rapid progress in neuroscience, but translation of results from model systems to human brains is limited by sample availability, technical challenges and ethical issues.
Synaptic connections between cancer cells and neurons can boost tumour growth. Analyses of brain tumours reveal how cancer cells enhance the strength of synapses with neurons to promote tumour survival.
An unconventional route for modifying pharmaceutically relevant molecules swaps an atom of carbon for one of nitrogen. The resulting derivatives might open up avenues of research in medicinal-chemistry campaigns.
Echinoderms such as starfish are unusual for their five-fold body symmetry. Maps of gene-expression patterns show how this body plan was acquired, and that the genes specifying head structures do the heavy lifting.
Thick filaments contain the protein myosin that generates the force of every heartbeat. Two studies report how these myosin molecules pack together in thick filaments with other proteins to form a surprisingly complex structure.
