Volume 622 Issue 7984, 26 October 2023

Postdoctoral dissatisfaction about pay, job security and career progression cannot continue. Institutions must up their game or risk losing the next generation.

Networks of émigré researchers can be potent forces for good when they are member-driven, involve youth and connect with each other.

An exoplanet named TOI-1420b has a volume more than 1,700 times that of Earth but a mass 25 times Earth’s.

Tests on monkeys with a simian version of the virus show that the BCG vaccine provides protection against the bacterium that causes TB.

Nutrient-laced groundwater seeping up through the sea bed adds to an excess of nitrogen and phosphorus threatening the ecosystem.

Remains suggest that ancient bats used the same form of echolocation as species flying the skies now.

The space rock — possibly the exposed core of a planet that didn’t finish forming — could reveal details about the Solar System’s origins.

Genetic changes to avian influenza viruses have led to spread among many wild species, creating an uncontrollable global outbreak.

Wide distribution of findings shows how analytical choices drive conclusions.

Experiments suggest that sleep doesn’t cut you off from the outside world as much as scientists had thought.

Researchers catalogue more than 3,000 different types of cell in our most complex organ.

Nature speaks to those who worked alongside this year’s chemistry laureates to develop the award-winning nanocrystals.

Recent studies evaluate risks associated with drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro.

Researchers have never had such detailed views of our nearest star.

Emerging generalist models could overcome some limitations of first-generation machine-learning tools for clinical use.

An exploration of nature’s toxins reveals complex relationships between humans and the plant chemicals we use as foods, medicines and mind-altering drugs.

Andrew Robinson reviews five of the best science picks.

Pioneer of powerful tools for sifting data and optimizing device designs.

Establish an independent scientific body to test and certify generative artificial intelligence, before the technology damages science and public trust.

Temporary contracts, low salaries and cost-of-living hikes force many researchers to put off parenthood and other big decisions.

Ethno-ecologist Nolwazi Mbongwa investigates the deeply rooted cultural practices of South African traditional healers, and works with conservationists to protect wildlife.

Two analyses of seismic waves that traversed Mars paint the clearest picture yet of the red planet’s core and deep mantle — and rationalize the puzzling implications of a previous interpretation of the seismological data.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to understand the emergence of viral variants, given that these can have implications for vaccination success. A bioinformatics tool offers a way to predict viral evolution.

A machine-learning method to assess DNA can accurately classify brain tumours in real time. This rapid analysis might help surgeons to identify the tumour type when operating and to adjust their surgical strategy accordingly.

Snippets from Nature’s past.

Lasers, and a cold ensemble of magnetic atoms, have been used to mimic a complex quantum system characterized by long-range interactions — an essential ingredient for realizing realistic models of many quantum materials.

Cells use specialized nucleotide signals to activate defences. A bacterial study reveals a previously unknown class of signals, formed by linking molecules of ATP and S-adenosyl methionine.

JWST spectroscopy confirms redshifts for two very luminous galaxies with z > 11, and also demonstrates that another candidate with suggested z ≈ 16 instead has z = 4.9.

We provide observational evidence that suggests the presence of a molten silicate layer above the core of Mars, which is overlain by a partially molten layer, indicating that the core of Mars is smaller than previously thought.

Using multiply diffracted P waves and first-principles computations of the thermoelastic properties of liquid iron-rich alloys, we show that the core of Mars is smaller and denser than previously thought.

The realization of dipolar quantum solids with an ultracold gas of magnetic atoms in an optical lattice ushers in quantum simulation of many-body systems with long-range anisotropic interactions.

The development of a 400,000-pixel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector array is described, improving the current state of the art by a factor of 400 and showing scalability well beyond the present demonstration.

Flow limitation is exploited to develop a microfluidic device exhibiting flow–pressure behaviour analogous to the current–voltage characteristics of an electronic transistor.

Some of the diffuse intensities observed in electron diffraction patterns of face-centred cubic multi-principal element alloys are due to reflections from higher-order Laue zones.

A four-dimensional printable shape memory hydrogel with shape-shifting onset adjustable by changing the programming conditions is reported.

Heterogeneous geminal-atom catalysts, which pair single-atom sites in specific coordination and spatial proximity, offer a new avenue for the sustainable manufacture of fine chemicals.

Ground- and satellite-based air pollution data from 2000 to 2022 quantify the contribution of wildfire smoke to stagnation or reversal in PM_2.5 concentration trends, showing that this contribution will grow as the climate continues to warm.

Asynchronous flight in all major groups of insects likely arose from a single common ancestor with reversions to a synchronous flight mode enabled by shifts back and forth between different regimes in the same set of dynamic parameters.

Nationwide genomic biobank in Mexico unravels demographic history and complex trait architecture from 6,057 individuals.

Genotype and exome sequencing of 150,000 participants and whole-genome sequencing of 9,950 selected individuals recruited into the Mexico City Prospective Study constitute a valuable, publicly available resource of non-European sequencing data.

Insights into the underlying neuronal circuitry of the Drosophila song production system are provided using song patterning of males near versus far from the female.

The discrepancy between the short half-life of ketamine and its long-lasting effects is due to ketamine being trapped in NMDA receptors, and its release depends on neural activity in the lateral habenula.

Recent resurgences of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 viruses have different origins and virus ecologies as their epicentres shift and viruses evolve, with changes indicating increased adaptation among domestic birds.

EVEscape, a flexible framework using deep learning and biophysical structural information, enables early identification of concerning mutations in viruses with pandemic potential, facilitating the development of vaccines and therapeutics.

The Bacteroides fragilis type III CRISPR protein Cmr conjugates ATP to S-adenosyl methionine, generating S-adenosyl methionine (SAM)-AMP, a novel second messenger with a role in antiviral signalling.

Haemoglobin produced by chondrocytes forms eosin-positive haemoglobin bodies in their cytoplasm, and deletion of these bodies causes severe hypoxia.

Sturgeon is a pretrained neural network that uses incremental results from nanopore sequencing to rapidly classify central nervous system tumours and can be used to aid critical decision-making during surgery.

An orally bioavailable small-molecule active-site inhibitor of the phosphatases PTPN2 and PTPN1, ABBV-CLS-484, demonstrates immunotherapeutic efficacy in mouse models of cancer resistant to PD-1 blockade.

TnpB and IscB nucleases use transposon-encoded guide RNAs to target genomic sequences for cleavage, thereby favouring copying and spreading of transposable elements.

A cryogenic electron microscopy study presents structures characterizing the initiation of RNA synthesis by yeast mitochondrial RNA polymerase at single-nucleotide addition steps.