Nature

Oxford COVID vaccine paper highlights lingering unknowns about results

The Oxford–AstraZeneca partnership is the first major developer to publish detailed data from phase III trials.

CRISPR gene therapy shows promise against blood diseases

Researchers report early successes using genetic approaches to treat sickle-cell anaemia and β-thalassaemia.
Heidi Ledford

News 08 Dec 2020
Excitement as outspoken HIV researcher named to lead key US health agency

Rochelle Walensky, Joe Biden’s pick for the next head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has emphasized the need for science-based decision-making in the pandemic.
Giuliana Viglione

News 08 Dec 2020
Correlates of protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques
Katherine McMahan
Jingyou Yu
Dan H. Barouch

Article 04 Dec 2020
Daily briefing: Mount Everest is officially taller

The new official height of the highest spot on Earth is 8,848.86 metres. Plus, how to understand COVID vaccine trial data and the implosion of the billion-euro Human Brain Project.
Flora Graham

Nature Briefing 08 Dec 2020
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Current Issue 03 Dec 2020

News & Comment

How the first life on Earth survived its biggest threat — water

Living things depend on water, but it breaks down DNA and other key molecules. So how did the earliest cells deal with the water paradox?
Michael Marshall

News Feature 09 Dec 2020
Researchers decry 'pay to publish' system— but don’t want it to stop
Sarah Wild

News 09 Dec 2020
Accounting for sex and gender makes for better science

Editorial 09 Dec 2020
How borders make us ill, decolonizing museums, and the wolves of Yellowstone: Books in brief
Andrew Robinson
Sara Abdulla

Book Review 08 Dec 2020
Rescue Brazil’s burning Pantanal wetlands
Renata Libonati
Carlos C. DaCamara
Letícia C. Garcia

Comment 08 Dec 2020
COVID vaccines: the world’s medical regulators need access to open data

Editorial 08 Dec 2020
CRISPR gene therapy shows promise against blood diseases
Heidi Ledford

News 08 Dec 2020

Latest Reviews & Analysis

- Inference in artificial intelligence with deep optics and photonics
  
  Recent work on optical computing for artificial intelligence applications is reviewed and the potential and challenges of all-optical and hybrid optical networks are discussed.
  
  Gordon Wetzstein
  Aydogan Ozcan
  Demetri Psaltis
  
  Perspective 02 Dec 2020
- Standard model of particle physics tested by the fine-structure constant
  
  A highly precise measurement of a physical constant known as the fine-structure constant provides a stringent test of the standard model of particle physics, and sets strong limits on the existence of speculative particles.
  
  Holger Müller
  
  News & Views 02 Dec 2020
- Sight restored by turning back the epigenetic clock
  
  Neurons progressively deteriorate with age and lose resilience to injury. It emerges that treatment with three transcription factors can re-endow neurons in the mature eye with youthful characteristics and the capacity to regenerate.
  
  Andrew D. Huberman
  
  News & Views 02 Dec 2020
- Bacterial species singled out from a diverse crowd
  
  Microscopy methods that reveal the spatial patterns of individual types of microbe are limited by the number of different species that can be monitored together. A new technique now provides progress on this front.
  
  Jen Nguyen
  Carolina Tropini
  
  News & Views 02 Dec 2020
- Autonomous balloons take flight with artificial intelligence
  
  An artificially intelligent controller can station a stratospheric balloon for weeks at a time without full knowledge of surrounding winds, opening up the prospect of unsupervised environmental monitoring.
  
  Scott M. Osprey
  
  News & Views 02 Dec 2020
- Neutrino detection gets to the core of the Sun
  
  Gabriel D. Orebi Gann
  
  News & Views 25 Nov 2020
- The changing face of birds from the age of the dinosaurs
  
  Daniel J. Field
  
  News & Views 25 Nov 2020
- Engineered antibodies to combat viral threats
  
  Xiaojie Yu
  Mark S. Cragg
  
  News & Views 18 Nov 2020
- Hierarchies defined through human mobility
  
  Elsa Arcaute
  
  News & Views 18 Nov 2020
- Cracking the cell access code for the deadly virus VEEV
  
  James Zengel
  Jan E. Carette
  
  News & Views 18 Nov 2020

Our publishing model is changing

Open Access options available from January 2021, read more

Latest Research

Correlates of protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques
Katherine McMahan
Jingyou Yu
Dan H. Barouch

Article 04 Dec 2020
Enhanced triple-α reaction reduces proton-rich nucleosynthesis in supernovae

The triple-α reaction rate in proton-rich core-collapse supernovae is found to be enhanced at high nucleon densities, suppressing the formation of proton-rich nuclei from gallium to cadmium.
Shilun Jin
Luke F. Roberts
Hendrik Schatz

Article 02 Dec 2020
Thermochemical lithosphere differentiation and the origin of cratonic mantle

A model is proposed for the origin of cratonic lithospheric mantle in which rifting and melting in the hot, early Earth mantle leave behind large volumes of stiffer, depleted mantle.
Fabio A. Capitanio
Oliver Nebel
Peter A. Cawood

Article 02 Dec 2020
Determination of the fine-structure constant with an accuracy of 81 parts per trillion

The fine-structure constant is determined with an accuracy of 81 parts per trillion using matter-wave interferometry to measure the rubidium atom recoil velocity.
Léo Morel
Zhibin Yao
Saïda Guellati-Khélifa

Article 02 Dec 2020
Autonomous navigation of stratospheric balloons using reinforcement learning

Data augmentation and a self-correcting design are used to develop a reinforcement-learning algorithm for the autonomous navigation of Loon superpressure balloons in challenging stratospheric weather conditions.
Marc G. Bellemare
Salvatore Candido
Ziyu Wang

Article 02 Dec 2020

Collections

Allergies

The role of an allergist has been likened to that of a detective, superior powers of observation, chance encounters and the rejection of evidence have all delivered medical breakthroughs.

Nature Outlook 02 Dec 2020