Nature

Landmark Webb observatory is now officially a telescope

The observatory has flawlessly unfurled its mirrors and sunshield — although more steps are needed before the science can begin.

Immunity against Omicron from breakthrough infection could be a matter of timing

Laboratory studies hint that a longer interval between vaccination and infection is better than a shorter one.

Saima May Sidik
News 07 Jan 2022
WHO chief Tedros looks guaranteed for re-election amid COVID pandemic

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the only nominee to head the World Health Organization, a possible nod from countries on their approval of his pandemic leadership.

Amy Maxmen
News 06 Jan 2022
Rapid epidemic expansion of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in southern Africa

Raquel Viana
Sikhulile Moyo
Tulio de Oliveira
Research Briefing 07 Jan 2022
Daily briefing: WHO chief Tedros looks guaranteed for re-election

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the only candidate for director-general of the World Health Organization. Plus, how researchers can help fight climate change in 2022 and beyond.

Flora Graham
Nature Briefing 07 Jan 2022
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Current Issue 06 Jan 2022

News & Comment

COVID is here to stay: countries must decide how to adapt

The Omicron variant has laid bare the need to live with a disease that throws up an ever-changing set of challenges.

Editorial 10 Jan 2022
Landmark Webb observatory is now officially a telescope
Alexandra Witze
News 08 Jan 2022
Origins of consciousness, and sustainable cities: Books in brief
Andrew Robinson
Book Review 07 Jan 2022
Immunity against Omicron from breakthrough infection could be a matter of timing
Saima May Sidik
News 07 Jan 2022
WHO chief Tedros looks guaranteed for re-election amid COVID pandemic
Amy Maxmen
News 06 Jan 2022
How researchers can help fight climate change in 2022 and beyond

Editorial 05 Jan 2022
Omicron’s feeble attack on the lungs could make it less dangerous
Max Kozlov
News 05 Jan 2022

Latest Reviews & Analysis

- Inflammation in the gut is encoded by neurons in the brain
  
  The nervous and immune systems interact in a bidirectional manner. It emerges that inflammation in the body activates brain cells that, when later reactivated, can trigger a recapitulation of the inflammatory response.
  
  David Brea
  Henrique Veiga-Fernandes
  
  News & Views 10 Jan 2022
- Rapid epidemic expansion of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in southern Africa
  Raquel Viana
  Sikhulile Moyo
  Tulio de Oliveira
  
  Research Briefing 07 Jan 2022
- Mirror symmetry validated for proton and its antimatter twin
  
  A comparison of the charge-to-mass ratio for the proton and the antiproton has been performed with record-breaking precision — the best such test yet for a mirror-like symmetry that relates matter and antimatter.
  Ralf Lehnert
  
  News & Views 05 Jan 2022
- The magnetic field of a molecular cloud revealed
  
  A combination of standard and new observational techniques has been used to detect the magnetic field of a molecular cloud — a region of the interstellar medium that collapses during star formation. The results suggest that such clouds are primed for collapse earlier than was typically assumed.
  
  Research Briefing 05 Jan 2022
- A blood test to predict complications of pregnancy
  
  Cell-free RNA transcripts in maternal blood can be analysed to monitor the progression of pregnancy and to predict a potentially harmful pregnancy-specific condition called pre‑eclampsia.
  Lydia L. Shook
  Andrea G. Edlow
  
  News & Views 05 Jan 2022
- Iron pnictides and chalcogenides: a new paradigm for superconductivity
  Rafael M. Fernandes
  Amalia I. Coldea
  Gabriel Kotliar
  
  Review Article 05 Jan 2022
- From the archive
  
  News & Views 04 Jan 2022
- Activity of convalescent and vaccine serum against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron
  Juan Manuel Carreño
  Hala Alshammary
  Florian Krammer
  
  Research Briefing 31 Dec 2021
- Striking antibody evasion manifested by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2
  Lihong Liu
  Sho Iketani
  David D. Ho
  
  Research Briefing 23 Dec 2021

Nature is a Transformative Journal; authors can publish using the traditional publishing route OR via immediate gold Open Access.

Our Open Access option complies with funder and institutional requirements.

Latest Research articles

Decoding gene regulation in the fly brain

A chromatin accessibility atlas of 240,919 cells in the adult and developing Drosophila brain reveals 95,000 enhancers, which are integrated in cell-type specific enhancer gene regulatory networks and decoded into combinations of functional transcription factor binding sites using deep learning.

Jasper Janssens
Sara Aibar
Stein Aerts
Article 05 Jan 2022
An early transition to magnetic supercriticality in star formation

An analysis of Zeeman measurements reveals that the reduction of magnetic flux relative to mass, which is necessary for star formation, seems to have occurred earlier than previously thought.

T.-C. Ching
D. Li
S. H. Jiao
Article Open Access 05 Jan 2022
Structural insights into inhibitor regulation of the DNA repair protein DNA-PKcs

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit bound to ATPγS and four inhibitors (wortmannin, NU7441, AZD7648 and M3814) provide molecular details and insights useful for drug design.

Shikang Liang
Sherine E. Thomas
Tom L. Blundell
Article Open Access 05 Jan 2022
Emergence of methicillin resistance predates the clinical use of antibiotics

Methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus appeared in European hedgehogs in the pre-antibiotic era as a co-evolutionary adaptation to antibiotic-producing dermatophytes and have spread within the local hedgehog populations and between hedgehogs and secondary hosts.

Jesper Larsen
Claire L. Raisen
Anders R. Larsen
Article Open Access 05 Jan 2022
RNA profiles reveal signatures of future health and disease in pregnancy

Expression signatures from cell-free RNA of pregnant women can be used to reveal normal biology of pregnancy and predict development of pre-eclampsia.

Morten Rasmussen
Mitsu Reddy
Thomas F. McElrath
Article Open Access 05 Jan 2022

Their goals may be different, and so may the paths they are taking to reach them, but the universities aged 50 and under featured in this Nature Index supplement are proof that youth need not be a barrier to strong research performance.

Nature Index 08 Dec 2021