Collections

  • Insight |

    Precision medicine integrates research disciplines and clinical practice to guide individualized patient care. This Insight examines the emerging framework that is bringing together researchers, clinical laboratories, clinicians and patients in a precision-medicine ‘ecosystem’, progress in pharmacogenomics and gene therapy towards personalized treatments, and the need to redesign clinical trials to match patients with the most suitable trial.

  • Insight |

    The latest Nature Index supplement shows a continuing surge from China, whose contribution to the Index leapt 16% from the previous year. Analysis of the Index, combined with reportage of developments in policy and funding, shows who’s up and who’s on the cusp — as well as the patterns of collaboration within and across nine global regions.

  • Insight |

    Research in the field of machine intelligence is seeing a resurgence. Big conceptual breakthroughs in artificial neural networks and access to powerful processors have led to applications that can process information in a human-like way. In addition, the creation of robots that can safely assist us with different tasks may soon become a reality. The Reviews in this Insight discuss the exciting developments in these fields and the opportunities for further research.

  • Insight |

    Vertebrates have many special features — from large brains to unique tissues. But how they evolved from invertebrates is obscure. This Insight looks at the many theories to explain vertebrate origins, the fossil evidence, a new perspective on the origin of the head and a uniquely vertebrate feature called the neural crest.

  • Insight |

    The Reviews in this year’s Frontiers in Biology Insight cover the amygdala and how technology is helping us to understand its complex connectivity, innate lymphoid cells, nutrient-sensing mechanisms in mammals, a form of cell death called necroptosis, and the regulation and function of DNA methylation and its use as a cellular marker.

  • Insight |

    Human actions influence many of the ecosystems that provide us with essential products and services, we must therefore modify our behaviour so that ecosystems can operate in a sustainable way. This Insight discusses terrestrial agriculture, the relationship between societies and fire, and preserving natural ecosystems through protected areas.

  • Insight |

    Almost 20 years after the discovery of the first exoplanet this Insight brings together a selection of reviews discussing our current theoretical understanding of exoplanets and their atmospheres, the missions that led to exoplanet discovery and the instruments, both present and future, that characterize planetary atmospheres.

  • Insight |

    Lipids are hydrophobic molecules that have many different roles. The authors in this Insight discuss the pathways that maintain a cell’s lipid composition, functions of sphingosine metabolites, lysosomal storage diseases, the therapeutic potential of brown and white fat, the role of hepatic lipids in liver disease and pro-resolving mediators.

  • Insight |

    The regular Insight 'Frontiers in biology' highlights important advances in biology. This year, the Reviews discuss cancer predisposition genes, analysing brain function at the level of neural projections, the organization of interneurons, the haematopoietic stem-cell niche in bone marrow, mitochondrial research, endogenous RNA and the roles of piRNA.

  • Insight |

    Coastal regions are home to billions of people worldwide, but our intense use is placing them under pressure. This Insight explores some of the factors shaping coastal systems, including flooding by tropical cyclones, ice loss in Greenland, wetland stability, carbon cycling in the coastal ocean, seaweed tides, offshore groundwater reserves and coastal defence in the face of global change.

  • Insight |

    Transcriptional programs dictate cell identity during development. This Insight highlights recent advances in transcriptional and epigenetic regulation during development and disease, including the mechanisms behind reprogramming and DNA demethylation, the role of chromosome topology, links to metabolism and small molecule drug discovery.

  • Insight |

    Cancer is not one but many diseases, continuously evolving and different in each patient. This Insight covers key topics in cancer research, ranging from the basic understanding of tumour heterogeneity to translational research and clinical trials.