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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.
How accurately a person recalls the COVID-19 pandemic is affected by motivational factors, including how they feel about their vaccination status. The recollections of vaccinated and unvaccinated people are skewed in opposite directions, leading to different retrospective narratives about the pandemic. This distorted recall influences how individuals evaluate past political action, and will complicate preparation for future crises.
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.
The neural pathways involved in syncope, or fainting, are not well understood. Studies in mice have identified a defined subset of vagal sensory neurons that connect the heart and brain. Stimulation of these neurons causes reduced heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and neuronal activity in the brain, resulting in syncope.
Many human diseases lack accurate mouse models because it is technically difficult to create extensively genetically humanized mice. A technique that allows large stretches of DNA to be rapidly rewritten in mouse embryonic stem cells can be used to produce improved animal models.
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.
An electrically conductive hydrogel injected into an injured muscle can help the muscle to regenerate and reconnect with the nervous system. This effective soft prosthesis has enabled rats to walk soon after muscular injury.
A type of light-sensitive cell in one of the visual systems of fruit flies transmits two chemical messengers, histamine and acetylcholine, in response to the same light signal. These two molecules act on distinct neurons that have different functions: one type creates an image and the other synchronizes biological rhythms with the day–night cycle.
An analysis of convictions reveals that around one-fifth of China’s terrestrial vertebrate species were illegally hunted over a six-year period. Improved efforts to reduce such crimes are needed to control this threat to biodiversity.
Superconducting detectors are a leading technology for the detection of single photons, but have been limited in the number of pixels that they can offer. A 400,000-pixel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector camera provides an improvement by a factor of 400 compared with the current state of the art.
Why do animals pursue reward in the face of punishment? Dopamine-releasing neurons that promote reward-seeking behaviour indirectly impair those that encode punishment avoidance, affecting decisions on risk.
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.
A membrane-transport protein in sperm exchanges sodium and hydrogen ions. Its activations by voltage and by cyclic nucleotide molecules are usually only features of ion channels. Structural data shed light on this protein.
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.
A single chip that integrates optical and electronic analog computing modules provides a strategy for creating all-analog computing processors with a speed and energy efficiency that are several orders of magnitude higher than those of state-of-the-art digital processors.
Understanding the extent of deforestation associated with agriculturally harvested crops has implications for conservation efforts. A method to assess satellite data offers an accurate way to estimate rubber deforestation.
Molnupiravir, an antiviral drug used to treat COVID-19, induces numerous mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome that can increase the rate at which the virus evolves — yielding viral variants that might survive and be passed on.
