Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
By analysing particle production in high-energy nuclear collisions, the phase boundary of strongly interacting matter is located and the phase structure of quantum chromodynamics is elucidated, implying quark–hadron duality.
Bird migration is influenced by weather, making it hard to predict when birds will pass through a particular place on their route. A model that forecasts bird migrations has been developed using radar data and weather information.
Spinal-cord injury can render intact neuronal circuits functionally dormant. Targeted reduction of neuronal inhibition in the injured region has now enabled reactivation of these circuits in mice, restoring basic locomotion.
The structures of anion-conducting channelrhodopsin proteins have been solved and used to develop a tool for optogenetics. Experts discuss what the structures tell us about ion conduction, and why the tool is needed.
Gene editing has now been used to introduce every possible single-nucleotide mutation into key protein-coding regions in the cancer-predisposition gene BRCA1, to identify the variants that are linked to cancer risk.
Controlled long-distance transport of electron spins is required for a kind of electronics known as spintronics. Such transport has been realized in an antiferromagnet, the most common type of magnetic material.
Some bacteria make energy in a process that is accompanied by transfer of electrons to a mineral. A previously unknown electron-transfer pathway now reveals an energy-generation system used by bacteria in the human gut.
Computational simulations suggest that future losses of tidal wetlands attributable to sea-level rise could be greatly offset by the landward advance of these ecosystems into newly sea-inundated areas.
A computational method has been devised that allows a structural motif found in proteins, known as a β-barrel, to be designed to bind specifically to any small molecule, opening the door to biotechnological applications.
How the same type of cell can form different kinds of tumour isn’t always clear. The discovery that cancer subtype in mice is influenced by the type of cell death occurring in the microenvironment provides some insight.
Sheets of cells called epithelia can curve into tubes in embryos. Modelling and in vivo observations reveal that cells in tubes adopt an asymmetric cell shape dubbed scutoid, contrary to some previous assumptions.
The magnetic field of Jupiter has been found to be different from all other known planetary magnetic fields. This result could have major implications for our understanding of the interiors of giant planets.
The protein RANKL is released by bone-forming cells called osteoblasts, and binds to its receptor, RANK, on osteoclast cells to trigger bone removal. It emerges that the pathway can act in reverse to stimulate bone formation.
A key step in the development of quantum computers that use neutral atoms as quantum bits is the assembly of tailored 3D arrays of atoms. Two laser-based approaches have now been reported to do this.
Immunotherapies activate T cells to destroy tumours, but the approach has failed in some brain cancers. A strategy to improve migration of T cells across the blood–brain barrier could overcome this limitation.
Collections of cells in the tails of zebrafish embryos have now been found to transition between behaving as solids and fluids. This transition is responsible for the head-to-tail elongation of the embryo.
Longer human lives have led to a global burden of late-life disease, and so interventions, including changes to lifestyle and medical innovations, are needed to prevent disease and increase late-life health.
