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.
The enzyme Cas9 is used in genome editing to cut selected DNA sequences, but it also creates breaks at off-target sites. Protein engineering has now been used to make Cas9 enzymes that have minimal off-target effects. See Article p.490
The development of a voltage sensor in which a microbial rhodopsin protein is fused with a fluorescent protein enables the neuronal activity of single cells in live animals to be measured with unprecedented speed and accuracy.
The discovery of multiple stellar populations — formed at different times — in several young star clusters adds to the debate on the nature and origin of such populations in globular clusters from the early Universe. See Letter p.502
The identification of a set of genetic variations that are strongly associated with the risk of developing schizophrenia provides insights into the neurobiology of this destructive disease. See Article p.177
Sweat analysis is an ideal method for continuously tracking a person's physiological state, but developing devices for this is difficult. A wearable sweat monitor that measures several biomarkers is a breakthrough. See Letter p.509
Birds and mammals generate heat to regulate body temperature, but most non-avian reptiles cannot. The discovery of endothermy during the reproductive period of a tegu lizard sheds light on the evolution of this characteristic.
The native structure of the protein α-synuclein, which is implicated in Parkinson's disease, is controversial. In-cell nuclear magnetic resonance now shows that it remains disordered when loaded into living cells. See Article p.45
Which phylum first branched off from the animal phylogenetic tree is a contested issue. A new analysis challenges the proposal that comb jellies are the sister group to all other animals, and emphasizes a 'sponges-first' view. Three evolutionary biologists weigh up the evidence.
Comprehensive mapping and modelling have estimated global deaths from the bacterial disease melioidosis to be comparable to deaths from measles and substantially greater than those from dengue or leptospirosis.
Magnesium is not usually considered to be a constituent of Earth's core, but its presence there has now been proposed to explain an ongoing enigma — the identity of the energy sources that drive our planet's magnetic field. See Letter p.387
A simultaneous comparison of the RNA molecules expressed by Salmonella bacteria and human cells during infection reveals how a bacterial small RNA alters the transcript profiles of both the bacteria and the host cells. See Article p.496
The charge neutrality of the antimatter atom antihydrogen has been confirmed with unprecedented accuracy, paving the way for experiments that could simultaneously solve several of physics' biggest mysteries. See Letter p.373
The genome sequence of the marine flowering plant eelgrass (Zostera marina) sheds light on how marine algae evolved into land plants before moving back to the sea. See Letter p.331
Plots of survival against time for nematode worms in different conditions can be superimposed by rescaling the time axis. This observation has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the nature of ageing. See Letter p.103
Targets for reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide are related to regional changes in climate extremes rather than to changes in global mean temperature, in order to convey their urgency better to individual countries.
