Volume 585 Issue 7824, 10 September 2020

The pandemic has worsened the plight of postdoctoral researchers. Funders need to be offering more than moral support.

The US drug regulator is accused of misrepresenting data on COVID-19 therapies. A decade ago, it set criteria to ensure its decisions are driven by science.

A fresh approach allows a laser beam to manipulate molecules without exposing them to destructive levels of heat and light.

Scientists zero in on the factors that heighten the chance of ‘airblasts’ after a slope collapses.

Newly identified genetic elements help to replace missing tails and other body parts.

Prehistoric people kept the bones of relatives and friends for generations as relicts.

The latest science news, in brief.

The country will struggle to make and distribute enough doses to control its own massive outbreak, scientists say.

Second infections raise questions about long-term immunity to COVID-19 and the prospects for a vaccine.

Authorities in the United States increase scrutiny of Chinese researchers’ background, causing concern about unfair accusations.

Gravitational-wave detections suggest merging black holes fell into ‘forbidden’ range of masses.

The spill released a new type of low-sulfur fuel, and its ecological effects aren't well studied, says environment advocate Jaqueline Sauzier.

Different SARS-CoV-2 strains haven’t yet had a major impact on the course of the pandemic, but they might in future.

Parabon Nanolabs shot to fame using DNA and genealogy analysis to solve cold cases. Then it hit a setback.

As COVID-19 reveals the toll of discrimination, racism and inequality, a book skewers genetic reductionism.

Efforts to build representative studies are defeated when scientists discard data from certain groups. Instead, researchers should work to balance statistical needs with fairness.

Nature’s survey of this key segment of the scientific workforce paints a gloomy picture of job-loss fears, interrupted research and anxiety about the future.

Research antibodies don’t always do what it says on the tin. Test for true signals before you start your experiment.

Peter Tsai, inventor of the electrostatically charged filter used in face masks, emerges from retirement to help boost filter production and reuse.

A molecule produced by the metabolism of proteins and fats has been found to accumulate in the blood of older people, and to endow cancer cells with the ability to spread from one site in the body to others.

Miniaturized electronic devices generate a lot of heat, which must be dissipated to maintain performance. A microfluidic system designed to be an integral part of a microchip demonstrates exceptional cooling performance.

In a few people living with HIV, the virus remains under control without antiretroviral therapy. It emerges that, in these people, the viral DNA that is integrated into the host genome is in a deeply transcriptionally repressed state.

Temperature determines the geographical distribution of plants and their rate of growth and development, but how they sense high temperatures to mount a response was unclear. Now a process underlying this responsiveness is known.

Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and low-cost, contactless sensors have given rise to an ambient intelligence that can potentially improve the physical execution of healthcare delivery, if used in a thoughtful manner.

Embedding the Magellanic Clouds in a corona of ionized gas allows the gaseous Magellanic Stream to be modelled accurately.

A deterministic correction of errors caused by qubit loss or leakage outside the computational space is demonstrated in a trapped-ion experiment by using a minimal instance of the topological surface code.

Cooling efficiency is greatly increased by directly embedding liquid cooling into electronic chips, using microfluidics-based heat sinks that are designed in conjunction with the electronics within the same semiconductor substrate.

Simulations using machine-learning-based interatomic potentials in dense hydrogen overcome system size and timescale limitations, providing evidence of a supercritical behaviour of high-pressure liquid hydrogen and reconciling theoretical and experimental discrepancies.

Alloy nanoparticles of platinum and rare-earth elements are formed using zeolites with pore-wall defects, producing stable, highly active and selective catalysts for the propane dehydrogenation reaction.

Direct satellite measurements of atmospheric isoprene are compared with model predictions, showing broad agreement but highlighting spatial and temporal biases in modelled isoprene and nitrogen oxide emissions.

Oxygen isotope measurements of mineral inclusions in superdeep diamonds indicate that carbonated igneous oceanic crust is the primary carbon-bearing reservoir in slabs subducted to deep-lithospheric and transition-zone depths.

Obligate endosymbiosis between the bacteria Blochmannia and ants of the Camponotini tribe originated through co-option of pre-existing molecular capacities and rewiring of developmental gene regulatory networks.

Dynamic interaction of neurons in lateral orbitofrontal cortex with the sensory cortex implements value-prediction computations that are history dependent and error based, providing plasticity essential for flexible decision-making.

The cryo-electron microscopy structure of C9orf72–SMCR8–WDR41 suggests that this complex is a GTPase-activating protein for ARF-family small GTPases, which sheds light on the role of C9orf72 mutations in neuronal dysfunction.

The adaptability of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana to different temperatures is regulated by the ability of its ELF3 protein to undergo liquid–liquid phase separation, in a manner that is dependent on the protein’s prion-like domain.

In individuals who have achieved natural control of HIV-1 without drug treatment, intact proviral sequences are integrated into genomic regions that are not permissive to active viral transcription, indicating deep latency of the virus.

Infection with SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques causes a respiratory disease that recapitulates aspects of COVID-19 in humans, establishing this species as an animal model for investigating the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2.

The nucleotide analogue prodrug remdesivir reduces viral load and lung disease in a rhesus macaque model of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Expression of the transporter SLC43A2 by tumour cells allows them to outcompete T cells for methionine and thereby disrupt the survival and function of tumour-infiltrating T cells.

Ageing in humans is associated with an increase in circulating methylmalonic acid, which induces expression of SOX4 and promotes tumour progression.

Oxidation of ubiquinol by the mitochondrial electron transfer chain drives tumour growth by maintaining the function of the oxidative Krebs cycle and de novo pyrimidine synthesis.

The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor CR8 acts as a molecular glue compound by inducing the formation of a complex between CDK12–cyclin K and DDB1, which results in the ubiquitination and degradation of cyclin K.

RNA polymerase II has an unexpected function in the nucleolus, helping to drive the expression of ribosomal RNA and to protect nucleolar structure through a mechanism involving triplex R-loop structures.

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of GABA_A receptors bound to intravenous anaesthetics and benzodiazepines reveal both common and distinct transmembrane binding sites, and show that the mechanisms of action of anaesthetics partially overlap with those of benzodiazepines.