Volume 606 Issue 7915, 23 June 2022

Ignoring the challenges of research in low-income countries only perpetuates inequity.

Troubling data show how the pandemic has exacted an unequal toll, pushing tens of millions into poverty and having the greatest effects on already-disadvantaged groups.

Randomized trials are changing the way governments and aid organizations study — and deliver — measures to reduce inequality and poverty.

In separate books, leading economists explore the wide-ranging changes needed to produce a more just society.

Better data and new statistical techniques could enable researchers to measure the form of inequality that seems most harmful to society — inequality of opportunity.

Wide-ranging expertise and direct involvement of those affected will help to make inequality research more meaningful.

Jasmin Graham has a passion for predators and promoting inclusive science.

Few ever expected British and EU scientists to be forced apart. Researchers must never take international collaboration for granted.

An expertly creased soft robot can swim, navigate obstacles and deliver cargoes of drugs.

Plastic contamination probably came from clothing and other gear used at Antarctic research stations.

Insects, spiders and other creepy crawlies leave traces of their DNA in dried herbs and other products.

A bull mastodon journeyed from the home of his youth to distant mating grounds.

Much of the tree growth in the tropics in the first decade of the century consists of plantations — not natural forest.

A trap laid for indium atoms allows scientists to realize the first ultracold atoms of a ‘group 13’ element.

The temperature of a healthy brain rises and falls over the course of a day, but its average value is higher than the typical oral temperature.

The latest science news, in brief.

Researchers are learning more about how the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus stifles smell — and how they might revive it.

Demoted archaeologist Nicole Boivin calls on the German government to oversee the prestigious research society — several other directors say that investigations into them lacked transparency.

A laboratory has been growing 12 populations of E. coli since 1988 — this year, the cultures will get a new custodian.

Genomes show that plague-causing bacteria found in Kyrgyzstan graves are direct ancestors of those that triggered the medieval pandemic.

Cape Town statement on research partnerships between the global north and south will highlight unethical practices and offer advice to scientists.

Fewer people are eligible for the massive studies needed to test treatments for severe COVID-19.

Director-general of ITER, the world’s largest fusion experiment.

Artisanal fishing can improve livelihoods, boost nutrition and strengthen food systems, but fishers’ input is needed at local, national and global levels.

A metabolite called Lac-Phe is associated with exercise-induced ‘muscle burn’. This molecule has now been shown to reduce food intake after exercise in mice, racehorses and humans, and to trigger weight loss in obese mice.

An experiment firing helium-8 nuclei at a proton target has generated evidence that four neutrons can exist transiently without any other matter. But doubts remain, because the existence of such systems is at odds with theory.

Systematic editing of yeast genes to generate thousands of mutations indicates that, overall, the mutations have similar effects on yeast fitness regardless of whether they change the protein sequences encoded by the mutated genes.

Snippets from Nature’s past.

The landmark synthesis of a xenon compound in the early 1960s dispelled a long-standing myth about the reactivity of the noble gases — and opened the door to the rich chemistry of these elements, studies of which continue today.

A transistor fabricated from the crystalline phase of an organic semiconductor material could provide a path to improved switching speeds — rivalling those of devices built from inorganic materials such as silicon.

Developments, challenges and opportunities in using two-dimensional materials for the next generation of non-volatile spin-based memory technologies are reviewed, and possible disruptive improvements are discussed.

By evolving spatially resolved distributions of thermal and non-thermal electrons in a solar flare in a large coronal volume, it is shown that nearly all electrons experienced a prominent acceleration.

Experiment based on knocking out an alpha particle from a high-energy helium isotope shows a resonance-like structure that is consistent with a quasi-bound tetraneutron state existing for a very short time.

Continuous, indefinitely lasting Bose–Einstein condensation, sustained by amplification through Bose-stimulated gain of atoms from a thermal bath, creates a continuous-wave condensate of strontium atoms.

A many-body theory of binding interactions between positrons and polar and nonpolar molecules is developed, showing agreement with experimental data up to within 1%.

Precision-engineered devices consisting of a linear array of ten quantum dots are used to realize both the trivial and topological phases of the many-body Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model.

An organic bipolar junction transistor composed of highly crystalline rubrene thin films has a device architecture that could be used in organic electronics with greatly improved high-frequency performance

A metal–organic framework membrane based on fumarate and mesaconate linkers is shown to have a pore aperture shape that enables efficient and cost-effective removal of nitrogen and carbon dioxide from methane.

An explanation of the Earth’s ‘missing Xe’ problem that involves multiple magma ocean stages combined with atmospheric loss is proposed.

A survey of 8,341 mutations in 21 yeast genes shows that synonymous mutations are nearly as harmful as nonsynonymous mutations, in part because they both affect the mRNA level of the gene mutated.

Noradrenaline-expressing neurons in the locus coeruleus in mouse facilitate task execution and encode reinforcement in learning tasks, via partially modular projections to the cortex.

In mouse, two distinct types of neurons from the brainstem nucleus ambiguus, one that innervates the heart and another that innervates both the heart and lung, collectively control cardiac function and coordinate cardiac and pulmonary function.

In situ barcoding and fate mapping in mice reveals that an early wave of progenitor specification, driven by embryonic multipotent progenitor cells, gives rise to adult blood independently of haematopoietic stem cells.

A computational system termed MetaWIBELE (workflow to identify novel bioactive elements in the microbiome) is used to identify microbial gene products that are potentially bioactive and have a functional role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease.

The non-structural protein NSP6 in SARS-CoV-2 has a key role in viral replication by zippering the endoplasmic reticulum membrane to establish connectors between the double-membrane vesicles of the viral replication organelle and the endoplasmic reticulum.

Pregnancy-induced post-translational antibody modification enables protection against the prototypical intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes.

Transcriptomic, genetic and pharmacological analysis identifies SLC7A11 as an inhibitor of efferocytosis in dendritic cells, and increased expression of this protein may cause slower wound healing in diabetes.

A newly identified exercise-induced signalling metabolite—an amidated conjugate of lactate and phenylalanine—can reduce food intake and improve blood glucose homeostasis.

. Androgen-receptor blockade can overcome immunotherapy resistance in prostate cancer by intrinsically enhancing T cell function and IFNγ responses. 

Treatment with neoadjuvant BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy results in higher rates of major pathological response in female compared with male patients with melanoma, and pharmacological inhibition of androgen receptor signalling improved the responses of male and female mice to BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy.

A study shows that the three-dimensional conformation of the human genome influences the positioning of DNA replication initiation zones, highlighting cohesin-mediated loop anchors as essential determinants of their precise location.

Structural determination of GAT1 using cryo-electron microscopy provides insights into the biology and pharmacology of this GABA transporter.