Volume 617 Issue 7961, 18 May 2023

Machine-learning systems in chemistry need accurate and accessible training data. Until they get it, they won’t achieve their potential.

Generative AI could be a boon for literature search, but only if independent groups scrutinize its biases and limitations.

Capping abandoned wells would cost billions of dollars but would reduce risks.

Miniature robots can cling to blood-vessel walls when kitted out with claws inspired by the water bear’s pincers.

Candida albicans, which causes oral thrush and other illnesses, stops sending out invasive tendrils when hit with a compound called H55.

Light travelling through a fibre can impart a twist to glass spheres if the light itself is not twisting.

Humans can accidentally ingest nanomaterials in consumer products, with unknown effects.

A genetic manual for the nightshade family, which includes the potato, could help breeders choose the best plants.

Mosquitoes tend to prefer the scent of Dawn and Dial over the odour of an unwashed person.

British fertility regulator reveals that at least one child has been born using mitochondrial replacement therapy, but details are scant.

Researchers release draft results from an ongoing effort to capture the entirety of human genetic variation.

Exotic particles called nonabelions could fix quantum computers’ error problem.

Some institutions arrange for highly cited researchers to change their main affiliations, which boosts their position in global university rankings.

Panellists say that making the contraceptive available in the United States without a prescription will benefit women’s health.

EcoHealth Alliance lost funding during the Trump administration, but can now proceed with its research — under extensive restrictions.

Record temperature combined with an anticipated El Niño could devastate marine life and increase the chances of extreme weather.

Shocked by the COVID-19 infodemic, several efforts have launched to gather researchers’ consensus views, with the hope of improving public debate and policymaking.

The most popular repository for sharing SARS-CoV-2 sequence data has come under increasing scrutiny. Scientists and funders around the world must now consider what lies ahead for the open sharing of genome data.

By taking the lead in innovative climate action, the seven richest economies can create a virtuous circle to help the world decarbonize faster.

Emerging information technologies, including ChatGPT, require proper stewardship. An intergovernmental panel to synthesize the evidence offers the best path forward.

Grassroots initiatives aim to make the discipline more inclusive of researchers from under-represented communities.

Researchers are finding ways to improve one of neuroscientists’ favourite tools: functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Conservationist Loyiso Dunga aims to guard kelp, a crucial resource in South African waters that is home to invertebrates, fish and mammals.

Light-sensitive particles have been shown to stratify in solution in a way that changes the colour of the whole suspension. The system forms a colour-changing ink that could make electronic paper a viable technology.

The tools of crystallography, spectroscopy and quantum chemistry are pulling back the curtain on photosynthesis, probing previously elusive catalytic intermediates that arise when water splits to form oxygen.

Tumour cells can form connections with neurons in the brain. Examination of a variety of types of evidence concerning human brain cancer sheds light on how these tumour–neuron interactions affect cognition and survival times.

Since 2022, more than 1,000 cases of childhood hepatitis with no known cause have been reported. The discovery of adeno-associated virus 2 in the blood and livers of such children might provide an explanation.

The industrial process for making chlorine uses a vast amount of energy globally. An organic catalyst has been developed that could form the basis of a more energy-efficient process, replacing expensive inorganic catalysts.

Key tasks for ensuring railway safety have been performed automatically using fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks. The trial forms part of a Europe-wide scheme to test the feasibility of automating transport.

A type Ia supernova shows the presence of helium-rich circumstellar material, as demonstrated by its spectral features, infrared emission and a radio counterpart, that probably originates from a single-degenerate system in which a white dwarf accretes material from a helium donor star.

Observations from the JWST show the presence of a spectral absorption feature at 4.05 μm arising from SO₂ in the atmosphere of the gas giant exoplanet WASP-39b, which is produced by photochemical processes and verified by numerical models.

The authors report that with the use of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, nodeless electron pairing in CsV₃Sb₅-derived kagome superconductors can be observed directly.

The reconstructed surface of single crystals of SrTiO₃(100), prepared by simple vacuum annealing, produces discrete secondary photoemission spectra at room temperature and has increased peak intensities at low temperatures.

A simple spectral selective active colloidal system is designed in which TiO₂ colloidal species are coded with dyes to form a photochromic swarm that adapts the appearance of incident light due to layered phase segregation.

The state of charge, mechanical strain and temperature within lithium-ion 18650 cells operated at high rates are characterized and operando temperature rise is observed to be due to heat accumulation, strongly influenced by cell design and charging protocol.

The authors develop a new oxide-dispersion-strengthened NiCoCr-based alloy using a model-driven alloy design approach and laser-based additive manufacturing, showing how such designs can provide superior compositions using far fewer resources than previous methods.

A study shows that an organocatalyst with an amide functional group, and carbon dioxide, can efficiently and selectively produce chlorine, potentially offering a low-cost and less energy intensive alternative to the chlor-alkali process.

The authors identify a dynamic site renewal and decay cycle, mediated by proton transfers involving proximal Brønsted acidic OH groups, which operates concurrently with the Chauvin cycle and could address roadblocks associated with industrial metathesis processes.

Analysis of sea-level pressure measurements shows that, in agreement with the latest suite of climate models, the Hadley circulation has considerably weakened in the Northern Hemisphere over recent decades, driven by anthropogenic emissions.

Comparisons of steroid hormone concentrations in dentin samples from fossil mammoth tusks with those from a modern elephant tusk provide evidence of periodic increases in testosterone in the male mammoth characteristic of musth episodes.

This study illustrates long interspersed nuclear element-1 retrotransposition-induced somatic mosaicism in normal cells and provides insights into the genomic and epigenomic regulation of transposable elements over the human lifetime.

Rule-shift behavioural experiments in mice demonstrate that callosal projections of parvalbumin-expressing neurons switch prefrontal circuits from maintenance mode to rule-learning mode by gating inputs from other callosal inputs that maintain previous rule representations.

A case–control study investigating the causes of recent cases of acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology in 32 children identifies an association between adeno-associated virus infection and host genetics in disease susceptibility.

An investigation using various methods reports an association between adeno-associated virus 2 and paediatric hepatitis of unknown aetiology.

A retrospective analysis using PCR testing, viral enrichment-based sequencing and agnostic metagenomic sequencing finds an association between adeno-associated virus type 2 and paediatric hepatitis of unknown cause.

Variations in microbial composition, phage induction, antimicrobial resistance genes and bile acid profiles are identified by using an ingestible device for site-specific sampling along the intestines.

COVID-19 booster immunizations aimed at spike protein from new SARS-CoV-2 variants induce robust germinal centre B cell responses against the original spike protein, as well as de novo B cell responses against the variant spike protein.

High-grade gliomas functionally remodel neural circuits in the human brain, promoting tumour progression and impairing cognition.

A study presents evidence to support a model in which liquid–liquid phase separation of components of the transport machinery mediates formation of transient protein transport channels on peroxisomes.

Functional mutations identified in patients with androgen insensitivity syndrome, in the formin and actin nucleator DAAM2, uncover signal-regulated nuclear actin assembly at a steroid hormone receptor necessary for transcription.

Microsecond infrared spectroscopy together with quantum chemistry reveal the rate-determining proton and electron movements and identify an oxygen-radical state of the manganese cluster as the S4 state.

Using serial femtosecond X-ray cystallography, we provide structural insights into the final reaction step of Kok’s photosynthetic water oxidation cycle, specifically the S₃→[S₄]→S₀ transition where O₂ is formed.