Volume 623 Issue 7986, 9 November 2023

As the nation chooses its next president, citizens must consider the wider benefits of research investment — long-term prosperity, well-being and growth.

Social-media researchers overemphasized the platform now called X for years. But now, as it rapidly changes into something new and frightening, we risk paying too little attention.

Device can wield tools inside one of the heart’s chambers while bracing itself against a stabilizer fitted into a major cardiac vein.

Dried brine from a subsurface ocean speckles the surface of Ganymede, which orbits Jupiter.

Bacteria-fighting immune molecules are isolated from people who have long-term infections with the micro-organism Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Analysis shows that the now-extinct beast split into two populations almost half a million years ago.

UK and US governments establish efforts to democratize access to supercomputers that will aid studies on AI systems.

The re-entry of the OSIRIS-REx sample canister is the most closely observed of its type in history.

Tumour-targeting antibodies coupled with toxic chemicals are an unprecedented success in treating bladder cancer.

Scientists are using artificial intelligence to fight biodiversity loss by analysing vast amounts of data, monitoring ecosystems and spotting trends over time.

Advisers to the US regulatory agency will examine the safety profile of a CRISPR-based treatment for sickle-cell disease.

Largest-ever deployment of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes yields ‘encouraging’ results in three densely populated cities.

Antibiotic could turn the tide on drug-resistant form of the infection — if it’s used wisely.

The group behind Plan S has already accelerated the open-access movement. Now it is proposing a more radical revolution for science publishing.

As implanted devices and commercial headsets advance, what will the real-world impacts be?

Fundamental physics has progressed in leaps and bounds in the past century — driven by strong characters and often a complete disregard for health and safety, as a spirited history shows.

Developmental biologist who led team that cloned the first mammal using adult cells.

Early machine-learning systems were inspired by neural networks — now AI might allow neuroscientists to get to grips with the brain’s unique complexities.

Microorganisms are the engines that drive most marine processes. Ocean modelling must evolve to take their biological complexity into account.

The fact that artificial intelligence can do much of the work makes a mockery of the process. It’s time to make it easier for scientists to ask for research funding.

Privacy campaigners fear that the devices could be used for disciplinary purposes, and some universities have deactivated them after protests.

An array of spreadsheets, courses and online resources are available to support principal investigators leading their first research groups.

Biotechnologist Sara Abdou explores the genetics that regulate colour in ornamental flowers.

Observations have shown that some dwarf galaxies lose their stars through interactions with more massive galaxies. The dense nuclei that remain are ultra-compact dwarf galaxies, the origin of which has long been a subject of debate.

Understanding the extent of deforestation associated with agriculturally harvested crops has implications for conservation efforts. A method to assess satellite data offers an accurate way to estimate rubber deforestation.

Why do animals pursue reward in the face of punishment? Dopamine-releasing neurons that promote reward-seeking behaviour indirectly impair those that encode punishment avoidance, affecting decisions on risk.

Experiments reveal flat bands in the relationship between the energy and the momentum of electrons in a 3D solid. Such behaviour is indicative of unusual physical phenomena, and has previously been seen only in 2D materials.

Synaptic connections between cancer cells and neurons can boost tumour growth. Analyses of brain tumours reveal how cancer cells enhance the strength of synapses with neurons to promote tumour survival.

This Perspective reviews successful applications of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and presents a case for fMRI as a central hub on which to integrate the dispersed subfields of systems, cognitive, computational and clinical neuroscience.

Technical developments and large collaborative research networks in neurogenomics promise rapid progress in neuroscience, but translation of results from model systems to human brains is limited by sample availability, technical challenges and ethical issues.

The mechanisms by which mitochondria are transferred between cells and how intercellular mitochondria transfer regulates physiological processes and disease pathogenesis are discussed.

We report the presence of gas-phase phosphorous at the edge of the Galaxy and suggest it is produced by neutron-capture processes in lower mass asymptotic giant branch stars.

 In the Virgo galaxy cluster, we identified a continuum of objects that maps the morphological transition between nucleated dwarf galaxies and ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs), providing evidence for the formation of UCDs through tidal stripping of ancient dwarf galaxies.

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of CaNi₂ shows a band with vanishing dispersion across the full 3D Brillouin zone that is identified with the pyrochlore flat band as well as two additional flat bands that arise from multi-orbital interference of Ni d-electrons.

Measurements of thermal transport along 3C-SiC nanowires with and without a gold coating on the end(s) suggest that thermally excited surface phonon polaritons can be used in nanostructures to substantially enhance thermal conductivity.

We correlate lab test and field test results to better predict the performance of perovskite photovoltaics as a step towards real-world implementation.

The initial steps of the ion solvation process are observed for the solvation of a single sodium ion in liquid helium, opening possibilities for benchmarking theoretical descriptions of ion solvation.

Accuracy of free-energy calculations can be improved by constructing an experimental benchmark for solid–solid free-energy differences, quantifying statistical errors for the computed free energies and placing both hydrate and anhydrate crystal structures on the same energy landscape.

Silicate weathering of uplifted rock depletes atmospheric CO₂, but oxidation of revealed rock organic carbon supplies CO₂, offsetting depletion to a degree dependent on regional geological history.

The use of two zircon oxybarometers to simultaneously determine fO₂ and H₂O contents shows that Archaean granitoids were mostly formed from relatively oxidizing and H₂O-rich magmas, probably at ancient subduction zones.

Satellite data used to generate high-resolution maps across Southeast Asia show that rubber-related deforestation is at least twofold to threefold higher than suggested by estimates used for setting policy.

Species divergence in condensin regulation and centromere organization between the mice Mus musculus domesticus and Mus spretus drives chromosome decondensation and mis-segregation in their F₁ hybrid oocytes, reducing female fertility.

In Drosophila, a subpopulation of reward-encoding dopaminergic neurons antagonizes punishment-encoding neurons and can override punishment or hunger cues in favour of reward-seeking behaviour.

In glioma, malignant synapses hijack mechanisms of synaptic plasticity to increase glutamate-dependent currents in tumour cells and the formation of neuron–glioma synapses, thereby promoting tumour proliferation and progression.

In male zebra finches, dopamine responses in Area X are retuned away from self-evaluation of song performance and towards social feedback to song performance when females are present.

Transcriptomic data and functional experiments on macaque retina are used to identify the ON-type direction-selective ganglion cells responsible for detecting moving images and initiating gaze-stabilization mechanisms.

The molecular mechanisms underlying the Bezold–Jarisch reflex and syncope (fainting) involve vagal sensory neurons that express neuropeptide Y receptor Y2, the deletion of which in animal models abolishes the Bezold–Jarisch reflex.

The authors seek to understand the precise roles of microglia in the early human brain by coculturing brain organoids with primitive-like macrophages generated from the same human induced pluripotent stem cells (iMac).

Measurements of signal propagation in more than 23,000 pairs of neurons from nematode worms show that predictions of neural function made on the basis of anatomy are often incorrect, in part owing to the effects of extrasynaptic signalling.

Single-cell and spatial gene expression analyses of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma uncover a population of interleukin-1β-expressing macrophages that drive inflammatory reprogramming of neighboring tumour cells leading to disease progression and poor prognosis for patients.

This study describes a method to insert large stretches of exogenous DNA into mammalian genomes, which is used to insert human ACE2 loci into mouse to produce a model of human SARS-CoV-2 infection.

A pan-cancer epigenetic and transcriptomic atlas identifies epigenetic drivers associated with cancer transitions.