A T-cell (artificially coloured). A rare genetic disease called CD3δ severe combined immune deficiency causes improper development of certain T cells. Credit: David Scharf/SPL
Medical research
Research Highlights
Selections from the scientific literature by Nature's news team
Carbon-fibre composites, which have been used on spacecraft such as the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, could be shielded from space radiation by a polymer-carbon coating. Credit: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/LANL/CNES/CNRS/SPL
Materials science
A gem of a material could provide a shield for spacecraft
Striped skunks in Canada have died of a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza, which the animals might have caught by scavenging dead birds. Credit: Getty
Deep-sea sediments store mercury, but new modelling suggests the global ocean is emitting unexpectedly high amounts of mercury into the environment. Credit: Getty
Atmospheric science
The seas exhale toxic mercury — and more of it than we realized
Analysis of online news headlines found that those that include negative words are more likely to draw readers than headlines than do not. Credit: Getty
Human behaviour
It’s bad! Awful! Negative headlines draw more readers
A diet heavy on red and processed meats has been tied to a higher risk of cancer and other chronic illnesses. Credit: Getty
Some pregnant people pass Streptococcus agalactiae bacteria (artificially coloured) to their babies, potentially causing pneumonia and meningitis. Credit: Eye of Science/SPL
A 0.5-centimetre-long strip of self-healing, conductive gel (silver) links the battery and the motor of a robotic snail. Credit: Y. Zhao et al./Nature Electron.
Materials science
A slimy self-healing gel helps a robotic snail to slither
A phytoplankton bloom seen from space. A bloom triggered by a cyclone in 2019 covered nearly 250,000 square kilometres in the South Pacific Ocean. Credit: Alamy
Ocean sciences
South Pacific plankton go berserk after minor cyclone
A brown dwarf (artist’s impression). A newfound cosmic body sits squarely on the boundary between a large planet and a brown dwarf. Walter Myers/SPL
Astronomy and astrophysics
Planet or failed star? A mysterious object blurs the line
Certain people are much more likely to transmit SARS-CoV-2 to someone in their household than others, according to an analysis of more than 40,000 individuals. Credit: Getty
Rabies outbreaks in vampire bats could be sharply reduced with the use of a vaccine carried by a harmless virus. Credit: Daniel Streicker
The Amur sleeper survives freezing and thawing, in part by slowing its metabolism, new genomic analysis shows. Credit: Getty
Younger bees know how to do a ‘dance’ that encodes messages to hive mates, but they perfect their moves by watching the dances of older bees. Credit: Paul Starosta/Getty
Prairie potholes are depressions that fill with rainwater and melted snow in the spring. Farmland surrounds these potholes in South Dakota. Credit: Jim Brandenburg/Nature Picture Library
North American deer mouse pups have been found to ‘cry’ in squeaks during their first nine days of life. Credit: Bob Gurr/All Canada Photos/Alamy
Animal behaviour
These baby mice bawl loudly — and Mum rushes over
A federal mandate cutting the dosage of the drug paracetamol (acetaminophen) in some painkillers has been linked with falling rates of liver problems. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty
The curving light streak created by an artificial satellite mars an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: S. Kruk et al./Nat. Astron. (CC BY 4.0)
Astronomical instrumentation
SpaceX satellites and others are marring Hubble’s vision
A microscopic view of a slice through an antler-like structure grown from antler-regenerating stem cells. Credit: T. Qin et al./Science
The Mauritian flying fox (Pteroptus niger). As relatively large bats, flying foxes are hunted more heavily than other species. Credit: Fabrice Bettex Photography/Alamy
Conservation biology
