Featured
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Nature Video |
‘Touch-taste’: how the octopus repurposed its nervous system to hunt
Researchers identify the structural basis for octopuses chemo-tactile sense.
- Dan Fox
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Article
| Open AccessAstrocyte–neuron subproteomes and obsessive–compulsive disorder mechanisms
Analyses of the proteomes of astrocytes and neurons in a cell-specific and subcompartment-specific manner reveal distinct roles for these cell types that are relevant to obsessive–compulsive disorder and perhaps other brain disorders.
- Joselyn S. Soto
- , Yasaman Jami-Alahmadi
- & Baljit S. Khakh
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Obituary |
Paul Berg (1926–2023)
Biochemist who invented recombinant DNA technology.
- Errol Friedberg
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News & Views |
Eggs made from male mouse stem cells using error-prone culture
A screen of mouse stem cells that exploits their propensity to gain or lose chromosomes in cell culture has been used to convert male XY to female XX cells. Subsequent differentiation generates functional eggs and live offspring.
- Jonathan Bayerl
- & Diana J. Laird
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Research Briefing |
Diversity of mitochondrial networks in lung cancer imaged
The structure and function of mitochondrial networks were analysed using a combination of approaches to generate detailed maps of these cellular organelles. This analysis revealed that the mitochondria in different subtypes of lung cancer show distinct functional and structural signatures.
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Article
| Open AccessSpatial epigenome–transcriptome co-profiling of mammalian tissues
The authors present two technologies for spatially resolved, genome-wide, joint profiling of the epigenome and transcriptome by cosequencing chromatin accessibility and gene expression, or histone modifications and gene expression on the same tissue section at near-single-cell resolution.
- Di Zhang
- , Yanxiang Deng
- & Rong Fan
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Article
| Open AccessFast and sensitive GCaMP calcium indicators for imaging neural populations
Using large-scale screening and structure-guided mutagenesis, fast and sensitive GCaMP sensors are developed and optimized with improved kinetics without compromising sensitivity or brightness.
- Yan Zhang
- , Márton Rózsa
- & Loren L. Looger
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News |
Why CRISPR babies are still too risky — embryo studies highlight challenges
While society grapples with the social and ethical implications of heritable genome editing, technical obstacles still abound.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
Was famed poet Pablo Neruda poisoned? Scientists warn case not closed
Forensic investigation uncovers evidence that a lethal bacterium could have been in his body when he died.
- Michele Catanzaro
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Nature Podcast |
A twisting microscope that could unlock the secrets of 2D materials
How the Quantum Twisting Microscope could give a better ‘picture’ of atom thin layers, and science in Ukraine a year into Russia’s invasion.
- Shamini Bundell
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Article
| Open AccessDe novo design of luciferases using deep learning
A deep-learning-based strategy is used to design artificial luciferases that catalyse the oxidative chemiluminescence of diphenylterazine with high substrate specificity and catalytic efficiency.
- Andy Hsien-Wei Yeh
- , Christoffer Norn
- & David Baker
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News & Views |
From the archive: machine intelligence, and the father of X-rays
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Technology Feature |
Innovative technologies crowd the short-read sequencing market
With a dizzying range of strategies available, laboratories must weigh up their options to find the best fit for their projects
- Michael Eisenstein
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Nature Podcast |
How ‘metadevices’ could make electronics faster
Getting electronics into super-fast terahertz speeds, and how cognitive changes could alter social media’s effects on young people.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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News |
Disgraced CRISPR-baby scientist’s ‘publicity stunt’ frustrates researchers
He Jiankui refused to answer researchers’ questions about his controversial 2018 experiments at weekend event.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News Explainer |
What it would take to bring back the dodo
An audacious plan to ‘de-extinct’ dodos depends on huge leaps in biotechnology and resurrecting a lost habitat.
- Ewen Callaway
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Technology Feature |
Smart microscopes spot fleeting biology
Automated microscopes that adapt to each sample’s quirks can capture elusive biological phenomena at high resolution.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
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News |
CRISPR voles can’t detect ‘love hormone’ oxytocin — but still mate for life
Prairie voles lacking oxytocin receptors bonded with mates and cared for pups.
- Heidi Ledford
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Research Briefing |
A wearable ultrasound patch for continuous heart imaging
A new ultrasound patch can image the heart while being worn, even when the wearer is moving during strenuous exercise. A customized model that uses a technique of artificial intelligence called deep learning then processes the images to extract important measures of cardiac performance.
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Technology Feature |
Seven technologies to watch in 2023
Nature’s pick of tools and techniques that are poised to have an outsized impact on science in the coming year.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Article |
Molecular fate-mapping of serum antibody responses to repeat immunization
Serum antibody responses to sequential homologous booster vaccines derive overwhelmingly from primary cohort B cells at the expense of de novo responses; this ‘primary addiction’ can be overcome by boosting with variant antigens.
- Ariën Schiepers
- , Marije F. L. van ’t Wout
- & Gabriel D. Victora
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News |
Dads older than mums since dawn of humanity, study suggests
Scientists used modern human DNA to estimate when new generations were born over 250,000 years — and the age of parents at conception.
- Freda Kreier
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Article
| Open AccessAn atlas of substrate specificities for the human serine/threonine kinome
Analysis of the kinase activity of 300 protein Ser/Thr kinases reveals that the substrate specificity of the kinome is substantially more diverse than expected and is driven extensively by negative selectivity
- Jared L. Johnson
- , Tomer M. Yaron
- & Lewis C. Cantley
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Research Briefing |
Structural landscape inside cells mapped in detail
More than 200,000 human stem cells were imaged at high resolution and in 3D to make a reference data set that was used to create a generalizable computational framework. This enables cell shapes and the locations of internal structures to be measured and compared using rigorous statistical methods.
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Article |
Identification of astrocyte regulators by nucleic acid cytometry
The pathogenic function of XBP1-expressing astrocytes in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis have been studied using FIND-seq, a new method combining microfluidics cytometry, PCR-based detection of nucleic acids and cell sorting for in-depth single-cell transcriptomics analyses of rare cells.
- Iain C. Clark
- , Michael A. Wheeler
- & Adam R. Abate
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Nature Index |
Organoids open fresh paths to biomedical advances
Miniaturized versions of human tissue offer greater complexity than the Petri dish and could be an alternative to animal testing.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Technology Feature |
Which single-cell analysis tool is best? Scientists offer advice
In the fast-paced field of single-cell biology, studies that compare methods can help scientists to pick the right technique for their research.
- Amber Dance
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Nature Video |
Record-breaking ancient DNA found in frozen soil
Two-million-year-old DNA from extinct mammals has been sequenced, revealing a lost world in Greenland .
- Shamini Bundell
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Career Guide |
Men dominate conference Q&A sessions — including online ones
‘Question and manswer’ sessions are the norm at both in-person and virtual events, even when there’s a good gender balance.
- Anne Gulland
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Research Highlight |
High-speed imaging captures viruses as they creep up to cells
Microscopic methods show engineered viral particles zooming around cell surfaces.
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News |
CRISPR cancer trial success paves the way for personalized treatments
‘Most complicated therapy ever’ tailors bespoke, genome-edited immune cells to attack tumours.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article |
Locomotion activates PKA through dopamine and adenosine in striatal neurons
Dopamine and adenosine act together in the striatum to regulate protein kinase A activity, which in turn coordinates animal locomotion.
- Lei Ma
- , Julian Day-Cooney
- & Haining Zhong
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Technology Feature |
Thumb-sized microscope captures images deep inside the brains of active animals
After years of development, researchers have managed to shrink two-photon microscopy into a device that can be mounted on rodents’ heads without impeding behaviour.
- Esther Landhuis
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News |
Faster MRI scan captures brain activity in mice
Improved technique could provide fine-scale insights into how brain regions communicate.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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Article
| Open AccessInferring and perturbing cell fate regulomes in human brain organoids
A multi-omic atlas of brain organoid development facilitates the inference of an underlying gene regulatory network using the newly developed Pando framework and shows—in conjunction with perturbation experiments—that GLI3 controls forebrain fate establishment through interaction with HES4/5 regulomes.
- Jonas Simon Fleck
- , Sophie Martina Johanna Jansen
- & Barbara Treutlein
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Perspective |
A nomenclature consensus for nervous system organoids and assembloids
The nomenclature for human multicellular models of nervous system development and disease, including organoids, assembloids and transplants, is discussed and a consensus framework is presented.
- Sergiu P. Pașca
- , Paola Arlotta
- & Flora M. Vaccarino
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Outlook |
Your brain on psychedelics
Mind-altering drugs are shaking up medicine — but how they actually work remains a mystery. A flurry of imaging studies could clarify the picture.
- Liam Drew
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Article |
CRISPR screens in Drosophila cells identify Vsg as a Tc toxin receptor
A genome-wide CRISPR–Cas9-mediated knockout screen in Drosophila cells identifies Visgun as a proteinaceous receptor for toxin complex toxins, demonstrating the utility of this approach for investigating insecticidal toxins and pathogens.
- Ying Xu
- , Raghuvir Viswanatha
- & Min Dong
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News & Views |
From the archive: ancient poisonous honey, and museum photography
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Technology Feature |
Five ways deep learning has transformed image analysis
From connectomics to behavioural biology, artificial intelligence is making it faster and easier to extract information from images.
- Sandeep Ravindran
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Outlook |
How to improve the diagnosis of prostate cancer
Prostate-specific antigen is an established biomarker, but it is flawed. Research into alternatives is starting to get results, but will they reduce mortality?
- Benjamin Plackett
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Outlook |
Metastatic prostate cancer: seeking a fresh chance of recovery
Advances in the ability to find and treat tumours that have spread around the body are changing the perception of what is possible for people with advanced disease.
- Charlie Schmidt
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Outlook |
A better way to biopsy in prostate cancer
Imaging and advanced tissue sampling techniques could supplement or supersede conventional biopsies of the sensitive gland.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Research Highlight |
A diamond sensor shines at ‘seeing’ voltages
Crystalline device could be used to visualize voltages with high resolution, speed and stability.
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Article |
A phosphoinositide signalling pathway mediates rapid lysosomal repair
Lysosomal membrane damage triggers a lipid signalling pathway that repairs lysosomes via lipid transport at newly established endoplasmic reticulum–lysosomal membrane contact sites.
- Jay Xiaojun Tan
- & Toren Finkel
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Article |
Structure of dynein–dynactin on microtubules shows tandem adaptor binding
The structure of the complete dynein–dynactin complex and its interaction with microtubules and cargo adaptors are visualized using cryo-electron microscopy.
- Sami Chaaban
- & Andrew P. Carter
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Where I Work |
Diving into deep-tissue imaging to help with cancer research
Leonel Malacrida hopes that his lab’s imaging technology will advance cancer diagnosis and research in Uruguay and across Latin America.
- Patricia Maia Noronha
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Article
| Open AccessNon-viral, specifically targeted CAR-T cells achieve high safety and efficacy in B-NHL
Non-viral CAR-T cells with gene-specific targeted integration are safe and effective in patients with lymphoma.
- Jiqin Zhang
- , Yongxian Hu
- & He Huang
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Article
| Open AccessR-loop formation and conformational activation mechanisms of Cas9
Cryo-electron microscopy structures of Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 in multiple DNA-bound states provide insights on the mechanism of Cas9 activation by target DNA.
- Martin Pacesa
- , Luuk Loeff
- & Martin Jinek
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