Featured
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News |
WHO redefines airborne transmission: what does that mean for future pandemics?
The World Health Organization was criticized for being too slow to classify COVID-19 as airborne. Will the new terminology help next time?
- Bianca Nogrady
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Correspondence |
More work is needed to take on the rural wastewater challenge
- Jinlou Huang
- , Duo Li
- & Xiao Jin Yang
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News |
Monkeypox virus: dangerous strain gains ability to spread through sex, new data suggest
A cluster of mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sparks worries of a wider outbreak.
- Max Kozlov
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Editorial |
Any plan to make smoking obsolete is the right step
The United Kingdom is correct to attempt to end the single largest preventable cause of illness and death, as was New Zealand before its government changed its mind.
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Where I Work |
How ground glass might save crops from drought on a Caribbean island
In Grenada, public-health researcher Lindonne Telesford tests a soil additive made from recycled glass that could help farmers adapt to climate change.
- Kendall Powell
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News Feature |
What toilets can reveal about COVID, cancer and other health threats
Wastewater testing grew tremendously during the pandemic. But is it ready to tackle the opioid crisis, air pollution and antibiotic resistance?
- Betsy Ladyzhets
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News |
Smoking bans are coming: what does the evidence say?
Countries are cracking down on tobacco use and vaping — the laws could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars, say scientists.
- Carissa Wong
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Correspondence |
It’s time to talk about the hidden human cost of the green transition
- Manuel Prieto
- & Nicolás C. Zanetta-Colombo
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News |
Lethal dust storms blanket Asia every spring — now AI could help predict them
As the annual phenomenon once again strikes East Asia, scientists are hard at work to better predict how they will affect people.
- Xiaoying You
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News Explainer |
Bird flu outbreak in US cows: why scientists are concerned
A virus that has killed hundreds of millions of birds has now infected cattle in six US states, but the threat to humans is currently low.
- Max Kozlov
- & Smriti Mallapaty
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: Why are so many young people getting cancer? What the data say
Researchers are scrambling to explain why rates of multiple cancers are increasing among adults under the age of 50.
- Heidi Ledford
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Editorial |
Time to sound the alarm about the hidden epidemic of kidney disease
With rates rising around the world, public-health leaders must prioritize prevention, treatment, funding and data.
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Correspondence |
Adopt universal standards for study adaptation to boost health, education and social-science research
- Dragos Iliescu
- & Samuel Greiff
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News Feature |
Long COVID still has no cure — so these patients are turning to research
With key long COVID trials yet to yield results, people with the condition are trying to change how clinical trials are done.
- Rachel Fairbank
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Book Review |
The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?
The evidence is equivocal on whether screen time is to blame for rising levels of teen depression and anxiety — and rising hysteria could distract us from tackling the real causes.
- Candice L. Odgers
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Nature Video |
No sweat: Moisture-wicking device keeps wearable-tech dry
Breathable patch could allow for comfortable and multifunctional wearable electronics.
- Dan Fox
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News & Views |
Anti-ageing antibodies revive the immune system
Depleting an expanding pool of aberrant stem cells in aged mice using antibody therapy has been shown to rebalance blood cell production, diminish age-associated inflammation and strengthen acquired immune responses.
- Yasar Arfat T. Kasu
- & Robert A. J. Signer
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News |
Abortion-pill challenge provokes doubt from US Supreme Court
Lawsuit could roll back access to mifepristone, a drug widely used to induce abortion in the United States.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Outlook |
The future of at-home molecular testing
The COVID-19 pandemic showed what was possible for gene-based diagnostics. Now comes the true test – economics.
- Elie Dolgin
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News |
Google AI could soon use a person’s cough to diagnose disease
Machine-learning system trained on millions of human audio clips shows promise for detecting COVID-19 and tuberculosis.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Career Q&A |
‘Woah, this is affecting me’: why I’m fighting racial inequality in prostate-cancer research
Olugbenga Samuel Oyeniyi sought a career with a stronger public-health focus after learning that Black men are twice as likely as white men to get prostate cancer.
- Jacqui Thornton
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Spotlight |
China’s medical-device industry gets a makeover
The country is keen to boost its production of medical technology to reduce its reliance on imports. Analysts discuss the impact of policies.
- Sandy Ong
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Nature Podcast |
AI hears hidden X factor in zebra finch love songs
Machine learning detects song differences too subtle for humans to hear, and physicists harness the computing power of the strange skyrmion.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Outlook |
Fungal diseases are spreading undetected
Low- and middle-income countries are grappling with widespread shortages of diagnostic tests for infections that kill millions.
- Charles Schmidt
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Research Highlight |
Pooling babies’ saliva helps catch grave infection in newborns
Cost-saving strategy increases early detection of congenital cytomegalovirus, which can cause developmental problems if left untreated.
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News & Views |
Mobile delivery of COVID-19 vaccines improved uptake in rural Sierra Leone
A trial that took mobile health services to rural Sierra Leone finds that this initiative increased COVID-19 vaccine uptake. But more must be done to expand the coverage of health services in low-income countries.
- Alison Buttenheim
- & Harsha Thirumurthy
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News |
Massive public-health experiment sends vaccination rates soaring
The rate of vaccination against COVID-19 rose sharply in villages in Sierra Leone where health officials held mobile vaccination clinics.
- Max Kozlov
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Nature Index |
Numbers highlight US dominance in clinical research
Institutions from the country make unrivaled contributions to high-quality health-sciences research in the Nature Index.
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Nature Index |
How AI is being used to accelerate clinical trials
From study design to patient recruitment, researchers are investigating ways that technology could speed up the process.
- Matthew Hutson
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Nature Index |
Researchers call for a major rethink of how Alzheimer’s treatments are evaluated
An approach that aims to quantify how long a drug can delay or halt the progression of disease is gathering steam.
- Esther Landhuis
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Nature Index |
Four change-makers seek impact in medical research
Bringing fresh perspectives to long-standing health challenges, these scientists are using techniques such as big-data analytics and AI to push the field.
- Amy Coombs
- & Sandy Ong
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Nature Index |
A spotlight on the stark imbalances of global health research
An expansion of the Nature Index to include more than 60 medical journals has revealed the clear leaders in the field.
- Bec Crew
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Obituary |
Anthony Epstein (1921–2024), discoverer of virus causing cancer in humans
Pathologist whose finding that viruses can trigger tumours in humans transformed medical research.
- Alan Rickinson
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News Feature |
Why are so many young people getting cancer? What the data say
Clues to a modern mystery could be lurking in information collected generations ago.
- Heidi Ledford
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Comment |
Why the world cannot afford the rich
Equality is essential for sustainability. The science is clear — people in more-equal societies are more trusting and more likely to protect the environment than are those in unequal, consumer-driven ones.
- Richard G. Wilkinson
- & Kate E. Pickett
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News |
Trump versus Biden: what the rematch could mean for three key science issues
Depending on the winner of November’s election, researchers anticipate two completely different paths ahead for the environment, public health and more.
- Jeff Tollefson
- , Natasha Gilbert
- & Mariana Lenharo
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News |
Landmark study links microplastics to serious health problems
People who had tiny plastic particles lodged in a key blood vessel were more likely to experience heart attack, stroke or death during a three-year study.
- Max Kozlov
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Correspondence |
Personalized cancer care can’t rely on molecular testing alone
- James Larkin
- , Chloe Beland
- & Alexander R. Lyon
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Correspondence |
Forget lung, breast or prostate cancer? Why we shouldn’t abandon tumour names yet
- Albrecht Stenzinger
- & Frederick Klauschen
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World View |
Here’s what many digital tools for chronic pain are doing wrong
To address the chronic-pain crisis, digital health technologies must break out of their silos and become integrative and holistic.
- Benjamin Lipp
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News |
Meningitis could be behind ‘mystery illness’ reports in Nigeria
The WHO confirms three meningitis deaths, which it says might have triggered rumours of an outbreak of an unknown disease.
- Sarah Wild
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News |
Brazil’s record dengue surge: why a vaccine campaign is unlikely to stop it
A vaccine shortage and persistent sanitation problems threaten the success of the world’s first public vaccination campaign against dengue virus.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Career Q&A |
‘This is my calling’: building point-of-care diagnostic tools to fight tuberculosis
Mireille Kamariza talks about her journey from community college to biotech chief executive, and the uphill battle to stop the spread of the deadly lung disease.
- Abdullahi Tsanni
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Research Highlight |
Mpox’s surge was stopped by behaviour change — before vaccine rollout
Analysis of more than 1,000 viral genomes reveals patterns in how the disease circulated through various communities.
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Correspondence |
Speed up relief for long COVID through grassroots clinical trials
- Marc Jamoulle
- , Elena Louazon
- & Johan Van Weyenbergh
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News |
Influential abortion-pill studies retracted: the science behind the decision
Nature spoke to researchers about the flaws that triggered the retractions. They say these papers are just the tip of the iceberg.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Editorial |
Science can drive development and unity in Africa — as it does in the US and Europe
A plan to establish Africa’s first continent-wide science fund should not be delayed any longer.
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Analysis
| Open AccessMaking cities mental health friendly for adolescents and young adults
A study examining how cities can foster well-being and positive mental health in young residents synthesizes opinions from researchers, practitioners, advocates and young people, highlighting factors that policymakers and urban planners should consider.
- Pamela Y. Collins
- , Moitreyee Sinha
- & Lian Zeitz