Featured
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News |
COVID rebound is surprisingly common — even without Paxlovid
Viral levels resurge in more than 10% of untreated people with COVID-19, but early data hint that the rebound is even more pronounced after antiviral treatment.
- Ewen Callaway
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News & Views |
Immune cells use hunger hormones to aid healing
Immune cells called monocytes have long been implicated in the killing of invading bacteria. However, a closer look reveals a surprising role for them: monocytes partner with a hormone to improve skin healing after bacterial infection.
- Vishwa Deep Dixit
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Article
| Open AccessDiverse mutational landscapes in human lymphocytes
Sequencing of individual human lymphocyte clones shows that they are highly prone to mutations, with higher burdens in memory cells than in naive cells arising from mutational processes associated with differentiation and tissue residency.
- Heather E. Machado
- , Emily Mitchell
- & Peter J. Campbell
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News Feature |
Long-COVID treatments: why the world is still waiting
After a slow start, researchers are beginning to test ways to combat the lasting symptoms of the disease.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article
| Open AccessDOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19
A genome-wide association study highlights a variant in DOCK2, which is common in East Asian populations but rare in Europeans, as a host genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19.
- Ho Namkoong
- , Ryuya Edahiro
- & Yukinori Okada
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Comment |
Partially revived pig organs could force a rethink of critical-care processes
Procedures used in life support and to preserve organs in deceased human donors might one day need to be re-evaluated in the wake of a study that restored some cell function in pigs one hour after death.
- Brendan Parent
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Career Feature |
Decriminalization of marijuana opens doors for some scientists
A growing interest in cannabis has led to new career opportunities.
- Chris Woolston
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News & Views |
Improved organ recovery after oxygen deprivation
A modified method for delivering oxygen to the whole body can restore function in pig organs one hour after the animals have died. The achievement points to ways to improve transplants and the treatment of strokes and heart attacks.
- Robert J. Porte
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Nature Podcast |
Massive Facebook study reveals a key to social mobility
Friendships with people from different economic backgrounds could boost your income, and reviving pig organs after death.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Article |
Cellular recovery after prolonged warm ischaemia of the whole body
OrganEx—an extracorporeal pulsatile-perfusion system with cytoprotective perfusate for porcine whole-body settings—preserved tissue integrity, decreased cell death and restored selected molecular and cellular processes across multiple vital organs after 1 h of warm ischaemia in pigs.
- David Andrijevic
- , Zvonimir Vrselja
- & Nenad Sestan
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Article
| Open AccessBrown-fat-mediated tumour suppression by cold-altered global metabolism
Mild cold exposure activates a substantial amount of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in a patient with cancer, reducing tumour-associated glucose uptake, and activation of BAT in mice inhibits the growth of tumours by decreasing blood glucose and impeding glycolysis-based metabolism in cancer cells.
- Takahiro Seki
- , Yunlong Yang
- & Yihai Cao
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Article
| Open AccessTeixobactin kills bacteria by a two-pronged attack on the cell envelope
Using a combination of methods, the mechanism of the antibiotic teixobactin is revealed.
- Rhythm Shukla
- , Francesca Lavore
- & Markus Weingarth
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News Feature |
Heart disease after COVID: what the data say
Some studies suggest that the risk of cardiovascular problems, such as a heart attack or stroke, remains high even many months after a SARS-CoV-2 infection clears up. Researchers are starting to pin down the frequency of these issues and what is causing the damage.
- Saima May Sidik
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Research Briefing |
Whole-genome sequencing of the UK Biobank
We determined the whole-genome sequences of 150,119 individuals from the UK Biobank and identified more than 600 million sequence variants. The comprehensive data identify novel associations with human traits and show the functional importance of sequence variants inside and outside protein-coding regions.
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Article
| Open AccessThe sequences of 150,119 genomes in the UK Biobank
To measure selection on variants, whole-genome sequencing of approximately 150,000 individuals from the UK Biobank is used to rank sequence variants by their level of depletion.
- Bjarni V. Halldorsson
- , Hannes P. Eggertsson
- & Kari Stefansson
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Obituary |
Colin Blakemore (1944–2022)
Neuroscientist, science communicator and advocate for openness in research.
- Fiona Fox
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News |
The hunt for drugs for mild COVID: scientists seek to treat those at lower risk
People who are unlikely to develop severe COVID-19 have no widely approved medications to ease the illness.
- Saima May Sidik
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News |
CRISPR ‘cousin’ put to the test in landmark heart-disease trial
Gene-therapy test launches pivotal year for precise genome-editing technique known as base editing.
- Heidi Ledford
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News & Views |
Persister cells that survive chemotherapy are pinpointed
A close look at the cells that drive cancer growth after chemotherapy, and thereby contribute to fatal tumour progression, provides new insights into the identity of the cells that manage to survive treatment.
- Sumaiyah K. Rehman
- & Catherine A. O’Brien
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News |
Clinical trials for pig-to-human organ transplants inch closer
US regulatory agency signals willingness to allow first xenotransplant trials.
- Max Kozlov
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Research Highlight |
Painkillers are dispensed less freely by night-shift doctors
Physicians show less empathy at the end of a night shift than after a daytime stint — and are less likely to prescribe drugs for treating pain.
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Outlook |
Olfactory receptors are not unique to the nose
The hundreds of receptors that give us our sense of smell have been found to have important roles in other parts of the body, and the prospect of targeting them with drugs is growing.
- Liam Drew
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News & Views |
Cancer cells spread aggressively during sleep
The deadly spread of cancer occurs predominantly during sleep, as revealed by an analysis of migrating human tumour cells in the bloodstream. What are the implications of this finding for the treatment of cancer?
- Harrison Ball
- & Sunitha Nagrath
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News |
These cancer cells wake up when people sleep
Researchers make ‘striking’ discovery that breast cancer cells are more likely to jump into the blood when people are resting.
- Freda Kreier
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News |
How common is long COVID? Why studies give different answers
Enormous databases do not necessarily allow scientists to solve long COVID mysteries, such as how well vaccination protects against the condition.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article |
Androgen receptor blockade promotes response to BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy
Treatment with neoadjuvant BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy results in higher rates of major pathological response in female compared with male patients with melanoma, and pharmacological inhibition of androgen receptor signalling improved the responses of male and female mice to BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy.
- Christopher P. Vellano
- , Michael G. White
- & Jennifer A. Wargo
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News |
New COVID drugs face delays as trials grow more difficult
Fewer people are eligible for the massive studies needed to test treatments for severe COVID-19.
- Saima May Sidik
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News & Views |
Mutation and tissue lineage lead to organ-specific cancer
Cancer-promoting mutations tend to result in tumours arising only in certain organs, but the reasons for this specificity are not fully understood. The analysis of human kidney cancer provides clues to solving this mystery.
- Emily N. Arner
- & W. Kimryn Rathmell
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: The brain-reading devices helping paralysed people to move, talk and touch
As implants that decode thoughts become more sophisticated, the companies making them are attracting major financial backing.
- Liam Drew
- & Benjamin Thompson
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News & Views |
Designer protein circuits enable safe cancer immunotherapy
Synthetic receptor proteins can enable customized and flexible control of immune cells called T lymphocytes. A defined framework for the proteins’ design now improves their potential for use in cancer immunotherapy.
- Mohamad Hamieh
- & Maria Themeli
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Nature Podcast |
Robot exercises shoulder cells for better tissue transplants
A robot shoulder that stretches tendon tissue, and identifying misperceptions that can lead to vaccine hesitancy.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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World View |
Fix the process that led to Alzheimer’s drug fiasco
Reforms to accelerated approval should focus on securing reliable information in the present and clinical evidence for the future.
- Jason Karlawish
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Book Review |
Chronic pain — why science has scant succour for one in five people
A physician calls on the medical system to contextualize and personalize the treatment of pain.
- Julian Nowogrodzki
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News |
Gene therapy’s comeback: how scientists are trying to make it safer
Unwanted immune responses threaten to derail some gene therapies. But researchers are seeking ways to combat harmful inflammation.
- Heidi Ledford
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Research Highlight |
Who needs sugar? ‘Oleogels’ help the medicine go down
Drug-carrying gels that are easy to swallow could make treatment easier for children — and parents.
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Nature Video |
How robot bodies could grow human tissue grafts
Some tissues need physical stimulation as they grow and robots could provide a realistic exercise routine.
- Shamini Bundell
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News |
Long COVID risk falls only slightly after vaccination, huge study shows
Results suggest that vaccines offer less protection against lingering symptoms than expected.
- Sara Reardon
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News |
First pig kidneys transplanted into people: what scientists think
The genetically modified organs seemed to function for more than two days but some researchers are sceptical that the experiments had value.
- Sara Reardon
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Innovations In |
Science Still Doesn’t Understand How Our Sex Affects Our Health
Our X and Y chromosomes represent the biggest genetic difference in our species. Medicine routinely ignores their influence. Why?
- Meghan McDonough
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News & Views |
Metabolic diversity drives cancer cell invasion
The migration and growth of cancer cells at sites far from the initial tumour is usually fatal. Metabolic heterogeneity — variable expression of an enzyme in the initial tumour — is identified as an early step in this deadly process.
- Sanjeethan C. Baksh
- & Lydia W. S. Finley
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Article |
PHGDH heterogeneity potentiates cancer cell dissemination and metastasis
PHDGH heterogeneity in primary tumours could be a sign of tumour aggressiveness.
- Matteo Rossi
- , Patricia Altea-Manzano
- & Sarah-Maria Fendt
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News |
Flu vaccine could cut COVID risk
Health-care workers who got the influenza vaccine were also protected from COVID-19 — but the effect might not last long.
- Ewen Callaway
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News |
Will the FDA change how it vets drugs following the Alzheimer’s debacle?
The accelerated approval of aducanumab has triggered US lawmakers to push for more oversight from the agency.
- Max Kozlov
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Editorial |
The toll of menopause: how universities can help
Some women are leaving science because employers are failing to support them during this stage of life. That can’t be right.
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News |
Coronavirus ‘ghosts’ found lingering in the gut
Scientists are studying whether long COVID could be linked to viral fragments found in the body months after initial infection.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
Kids get limited COVID protection from world’s most popular vaccines
First analyses of two Chinese-made vaccines in young children show that the shots do provide 60–65% effectiveness against hospitalization.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Technology Feature |
Unlocking the potential of health data to help research and treatments
Medical records can be tricky to access because of confidentiality and variability, but data-sharing efforts are helping to overcome these hurdles — without compromising patient privacy.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
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Book Review |
Former US mental-health tsar calls for a care overhaul
Thomas Insel advocates better social policy, not just more brain research.
- Alison Abbott
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World View |
Medical regulators: look beyond animal tests
Flexible approaches used to accelerate COVID-19 vaccines deserve wider uptake.
- Merel Ritskes-Hoitinga