Research Highlight |
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News |
Mix-and-match COVID vaccines ace the effectiveness test
Combining two different COVID-19 vaccines provides protection on par with that of mRNA vaccines — including protection against the Delta variant.
- Ewen Callaway
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Article |
Immunogenicity and efficacy of heterologous ChAdOx1–BNT162b2 vaccination
An observational study of more than 13,000 healthcare workers shows that a prime–boost vaccine regimen of AstraZeneca ChAdOx1-S-nCoV-19 with Pfizer BNT162b2 provides enhanced protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with two doses of BNT162b2.
- Bruno Pozzetto
- , Vincent Legros
- & Sophie Trouillet-Assant
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News |
COVID vaccine makers brace for a variant worse than Delta
Companies are updating vaccines and testing them on people to prepare for whatever comes next in the pandemic.
- Emily Waltz
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Career Q&A |
The virologist preparing Africa for the next pandemic
Kariuki Njenga talks about his work building a pan-African study to find emerging diseases quickly.
- Abdullahi Tsanni
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News Round-Up |
Viral filter, outbreak investigation reboot and the Economics Nobel
The latest science news, in brief.
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Article |
Shigella evades pyroptosis by arginine ADP-riboxanation of caspase-11
This study reports the identification of a new post-translational modification, termed ADP riboxanation, which is mediated by the Shigella effector OspC3 and inactivates the cytosolic LPS sensing pathway of caspase-4 and caspase-11.
- Zilin Li
- , Wang Liu
- & Feng Shao
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Article
| Open AccessHybrid immunity improves B cells and antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants
Single-cell-level analysis of memory B cells and their response to vaccination against all SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in individuals who either had or had not been previously exposed to the virus.
- Emanuele Andreano
- , Ida Paciello
- & Rino Rappuoli
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News |
COVID reinfections likely within one or two years, models propose
Estimates based on viral evolution forecast a 50% risk 17 months after a first infection without measures such as masking and vaccination.
- Lynne Peeples
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Nature Podcast |
Coronapod: the COVID scientists facing violent threats
From death threats to physical abuse - has the pandemic increased abuse in science?
- Noah Baker
- & Richard Van Noorden
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News |
Scientists under attack and weird viruses — the week in infographics
Nature highlights three key infographics from the week in science and research.
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News |
COVID super-immunity: one of the pandemic’s great puzzles
People who have previously recovered from COVID-19 have a stronger immune response after being vaccinated than those who have never been infected. Scientists are trying to find out why.
- Ewen Callaway
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News |
WHO names researchers to reboot outbreak origin investigations
The group, called SAGO, will create a permanent framework for probing epidemics, and initiate the next phase of the COVID origins hunt.
- Amy Maxmen
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News |
China’s COVID vaccines have been crucial — now immunity is waning
Billions of shots of China’s CoronaVac and Sinopharm vaccines have been given globally, but studies have questioned the length of protection they offer.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Article
| Open AccessGenomic reconstruction of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in England
A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.
- Harald S. Vöhringer
- , Theo Sanderson
- & Moritz Gerstung
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Editorial |
COVID scientists in the public eye need protection from threats
Researchers are facing harassment for speaking out during the pandemic. Their institutions must do more to support them.
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News Feature |
‘I hope you die’: how the COVID pandemic unleashed attacks on scientists
Dozens of researchers tell Nature they have received death threats, or threats of physical or sexual violence.
- Bianca Nogrady
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Nature Podcast |
How electric acupuncture zaps inflammation in mice
The neurons behind acupuncture’s effect on inflammation, and how antibiotics affect gut bacteria.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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Article |
Unravelling the collateral damage of antibiotics on gut bacteria
This study systematically profiles the activity of several classes of antibiotics on gut commensal bacteria and identifies drugs that mitigate their collateral damage on commensal bacteria without compromising their efficacy against pathogens.
- Lisa Maier
- , Camille V. Goemans
- & Athanasios Typas
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Article |
Structure of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus with its receptor LDLRAD3
The cryo-electron microscopy structure of domain 1 of the LDLRAD3 receptor in complex with virus-like particles of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) provides insights into the assembly and entry of VEEV and other alphaviruses.
- Bingting Ma
- , Cuiqing Huang
- & Xinzheng Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessLeprosy in wild chimpanzees
Monitoring of western chimpanzee populations in Guinea-Bissau and Côte d’Ivoire reveals the presence of rare and different genotypes of Mycobacterium leprae, suggesting greater circulation in wild animals than previously thought.
- Kimberley J. Hockings
- , Benjamin Mubemba
- & Fabian H. Leendertz
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Article
| Open AccessStructure of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus in complex with the LDLRAD3 receptor
The structure of the Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus in complex with LDLRAD3 provides insights into the structural basis of alphavirus–receptor interactions.
- Katherine Basore
- , Hongming Ma
- & Daved H. Fremont
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Article |
Parallelism of intestinal secretory IgA shapes functional microbial fitness
The functional role of intestinal secretory IgA for host–microbiota interactions is investigated, showing that intestinal bacterial exposure leads to selection of diverse plasma cells that secrete antigen-specific IgA, which predominantly targets bacterial membranes.
- Tim Rollenske
- , Sophie Burkhalter
- & Andrew J. Macpherson
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World View |
COVID lesson: trust the public with hard truths
When governments assume that people will panic, that exacerbates the pandemic.
- Michael Bang Petersen
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Article |
Impact of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants on mRNA vaccine-induced immunity
Immune analyses against circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants show that mRNA vaccination induces robust neutralizing antibodies and boosts cross-variant neutralizing antibodies elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection.
- Carolina Lucas
- , Chantal B. F. Vogels
- & Akiko Iwasaki
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Nature Podcast |
Coronapod: new data affirms the benefits of air filters and masks
Cheap air filters effectively scrub SARS-CoV-2 particles from hospital air and masks get gold standard approval
- Noah Baker
- & Tosin Thompson
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News |
How antiviral pill molnupiravir shot ahead in the COVID drug hunt
The Merck pill, which could become the first oral antiviral COVID treatment, forces the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to mutate itself to death.
- Cassandra Willyard
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News |
Heart-inflammation risk from Pfizer COVID vaccine is very low
Two studies from Israel quantify the risk of myocarditis following the Pfizer–BioNTech shot, with one suggesting the chance of developing the condition is about one in 50,000.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
Why easing COVID restrictions could prompt a fierce flu rebound
As pandemic restrictions ease, other respiratory viruses are returning in unexpected ways.
- Nicola Jones
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News |
Why COVID vaccines didn’t win a science Nobel this year
Nobel prize insiders and observers say timing and politics meant vaccine technology was an unlikely winner — but science’s most prestigious prize shouldn’t be far off.
- Ewen Callaway
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Article
| Open AccessAnti-SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain antibody evolution after mRNA vaccination
Individual memory antibodies selected over time by natural infection with SARS-CoV-2 have greater potency and breadth than antibodies elicited by vaccination, whereas the overall neutralizing potency of plasma is greater following vaccination.
- Alice Cho
- , Frauke Muecksch
- & Michel C. Nussenzweig
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News |
Real-world data show that filters clean COVID-causing virus from air
An inexpensive type of portable filter efficiently screened SARS-CoV-2 and other disease-causing organisms from hospital air.
- Tosin Thompson
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Spotlight |
China’s data-driven dream to overhaul health care
Collaborations between AI researchers and China’s medical workers are helping to combat diseases such as diabetes and COVID-19.
- Sarah O’Meara
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News & Views |
A step towards therapeutics for dengue
Finding a treatment for dengue, the most prevalent mosquito-borne viral disease in humans, has been difficult. A compound called JNJ-A07 displays promising activity against dengue virus in mouse models of infection.
- Scott B. Biering
- & Eva Harris
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News & Views |
Role of bile acids and gut bacteria in healthy ageing of centenarians
A study in humans indicates that certain bile acids that are produced by bacteria and commonly found in people over 100 boost gut health and protect against infection. These findings shed light on the contributors to healthy ageing.
- Bipin Rimal
- & Andrew D. Patterson
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Article |
A single sulfatase is required to access colonic mucin by a gut bacterium
A single sulfatase produced by a bacterium found in the human colon is essential for degradation of sulfated O-glycans in secreted mucus.
- Ana S. Luis
- , Chunsheng Jin
- & Eric C. Martens
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Article |
A pan-serotype dengue virus inhibitor targeting the NS3–NS4B interaction
The small molecule JNJ-A07 interferes with the interaction between the NS3 and NS4B proteins of dengue virus and reduces the viral load in mice even when first administered at peak viraemia.
- Suzanne J. F. Kaptein
- , Olivia Goethals
- & Johan Neyts
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News |
COVID vaccines cut the risk of transmitting Delta — but not for long
People who receive two COVID-19 jabs and later contract the Delta variant are less likely to infect their close contacts than are unvaccinated people with Delta.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Career Q&A |
How local communities helped polar scientists during the pandemic
Erica Gillis describes the strong connections with residents that helped her colleagues keep working when they couldn’t travel.
- Nikki Forrester
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Article |
Mechanism for Cas4-assisted directional spacer acquisition in CRISPR–Cas
Structures of the Cas4–Cas1–Cas2 complex from Geobacter sulfurreducens show that a 3′-overhang in the protospacer adjacent motif is required for complex assembly and spacer insertion into the CRISPR array.
- Chunyi Hu
- , Cristóbal Almendros
- & Ailong Ke
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Nature Podcast |
Coronapod: solving the COVID vaccine manufacturing problem
As low-income countries fight for COVID vaccines, drug companies are resisting calls to partner with firms in the global south.
- Noah Baker
- & Amy Maxmen
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News |
Closest known relatives of virus behind COVID-19 found in Laos
Studies of bats in China and Laos show southeast Asia is a hotspot for potentially dangerous viruses similar to SARS-CoV-2.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Research Highlight |
Tiny particles could make a powerful COVID vaccine
Nanoparticles that bristle with dozens of copies of a SARS-CoV-2 protein segment could protect against a wide variety of coronaviruses.
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Editorial |
Greece used AI to curb COVID: what other nations can learn
Governments are hungry to deploy big data in health emergencies. Scientists must help to lay the legal, ethical and logistical groundwork.
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: A finding of sex similarities rather than differences in COVID-19 outcomes
- Takehiro Takahashi
- , Mallory K. Ellingson
- & Akiko Iwasaki
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News & Views |
A machine-learning algorithm to target COVID testing of travellers
Optimizing the testing of incoming travellers for COVID-19 involves predicting those who are most likely to test positive. A machine-learning algorithm for targeted testing has been implemented at the Greek border.
- Ziad Obermeyer
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News Round-Up |
Preprint ban reversal, vaccine boosters and awards bias
The latest science news, in brief.
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Matters Arising |
A finding of sex similarities rather than differences in COVID-19 outcomes
- Heather Shattuck-Heidorn
- , Ann Caroline Danielsen
- & Sarah S. Richardson
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Article |
Efficient and targeted COVID-19 border testing via reinforcement learning
A study reports the design and performance of a reinforcement learning algorithm that enabled efficient and targeted SARS-CoV-2 testing of passengers travelling to Greece in the summer of 2020.
- Hamsa Bastani
- , Kimon Drakopoulos
- & Sotirios Tsiodras
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News Q&A |
Leader of WHO’s new pandemic hub: improve data flow to extinguish outbreaks
Former Nigeria CDC leader Chikwe Ihekweazu talks with Nature about the COVID crisis, and strengthening global response to future public-health emergencies.
- Amy Maxmen
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