Scientific community articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Over their careers, medicinal chemists develop a gut feeling for what is a promising molecule. Here, the authors use machine learning models to learn this intuition and show that it can be successfully applied in several drug discovery scenarios.

    • Oh-Hyeon Choung
    • , Riccardo Vianello
    •  & José Jiménez-Luna

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rare Mendelian disorders pose a major diagnostic challenge, but evaluation of automated tools that aim to uncover causal genes tools is limited. Here, the authors present a computational pipeline that simulates realistic clinical datasets to address this deficit.

    • Emily Alsentzer
    • , Samuel G. Finlayson
    •  & Isaac S. Kohane

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    The availability of maker resources such as 3D printers, makerspaces, and public repositories enable researchers to share information with research peers, educators, industry, and the general public. This broadens the impact of research and inspires its extension and application.

    • Larry L. Howell
    •  & Terri Bateman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent estimates of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) intake are generally unavailable. Here the authors show a global SSBs intake of 2.7 servings/week in 2018 in adults (range: 0.7 South Asia, 7.8 Latin America/Caribbean); intakes were higher among males, younger, more educated, and urban adults.

    • Laura Lara-Castor
    • , Renata Micha
    •  & Rubina Hakeem

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    In this Review article, the authors discuss emerging efforts to build ethical governance frameworks for data science health research in Africa and the opportunities to advance these through investments by African governments and institutions, international funding organizations and collaborations for research and capacity development.

    • Clement A. Adebamowo
    • , Shawneequa Callier
    •  & Sally N. Adebamowo

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    WHO guidelines for classification of malaria elimination in a country require that the risk of human infection from zoonotic, as well as nonzoonotic, malaria parasites is negligible. In this Comment, the authors discuss the implications of this policy for countries, such as Malaysia, with no recent reported nonzoonotic cases but ongoing zoonotic transmission.

    • Kimberly M. Fornace
    • , Chris J. Drakeley
    •  & Kamruddin Ahmed

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Aberrant coagulation and thrombosis are associated with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, the authors show that the E protein are associated with coagulation disorders in COVID-19 patients and could directly enhance platelet activation and thrombosis through a CD36/p38 MAPK/NF-kB signaling axis.

    • Zihan Tang
    • , Yanyan Xu
    •  & Tingting Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Linking microscale cellular structures to macroscale features of the brain is required to fully understand its structure and function. Here, the authors present a resource which combines multi-contrast microscopy and MRI of a single whole macaque brain to facilitate multimodal analyses.

    • Amy F. D. Howard
    • , Istvan N. Huszar
    •  & Karla L. Miller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    To ensure the privacy of processed data, federated learning approaches involve local differential privacy techniques which however require communicating a large amount of data that needs protection. The authors propose here a framework that uses selected small data to transfer knowledge in federated learning with privacy guarantees.

    • Tao Qi
    • , Fangzhao Wu
    •  & Xing Xie

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    This comment explores ethical aspects in developing and testing minimal-risk devices, such as wearables and biomedical sensors. Authors outline the process of independent review, emphasizing the different levels of review depending on the research design and risk level. They also share examples of practical scenarios, highlighting key ethical considerations.

    • Anna Wexler
    •  & Emily Largent

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    We address a controversy over use of the term “gene drive” to include both natural and synthetic genetic elements that promote their own transmission within a population, arguing that this broad definition is both practical and has advantages for risk analysis.

    • Stephanie L. James
    • , David A. O’Brochta
    •  & Omar S. Akbari

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Establishing sustainable approaches for human space exploration is key to achieve independency from terrestrial resources, as well as for ethical considerations. Here the authors highlight microbial biotechnologies that will support sustainable processes for space-based in situ resource utilization and loop-closure, and may be translatable to Earth applications.

    • Rosa Santomartino
    • , Nils J. H. Averesch
    •  & Luis Zea

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are conflicting results on the effectiveness of pharmacologic interventions for suicide prevention in adolescence. Here, the authors show, in a retrospective registry study from Sweden during 2016–2020, that regional utilization rates of clozapine, electroconvulsive therapy and lithium in 15–19-year-olds were associated with lower excess suicide death rates in male adolescents

    • Adrian E. Desai Boström
    • , Peter Andersson
    •  & Jussi Jokinen

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    More than a decade after the first demonstration of large-scale graphene synthesis by chemical vapor deposition, the commercialization of graphene products is limited not only by price, but also by consistency, reproducibility, and predictability. Here, the author discusses the reproducibility issues in the field and proposes possible solutions to improve the reliability of published results.

    • Peter Bøggild

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Disability has too often been peripheral to efforts to widen the STEMM pipeline, hampering research quality and innovation. Inspired by change in education delivery and research collaborations during the pandemic, we offer a structure for efforts to recruit and retain disabled scientists and practitioners.

    • Siobhán M. Mattison
    • , Logan Gin
    •  & Katherine Wander

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    While there are a growing number of human pluripotent stem cell repositories, genetic diversity remains limited in most collections and studies. Here, we discuss the importance of incorporating diverse ancestries in these models to improve equity and accelerate biological discovery.

    • Sulagna Ghosh
    • , Ralda Nehme
    •  & Lindy E. Barrett

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, the authors provide a global overview of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing, and estimate the proportion of cases sequenced and time to genome upload. They identify disparities and highlight the need to strengthen surveillance in lower and middle income countries.

    • Anderson F. Brito
    • , Elizaveta Semenova
    •  & Nuno R. Faria

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors report findings from their study of female student participants interested in engineering at college entry who were randomly assigned to a female peer mentor, male mentor, or no mentor for their first year of college. The authors show that students assigned to a female peer mentor show benefits in psychological experiences in engineering, aspirations to pursue postgraduate engineering degrees, and emotional well-being, which persists up to one year after graduation.

    • Deborah J. Wu
    • , Kelsey C. Thiem
    •  & Nilanjana Dasgupta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While inequalities in science are common, most efforts to understand them treat scientists as isolated individuals, ignoring the network effects of collaboration. Here, the authors develop models that untangle the network effects of productivity and prominence of individual scientists from their collaboration networks.

    • Weihua Li
    • , Sam Zhang
    •  & Aaron Clauset

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    We reflect on the extent to which the UK Events Research Programme adhered to four principles of design and evaluation in assessing risk of transmission from attending such mass events as football matches and festivals, and lessons learned.

    • Theresa M. Marteau
    • , Michael J. Parker
    •  & W. John Edmunds

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There is a broad range of research available on the relationship between food security and mental health. Here the authors carry out a systematic mapping of evidence on food security and nutrition related to mental health and identifies trends in themes, setting, and study design over the 20 year period studied.

    • Thalia M. Sparling
    • , Megan Deeney
    •  & Suneetha Kadiyala

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Diversity is a creative force that broadens views and enhances ideas; it increases productivity as well as the impact of our science, making our respective organisations more agile and timely. Equality of opportunity is a key to success for any research organisation. Here we argue that every research organisation, whether in academia or in industry, needs to have better inclusion policies to harness the benefits of diversity in research. Drawing from our personal experiences and perspectives as women in science, we share our suggestions on how to promote inclusion in academia and create a better research culture for all. Our shared experiences highlight the many hurdles women in science face on a daily basis. We stress that rules and regulations, as well as education for awareness, will play critical role in this much needed shift from a male-dominated scientific culture that dates from Victorian times to a modern focus on gender equality in science. The key ingredients of this new culture will be flexibility, transparency, fairness and thoughtfulness.

    • Sarah A. Teichmann
    • , Muzlifah Haniffa
    •  & Jasmin Fisher

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    A Global Forum on Synthetic Biology is needed to engage policymakers with practitioners across borders at the highest level. The international community needs a global confidence-building measure focused on discussing policy futures for the age of engineering biology.

    • Thomas A. Dixon
    • , Paul S. Freemont
    •  & Isak S. Pretorius

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Understanding gaps in academic representation while considering the intersectionality concept is paramount to promoting real progress towards a more inclusive STEM. Here we discuss ways in which STEM careers can be sown and germinated so that inclusivity can flourish.

    • Luisa Maria Diele-Viegas
    • , Thamara Santos de Almeida
    •  & Flávia Virginio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This paper describes the ‘4DN Data Portal’ that hosts data generated by the 4D Nucleome network, including Hi-C and other chromatin conformation capture assays, as well as various sequencing-based and imaging-based assays. Raw data have been uniformly processed to increase comparability and the portal is implemented with visualization tools to browse the data without download.

    • Sarah B. Reiff
    • , Andrew J. Schroeder
    •  & Peter J. Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sex differences occur in many neurological and psychiatric diseases, and yet research is not always designed optimally to identify these. Here the authors perform a study of how sex was incorporated into the design and analyses of papers published six journals in neuroscience and psychiatry in 2009 compared with 2019.

    • Rebecca K. Rechlin
    • , Tallinn F. L. Splinter
    •  & Liisa A. M. Galea

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Mentor relationships are crucial to retention, success, and wellbeing of women and underrepresented minority scientists in academia. A network of diverse mentors may support achieving long-term career goals, advancement, and retention of both mentors and mentees, thus enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

    • Rocío Deanna
    • , Bethann Garramon Merkle
    •  & Gabriela Auge

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Ensuring international benefit-sharing from sequence data without jeopardising open sharing is a major obstacle for the Convention on Biological Diversity and other UN negotiations. Here, the authors propose a solution to address the concerns of both developing countries and life scientists.

    • Amber Hartman Scholz
    • , Jens Freitag
    •  & Jörg Overmann

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    While the technological revolution is accelerating, digital poverty is undermining the Sustainable Development Goals. This article introduces a justice-oriented digital framework which considers how fair access to digital capabilities, commodities, infrastructure, and governance can reduce global inequality and advance the SDGs.

    • Katriona O’Sullivan
    • , Serena Clark
    •  & Malcolm MacLachlan

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Climate change negatively impacts the livelihoods of indigenous communities across the world, including those located on the African continent. This Comment reports on how five African indigenous communities have been impacted by climate change and the adopted adaptation mechanisms.

    • Walter Leal Filho
    • , Newton R. Matandirotya
    •  & Richard Achia Mbih

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transparent data sharing is central to scientific progress, but limited for human sequencing data because of patient privacy concerns. Here, the authors propose an approach that removes certain types of genetic information in sequencing data, without affecting count-based downstream analyses.

    • Christoph Ziegenhain
    •  & Rickard Sandberg

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    The pandemic has caused disruption to many aspects of scientific research. In this Comment the authors describe the findings from surveys of scientists between April 2020 and January 2021, which suggests there was a decline in new projects started in that time.

    • Jian Gao
    • , Yian Yin
    •  & Dashun Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Publishers’ policies have the capability to increase transparency in scholarly literature. Malički and colleagues carried out a systematic review of over 150 studies that have examined scholarly journals’ recommendations. They find that requirements in terms of authorship, conflict of interests, data sharing, funding disclosure or ethics approval declaration vary greatly over time, among journals and across disciplines.

    • Mario Malički
    • , Ana Jerončić
    •  & Gerben ter Riet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Scientific revolutions have famously inspired scientists and innovation but large-scale analyses of scientific revolutions in modern science are rare. Here, the authors investigate one possible factor connected with a topic’s extraordinary growth—scientific prizes.

    • Ching Jin
    • , Yifang Ma
    •  & Brian Uzzi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite their ubiquitous nature across a wide range of creative domains, it remains unclear if there is any regularity underlying the beginning of successful periods in a career. Here, the authors develop computational methods to trace the career outputs of artists, film directors, and scientists and explore how they move in their creative space along their career trajectory.

    • Lu Liu
    • , Nima Dehmamy
    •  & Dashun Wang

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Racism thrives in geoscience. We present an antiracism plan to support the recruitment, retention and success of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color in geoscience. Our action plan can be adapted by any organization to remove barriers to participation for all marginalized geoscientists.

    • Hendratta N. Ali
    • , Sarah L. Sheffield
    •  & Blair Schneider

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