Featured
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Article |
Synchrotron tomography of a stem lizard elucidates early squamate anatomy
A study using high-resolution synchrotron phase-contrast tomography documents the near-complete skeleton of a stem squamate, Bellairsia gracilis, from the Middle Jurassic epoch of Scotland, providing insights into early squamate anatomy.
- Mateusz Tałanda
- , Vincent Fernandez
- & Roger J. Benson
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Research Highlight |
Plagued by problem birds? Call RobotFalcon!
A robotic bird of prey scares off nuisance flocks in a flash — and they don’t seem to get wise to the deception.
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News & Views |
Embrace wobble to level flight without a horizon
The apparent motion of a flier’s surroundings is shown to stabilize its flight by providing information about its orientation. Lapses in information are overcome through the effects of sensor noise and body oscillations.
- Graham K. Taylor
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News |
Orangutan genome mix-up muddies conservation efforts
Reanalysis of landmark paper finds that eight genome sequences were mistakenly assigned to the wrong orangutans. The impacts on research are as-yet unclear.
- Freda Kreier
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Article |
Ion regulation at gills precedes gas exchange and the origin of vertebrates
Measurements in three taxa with the characteristics of vertebrate ancestors (lamprey ammocoetes, amphioxus and acorn worms) suggest that gas exchange at gills has a vertebrate origin, but that ion regulation at gills has an earlier and possibly stem deuterostome origin.
- Michael A. Sackville
- , Christopher B. Cameron
- & Colin J. Brauner
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Article
| Open AccessAccommodating unobservability to control flight attitude with optic flow
Attitude can be extracted from optic flow when combined with a motion model that relates attitude to acceleration direction, which leads to stable flight attitude control with slight oscillations due to unobservable conditions.
- Guido C. H. E. de Croon
- , Julien J. G. Dupeyroux
- & Franck Ruffier
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Nature Video |
The shape-shifting robo-turtle
New amphibious soft robot makes efficiency games with morphing limbs
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Nature Video |
Exoskeleton boots could power your walk by learning your stride
New design uses model based on lab data to adapt for wearers while in use.
- Dan Fox
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Nature Index |
Insects offer inspiration for robot advances
Invertebrates offer solutions to building microbots the size of a fly.
- Neil Savage
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Research Highlight |
How blind fish find their way in pitch-black caves
Species with very small eyes or no eyes at all have a highly uneven distribution of sensory receptors on their heads.
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News & Views |
Female birds disguised as males get extra food
Around 20% of female hummingbirds have plumage that is characteristic of the males of the species. Evidence for why this happens offers a surprising perspective on how evolution helps to maintain colour variations.
- Tim Caro
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Research Highlight |
Freeze, thaw, repeat: chilled tardigrades still reach a ripe old age
The little animals known for their toughness have normal lifespans even when subjected to multiple cycles of freezing and thawing.
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Article |
The oldest gnathostome teeth
Direct evidence for the presence of jawed vertebrates in the early Silurian (around 439 million years ago) is provided by isolated tooth whorls of the gnathostome Qianodus duplicis from Guizhou province, China.
- Plamen S. Andreev
- , Ivan J. Sansom
- & Min Zhu
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Article |
Galeaspid anatomy and the origin of vertebrate paired appendages
Articulated remains of Tujiaaspis vividus reveal that galeaspids—extinct jawless vertebrates—had precursors to paired pectoral fins that consisted of paired, continuous pectoral–pelvic lateral fins that passively generated lift.
- Zhikun Gai
- , Qiang Li
- & Min Zhu
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Article |
Spiny chondrichthyan from the lower Silurian of South China
Fanjingshania renovata possesses dermal shoulder girdle plates and fin spines similar to those of a subset of stem chondrichthyans, but also has osteichthyan-like resorptive shedding of scale odontodes and an absence of odontogenic tissues in its spines.
- Plamen S. Andreev
- , Ivan J. Sansom
- & Min Zhu
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Where I Work |
Preventing disease transmission between people and wildlife
Conservation scientist Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka looks after the health of mountain gorillas and livestock in southwest Uganda and teaches local residents how to avoid illness.
- Christopher Bendana
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Nature Video |
Wasp-inspired drones can 3D print a building
Teams of aerial robots mounted with 3D printers could work together to build emergency shelters and greener homes.
- Shamini Bundell
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Research Highlight |
Got rhythm? Male rock hyraxes that keep the beat have breeding success
The little mammals are accomplished vocalists — but some males are more accomplished than others.
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News & Views |
From the archive: how laughter evolved, and mysterious sea creatures
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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News Feature |
The fraught quest to account for sex in biology research
Funders and publishers are increasingly asking researchers to account for the role of sex in experiments — a requirement that’s contentious and hard to get right.
- Emily Willingham
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News & Views |
How red pigments are produced in fish and fowl
The enzymatic pathway has been characterized for the production of ketocarotenoids: the red pigment in some birds’ feathers and in eye cells that detect red light.
- Natasha Bray
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Research Highlight |
Dogs cry with gladness when greeting their humans
Canines’ weeping makes them the first non-human animal known to shed happy tears.
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News |
Climate change is making hundreds of diseases much worse
Heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms push up the number of cases, make diseases more severe and hamper people’s ability to cope.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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Research Highlight |
How a sponge ‘sneezes’ mucus: against the flow
A seemingly simple marine animal clears particles from its tubes with sneeze-like contractions.
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News |
How a scandal in spider biology upended researchers’ lives
Although Jonathan Pruitt, the researcher at the centre of a retractions scandal, has resigned, former lab members and collaborators continue dealing with the fallout.
- Max Kozlov
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Research Highlight |
Bonobo apes pout and throw tantrums — and gain sympathy
Primates that showed infantile behaviour after losing in a conflict drew consolation from their companions.
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News & Views |
From the archive: a tribute to Graham Bell, and a description of a whale
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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News |
Tens of thousands of people exposed to bat coronaviruses each year
These infections increase the risk of the next pandemic.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Research Highlight |
The fungus that entices male flies to mate with female corpses
Dead, spore-infested female flies lure males to their doom, perhaps with an attractive odour.
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News |
Ear fossils hint at origin of warm-blooded mammals
Analysis suggests that the cold-blooded ancestors of mammals evolved faster metabolisms in the Late Triassic period, roughly 230 million to 200 million years ago.
- Bianca Nogrady
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Nature Podcast |
How researchers have pinpointed the origin of ‘warm-blooded’ mammals
Ancient inner ears give clues to when mammals evolved ‘warm-bloodedness’, and an efficient enzyme that pulls carbon dioxide out of the air.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Article |
Inner ear biomechanics reveals a Late Triassic origin for mammalian endothermy
The functional morphology of the fluid-filled semicircular ducts of the inner ear is adapted to body temperature and behavioural activity and can be used to investigate the evolution of endothermy.
- Ricardo Araújo
- , Romain David
- & Kenneth D. Angielczyk
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Article
| Open AccessA new elpistostegalian from the Late Devonian of the Canadian Arctic
A new elpistostegalian from the Late Devonian period has been discovered that shows disparity in the group and represents a previously hidden ecological expansion, a secondary return to open water, near the origin of limbed vertebrates.
- Thomas A. Stewart
- , Justin B. Lemberg
- & Neil H. Shubin
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Nature Video |
Watch starfish embryos become living crystals
The raft of regularly spaced starfish may be the first crystal made from multicellular organisms.
- Shamini Bundell
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News |
More than dollars: mega-review finds 50 ways to value nature
Assessing the environment in purely monetary terms can harm people and the planet.
- Ehsan Masood
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Nature Podcast |
Ancient mud reveals the longest record of climate from the tropics
A sediment core from Peru unlocks thousands of years of climate data, and the first glimpses from the James Webb Space Telescope.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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News & Views |
From the archive: butterfly snacking habits and alpine maps
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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News |
Major wildlife report struggles to tally humanity’s exploitation of species
People use roughly 50,000 plants and animals for food and income, but scientists say the estimate is conservative.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Research Highlight |
What’s the only farming mammal besides us? Maybe this buck-toothed rodent
A species of North American gopher fertilizes and harvests roots, encouraging their growth.
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Article
| Open AccessA male steroid controls female sexual behaviour in the malaria mosquito
The discovery of a male-specific sex hormone in the mosquito <em>Anopheles gambiae</em> may allow new strategies for the control of this notorious disease vector.
- Duo Peng
- , Evdoxia G. Kakani
- & Flaminia Catteruccia
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Research Highlight |
‘Helmets’ shield shrimp from their own supersonic shock waves
The snapping shrimp’s headgear is the first known biological armour that protects against blasts.
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Article
| Open AccessOptimization of avian perching manoeuvres
To perch safely, large birds minimize the distance flown after stalling when swooping up from a dive to a perch, but not the time or energy required.
- Marco KleinHeerenbrink
- , Lydia A. France
- & Graham K. Taylor
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News Round-Up |
Celebratory science statue, polar bear survival and unappreciated research
The latest science news, in brief.
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News & Views |
From the archive: transatlantic confusion, and a fascination with canals
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Outlook |
The dogs learning to sniff out disease
Veterinarian Cynthia Otto explains how we might harness animals’ ability to smell human illnesses — including COVID-19.
- Julianna Photopoulos
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News & Views |
From the archive: respect for reptiles, and an astronomical centenary
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Research Highlight |
Frog-eating bats remember an annoying ringtone — for years
Bats trained to respond to an artificial sound can recall it up to four years later.
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News & Views |
From the archive: the olfactory organs of birds, and dancing droplets
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Nature Podcast |
Ancient 'giraffes' sported thick helmets for headbutting
A roundup of stories from the Nature Briefing, including the academics joining the ‘great resignation’, the latest on the Perseverance rover, and more.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell