How do I tell someone that I can’t write them a strong letter of recommendation?

Nature, Published online: 17 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03398-y Researchers are often asked to write references or recommendation letters. Nature asked three senior scientists what they do when they can’t endorse someone. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 15 days ago

Scientific papers that mention AI get a citation boost

Nature, Published online: 17 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03355-9 An analysis of tens of millions of papers shows which fields have embraced AI tools with enthusiasm — and which have been slower. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 15 days ago

Four weddings, a funeral, and the Sustainable Development Goal logos

Nature, Published online: 17 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-02904-6 How a chance encounter with film director Richard Curtis, director of the hit comedy romance and many others, led to Jakob Trollbäck designing the 17 SDG icons. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 15 days ago

Daily briefing: Why you need so many COVID boosters

Nature, Published online: 17 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03430-1 Antibody insights could lead to longer-lasting vaccines. Plus, scientists have made a new type of insulin. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 15 days ago

AlphaFold reveals how sperm and egg hook up in intimate detail

Nature, Published online: 17 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03319-z Three sperm proteins work together as matchmakers to enable fertilization in vertebrates. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 15 days ago

Fixing AI’s energy crisis

Nature, Published online: 17 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03408-z Hardware that consumes less power will reduce artificial intelligence's appetite for energy. But transparency about its carbon footprint is still needed. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 15 days ago

AI tool helps people with opposing views find common ground

Nature, Published online: 17 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03424-z A large language model can help groups to reach a consensus by producing statements that are clearer and fairer than those written by humans. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 15 days ago

Fabric that can switch from warming black to cooling white — and back again

Nature, Published online: 17 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03350-0 Tent made from the smart material can maintain a comfortable interior for external temperatures of 14–33 °C. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 15 days ago

Mexican forest ‘relocated’ in attempt to save iconic monarch butterflies

Nature, Published online: 17 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03377-3 High-altitude planting could buffer the trees, and the migratory butterflies that roost in them, against the effects of climate change. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 15 days ago

Efficient conversion of syngas to linear α-olefins by phase-pure χ-Fe5C2

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08078-5 When used in its phase-pure form, iron carbide catalyses the conversion of syngas to linear α-olefins with high activity and selectivity under industrially relevant conditions. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Electronic rotons and Wigner crystallites in a two-dimensional dipole liquid

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08045-0 Electronic rotons and Wigner crystallites have been observed experimentally and numerically in a two-dimensional dipole liquid. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

The Massalia asteroid family as the origin of ordinary L chondrites

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08007-6 The Massalia asteroid family is identified as the remnant of the collisional event that gave rise to ordinary L chondrites, the most abundant class of meteorites in our collections. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

A prenatal skin atlas reveals immune regulation of human skin morphogenesis

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08002-x A comprehensive multi-omics reference atlas of prenatal human skin shows that innate immune cells crosstalk with non-immune cells to perform pivotal roles in skin morphogenesis, including the formation of h … | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Mosquito taste responses to human and floral cues guide biting and feeding

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08047-y Taste neurons of the mosquito Aedes albopictus regulate biting, feeding and egg-laying behaviours by responding to taste cues in human sweat, nectar and egg-laying sites via excitation or inhibition. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Neuronal sequences in population bursts encode information in human cortex

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08075-8 The temporal order of neuronal firing within bursts of population spiking in the human anterior temporal lobe is dependent on the category as well as the identity of the individual stimulus, and this encode … | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Spatial proteomics identifies JAKi as treatment for a lethal skin disease

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08061-0 Cell-type-resolved spatial proteomics of the skin from patients with toxic epidermal necrolysis reveals that it is driven by JAK/STAT signaling, leading to successful treatment of this potentially fatal con … | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Glucose-sensitive insulin with attenuation of hypoglycaemia

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08042-3 NNC2215 is an insulin conjugate that can reversibly adjust its bioactivity in response to a diabetes-relevant glucose range in vivo. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Circadian plasticity evolves through regulatory changes in a neuropeptide gene

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08056-x We provide evidence that circadian plasticity has diverged through evolution of the neuropeptide gene Pdf, conferring a selective advantage for Drosophila melanogaster at elevated latitude, whereas Drosophi … | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Common occurrences of subsurface heatwaves and cold spells in ocean eddies

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08051-2 With climate change, mesoscale eddies are increasing in importance as drivers of subsurface extreme marine heatwaves and cold spells that do not correlate with surface events, with implications for severe i … | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Neuropeptide signalling orchestrates T cell differentiation

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08049-w RAMP3, a component of the receptor for the neuropeptide CGRP, has a cell-intrinsic role in T helper type 1 cell fate determination. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Selective utilization of glucose metabolism guides mammalian gastrulation

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08044-1 Two waves of glucose metabolism provide distinct ERK-mediated cellular signals during gastrulation, which regulate cell fate and specialized cellular functions that are necessary for development. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Young asteroid families as the primary source of meteorites

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08006-7 Three relatively recent break-up events relating to young asteroid families are probably the dominant sources of the current influx of meteoritic material to the Earth. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

An ancient ecospecies of Helicobacter pylori

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07991-z ‘Hardy’ Helicobacter pylori ecospecies shares the ancestry of ‘Ubiquitous’ H. pylori from the same region in most of the genome but has nearly fixed single-nucleotide polymorphism differences in 100 genes. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Harnessing plasticity in sequential metamaterials for ideal shock absorption

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08037-0 By not treating plasticity as a mode of failure and instead using it in balance with buckling instability, mechanical metamaterials can be designed that buckle sequentially and show superior shock-absorptio … | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

A bacterial immunity protein directly senses two disparate phage proteins

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08039-y The antiphage defence protein CapRelSJ46 in Escherichia coli can directly bind and sense two completely unrelated and structurally different proteins using the same sensory domain, with overlapping but dist … | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

Author Correction: Microglia-mediated T cell infiltration drives neurodegeneration in tauopathy

Nature, Published online: 16 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08200-7 Author Correction: Microglia-mediated T cell infiltration drives neurodegeneration in tauopathy | Continue reading


@nature.com | 16 days ago

The early days of peer review: five insights from historic reports

Nature, Published online: 15 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03287-4 A crop of referee reports from the Royal Society’s archive reveal discussions about cutting printing costs, reviewer holidays and even editing images. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 17 days ago

The UN needs a new mission: get stuff done

Nature, Published online: 15 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03333-1 The United Nations has just listed more things the world needs to accomplish. It should be asking why it hasn’t reached its current goals. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 17 days ago

AI has dreamt up a blizzard of new proteins. Do any of them actually work?

Nature, Published online: 15 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03335-z Emerging protein-design competitions aim to sift out the functional from the fantastical. But researchers hope that the real prize will be a revolution for the field. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 17 days ago

Black women on the academic tightrope: four scholars weigh in

Nature, Published online: 15 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03342-0 The work of addressing the inequities in science must not fall just on those most affected. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 17 days ago

What drives me to help female students to thrive at my Ugandan university

Nature, Published online: 15 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03372-8 Euzobia Mugisha Baine describes the formative influences that inspired her to become the first gender-equity officer at Makerere University in Kampala. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 17 days ago

Restore Internet access in war-torn Sudan

Nature, Published online: 15 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03332-2 Maintaining connectivity is essential to keeping schools and universities working and humanitarian aid flowing. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 17 days ago

Just widening access to the right drugs won’t solve antimicrobial resistance

Nature, Published online: 15 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03361-x Just widening access to the right drugs won’t solve antimicrobial resistance | Continue reading


@nature.com | 17 days ago

Conflict in New Caledonia endangers one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots

Nature, Published online: 15 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03359-5 Conflict in New Caledonia endangers one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots | Continue reading


@nature.com | 17 days ago

Converting chaos into order: aerial archaeology takes flight in the 1920s

Nature, Published online: 15 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03186-8 Photography from the air was helping archaeologists find the right spot to dig, plus a screaming frog makes a narrow escape, in our weekly peek at Nature’s archive. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 17 days ago

UN plastic pollution treaty must not ignore the scourge of microplastics

Nature, Published online: 15 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03360-y UN plastic pollution treaty must not ignore the scourge of microplastics | Continue reading


@nature.com | 17 days ago

Dairy cows inoculated with highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1

Nature, Published online: 15 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08166-6 Dairy cows inoculated with highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 | Continue reading


@nature.com | 17 days ago

Why are some countries so rich? Economics Nobel awarded for study of inequality

Nature, Published online: 14 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03367-5 Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson win for research on the contrasting fortunes of postcolonial nations. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 18 days ago

Want a new job in science? Six charts to help you land it

Nature, Published online: 14 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03343-z More than 1,100 research leaders from 77 countries told Nature about where and how they recruit scientists — and who makes the cut. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 18 days ago

Climate change reveals secrets of our ancestors hidden in the ice

Nature, Published online: 14 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03336-y Spectacular archaeological finds in melting glaciers and mountain ice are giving new — although fleeting — insights into prehistoric hunting practices and more. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 18 days ago

Why this PhD candidate joined campus protests against the Israel–Hamas war

Nature, Published online: 14 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03093-y Physicist Jessica Metzger weighs the career implications of speaking out about the continuing conflict in the Middle East. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 18 days ago

‘Doing good science is hard’: retraction of high-profile reproducibility study prompts soul-searching

Nature, Published online: 14 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03178-8 A paper by some of the biggest names in scientific integrity is retracted for issues including misstatements about the research plan. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 18 days ago

Is there life on Jupiter’s moon Europa? NASA launches mission to find hints

Nature, Published online: 14 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03225-4 The Europa Clipper spacecraft will use its various instruments to probe whether the icy ocean world is habitable. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 18 days ago

Daily briefing: Economics Nobel awarded for study of inequality

Nature, Published online: 14 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03369-3 Meet the winners of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Plus, six charts that could help you land your next job in science. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 18 days ago

Lab kit on a budget: how cash-strapped research teams are getting creative

Nature, Published online: 14 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03366-6 Scientists are pooling resources, shopping local and trawling second-hand suppliers as inflationary pressures bite. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 18 days ago

No bandage needed: electrical impulses to major nerve help stop bleeding

Nature, Published online: 14 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03330-4 A ‘neural tourniquet’ increases blood-clot stability in human tests. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 18 days ago

‘Anonymous’ genetic databases vulnerable to privacy leaks

Nature, Published online: 14 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03236-1 The ability to link private and public data sets could be putting research participants’ private health information at risk. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 18 days ago

Six tips for going public with your lab’s software

Nature, Published online: 14 October 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03344-y It’s not enough to write high-quality programs. If you want to make your apps public — and usable — you should also follow these steps. | Continue reading


@nature.com | 18 days ago