Search

The International Brain Laboratory presents a brain-wide electrophysiological map obtained from pooling data from 12 laboratories that performed the same standardized perceptual decision-making task in mice.

Analysis of soundscape data from 139 globally distributed sites reveals that sounds of biological origin exhibit predictable rhythms depending on location and season, whereas sounds of anthropogenic origin are less predictable. Comparisons between paired urban–rural sites show that urban green spaces are noisier and dominated by sounds of technological origin.

Yücel et al. examine how skin and hair characteristics impact functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signal quality and provide recommendations for inclusive use of fNIRS.

Brain-wide recordings in mice reveal that prior expectations are distributed through recurrent loops across all levels of cortical and subcortical processing.

Mechanical confinement of cancer cells at the tumour–microenvironment interface induces phenotype switching through chromatin remodelling by HMGB2, leading to a more invasive and drug-resistant state in melanoma.

The authors use systematic monitoring across the former USSR to investigate phenological changes across taxa. The long-term mean temperature of a site emerged as a strong predictor of phenological change, with further imprints of trophic level, event timing, site, year and biotic interactions.

Nature Biotechnology’s annual survey highlights university startups that are, among other things, rethinking how to deliver gene-editing therapy and tackling various metabolic conditions, immune disorders and cancer with microbiome treatments or immunotherapy. Michael Eisenstein, Ken Garber, Esther Landhuis, Caroline Seydel and Laura DeFrancesco report.

Antarctic sea ice extent continues to increase, with autumn sea ice advances in the western Ross Sea particularly anomalous. Here, based on analysis of independent datasets, the authors show that springtime zonal winds in the high latitude South Pacific drive western Ross Sea autumn sea ice conditions.

Regulation of the actin cytoskeleton is essential for blood-brain barrier integrity and immune cell transmigration. Here, the authors show that the ion channel K2P2.1 regulates this process by shielding key signaling lipids and modulating actin dynamics.

The Arctic winters are changing fast. In February 2025, Svalbard endured rain, thawing tundra, and pooling meltwater. The Comment by Bradley and coauthors describes how winter warming is reshaping polar ecosystems—and why this resembles the new Arctic.

Heathland ecosystems are resistant to extreme wildfires due to the differing drivers of low fuel moisture across all fuel types, but extreme heatwaves can cause homogenously low moisture content across fuels, causing extreme fire behavior, according to field measurement analysis of Calluna vulgaris and organic soil moisture content across the UK.

As Finland’s climate warms, cold-adapted moths are disappearing in the north while warm-loving species move in from the south. This shift in insect communities highlights the threat climate change poses to cold-adapted species.

Crystal structures of human CB₁ bound to two cannabinoid agonists reveal key features, including a twin toggle switch and binding pocket reduction, advancing understanding of receptor dynamics and guiding cannabinoid drug design.

To better understand the etiology of frailty, the authors perform a large genetic study. They identified 45 additional variants and implicated MET, CHST9, ILRUN, APOE, CGREF1 and PPP6C as potential causal genes, linking frailty to immune regulation, metabolism and cellular signaling.

Phytoplankton blooms provoke bacterioplankton blooms, from which bacterial biomass (necromass) is released via zooplankton grazing and viral lysis. Here, Beidler et al. show that the bacterial biomass, including alpha-glucan polysaccharides generated from the consumption of algal organic matter, is reused by microbes in vitro and during a diatom-dominated bloom.

The study shows that HPV activation requires a minimum glycan length, which enlarges and softens the virus. Using virological assays, AFM, and HDX-MS, the authors propose a model explaining HPV structural activation and its role in infection.

Heterogeneous interactions between interactive entities are not well understood due to their complex configurations and many body interactions. Han et al. present a probabilistic-based machine learning method to discover the fundamental laws governing the interactions of heterogeneous systems.

Microbial communities, exposed to early Earth-like conditions in a modern microbialite reef, change cyclically due to seasonal environmental variations, implying evolved metabolic processes in microbialites over time, based on multiple chemical, physical, and biological analyses.

The changing climate threatens water quality in lakes, particularly oxygen levels. Here the authors present evidence for northern lakes of rapidly reducing oxygen levels, mainly driven by longer stratification in the warm season, with implications for lake ecosystems.

A genome-wide study by the Long COVID Host Genetics Initiative identifies an association between the FOXP4 locus and long COVID, implicating altered lung function in its pathophysiology.

Our annual survey highlights several academic startups developing immunotherapies as well as ventures focusing on microbiomes, proteostasis, integrin biology, nucleic acid delivery and subcellular imaging.

A micromachine less than 100 micrometres across, made of arrays of nanomagnets on hinged panels, is encoded with multiple shape transformations  and actuated with a magnetic field.

mRNA-based therapies require efficient and selective delivery systems to advance clinical applications and overcome challenges posed by current formulations. Here, authors developed Discrete Immolative Guanidinium Transporters (DIGITs), chemically defined carriers that enable pHresponsive mRNA release with organ and reticulocyte selectivity, minimal toxicity, and scalable synthesis.

A study reports whole-genome sequences for 490,640 participants from the UK Biobank and combines these data with phenotypic data to provide new insights into the relationship between human variation and sequence variation.

Using a globally distributed standardized aerial sampling of fungal spores, we show that the hyperdiverse kingdom of fungi follows globally highly predictable spatial and temporal dynamics, with seasonality in both species richness and community composition increasing with latitude.

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.

Safely opening university campuses has been a major challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, the authors describe a program of public health measures employed at a university in the United States which, combined with other non-pharmaceutical interventions, allowed the university to stay open in fall 2020 with limited evidence of transmission.

Despite the importance of Arctic sea-ice in the global climate system, a paucity of pre-Quaternary sedimentary archives limits our understanding of its long-term history. Here, based on ancient sediments revealed by submarine landslides, the authors reconstruct Arctic sea-ice conditions during the Miocene.

Under continued global warming, lakes will increasingly be covered by white ice, in particular towards the end of the ice cover season when fatal winter drownings occur most often and light limits the growth and reproduction of primary producers.

Winter sea ice is thought to provide critical grazing habitat for overwintering Antarctic krill. In contrast, here the authors show that the pack-ice zone is a food-poor habitat, but does serve as an important sheltering ground for developing larvae.

Sand fly vector control strategies are limited. Here, Cecilio et al. use the bacteria Delftia tsuruhatensis TC1 to reduce the ability of sand flies to become infected with Leishmania parasites and effectively transmit them to mammalian hosts.

Weldenegodguad et al. performed transcriptome profiling of adipose tissues from the bone marrow, perirenal, and prescapular fat in Finnish and Even reindeer (in Sakha) during spring and winter. They identified candidate genes potentially involved in immune responses, fat deposition, and energy metabolism that provide insight into the mechanisms by which reindeer adapt to harsh arctic conditions.

The largest harmonized proteomic dataset of plasma, serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples across major neurodegenerative diseases reveals both disease-specific and transdiagnostic proteomic signatures, including a robust plasma profile associated with the APOEε4 genotype.

Hydrous silicate melts atop the 410 km discontinuity have ultra-low viscosities, enabling rapid segregation. These melts form paired layers through continuous dehydration melting, which can merge under specific conditions, explaining seismically observed deep melt structures.

An international team of researchers finds high potential for improving climate projections by a more comprehensive treatment of largely ignored Arctic vegetation types, underscoring the importance of Arctic energy exchange measuring stations.

Remotely sensed NDVI data and contemporary field data from 84 grasslands on 6 continents show increasing divergence in aboveground plant biomass between sites in different bioclimatic regions.

Genomic and phenomic screens of 827 wheat landraces from the A. E. Watkins collection provide insight into the wheat population genetic background, unlocking many agronomic traits and revealing haplotypes that could potentially be used to improve modern wheat cultivars.

Genotype and exome sequencing of 150,000 participants and whole-genome sequencing of 9,950 selected individuals recruited into the Mexico City Prospective Study constitute a valuable, publicly available resource of non-European sequencing data.

Bees provide important pollination ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, but the extent to which they are affected by pesticide use on a continental scale has yet to be explored. This study evaluates the impact of pesticide use on wild bee populations across the contiguous United States.

The authors describe a susceptibility of the peripheral nervous system to neuronal senescence with age or injury relevant for sensory dysfunction, such as chronic pain.

A multinational randomized trial shows that task-sharing via nonspecialist providers and the use of telemedicine platforms, delivery models that can overcome barriers to scalability and access, are noninferior to specialists and in-person models for treating perinatal depression.

The authors analyse four decades of distribution data for various taxonomic groups to understand the shift of species within their climatic niches and the changing influences of different climate factors. The diverse and diverging climate imprints raise concerns about future ecosystem integrity.