Search

Genome-wide sequencing of 180 ancient individuals shows a continuous gradient of ancestry in Early-to-Mid-Holocene hunter-gatherers from the Baltic to the Transbaikal region and distinct contemporaneous groups in Northeast Siberia, and provides insights into the origins of modern Uralic and Yeniseian speakers.

This Perspective proposes a new framework to support the inclusion of Black, Indigenous and people of colour in conservation initiatives.

From 2014–2017, marine heatwaves caused global mass coral bleaching, where the corals lose their symbiotic algae. The authors find, this event exceeded the severity of all prior global bleaching events in recorded history, with approximately half the world’s reefs bleaching and 15% experiencing substantial mortality.

‘Commercial fisheries have decimated keystone species, including oysters in the past 200 years. Here, the authors examine how Indigenous oyster harvest in North America and Australia was managed across 10,000 years, advocating for effective future stewardship of oyster reefs by centering Indigenous peoples.’

Deep Maniot Greeks preserve Y-DNA and mtDNA from Bronze-to-Roman Age Greece, largely untouched by later migrations. Genetics reveal historical demography, settlement patterns in southern Greece, and the emergence of their unique clan system

Large-effect variants in autism remain elusive. Here, the authors use long-read sequencing to assemble phased genomes for 189 individuals, identifying pathogenic variants in TBL1XR1, MECP2, and SYNGAP1, plus nine candidate structural variants missed by short-read methods.

A collaborative study initiated by the sovereign nation of Picuris Pueblo in the Northern Rio Grande region of New Mexico addresses gaps in traditional knowledge and furthers understanding of their population history and ancestry.

The majority of incident HIV infections in Eastern and Southern Africa occur in the general population. Here, the authors harmonise data from eight open population-based cohort studies from six countries and describe individual and community-level risk factors for HIV acquisition.

Analyses of ancient human DNA show that cultural and political transformations in Central Europe during the second half of the first millennium ce were associated with movements of Slavic populations into Germany, Poland and Croatia.

Analyses of 34 ancient genomes from northeastern Siberia, dating to between 31,000 and 600 years ago, reveal at least three major migration events in the late Pleistocene population history of the region.

Indigenous-led structured decision-making workshops with local Indigenous people on Bundjalung Country in Australia identified and prioritized culturally significant species and determined Bundjalung-led actions for the management of these culturally significant entities.

How climate, caribou and human well-being are linked is not well known. Using interviews conducted over 9 years with Indigenous hunters from the Western Arctic of America, this study analyses the mechanisms linking climate, caribou and human capacity to satisfy cultural and subsistence needs in a human–caribou system.

Net-zero policies can put pressure on land use, which can conflict with preserving natural landscapes, cultural sites and agricultural areas. Now a study integrates national energy models with proactive and collaborative planning to design net-zero pathways that conserve natural capital and address diverse concerns.

Rare earth mineralisation at Maoniuping formed when its carrying carbonatite brine-melt reacted with surrounding siliceous rocks, forming an antiskarn. The melt lost its fluxing alkali elements, which led to deposition of coarse grained bastnäsite.

Network of protected areas in Canada is not well-buffered against increasing environmental stochasticity from 1981 to 2025, suggesting decreased species richness, as revealed by daily and spatially explicit normalized difference vegetation index.

New Zealand implemented stringent COVID-19 control measures early after identification of its first case. Here, the authors perform whole genome sequencing of samples taken until 22 May 2020 and find high viral diversity indicative of multiple separate introductions and limited community transmission.

Genomic analysis of Plasmodium DNA from 36 ancient individuals provides insight into the global distribution and spread of malaria-causing species during around 5,500 years of human history.

Past human land modification in the Amazon has resulted in nutrient- and carbon-rich soil deposits of great cultural and environmental value. A new remote-sensing and machine-learning approach reveals the extent of Amazonian dark earth and its potentially substantial carbon reservoir.

In Australia, remote settlements and Indigenous settlements are respectively 18% and 15% more likely to be underserved across five categories of electricity retail legal protections. These settlements are therefore likely to enter the energy transition on an uneven footing.

Temperature extremes increase energy use and reliance on the services that energy provides, which can increase energy insecurity and the associated risks of harm. This study examines energy use of Indigenous communities in remote Australia and finds increased disconnection rates for prepayment-meter users during temperature extremes.

In this Perspective article, the authors discuss how Indigenous Peoples' desires for greater involvement and oversight when participating in genomic research projects can be balanced against calls for unrestricted data access. They provide practical recommendations for the handling and sharing of Indigenous genomic data, with the aim of achieving mutual benefit for the research community and participating Indigenous communities.

Species classified as Critically Endangered are at greatest risk of extinction, and their preservation and recovery are crucial to meeting global biodiversity aims. This Review assesses the geographical and taxonomic distribution of Critically Endangered species, their threats, current and required conservation actions, and strategies to facilitate effective, coordinated conservation.

This Review identifies and describes interactions and feedbacks between biodiversity and diversity of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, and uses case studies from South America to illustrate the conservation and human benefits that can arise from protecting both biological and cultural diversity.

Federated learning (FL) algorithms have emerged as a promising solution to train models for healthcare imaging across institutions while preserving privacy. Here, the authors describe the Federated Tumor Segmentation (FeTS) challenge for the decentralised benchmarking of FL algorithms and evaluation of Healthcare AI algorithm generalizability in real-world cancer imaging datasets.

This Perspective highlights the global consensus on the urgency and growing threat of invasive alien species, and management needs, as found by the 2023 report on invasive alien species conducted by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

What is the state of trust in scientists around the world? To answer this question, the authors surveyed 71,922 respondents in 68 countries and found that trust in scientists is moderately high.

Following a wide-ranging review of studies, reports and policies about nature’s multiple values, combinations of values-centred approaches are proposed to improve valuation of nature, address barriers to uptake in decision-making, and make transformative changes towards more just and sustainable futures.

The Nature Relationship Index offers a new way to measure and engage human aspirations to shape a better future for people and all life on Earth.

Including First Nations’ cultural and ecological values in natural capital accounting by engaging with land and sea managers helps bridge the gap between Indigenous and Western knowledge and enables inclusive decision making, as discussed through three Australian case studies in this Perspective.

Implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework requires robust commitments from actors across society. However, the Convention on Biological Diversity’s pledge system is still nascent and has structural deficiencies. Integrated guidance on society-wide biodiversity commitments that complement governmental efforts is urgently needed to effectively accelerate progress towards global biodiversity targets.

A shift towards more-frequent, less-intense fires in Australia began about 11,000 years ago due to management by Indigenous societies, according to charcoal and stable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon records extending back 150,000 years.

Federated ML (FL) provides an alternative to train accurate and generalizable ML models, by only sharing numerical model updates. Here, the authors present the largest FL study to-date to generate an automatic tumor boundary detector for glioblastoma.

Mutations in linker 2 of KLF1 are identified in cases of non-spherocytic hemolytic anemia. Here, the authors show the molecular mechanisms of disease due to linker 2 mutation in mice using ChIPseq and RNAseq.

Reducing the stigma and discrimination that people living with liver conditions experience requires rethinking how diagnoses, diseases, etiologies and circumstances are perceived — a shift that begins with the language used to name and describe them.

The GREGoR consortium provides foundational resources and substrates for the future of rare disease genomics.

An alternative concept of sustainable development, based on the two-way flow of contributions between nature, the economy and social systems, provides a theoretical foundation for an inclusive and diverse notion of sustainability, according to an assessment of the current market-based framework and alternative options.

Strontium isotope analysis can be applied to animal and plant tissues to help determine their provenance. Here, the authors generate a strontium isoscape of sub-Saharan Africa using data from 2266 environmental samples and demonstrate its efficacy by tracing the African roots of individuals from historic slavery contexts.

The origin and dispersal of the chicken across Eurasia is unclear. Here, the authors examine eggshell fragments from southern Central Asia with paleoproteomics to identify chicken eggshells, suggesting that chickens may have been an important dietary component as early as 400BCE.

A population genomics study reveals a high similarity between a New World landrace of African rice and an Ivory Coast landrace. Together with diaries from captains of slave ships, the evidence presented traces the ancestry of the New World rice to its African origin.

Forests that are free of significant human-induced degradation should be accorded urgent conservation priority, it is argued, owing to evidence that they hold particular value for biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, water provision, and the maintenance of indigenous cultures and human health.

A study aimed at revealing the role of small-scale fisheries in sustainable development shows they provide at least 40% of the global fishing catch and affect the livelihoods of 1 in 12 people in the world, among other important contributions.

Genome-wide ancient DNA data from 225 individuals who lived in southeastern Europe between 12000 and 500 bc reveals that the region acted as a genetic crossroads before and after the arrival of farming.

Ecosystem accounting has been advocated as a potential ‘game changer’ for managing the environment and economy and was recently standardised by the United Nations (UN) in the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA). However, Indigenous Peoples, their lands, values, and knowledge have not been explicitly included in the SEEA-EA. With more than 40% of global land under some form of Indigenous management or tenure, this omission must be addressed if Indigenous Peoples are to use the SEEA-EA; and if the values and aspirations of Indigenous Peoples are to be reflected in broader environmental and economic management and policy. We outline how Indigenous perspectives differ from those currently recognised in SEEA-EA. A key difference is that Indigenous Peoples view themselves as part of ecosystems rather than distinct from them, and this relationship is two-way, not one-way, as presented in the SEEA-EA. Reconciling these perspectives is possible but will require collaborative engagement with Indigenous Peoples guided by the principles of free, prior, and informed consent. To achieve a reconciliation, we call for two actions: (1) including recognition of Indigenous values as a new item on the SEEA-EA research agenda, and; (2) that Indigenous Peoples be part of the UN processes governing the development of the SEEA-EA.

Wood density is an important plant trait. Data from 1.1 million forest inventory plots and 10,703 tree species show a latitudinal gradient in wood density, with temperature and soil moisture explaining variation at the global scale and disturbance also having a role at the local level.

Ancient DNA reveals genetic differences between stone-tool users and people associated with ceramic technology in the Caribbean and provides substantially lower estimates of population sizes in the region before European contact.