Search

A large-scale study on the replicability of claims from social and behavioural science journals reports that about half of the results replicate in the same patterns as the original study.

When 100 social and behavioural science claims were examined, 34% of reanalyses closely matched the original results, with 74% reaching the same conclusion, revealing limited robustness of single-path analyses and the need to address analytical uncertainty.

Humanity’s Last Exam, a multi-modal benchmark at the frontier of human knowledge, is designed to be an expert-level closed-ended academic benchmark with broad subject coverage.

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.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

Geospatial estimates of the prevalence of anemia in women of reproductive age across 82 low-income and middle-income countries reveals considerable heterogeneity and inequality at national and subnational levels, with few countries on track to meet the WHO Global Nutrition Targets by 2030.

How attention facilitates complex decisions requiring the consideration of multiple options with multiple attributes remains unclear. Here, the authors found that the brain represents multiple options simultaneously and that attention modulates the representation of their value.

The lowest-frequency gravitational wave background may be shaped by supermassive black hole binaries that scatter nearby stars or dark matter. In this case, the NANOGrav 15-year dataset favours dense galactic centres with 10⁶ solar masses per cubic parsec.

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.

In this study, Yang et al. compile a global dataset to uncover the degree to which plants coordinate root and seed traits. They report a global positive correlation between root diameter and seed size, driven by dual roles of arbuscular mycorrhiza in phosphorus uptake and pathogen defence.

Spatio-temporally structured light can provide useful applications in laser-wakefield acceleration. Here, the authors demonstrate the generation of wakefields by means of quasi-Bessel beams focused by an axiparabola, imaged with femtosecond relativistic electron microscopy.

In ancestral SARS-CoV-2 infection, NK cell interferon-stimulated gene (ISG)-driven activation correlated with poor antibody breadth. In vitro, NK cell ISG expression boosts cytotoxicity toward T_FH-like cells, suggesting a mechanism for impaired antibody responses.

The neuronal architecture that develops after spinal cord injury and causes autonomic dysreflexia is uncovered.

Here, the authors demonstrate a multi-momentum transformation metasurface. The orbital angular momentum meta-transformer reconstructs different vortex beams into on-axis distinct patterns, and the linear momentum meta-transformer converts red, green and blue beams to vivid color images.

Polygenic scores for body mass index and obesity constructed using data from 5 million people with different ancestries were associated with distinct weight gain trajectories from early childhood to adulthood.

A large genome-wide association study of more than 5 million individuals reveals that 12,111 single-nucleotide polymorphisms account for nearly all the heritability of height attributable to common genetic variants.

This description of the Sphagnum (peat moss) genome includes a newly discovered sex chromosome. Interactions among sex, autosomes and environment show direct effects on Sphagnum growth which influences global carbon sequestration.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis study of blood lipid levels in roughly 1.6 million individuals demonstrates the gain of power attained when diverse ancestries are included to improve fine-mapping and polygenic score generation, with gains in locus discovery related to sample size.

The authors present DNA-Diffusion, a generative AI framework that designs synthetic regulatory elements with tunable cell-type specificity. Experimental validation demonstrates their ability to reactivate AXIN2 expression, a leukemia-protective gene, in its native genomic context.

Timothy Frayling, Joel Hirschhorn, Peter Visscher and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for adult height in 253,288 individuals. They identify 697 variants in 423 loci significantly associated with adult height and find that these variants cluster in pathways involved in growth and together explain one-fifth of the heritability for this trait.

A neural implant with a subnanolitre-volume can provide year-long in vivo recordings in awake mice.

The authors find low-energy magnetic excitations and a flat band near the Fermi level in kagome metal superconductor CsCr3Sb5 by angle-resolved photoemission and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering. They suggest that the flat band plays a role in the emergence of charge/magnetic order at low temperatures.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

An atomic stencilling method based on the co-adsorption of iodide and 2-naphthalenethiol on gold is described, yielding more than 20 different types of nanoparticle with masked and painted regions and patchy particle morphologies not reported previously.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

In situ methods for water quality monitoring is crucial for global water use and management, though many conventional sensors have slow response time and are non-recyclable. Here, the authors report a recyclable amphiphobic dielectric material for fast monitoring of water pollutants.

Polar skyrmions are nanoscale topological structures of electric polarizations. Their collective modes, dubbed as “skyrons”, are discovered by the terahertz-field-excitation, femtosecond x-ray diffraction measurements and advanced modeling.

A study reports on the antigenic characterization of SARS-CoV-2 BA.1, BA.1.1 and BA.2 and the neutralizing activity of different monoclonal antibodies and sera against them.

Medical devices face stability challenges in extreme pH conditions. Here, the authors report a liquid-based encapsulation approach that achieves year-long encapsulation in acidic conditions

Observed 730 Myr after the Big Bang, a little red dot is found to anchor an overdensity of eight galaxies and seems to be embedded in a massive host dark matter halo.

A remora-inspired mechanical underwater adhesive device adheres securely to a range of soft substrates and maintains performance under extreme pH and moisture conditions, with potential applications in biosensing and drug delivery.

A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of type 2 diabetes (T2D) identifies more than 600 T2D-associated loci; integrating physiological trait and single-cell chromatin accessibility data at these loci sheds light on heterogeneity within the T2D phenotype.

Extracellular matrices are viscoelastic, yet how matrix viscoelasticity regulates the epigenome remains unclear. Here, the authors show that cells cultured on viscoelastic matrices exhibit changes in the nucleoskeleton and in chromatin that enhance cell reprogramming.

Reduced glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is a hallmark of chronic kidney disease. Here, Pattaro et al. conduct a meta-analysis to discover several new loci associated with variation in eGFR and find that genes associated with eGFR loci often encode proteins potentially related to kidney development.

Bestrophin anion channels are critical for the health of eyes. Here, authors identify multiple bestrophin activators including glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid.

Both rare and common variants contribute to the aetiology of complex traits such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). Here, the authors examine the effect of coding variation on glycaemic traits and T2D, and identify low-frequency variation in GLP1Rsignificantly associated with these traits.

Bestrophin-1 (Best1) is an anion channel genetically linked to eye diseases. Here, the authors identify GAD65 and GAD67 as Best1 activators with distinctive functional influences and characterize Best1 as a γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) type A receptor.

In an interim analysis of a phase 1/2 trial, a heterologous prime boost vaccine comprised of a chimpanzee adenovirus and self-amplifying mRNA that encodes neoantigens derived from common oncogenic driver mutations in combination with immune checkpoint blockade was safe and elicited neoantigen-specific T cell responses in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Spatially resolved images of M87 obtained at a wavelength of 3.5 mm in 2018 show a ring-like accretion structure, the inner (outer) edge of which connects the black hole (jet).

A genetic study identifies hundreds of loci associated with risk tolerance and risky behaviors, finds evidence of substantial shared genetic influences across these phenotypes, and implicates genes involved in neurotransmission.

Transcription factors (TFs) represent an emerging class of therapeutic targets in oncology. Here, the authors develop Epiregulon, a computational method that constructs gene regulatory networks from ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq and RNA-seq data for accurate prediction of TF activity at the single-cell level, thereby facilitating the discovery of therapeutics targeting TFs.

In an iterative phase 2 trial, patients with metastatic, treatment-refractory, mismatch repair proficient gastrointestinal cancers had responses to neoantigen-reactive tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes but not bulk tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, highlighting the potential for a refined immune cell therapy approach in this patient population.

A trans-ancestry meta-analysis of GWAS of glycemic traits in up to 281,416 individuals identifies 99 novel loci, of which one quarter was found due to the multi-ancestry approach, which also improves fine-mapping of credible variant sets.

A non-contact wearable device that defines and modulates a microclimate adjacent to the skin can measure incoming and outgoing streams of vapourized substances, offering valuable insights into physiological health, wound healing and environmental exposures.

Genome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in ancestrally diverse populations implicate candidate causal genes and mechanisms underlying type 2 diabetes. Trans-ancestry genetic risk scores enhance transferability across populations.

Here, the authors discover small molecules that inhibit glycosylation processes that occur in the Golgi apparatus of cells. The molecules reversibly inhibit formation of elaborate glycan structures without affecting secretion of glycoproteins.

The goal of the 1000 Genomes Project is to provide in-depth information on variation in human genome sequences. In the pilot phase reported here, different strategies for genome-wide sequencing, using high-throughput sequencing platforms, were developed and compared. The resulting data set includes more than 95% of the currently accessible variants found in any individual, and can be used to inform association and functional studies.