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Proteins spanning the membranes of cells of the intestine and kidney use sodium-ion gradients to take up glucose, enabling water absorption, too. The structures of these transporter proteins have now been observed in detail.
Direct imaging has revealed the existence of a large planet orbiting a binary system that contains the most massive planet-hosting stars detected so far. The discovery challenges existing models for how planets and stars form.
In some neurodegenerative diseases, a protein called TDP-43 forms aggregates in the brain, resulting in neuronal cell death. The structure of these aggregates and their properties have been unveiled.
Plants offset a large fraction of Earth’s carbon dioxide emissions, but estimating the size of this carbon sink relies on differing terrestrial-biosphere models. Combining multiple models with data has now reduced the uncertainty.
Trials of behavioural interventions are hard to compare, hampering policy decision-making. The effects of more than 50 interventions on exercise behaviour have been compared using an experimental design called a megastudy.
The potential origins and global spread of SARS-CoV-2, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and the importance of genomic surveillance for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.
Machine-learning tools have been used to assist the part of mathematical research that usually relies on human intuition and creativity — leading to two fundamental results in different areas of mathematics.
Armoured dinosaurs are widely recognized for their tail weapons, which include paired spikes in stegosaurs and tail clubs in ankylosaurs. The discovery of Stegouros in Chile reveals a new kind of tail weapon, resembling an Aztec war club, and a lineage that split early from northern armoured dinosaurs.
Analysis of plankton fossils has revealed pulses of size diversity that are inextricably linked to the degree of circularity of Earth’s orbits. Could this orbital variability provide a beat that dictates the rhythm of evolution?
Bipedalism is a defining feature of the human lineage, but not all hominin species walked in the same way. New data from a famous palaeoanthropology site reveal that at least two differently bipedal hominins roamed eastern Africa.
A technical feat reveals subtle changes in water structure that can accelerate hydrogen production at an electrode interface. The catalytic process could be developed to help boost supply of this clean fuel.
A mission to unexplored lunar territory has returned the youngest volcanic samples collected so far. The rocks highlight the need to make revisions to models of the thermal evolution of the Moon.
Experiments on electrons interacting with atomic nuclei have shown that the models used to measure neutrino oscillations — and thereby possibly to understand the formation of the Universe — are less accurate than we thought.
A sophisticated theory for learning motor skills places emphasis on the need for inferring context — drawing conclusions about the structure of the environment — for efficiently storing and expressing motor memories.
Communication between neurons in the brain is generally associated with electrochemical signalling. Here we reveal that neurons can also communicate through the force generated by the enlargement of dendritic spines. This force is comparable to that of muscle contraction and might underlie learning and memory, suggesting that brain function is more mechanical than was previously thought.
A diamond shatters easily, despite it being the hardest natural material. Atomically disordered forms of diamond made from buckyballs might not only overcome this problem, but also allow other properties to be optimized.
Nature’s pages feature a look at the English chemist Joseph Priestley’s time in America, and an account of preparations to observe the 1871 solar eclipse.
The scarcity and high radioactivity of the heaviest actinide elements, such as californium, make their study a formidable challenge. A landmark report describes the first structural characterization of a californium—carbon bond.
