How and when did cells gain the ability to crawl? Live imaging of cells from close relatives of early eukaryotes fills in a major gap in the understanding of cellular evolution.
Understanding the triggers of autoimmunity might lead to better therapies, with hair loss among the conditions for which underpinning factors have come to light.
Movement can expose camouflaged prey, yet whether colour patterns help moving prey to avoid capture is a long-standing puzzle. Butterfly wings might offer an answer.
Wearable computing promises to transform human interaction with information, yet conventional graphical user interfaces (GUIs) rely on planar, rigid displays incompatible with textiles, which are composed of one-dimensional fibres.…
Magnetic tunnel junctions based on ferromagnets are canonical devices in spintronics, with wide-ranging applications in data storage, computing and sensing.…
Anaerobic degradation of complex organic compounds to methane and carbon dioxide is common in the deep subsurface biosphere and has long been considered to require syntrophic cooperation, with methanogens confined to the terminal use of simple C1 and C2…
Carbonylation is an important process used to produce aldehydes, carboxylic acids and esters1–5 that is usually catalysed by homogeneous metal complexes with ligands and iodide promoters6–12.…
Recent breakthroughs in pig-to-human xenotransplantation have successfully prevented hyperacute rejection of kidney, heart, liver and lung xenografts, marking a milestone long considered a critical barrier.…
Touch-sensitive, light-emitting yarn can turn everyday clothing into washable, bendable user interfaces with dynamic graphics and versatile computing functions.
A 3D-printing method has made single crystals of metals and alloys in complex shapes and up to one metre in length, as needed for advanced technological applications.
A 450,000-year stalagmite record of rainfall in the Amazon Basin , combined with existing Asian records, shows that the global monsoon system has oscillated regularly, strengthening in one hemisphere while weakening in the other.…
In nematodes, a metabolite induced by the cold links low temperatures to a body-wide signal that promotes longevity. This signalling system is also seen in human cells.
Embedding enzymes that break down ester bonds into compostable polyesters enables rapid and complete biodegradation even in microbe-scarce environments.…
The use of artificial-intelligence tools in medicine is increasing. What types of technology might be on the horizon and how can such health-advice tools be tested?
An innovative artificial-intelligence application enhances weather forecasting in the difficult subseasonal range, providing accurate forecasts of precipitation, temperature and pressure 3–5 weeks in advance.…
An old theory gains fresh support from advanced DNA sequencing, which can detect rare mutations in B cells from people with autoimmune thyroid conditions.…
Stacks of transistors built from nanomembranes that can be rolled onto a substrate have been used to fabricate 3D circuits. Stacks of transistors built from nanomembranes that can be rolled onto a substrate have been used to fabricate 3D circuits.
