As the world nears 1.5°C of global warming, near-term emissions reductions and adequate adaptation become ever more important to ensure a safe and livable planet for present and future generations

The nature and spectrum of elementary excitations are defining features of a many-body system. Here, we use a Rydberg quantum simulator to demonstrate a form of spectroscopy, called quench spectroscopy, that probes these low-energy excitations. We illustrate the method on a two-dimensional simulation of the spin-1/2 dipolar XY model. Through microscopic measurements of the spatial spin correlation

Defining viral proteomes is crucial to understanding viral life cycles and immune recognition but the landscape of translated regions remains unknown for most viruses. We have developed massively parallel ribosome profiling (MPRP) to determine open reading frames (ORFs) across tens of thousands of designed oligonucleotides. MPRP identified 4208 unannotated ORFs in 679 human-associated viral genomes

Jaundice is a common presentation of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, which arises from the accumulation of circulating bilirubin. It is not understood whether it represents an adaptive or maladaptive response to Plasmodium spp. infection. We found that asymptomatic P. falciparum infection in humans was associated with a higher ratio of unconjugated over conjugated bilirubin and parasite burden compared

Denisovans are a hominin group primarily known through genomes or proteins, but the precise morphological features of Denisovans remain elusive due to the fragmentary nature of discovered fossils. Here we report ninety-five endogenous proteins retrieved from a nearly complete cranium from Harbin, China, dating to at least 146,000 years ago and previous assigned to a new species, Homo longi . This individual

In natural habitats, nutrient availability limits bacterial growth. We discovered that bacteria can overcome this limitation by acquiring nutrients by lysing neighboring cells through contact-dependent antagonism. Using single-cell live imaging and isotopic markers, we found that during starvation, the type VI secretion system (T6SS) lysed neighboring cells and thus provided nutrients from lysing cells

Chromosomal inversions can contribute to adaptive speciation by linking coadapted alleles. By querying 1375 genomes of the species-rich Malawi cichlid fish radiation, we discovered five large inversions segregating in the benthic subradiation that each suppress recombination over more than half a chromosome. Two inversions were transferred from deepwater pelagic Diplotaxodon through admixture, whereas

Our ability to produce human-scale biomanufactured organs is limited by inadequate vascularization and perfusion. For arbitrarily complex geometries, designing and printing vasculature capable of adequate perfusion poses a major hurdle. We introduce a model-driven design platform that demonstrates rapid synthetic vascular model generation alongside multifidelity computational fluid dynamics simulations

For decades, empirical evidence has pointed to the unsustainable trajectory of global food systems, linking industrialized production to soil degradation , water stress , and nutrition deficits across vulnerable populations and underscoring the urgent need for science-based policy interventions. But despite robust, peer‐reviewed evidence outlining both the magnitude of food‐system threats and an extensive

Predicting plant responses to rising temperatures, including acute heat waves and hot droughts of varying intensity and duration, is central to addressing the climate and biodiversity crises. However, plant responses to heat are scale-dependent, complicating cross-scale prediction. We highlight recent progress revealing how and why plant responses to heat change across scales, including scales of biological

Ivy League universities have dominated recent news headlines, having become popular targets for critics of higher education. But the threats they face—cuts to federal research funding, assaults on academic freedom, and bans on admitting international students—extend far beyond their campuses. Research universities across the country—large and small, public and private—are grappling with these same

Continued greenhouse gas emissions will accelerate global warming and intensity of heat waves, which already harm crop productivity. From the stability of key enzymes to canopy processes, photosynthesis is affected by temperature. All crops suffer declines in photosynthetic rate when temperatures cross critical thresholds, with irreversible losses typically occurring above 40° to 45°C. Protective measures

Plants are highly sensitive to temperature, and climate change is predicted to have negative impacts on agricultural productivity. Warming temperatures, coupled with a growing population, present a substantial challenge for food security and motivate research to understand how plants sense and respond to changes in temperature. Here, we synthesize our current understanding of temperature sensing and

Quantitatively mapping enzyme sequence-catalysis landscapes remains a critical challenge in understanding enzyme function, evolution, and design. In this study, we leveraged emerging microfluidic technology to measure catalytic constants— k cat and K M —for hundreds of diverse orthologs and mutants of adenylate kinase (ADK). We dissected this sequence-catalysis landscape’s topology, navigability, and

Climate forcings by greenhouse gases and aerosols cause an imbalance at the top of the atmosphere between the net incoming solar radiation and outgoing longwave radiation from Earth. This Earth energy imbalance has strengthened over the period 2001 to 2023 with satellite data. Here, we show that low climate sensitivity models fail to reproduce the trend in Earth energy imbalance, particularly in the

G-quadruplexes (G4s) are prevalent DNA structures that regulate transcription but also threaten genome stability. How G4 dynamics are controlled remains poorly understood. Here, we report that RNA transcripts govern G4 landscapes through coordinated G-loop assembly and disassembly. G-loop assembly involves activation of the ATM and ATR kinases, followed by homology-directed invasion of RNA opposite

Tailoring carrier density in atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors is challenging because of the inherently limited physical space for incorporating charge dopants. Here, we report that interlayer charge-transfer doping in type III van der Waals heterostructures can be greatly modulated by an external gate to realize a hyperdoping effect. Systematic gated-Hall measurements revealed that

Crystalline solids are governed by universal structure-property relationships derived from their crystal symmetry, leading to paradigmatic rules on what properties they can and cannot exhibit. A long-held structure-property relationship is that centrosymmetric crystals cannot differentially absorb circularly polarized light. In this study, we demonstrate the design, synthesis, and characterization

Biological nitrogen fixation is a key driver of global primary production and climate. Decades of effort have repeatedly updated nitrogen fixation estimates for terrestrial and open ocean systems, yet other aquatic systems in between have largely been ignored. Here we present an evaluation of nitrogen fixation for inland and coastal waters. We demonstrate that water column and sediment nitrogen fixation

(Bi)carbonate salt formation has been widely recognized as a primary factor in poor operational stability of the electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO 2 RR). We demonstrate that flowing CO 2 gas into an acid bubbler—which carries trace amounts of acid vapor into a gas diffusion electrode for silver-catalyzed CO 2 RR to carbon monoxide (CO)—can prevent salt accumulation. In a 100-square-centimeter

Bacteria leverage a secretion system to kill and scavenge nutrients from nearby competitors.

A tiny sliver of NIH, the institute has provided evidence base for bedside care.

Reform movement should have seen call for "gold standard science" coming, critics say.

Scientists say India-Pakistan treaty needs to be rethought for a changing world.

Driven largely by open access, the trend puts society programming at risk.

A no-fault compensation scheme may help balance innovation and patient protection.

Wild plant species harbor a vast but largely unknown diversity of temperature stress solutions.

"You're killing a newborn baby," says one astrophysicist.

Recent case law can shape how innovation unfolds.

Technology could be a boon for science, but raises ethical concerns.

BBO-10203 is an orally available drug that covalently and specifically binds to the RAS-binding domain of phosphoinositide 3-kinase α (PI3Kα), preventing its activation by HRAS, NRAS, and KRAS. It inhibited PI3Kα activation in tumors with oncogenic mutations in KRAS or PIK3CA , and in tumors with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) amplification or overexpression. In preclinical models

Retrons are antiphage defense systems that produce multicopy single-stranded DNA (msDNA) and hold promises for genome engineering. However, the mechanisms of defense remain unclear. The Retron-Septu system uniquely integrates retron and Septu antiphage defenses. Cryo-electron microscopy structures reveal asymmetric nucleoprotein complexes comprising a reverse transcriptase (RT), msDNA (a hybrid of

Reactive oxygen species function as key signals in plant adaptation to environmental stresses like drought. Roots respond to transient water unavailability by temporarily ceasing branching through the acclimative response xerobranching. In this study, we report how a xerobranching stimulus triggers rapid changes of ROS levels in root nuclei, triggering redox-dependent multimerization of the auxin repressor

In drug development, replacement of a skeletal carbon with a sulfur atom can result in analogs of bioactive compounds with improved properties. Currently, the sulfur analogs are almost exclusively prepared by de novo synthesis; the existing approach to swap carbon with sulfur is inefficient and involves stoichiometric mercury reagents. In this study, we report a two-step carbonyl-to-sulfur (CO-to-S)

The Sun’s corona is its tenuous outer atmosphere of hot plasma, which is difficult to observe. Most models of the corona extrapolate its magnetic field from that measured on the photosphere (the Sun’s optical surface) over a full 27-day solar rotational period, providing a time-stationary approximation. We present a model of the corona that evolves continuously in time, by assimilating photospheric

The phrase “Sputnik moment” is often used to describe a moment when a country—usually the United States—needs to respond to some technological leap made by another nation. The wake-up call is meant to provoke more investment in research, development, and education. Today, the United States faces another Sputnik moment, but this time, the threat isn’t coming from abroad—it’s coming from within.

Variants in a ciliary receptor are associated with obesity.

Area-based conservation is not sufficient to protect the ocean's most highly mobile species.

Innovative techniques yielded corn, beans, and squash for 600 years before European contact.

Long-running experiment concludes muon is no more magnetic than theory predicts.

Trump request favors one giant telescope and kills a gravitational wave detector.

Venerable advisory organization hit by Trump's contract cancellations.

Proposal comes as White House pulls its nominee to lead NASA.

Halt to foreign "subawards" disrupts studies and compromises ethical obligations to trial volunteers.

Critical mineral supply and demand require global coordination to reduce market volatility and conflict risk.

Although model organisms have provided insight into the earliest stages of cardiac and hepatic vascularization, we know very little about this process in humans because of ethical restrictions and the technical difficulty of obtaining embryos during very early development. In this study, we demonstrate that micropatterned human pluripotent stem cell–derived gastruloids enable in vitro modeling of the

We describe archaeological evidence of intensive ancestral Native American agriculture in the now heavily forested Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Recent LIDAR (light detection and ranging) and excavation data have uncovered densely clustered ancient agricultural raised garden bed ridges covering an expanse far greater than previously realized. These raised agricultural fields are deeply enmeshed in the

Low circulating taurine concentrations have been proposed as a driver of the aging process. We found that circulating taurine concentrations increased or remained unchanged with age in three geographically distinct human cohorts as well as in nonhuman primates and mice when measured longitudinally (repeatedly in the same population) or cross-sectionally (sampling distinct populations at various ages)

The melanocortin system centrally regulates energy homeostasis, with key components such as melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) and adenylyl cyclase 3 (ADCY3) in neuronal primary cilia. Mutations in MC4R and ADCY3 as well as ciliary dysfunction lead to obesity, but how melanocortin signaling works in cilia remains unclear. Using mouse random germline mutagenesis, we identified two missense mutations in

Carbon and nitrogen are central elements in global biogeochemical cycles. To effectively manage carbon and nitrogen in China, we developed a comprehensive model for quantifying their fluxes, investigating their interplay across 16 human and natural subsystems. Between 1980 and 2020, nitrogen losses in China increased 2.3-fold and carbon emissions surged 6.5-fold. Integrated carbon and nitrogen management

Across 11 southern African reserves protecting the world’s largest rhino population, we documented the poaching of 1985 rhinos (2017–2023, ~6.5% of the population annually) despite approximately USD 74 million spent on antipoaching. Most investment focused on reactive law enforcement—rangers, tracking dogs, access controls, and detection cameras—which helped achieve >700 poacher arrests. Yet we found

Anaerobic metabolisms are thought to dominate nitrogen cycling in anoxic marine zones (AMZs). However, thriving populations of aerobic nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) in AMZs challenge this assumption and remain unexplained. Using theory and modeling, we show how periodic oxygen intrusions sustain aerobic NOB in AMZs alongside more competitive aerobic heterotrophs. Ecological theory, supported by

Many functional molecules and materials have been produced with organic chemistry or with in vitro enzymatic approaches. Individual organisms, such as insects, have the potential to serve as natural reaction platforms in which high densities of multiple enzymes can perform new and complex reactions. We report an “in-insect” unnatural product synthesis that takes advantage of their xenobiotic metabolism