First truly single aperiodic tile discovered that can cover an infinite surface without repeating itself.

Close-in giant exoplanets with temperatures greater than 2,000 K (“ultra-hot Jupiters”) have been the subject of extensive efforts to determine their atmospheric properties using thermal emission measurements from the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes1–3. However, previous studies have yielded inconsistent results because the small sizes of the spectral features and the limited information content

Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 31 May 2023

A physically principled framework shows that the brain’s geometry has a greater influence on neural activity patterns than the complex interconnectivity between brain regions.

Text- and image-generating tools present a new hurdle for efforts to tackle the growing number of fake papers making their way into the academic literature.

Risk of death among women and young children was markedly reduced by the poverty-reduction efforts.

JWST observations rule out atmosphere for TRAPPIST-1b.

Safe and just boundaries for Earth.

Structures and metal-binding modes of lanmodulin proteins.

A model of the brain’s geometry better explains neuronal activity than a model based on the ‘connectome’.

Analysis of single-cell RNA-sequencing studies across various cancers.

An atomic model of the axoneme core of the hair-like cilia on some cells reveals how they move.

Pretraining on a large data set gives model insight into how genes interact.

Earth-system boundaries define a safe operating space for humanity. Accounting for the planet’s most vulnerable people provides a stark warning of the work still to be done.'

Strong and ductile titanium–oxygen–iron alloys made using a laser-directed additive-manufacturing process.

A robot equipped with soft humanoid arms helps to reconstruct Pompeii’s shattered frescoes. Plus, anonymous peer review equalizes the publishing playing field and why California condors will be vaccinated against avian flu.

Restored mangroves and seagrass meadows could suck more carbon from the atmosphere.

Abstract. Multi-elemental and multi-dimensional data are more and more important in the development of data-driven research, as is the case in modern paleontology, in which, in an examination by experts, or some day artificial intelligence, every fossil specimen plays a fundamental role. We here release a dataset of 1550 graptolite specimens representing 113 Ordovician to Silurian graptolite species

Abstract. A historical dataset of river chemistry and discharge is presented for 140 monitoring sites along the US East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and the US West Coast from 1950 to 2022. The dataset, referred to here as River Chemistry for the U.S. Coast (RC4USCoast), is mostly derived from the Water Quality Database of the US Geological Survey (USGS) but also includes river discharge from the USGS's

Abstract. Accurate, detailed, and up-to-date information on cropland extent is crucial for provisioning food security and environmental sustainability. However, because of the complexity of agricultural landscapes and lack of sufficient training samples, it remains challenging to monitor cropland dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolutions across large geographical extents, especially for places

Abstract. Forests strongly modify the accumulation, metamorphism and melting of snow in mid and high-latitude regions. Recently, snow routines in hydrological and land surface models have been improved to incorporate more accurate representations of forest snow processes, but model inter-comparison projects have identified deficiencies, partly due to incomplete knowledge of the processes controlling

Abstract. This paper presents two metazoan zooplankton datasets obtained by imaging samples collected on the Bay of Biscay continental shelf in spring during the PELGAS integrated surveys, over the 2004–2019 period. The samples were collected at night, with a WP2 200 µm mesh size fitted with a Hydrobios (back-run stop) mechanical flowmeter, hauled vertically from the sea floor to the surface with a

Tibetan Plateau (TP) is the highest plateau in the world and the headwater region for many great rivers. Precipitation over the TP influences both local and downstream water resources. Tibetan Plateau vortices (TPVs) are important rainfall triggers generated over the TP, which significantly affect downstream precipitation when moving off the TP. Research on TPVs is conducive to understanding the precipitation

It does the thinking, so you don’t have to.

The London museum is a treasure chest of medical specimens both fascinating and ghoulish — now with a renewed focus on questions about how its collections came to be.

An explosion of skeletal editing methods to insert, delete or swap individual atoms in molecular backbones could accelerate drug discovery.

Nature has learnt that the periodic table, as well as evolution, won’t be taught to under-16s as they start the new school year.

A ‘meta-lens’ and corrective algorithms allow a tiny device to produce high-resolution images.

Brain cues produced by chronic stress lead to a cascade of events that eventually triggers immune cells in the gut. Plus, a key database that will guide deep-sea mining might be flawed and ‘tree islands’ can blunt the harm of oil-palm plantations.

Abstract. Land surface temperature (LST) is a key variable for monitoring and evaluating global long-term climate change. However, existing satellite-based twice-daily LST products only date back to 2000, which makes it difficult to obtain robust long-term temperature variations. In this study, we developed the first global historical twice-daily LST dataset (GT-LST), with a spatial resolution of 0

Abstract. The combustion of wood fuel for residential use is often not considered to be a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from households, as the emissions from wood fuel combustion can be offset by the CO2 absorbed by the growth of the forest (as a carbon sink) (IPCC, 2006). However, this only applies to wood that is harvested in a renewable way, i.e. at a rate not exceeding the regrowth

Abstract. As the vegetation in the Arctic changes, tundra ecosystems along the southern border of the Arctic are becoming greener and gradually giving way to boreal ecosystems. This change is affecting local populations, wildlife, energy exchange processes between environmental compartments, and the carbon cycle. To understand the progression and the implications of this change in vegetation, satellite

Abstract. The global trends of ocean warming, deoxygenation, and acidification are not easily extrapolated to coastal environments. Local factors, including intricate hydrodynamics, high primary productivity, freshwater inputs, and pollution, can exacerbate or attenuate global trends and produce complex mosaics of physiologically stressful conditions for organisms. In the California Current System

Abstract. During the last glacial period, the climate shift to cold conditions associated with changes in atmospheric circulation and vegetation cover resulted in the development of large aeolian systems in Europe. On a regional scale, many factors may have influenced dust dynamics, such as the latitudinal difference between the various aeolian systems and the variability of the sources of wind-transported

Abstract. Human-induced climate change is increasing the incidence of fire events and associated impacts on livelihood, biodiversity, and nature across the world. Understanding current and projected fire activity together with its impacts on ecosystems is crucial for evaluating future risks and taking actions to prevent such devastating events. Here we focus on fire weather as a key driver of fire

Abstract. With the increasing challenge to shift our economic system from carbon to renewable energy carriers the demand for biogenic resources is growing. Biogenic municipal waste, agricultural by-products and industrial residues are under-utilised but are increasingly gaining in value. To date, there is no continuous database for these resources in the EU-27 countries. Existing datasets that estimate

The Amazon hosts one of the largest and richest rainforests in the world, but its origins remain debated. Growing evidence suggests that geodiversity and geological history played essential roles in shaping the Amazonian flora. Here we summarize the geo-climatic history of the Amazon and review paleopalynological records and time-calibrated phylogenies to evaluate the response of plants to environmental

Terrestrial plants have transformed Earth's surface environments by altering water, energy, and biogeochemical cycles. Studying vegetation-climate interaction in deep time has necessarily relied on modern-plant analogs to represent paleo-ecosystems—as methods for reconstructing paleo- and, in particular, extinct-plant function were lacking. This approach is potentially compromised given that plant