News & Comment

In war and conflict zones, the jamming of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNNS) signals by military forces disrupts the tracking of tagged animals, and has increased in frequency following the recent escalation of conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Such disruption to data collection strongly hampers research into the protection and conservation of endangered animals.

Adoptive cell therapy has emerged as a promising approach for treating advanced solid malignancies. Genetic engineering techniques represent an exciting area of research for the development of cellular products with enhanced cytotoxicity, phenotype, and metabolism.

Recent advances in non-invasive technologies have shown disruptive potential for biomedical applications. However, while surgically non-invasive, they may introduce other types of limitations which interfere with the patient’s quality of life, from impracticalities and discomfort in daily life to social stigma.

A step change is required in citizen awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The authors propose we go further still, directly engaging and involving patients and public in scoping, testing and scaling solutions to this global health crisis.

A recent paper found that the sex chromosomes of the crested ibis have more gametolog pairs than many other birds. This Comment discusses that this finding suggets that WZ recombination stopped independently in the sex chromosomes in different bird lineages.

Auxin was one of the first plant hormones to be identified, but we are still discovering the roles of this “master” hormone. Here we discuss new evidence that links auxin with the synthesis and accumulation of one of humanity’s staple food ingredients, starch.

The sustainable energy technologies that are required to achieve net-zero carbon emissions rely on critical metals. Pegmatite deposits are one of the world’s primary sources of these critical metals, which makes understanding their formation essential.

A shared ambition of molecular spectroscopy and molecular dynamics is to establish the truths of chemical intuition on solid physical bedrock. Experimental characterization of the transition state was thought unattainable, but modern techniques have begun to achieve the incredible.

Indonesia is developing a new capital city, Ibu Koata Nusantara, which is located in a malaria and biodiversity hotspot. In this Comment, the authors outline some of the potential infectious disease-related risks of the new project – primarily malaria and other vector-borne diseases.

Chromosome segregation errors are common in the early stages of human embryonic development. By examining the first mitotic divisions of human embryos using live cell imaging, three recent studies identify spindle architecture and positioning features that could provide insights into why early embryos are predisposed to chromosomal abnormalities.

Rethinking and restructuring cross-disciplinary research requires innovative models and the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC) stands as a powerful example. Since its creation, IFISC has grown fourfold, now hosting 90 researchers from 15 different countries. Its unique structure fosters collaborations and a shared sense of belonging, built on a common foundation in complex systems. By bridging diverse disciplines and providing cutting-edge training, IFISC is shaping the next generation of researchers while offering a blueprint for how to reorganize research resources to foster cross-disciplinary research at institution levels and beyond.

AI developers and policy makers need to devise methods of commercial model deprecation that balance developers’ reasonable interest in restricting access to outdated models with the value of preserving technological developments and enabling ongoing scientific research across versions.

Multiple policy mechanisms exist to create climate policy. In this comment, the authors discuss the institution capacity and fiscal space that shape national policies around sticks and carrots mechanisms.

The Global Plastics Treaty presents an opportunity to “end plastic pollution”. Legacy plastics will continue to fragment to secondary microplastics for decades, without additional mitigation measures. We identify this flux as a “fragmentation gap”, currently overlooked in global policy targets.

This paper is a call to action. By publishing concurrently across journals like an emergency bulletin, we are not merely making a plea for awareness about climate change. Instead, we are demanding immediate, tangible steps that harness the power of microbiology and the expertise of researchers and policymakers to safeguard the planet for future generations.

Reporting in Nature Communications, Kjeldsen and colleagues describe a redox mechanism of insulin clearance based on separation of A- and B chains. Exploiting an ultra-long-acting analog protected from classical clearance pathways, the study highlights principles of protein stability in pharmacology.

Snakebite envenoming causes a significant public health burden in Africa. In this Comment, the authors describe the limitations of current snakebite control measures and emphasise the need for more funding to reduce future harm.

A greater degree of Late Quaternary hominin morphological variability is present in eastern Asia than previously assumed. Indeed, a number of distinct populations are present, some that now have new specific names: Homo floresiensis; H. luzonensis; H. longi; H. juluensis. With this piece, we describe the various groupings based on the current hominin fossil record of eastern Asia.

New developing area of NeuroAI at the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence has many open challenges, one of which is training the new generation of experts. In this Comment, the authors provide resources and outline training needs and recommendations for junior researchers working across artificial intelligence and neuroscience.

One of the main themes of the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity is Digital Sequence Information (DSI): genomic or related data deposited in publicly accessible databases in a digital language. These sequences are important for research in areas such as biodiversity conservation and bioprospecting. Some characteristics of organisms that stimulate the commercial use of biodiversity may have been developed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, and therefore, they have associated traditional knowledge. We present proposals of the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities on this topic.