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Animal models provide invaluable insights into the functioning of the immune system; however, they have their limitations. In a Perspective, Andrea Graham argues that using a more naturalized biotic and abiotic setting can help capture a more accurate picture of the immune system.

This is what happened when a Nature reporter designed his own protein using AI. Plus, the ‘Gollum effect’ that makes researchers hoard data and hopeful results for the first mRNA bird-flu vaccine for cattle.

The gender gap in research publishing is improving — but slowly. Plus, climate disasters are creating an insurance crisis and scientists discovered a promising antibiotic in a box of dirt they’d left under a lab bench for a year.

Trump administration policies are creating turmoil for US PhD students and NIH-funded researchers abroad. Plus, the month’s best science images.

The immune benefits of scratching an itch. Plus, what former NIH director Monica Bertagnolli has to say about everything that’s going on in the United States.

Food poverty among the world’s wealthiest, Israeli Moon lander crashes, a realist’s guide to quantum mechanics.

Out of reach.

Pollution-causing emissions from the oil sands are up to 64 times greater than reported by industry. Plus, the Marscopter will not fly again, and a marsupial that lives fast and dies young.

Genomic studies often lack representation from diverse populations, limiting equitable insights. Here, the authors show that the BIG Initiative captures extensive genetic diversity and reveals ancestry-linked health disparities in a community-based Mid-South cohort.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

T cell responses can be generated to either pathogen infection or from priming with a vaccine. Here the authors compare T cell generation, phenotype and single cell transcriptome of participants vaccinated with a mpox vaccine or infected with the virus showing that the virus induced T cells showed more effective function and phenotype.

We discover a squid-inspired drug-delivery device and brace ourselves for the final hours of COP29.

Analyses of genome and exome sequencing data identify rare coding and structural variants associated with atrial fibrillation and highlight genetic links between atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathies.

Why some palaeontologists don’t share, head of FDA resigns, innovative experiments in peer review.

MultiSTAAR provides a general and flexible statistical framework for functionally informed multi-trait rare variant analysis of biobank-scale sequencing studies by jointly analyzing multiple traits and incorporating annotation information.

A missed appointment.

An unprecedented worldwide collaboration to report on climate change, how to make conferences human-centered and Earth-friendly, and the finalists in our first caption competition.

A large genome-wide association study of more than 5 million individuals reveals that 12,111 single-nucleotide polymorphisms account for nearly all the heritability of height attributable to common genetic variants.

Wave energy offers vital diversification for Net-Zero goals, though further cost reductions are needed. Emma Edwards and colleagues optimise device geometry to minimise reaction moments while preserving high-power output, advancing economic viability.

Humanity has crossed eight of nine ‘Earth-system boundaries’ for a healthy and fair world. Plus, the brain’s wrinkles help to drive how it works and an infinite tiling pattern that could end a 60-year mathematical quest.

Fine-mapping of causal variants and integration of epigenetic and chromatin conformation data identify likely target genes for 150 breast cancer risk regions.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.

Google AI predicts long-term climate trends and weather — in minutes. Plus, heaviest element yet within reach after major breakthrough and how to bring null results out of hiding.

Leaked paper hints at computing milestone, a journal club to fix science and the quest to save the banana with CRISPR.

A species of fork fern, Tmesipteris oblanceolata, has the biggest genome ever recorded. Plus, biomedical paper retractions are soaring and environmental engineer Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo is elected Mexico’s president.

A genome-wide association meta-analysis study of blood lipid levels in roughly 1.6 million individuals demonstrates the gain of power attained when diverse ancestries are included to improve fine-mapping and polygenic score generation, with gains in locus discovery related to sample size.

There’s an emerging body of evidence to show how biological sex impacts cancer incidence, treatment and underlying biology. Here, using a large pan-cancer dataset, the authors further highlight how sex differences shape the cancer genome.

A sustainable ocean economy, video of the moment the Arecibo telescope collapsed and scientists have restored vision in old mice by reversing their biological clocks.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

Chronic infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to the emergence of viral variants that show reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies in an immunosuppressed individual treated with convalescent plasma.

Sera from vaccinated individuals and some monoclonal antibodies show a modest reduction in neutralizing activity against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2; but the E484K substitution leads to a considerable loss of neutralizing activity.

Posting about a paper on X seems to boost engagement but not citations. Plus, researchers pinpoint humans’ first home outside Africa and what the science says about the Baltimore bridge collapse.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

In somatic cells the mechanisms maintaining the chromosome ends are normally inactivated; however, cancer cells can re-activate these pathways to support continuous growth. Here, the authors characterize the telomeric landscapes across tumour types and identify genomic alterations associated with different telomere maintenance mechanisms.