The diversity of microbial enzymes that turn a pollutant into an inert gas Summary Reductase enzymes convert nitrous oxide (N2O) — a powerful greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting substance — into…
Ant queens produce sons of two distinct species Summary The News & Views piece by Jessica Purcell summarises a surprising discovery in the Iberian harvester ant (Messor ibericus). New research…
Depriving brain tumours of an amino acid could enhance chemotherapy Summary This News & Views piece discusses findings from Scott et al. showing that glioblastoma — an aggressive adult brain…
Damaged bridges flex and twist to prevent collapse Summary Like a spider web that compensates for a broken strand, steel truss bridges can sometimes survive the failure of a load-bearing…
Earth’s capacity to store carbon could max out surprisingly soon Summary A new study finds Earth’s practical capacity to store CO₂ underground is far smaller than commonly cited figures. While…
Ancient DNA connects large-scale migration with the spread of Slavs Summary This study combines dense ancient-DNA sampling from the Elbe–Saale region (Eastern Germany) with transects across the north‑western Balkans, Poland–northwestern…
‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother Summary Queen Iberian harvester ants (Messor ibericus) have been found to produce males of another species (Messor structor) by…
Cocaine-activated ion channels engineered to break the loop of addiction in rats Summary Researchers have engineered ion channels that are selectively activated by cocaine to control neuronal electrical activity. These…
Rewiring of cortical glucose metabolism fuels human brain cancer growth Summary This Nature study used clinical stable-isotope infusions and metabolic flux analysis (MFA) in patients and orthotopic mouse models to…
Seismic detection of a 600-km solid inner core in Mars Summary This Nature paper uses InSight seismic data to identify seismic phases that reflect from and transit a solid inner…
