Curated News: Nature (journal)

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An international team of marine biologists has discovered the remnants of ancient RNA viruses embedded in the DNA of symbiotic organisms living inside reef-building corals.

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Researchers from the Center for Cognition and Sociality (CCS) within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) recently announced the discovery of neurons that allow us to recognize others. The research team discovered that the neurons that deal with the information associated with different individuals are located in the CA1 region of the hippocampus.

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Tumors are composed of rapidly multiplying cancer cells. Understanding which biochemical processes fuel their relentless growth can provide hints at therapeutic targets. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technology to study tumor growth in another dimension — literally. The scientists established a new method to watch what nutrients are used at which rates spatially throughout a tissue.

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A brief roundup of news and story ideas from the experts at UCLA Health. For more information on these stories or for help on other stories, please contact us at

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University of Washington researchers have discovered they can detect atomic "breathing," or the mechanical vibration between two layers of atoms, by observing the type of light those atoms emitted when stimulated by a laser. The sound of this atomic "breath" could help researchers encode and transmit quantum information.

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This study provides provides the first physiological evidence from inside the human brain supporting the dominant scientific theory on how the brain consolidates memory during sleep. Further, deep-brain stimulation during a critical time in the sleep cycle appeared to improve memory consolidation.

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Liquid helium-4, which is in a superfluid state at cryogenic temperatures close to absolute zero (-273°C), has a special vortex called a quantized vortex that originates from quantum mechanical effects.

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The accuracy of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer can be improved by accounting for genetic factors that cause changes in PSA levels that are not associated with cancer, according to a multi-center study led by UC San Francisco and Stanford University, publishing June 1 in Nature Medicine.

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Researchers recently discovered that extremely thorough “deep sequencing” of the genome in tissue samples and cell-free DNA of patients with potentially life-threatening vascular anomalies captured several genetic variants related to disease that were not captured with conventional genetic sequencing methods. More than 60% of patients saw an improvement in their condition after being placed on targeted therapies related to these newly found genetic variants.

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The new findings challenge the conventional understanding of solar dynamics and could improve predictions of solar weather in the future

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Read about new melanoma treatment practices, how models provide information about a rare adrenal cancer, a potential oral medication for brain cancer, and clinical trials for cancer patients with HIV.

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Even without nerves, plants can sense when something touches them and when it lets go, a Washington State University-led study has found.

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Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Yale University are proposing a novel pathway through which coastal ecosystem restoration can permanently capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Seagrass and mangroves — known as blue carbon ecosystems — naturally capture carbon through photosynthesis, which converts carbon dioxide into living tissue.

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Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have discovered H5N1 avian influenza viruses gained the ability to cause severe disease and target the brain in mammals as they spread across North America.

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The early stages of embryonic development contain many of life’s mysteries. Unlocking these mysteries can help us better understand early development and birth defects, and help develop new regenerative medicine treatments.

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Enceladus—a tiny, icy moon of Saturn—is one of the most intriguing objects in the search for signs of life beyond our own planet.

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A new study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, published today in Nature Medicine, provides a deeper understanding of the vast diversity of T cell states as well as their relationships and roles within the complex tumor microenvironment, bringing a fresh perspective to understanding immunotherapy efficacy in cancer.

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A tangle of pockets, tubes and sac-like membrane structures runs through the cells of humans, animals, plants and fungi: the endoplasmic reticulum, or ER for short.

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Applying imaging technology to plant roots, researchers have developed a new understanding of chemicals that are responsible for plant growth. The chemical “roadmap” identifies where key molecules are distributed along corn roots and how their placement factors into the plant’s maturation.

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A new method than enables researchers to dial up or tone down the amount of a certain metastatic protein inhibitor (BACH1) within a cell could provide a new path in cancer research that reassesses the effectiveness of protein inhibitors to treat disease.

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Some animals preserve energy and heat by going into torpor, during which body temperature and metabolic rate drop, similar to hibernation. WashU researchers have safely and noninvasively induced such a state in mice and rats using ultrasound. Their work could help people with health conditions and astronauts.

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Scientists at McMaster University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have used artificial intelligence to discover a new antibiotic which could be used to fight a deadly, drug-resistant pathogen that strikes vulnerable hospital patients.

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In a new study, published in Nature Cell Biology, scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) explored the location, function, gene expression, and metabolism of MAIT cells in the mouse lung.

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A study published by MBARI researchers and their collaborators today in Nature provides new insights about one of the earliest points in animal evolution that happened more than 700 million years ago.

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Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital studied how the epigenetic landscape influences the binding of pioneer transcription factors, affecting access to DNA.

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An international collaboration that includes scientists from the University of Colorado School of Medicine has uncovered new clues about the origin of paired appendages – a major evolutionary step that remains unresolved and highly debated.

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Scientists have been worried about the potential harms of microplastics for years. These small plastic particles less than 5 mm in length have been found everywhere because of plastic pollution – from the Earth’s deep oceans to remote regions in Antarctica, and even the seafood we eat.

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Read about how Scientists at St. Jude determined how the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex helps cancer cells remember how to be cancerous after division.

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Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have used artificial intelligence models and machine-learning algorithms to successfully predict which components of amino acids that make up therapeutic proteins are most likely to safely deliver therapeutic drugs to animal eye cells.

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A non-toxic method to prevent mice from devouring wheat crops has been shown to drastically reduce seed loss.

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University of Delaware researchers in the lab of Aditya Kunjapur, assistant professor in the College of Engineering’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, have engineered bacteria to synthesize an amino acid that contains a rare functional group that others have shown to have implications in the regulation of our immune system. The researchers also taught a single bacterial strain to create the amino acid and place it at specific sites within target proteins.

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A new greenhouse gas budget shows coastal ecosystems globally are a net greenhouse gas sink for carbon dioxide (CO2) but emissions of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) counteract some of the CO2 uptake, according to international researchers led by Australia’s Southern Cross University.

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Curbside recycling provides a return on investment similar to or better than environmentally friendly strategies like transitioning to electric vehicles or purchasing green power, study shows

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Snow is melting earlier, and more rain is falling instead of snow in the mountain ranges of the Western U.S. and Canada, leading to a leaner snowpack that could impact agriculture, wildfire risk and municipal water supplies come summer, according to a new study from the University of Colorado Boulder.

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Every day, millions of cells die in our body. Other than generally assumed, cells do not simply burst at the end of their lives but rather, a specific protein serves as a breaking point for cell membrane rupture.

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A University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led team has developed a first-of-its-kind breakthrough method that makes it easier to create high-quality metal oxide films that are important for various next generation applications such as quantum computing and microelectronics.

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A team of researchers have discovered that a mutation in a ribosomal protein found specifically in heart and skeletal muscle leads to impaired cardiac contractility in mice.

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For the first time, astronomers have observed radio waves emitted by a Type Ia supernova, a type of explosion originating from a white dwarf star. This provides important clues to understand how white dwarfs explode.