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EnvironmentOctober 27, 2026

Nutrient legacies from elephant megacarcasses create coldspots of biodiversity and hotspots of ecosystem processes.

Terrestrial megafauna (animals >1,000 kg) have substantial impacts on ecosystems while alive; yet, we know little about the impacts of these ecosystem engineers after they die. Like whale carcasses in the ocean, terrestrial megacarcasses may leave ecological legacies via the nutrient pulses they create on the landscape. Here, we investigated the impact of elephant megacarcasses on savanna ecosystems in Kruger National Park, South Africa. To determine how elephant carcasses affect below- and a

Physical/TechOctober 27, 2026

Extensive glacier loss in the coterminous United States.

Glaciers populate the mountain ranges of the western conterminous United States and despite their importance to alpine hydrology, their area and volume change have never been comprehensively evaluated. Our study shows that since the mid-twentieth century about one-quarter of the glaciers have disappeared and the overall area and volume are reduced by one-third. The pattern of glacier shrinkage suggests most glaciers in the conterminous United States are largely maintained by local topographic in

Health & MedicineOctober 27, 2026

The honey bee stinger: An unusual pump with collapsible double pistons.

Most stinging animals deliver venom by contracting muscles around a venom reservoir, but honey bees employ a fundamentally different strategy. The stingers of worker bees have the unique ability to autotomize, separating from the body, to continue to sting independently. Despite more than a century of anatomical descriptions, the mechanics of venom pumping have remained unresolved due to the challenges of observing them in action. We recorded high-speed videos of active, autotomized stingers, co

EconomicsOctober 20, 2026

Ancient DNA challenges to admixture narratives: Insights from Notre-Dame Cemetery (1683-1796) in Colonial Montreal, Canada.

Historical narratives of early colonization in Quebec frequently portray French-Indigenous relations as cooperative and characterized by admixture; which are often mobilized in modern debates on false-indigeneity. These narratives have been studied through genealogical, genetic, and bioarchaeological analyses, yet individuals of African descent remain mostly absent from them, while Indigenous peoples are framed largely in relation to colonists. Notre-Dame Cemetery (1683-1796) in Tiohtià:ke-

Health & MedicineOctober 20, 2026

Chronic cigarette smoke exposure induces distinct stem cell states driving genetic driver-specific non-small cell lung cancer subtypes.

Cigarette smoke-induced chronic inflammation (CI) potentiates development of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by mediating genetic and epigenetic events. Using normal lung organoids (LOs), we define how chronic cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) exposure drives two separate stem cell populations to evolve premalignant states harboring progressive epigenetic and linked transcriptomic abnormalities in the absence of major driver mutations. These dynamics facilitate evolution of an immune evasive s

EnvironmentOctober 20, 2026

Maternal ranging strategies facilitate offspring social play at energetic cost in the most solitary ape.

In most vertebrates, social play among peers is considered essential for behavioral development. Yet in solitary species bearing single offspring, opportunities for social play are inherently scarce. Whether mothers of such species actively facilitate play opportunities for their offspring, and at what cost, remains unknown. We used 15 y of behavioral and movement data (∼32,600 observation hours) from 31 wild Bornean orangutan ( Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii ) mother-offspring pairs to test whet

Physical/TechOctober 20, 2026

Reaction-based cryo-EM resolves the continuous conformational spectrum of CTP synthase catalysis.

Capturing enzymes under native turnover conditions remains a grand challenge in structural biology. Here, we develop a reaction-based cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) strategy that directly samples Drosophila melanogaster cytidine triphosphate synthase (CTPS) from actively catalyzing mixtures containing only natural substrates and allosteric effectors. By integrating reaction-based sampling with three-dimensional variability analysis, we resolve a continuous conformational spectrum of CTPS dur

Physical/TechOctober 20, 2026

GTP orchestrates CTP synthase via an allosteric effector-cycling mechanism.

Cytidine triphosphate (CTP), a fundamental building block of RNA, plays vital roles in diverse biological processes. CTP synthase (CTPS) is the only known enzyme for de novo synthesis of CTP. Efficient CTPS catalysis requires guanosine triphosphate (GTP) in a dose-dependent, nonconsumptive manner; however, the precise mechanism by which GTP drives CTP formation remains unclear. Here, we integrate a series of cryo-EM structures of Drosophila melanogaster CTPS captured from actively catalyzing sam

EconomicsOctober 20, 2026

Understanding consciousness (biological and artificial) as a society of self-schemas.

This article argues that human cognition is more than the performance of functions such as memory, decision-making, and attention. The brain also builds schematic models of those cognitive functions and uses those models to monitor, predict, and partially control them. When you introspect, your understanding of who you are and what is happening inside of you is derived from those schematic, sometimes inaccurate, but generally useful models, rather than from the actual cognitive functions that ar

Physical/TechOctober 20, 2026

Antiferromagnetism and tightly bound Cooper pairs induced by kinetic frustration.

Antiferromagnetism and superconductivity are often viewed as competing orders in correlated electron systems. Here, we demonstrate that kinetic frustration in hole motion facilitates their coexistence within the square-lattice repulsive Hubbard model. Combining exact analytical solutions on tailored geometries with large-scale numerical simulations, we reveal a robust pairing mechanism: Holes on opposite sublattices behave as if they carry opposite effective charges due to spin singlet formation

Physical/TechOctober 20, 2026

Coordinated transformations of the labyrinth and occiput during the dinosaur-bird transition.

Evolutionary shape changes of the vertebrate semicircular canals (SCCs) are often ascribed to evolutionary transitions in locomotion, including the origin of flight during the dinosaur-bird transition. However, the potential for transformations of braincase architecture to influence SCC shape independent of sensory-functional adaptation has generally been overlooked. We evaluate the influence of both factors using a large dataset of 146 living and recently extinct crown birds, including taxa rep

Physical/TechOctober 20, 2026

Heterochronicity shapes brain network formation.

Brain network formation unfolds on a nonuniform developmental timetable, with different cortical regions generating connections at different developmental phases. Generative network models (GNMs) aim to uncover the principles underpinning the organization of connectomes by creating synthetic networks according to simple computational rules. These models capture the connectome's topology, operationalized here as the cumulative distributions of network metrics (e.g., modularity, small-worldness, r

Artificial IntelligenceOctober 20, 2026

Integrating cooperative breeding with reciprocity and culture extends Hamilton's rule to humans.

We study how kinship and reciprocity shape giving and child care support in societies with limited access to markets. Extending Hamilton's rule to incorporate reciprocity, we test it using behavioral data from dictator games and surveys in remote matrilocal and patrilocal villages of northeast India (N = 406 parents of young children). We replicate with data from urban Manila neighborhoods (N = 301) and the Solomon Islands (N = 624). Consistent with predictions, transfers to recipients increase

Health & MedicineOctober 20, 2026

Cell identity competes with surface tension to determine stromal organization in tumor spheroids beyond the CAF shell paradigm.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are often found forming a peripheral stromal barrier around tumors. Here, this paradigm is challenged using microfabricated 3D cancer-CAF spheroid models combined with quantitative magnetic force tensiometry. A surface tension atlas is established for eight cancer cell lines, three CAF populations, and heterotypic tumor-CAF assemblies, spanning nearly two orders of magnitude. Surface tension is first shown to govern spheroid morphology and modulate drug respo

EnvironmentOctober 20, 2026

Evolution shapes ecosystem resilience through spatial self-organization.

Drylands are globally widespread and ecologically important but vulnerable to climate change. Many exhibit spatially self-organized vegetation patterns that enhance resilience by enabling vegetation to reorganize their patterns under drying, thereby optimizing water use and maintaining productivity. Plants can also undergo evolution in response to environmental change. Although both spatial self-organization and rapid evolution are fundamental mechanisms of resilience, their interaction remains

Physical/TechOctober 14, 2026

Shading enhances Se accumulation in tea leaves through promoting CsMYB7-like-mediated conversion of Se (VI) to Se (IV)

Limited selenium (Se) accumulation in agricultural products contributes to widespread dietary Se deficiency, posing a global nutritional threat. Efficient agronomic strategies to enhance Se biofortification in crops are still lacking. Here, we reveal the synergistic effects of shading and Se nanoparticles application on Se biofortification in tea leaves. Field experiments demonstrate that shading enhances Se accumulation in tea leaves under sufficient Se supply, through activating Se metabolism

EconomicsOctober 14, 2026

Educational intervention can rewire village social networks.

Social networks shape behaviour, affect information dissemination and undergird collective action. And they can be exploited in the design of interventions in these domains 1-7 . Although social networks obey fundamental principles, such as the degree distribution 8,9 , they can nevertheless evolve as ties form and break. Here, through a randomized controlled trial involving a total of 8,331 people in 110 remote Honduran villages, we evaluate the secondary effects of a 22-month public-health int

Artificial IntelligenceOctober 14, 2026

A microexon regulatory code reveals autism-linked genetic variation.

Neuronal microexons are a highly conserved class of alternative splicing events enriched in genes with critical functions in nervous system biology 1,2 . Microexon splicing is often disrupted in the brains of autistic individuals, and mice with microexon deficiencies display autism-like phenotypes 1,3,4 . However, the full landscape of microexons is not known, and the impact of genetic variation on these exons has not been systematically investigated. Here, through extensive transcriptome profil

Health & MedicineOctober 14, 2026

Sexual dimorphism in epidermal stem cell dynamics.

The epidermis is a stratified epithelium comprising proliferative basal cells and differentiated suprabasal cells that are continuously renewed throughout life. Conflicting theories have been proposed regarding the heterogeneity of the basal cell layer, with some studies proposing that all proliferative cells have self-renewal potential during homeostasis 1-5 . Meanwhile, others posit a model in which stem cell differentiation occurs through an intermediate transit-amplifying-like progenitor sta

Physical/TechOctober 14, 2026

Early tetrapod neck mobility modelled using an extant analogue.

Tetrapods arose from lobe-finned fishes with a notochord-dominated axial column 1-3 . During this transition, the skull became separated from the shoulder girdle 4-6 , giving rise to a neck region. This head-shoulder separation has generated hypotheses suggesting that neck mobility increased during the origin of tetrapods, facilitating the ecological transition towards more terrestrial habitats 4,5,7-9 . However, incompletely co-ossified vertebral components 10 have posed a challenge to mod

Health & MedicineOctober 14, 2026

Engineered TYK2 dependence enables myeloid-selective IL-10 receptor agonism.

Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a central anti-inflammatory cytokine that suppresses immune responses in myeloid cells but can also activate T cells, limiting its therapeutic use in chronic inflammatory diseases owing to narrow efficacy windows and dose-limiting toxicities 1-5 . Here we show that myeloid and T cells differ in their dependence on JAK-family kinase pairing for IL-10 signalling and function. We took advantage of this differential kinase dependence to engineer a tetravalent nanobody-based

Health & MedicineOctober 14, 2026

Talazoparib plus enzalutamide in high-volume metastatic hormone-naive prostate cancer: a randomized phase 2 trial.

Combining inhibition of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and androgen receptor (AR) pathway has demonstrated clinical activity in men with metastatic prostate cancer, although the extent of benefit in tumors lacking homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene alterations remains uncertain. We conducted a randomized phase 2 trial evaluating talazoparib plus enzalutamide versus enzalutamide alone in men with high-volume metastatic hormone-naive prostate cancer (mHNPC). Fifty-four patients starting andro

Health & MedicineOctober 14, 2026

Personalized neoantigen-targeting cancer vaccines in ovarian cancer: a phase 1 trial.

Personalized neoantigen-targeting cancer vaccines in the adjuvant setting are of increasing interest across malignancies. Here we report the results of a phase 1 clinical trial testing the feasibility and safety of personalized neoantigen-targeting cancer vaccines for high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer. 'NeoVax' consisted of pools of synthetic long peptides targeting patient-specific neoantigens admixed with the immunostimulant poly-ICLC, was combined with delayed administration of anti-PD-1 a

Health & MedicineOctober 14, 2026

A pseudoenzyme sensor of trehalose-6-phosphate directly represses the metabolic integrator SnRK1 in plants.

Trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) is a central metabolic signal linking sugar availability to plant growth, carbon utilization, and productivity, yet its sensing and signaling mechanisms remain elusive. Using chemical biology and functional approaches, we identify the noncatalytic pseudoenzyme Class-II T6P synthase (TPS-II) as a T6P sensor in Arabidopsis. In the apo state, TPS-II dimerizes to form an autoinhibitory inter-subunit interaction. T6P binding to the N-terminal TPS-like domain triggers a con

EnvironmentOctober 13, 2026

Continuous UV irradiation played an inconclusive role in selecting the canonical genetic alphabet.

An abundance of heterocyclic molecules analogous to canonical nucleobases (i.e., adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil) used as the genetic alphabet in DNA and RNA could have been present in various prebiotic environments on early Earth. However, extant biology generally uses the canonical nucleobases and nucleosides as the genetic alphabet, and not any number of possible noncanonical counterparts. Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation was likely abundant on the surface of the early Earth and h

EnvironmentOctober 13, 2026

Fault-controlled natural hydrogen reservoirs as underground hydrogen storage sites.

Underground hydrogen storage requires geological formations with demonstrated hydrogen containment, yet no conventional storage candidate (salt caverns, aquifers, or depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs) offers direct, prior evidence of H 2 -specific sealing. We propose that subcommercial natural hydrogen reservoirs, where H 2 has accumulated over geological timescales, can serve as precertified storage sites. This proposition is evaluated using the Bulqizë fault-controlled natural H 2 reservoir

Artificial IntelligenceOctober 13, 2026

Deep learning of fossil pollen morphology reveals 25,000 y of ecological change in eastern African grasslands.

Grass (Poaceae) pollen is largely overlooked in investigations of grassland evolution because the pollen of most species cannot be differentiated using traditional optical microscopy. However, the combination of superresolution microscopy and deep learning enables the capture and quantification of distinct morphological variation across the pollen of grass species. Using a semisupervised deep-learning strategy, we trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) on superresolution images of known mo

Physical/TechOctober 13, 2026

Convergent innovation of (crypto)vivipary via asymmetric dismantling of seed desiccation and dormancy machinery.

Cryptovivipary and vivipary, referred to as (crypto)vivipary, occur across multiple angiosperm lineages and enable embryos to continue developing before dispersal. Yet, this trait raises a fundamental question: how are seed-specific abscisic acid (ABA) responses modulated to support continuous embryonic growth without compromising ABA-dependent vegetative stress tolerance? Here, integrating phylogenomic analyses of independently evolved (crypto)viviparous lineages with spatiotemporal transcripto

Physical/TechOctober 13, 2026

The Benjamini-Hochberg procedure can fail to control the FDR for correlated two-sided Gaussian tests.

The Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) procedure is the standard method for controlling the false discovery rate (FDR) in large-scale studies involving testing multiple hypotheses. Whether the BH procedure controls the FDR for every correlation structure among two-sided Gaussian tests has been a long-standing question, and a positive answer has been believed. Here, we settle the question negatively, by providing examples of Gaussian factor models for which the BH method fails to control the FDR at the nomi

Health & MedicineOctober 13, 2026

Extended fractional Hofstadter states at high field in twisted bilayer graphene above the magic angle.

When a Chern band is partially filled, a fractional Chern insulator (FCI)-the lattice analog of a fractional quantum Hall state-can arise. Though the full range of possible scenarios for producing such a state is not established, the most tractable models combine strong electronic interactions with the quantum geometry of the parent Chern band meeting specific criteria. In twisted bilayer graphene, the importance of interactions can be tuned by varying the interlayer twist. Here, we study a samp

Artificial IntelligenceOctober 13, 2026

Tyrosine phosphorylation unfolds nucleophosmin and disrupts its integration into the nucleolus.

Nucleophosmin (NPM1) is a multifunctional nucleolar protein essential for ribosome biogenesis, genome stability, and stress responses. Its integration into the nucleolus depends on its oligomerization and multivalent interactions that enable liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). Here, we investigate how tyrosine phosphorylation at Tyr17, Tyr29, and Tyr67 located within the interface between monomers at the N-terminal oligomerization domain regulates NPM1 structure and function. Replacing tyrosi

Health & MedicineOctober 13, 2026

Phenotypic screening identifies kenpaullone as a prolymphangiogenic compound to improve heart repair following myocardial infarction.

Myocardial infarction (MI) induces cardiac muscle death and its subsequent replacement by a noncontractile fibrotic scar, which underlies progression to heart failure. Current treatments restore blood flow and assist with cardiac workload but do not promote regeneration. We have previously shown endogenous growth of the cardiac lymphatic system following MI and further stimulation with the lymphatic endothelial specific mutated Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-C (VEGF-C) isoform, VEGFC-C156S,

EnvironmentOctober 13, 2026

Breaking trait scaling via the evolution and regulation of dimorphic decoupling in ants.

The evolution of allometry, changing how morphological traits scale to body size, has fueled adaptive radiations. In ants, allometry has facilitated the repeated evolution of a worker-soldier caste system. Here, we reveal an unexpected morphological pattern and its superorganismal regulation within the hyperdiverse genus Pheidole . We uncovered that antennal sizing between the small worker and the big soldier is identical, lacking intercaste scaling (antennae-body scaling is decoupled) yet retai

Health & MedicineOctober 13, 2026

Dopamine suppresses pathological retinal oscillations and enhances the signal-to-noise ratio.

Infantile nystagmus is a debilitating involuntary eye movement disorder often associated with retinal diseases such as congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB). The oscillating eye movements of infantile nystagmus come with reduced visual acuity and strongly impair quality of life. No cure exists for this condition. Previously, we demonstrated that nystagmus in the CSNB mouse model Nyx nob has a retinal cause. Specifically, we found that synchronized oscillations of retinal ganglion cells (R

Health & MedicineOctober 13, 2026

Spatial and single-nucleus transcriptomics reveals the molecular pathology of type 2 diabetes-associated cognitive dysfunction.

The mechanisms underlying type 2 diabetes-associated cognitive dysfunction (DACD) remain poorly understood, hindering therapeutic progress. Here, we integrated spatial transcriptomics and single-nucleus RNA sequencing to delineate the spatiotemporal molecular and cellular landscape of DACD in brain tissues from 3- and 6-mo-old mouse models. Our findings revealed region- and cell-type-specific transcriptomic alterations, with excitatory neurons in the hippocampus and isocortex emerging as the mos

Physical/TechOctober 13, 2026

NA-CDQuant: Quantitative spectral analysis of nucleic acid structure by circular dichroism spectroscopy.

Understanding the structural conformation and dynamics of nucleic acids in solution is critical for the development of nucleic acid therapeutics involving antisense or mRNA therapies, where controlling stability, efficacy, and manufacturability are important. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy allows rapid and nondestructive solution analysis of the spatial arrangements of nucleic acids. While widely used to analyze protein structure, the potential of CD for DNA- and RNA-based pharmaceutical a

Health & MedicineOctober 13, 2026

53BP1 condensates regulate DNA replication progression and completion.

DNA replication in mammalian cells proceeds in chromosomal domains during defined windows of S phase; however, the mechanisms coordinating replication with restoration of chromatin states remain incompletely understood. Here, we identify p53-binding protein 1 (53BP1) condensates as regulators of heterochromatin replication and epigenetic restoration. Loss of 53BP1 delays mid-to-late S-phase progression, compromises recruitment of epigenetic restoration factors, and impairs timely completion of h

Health & MedicineOctober 13, 2026

Structural basis for membrane-dependent positive feedback regulation of DOCK11 by activated Cdc42.

The guanine nucleotide exchange factor DOCK11 is widely expressed across tissues and activates Cdc42, a Rho family GTPase that regulates cytoskeletal remodeling and cell polarity. Loss-of-function mutations in DOCK11 have recently been linked to inborn errors of immunity. DOCK11 has also been implicated in facilitating hepatitis B virus infection in hepatocytes and has emerged as a potential target for therapeutic interventions. A positive feedback mechanism has been proposed for DOCK11-mediated

EnvironmentOctober 13, 2026

Global grassland productivity and carbon storage benefit from functional diversity under climate change.

Functional diversity plays an important role for ecosystem services of managed grasslands such as their gross primary productivity (GPP) and soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. Yet vegetation models assessing functional diversity have been limited to small spatial scales. We used the Lund-Potsdam-Jena managed land (LPJmL) competitor stress-tolerant ruderal (CSR) model to assess the role of functional diversity for managed grassland GPP and SOC under climate change at the global scale. LPJmL-CSR si

Health & MedicineOctober 13, 2026

Trans - and cis -interaction dynamics of cadherin complexes on membranes visualized by high-speed atomic force microscopy.

Classical cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion is important for maintaining the animal body and defects in adhesion cause severe diseases. The combination of trans - (between cells) and cis - (on the same membrane) interactions of the extracellular domains of cadherins is necessary for cadherin clustering in cell-cell junctions, which is essential for robust tissue formation. However, the solution structure and interaction dynamics of trans / cis -binding cadherin complexes have not been observe