Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The afterglow of a long burst of γ-rays suggests that the events leading to these explosions can be sizeable sources of some of the Universe’s rare isotopes — and that classifications of γ-ray bursts are too simplistic.
A method for configuring light-trapping devices promises better optical nanodevices by amplifying light and enhancing the emission efficiency of luminescent nanomaterials — without the need for complex technology upgrades.
Mammals make sounds when air flow causes paired tissue folds in their voice box to oscillate. However, such air flow in the baleen group of whales takes an unusual path, enabling them to make sounds in a previously unknown way.
It emerges from a study of human cells that smoking can influence certain immune responses to the same extent as can age or genetics. Smoking can alter the immune system in ways that persist long after quitting the habit.
A big-data analysis shows that men are starkly over-represented in online images, and that gender bias is stronger in images compared with text. Such images could influence enduring gender biases in our offline lives.
Magnetic materials with zero net magnetization fall into two classes: conventional antiferromagnets and altermagnets. Physicists have identified a property in altermagnets that widens the divide between the two groups.
By combining materials-synthesis techniques, researchers have come up with a way of building layered structures that display intriguing wave-like patterns of electric polarization, and could be useful for next-generation electronics.
The shifting orbit of one of Saturn’s moons indicates that the satellite has a subsurface ocean, contradicting theories that its interior is entirely solid. The finding calls for a fresh take on what constitutes an ocean moon.
Studies reveal how neuronal populations in the fruit fly brain work together to compare the direction of a goal with the direction that the fly is facing, and convert this into a signal that steers the fly towards its target.
In lithium-metal batteries, grains of lithium can become electrically isolated from the anode, lowering battery performance. Experiments reveal that rest periods after battery discharge might help to solve this problem.
Networks filled with self-propelled fluids display meandering patterns that have been shown to follow rules similar to those of sudoku puzzles — offering design principles for microfluidic devices, and the possibility of ‘active fluid’ logic.
A long-term fish experiment reveals how a mechanism called density dependence, in which the population growth rate slows as the number of individuals rises, affects population dynamics on time scales relevant for ecology and evolution.
Why birds sing intensely in a dawn chorus during the early morning has long been debated. Evidence gathered from observing birds in the wild offers a fresh perspective on what might drive this phenomenon.
Genetic sequencing data from more than 4,000 Chinese participants in the Born in Guangzhou Cohort Study provide insights into the population, and a snapshot of what is to come in future phases of the project.
DNA analyses of skeletal fragments from a site in Germany provide evidence that humans, rather than Neanderthals, were responsible for a particular stone-tool industry called the Lincombian–Ranisian–Jerzmanowician.
In a multicellular organism, normal growth requires control of cell division to generate cells that are similar to or different from their parents. Analysis of this process in plant roots reveals how this mechanism is regulated.
Conservation is bringing back certain predators that are high in the food chain, but how this affects an ecosystem overall is debated. Rigorous fieldwork provides strong evidence that sea otters help to mitigate coastal erosion.
