News Feature |
Featured
-
-
News Feature |
How ecstasy and psilocybin are shaking up psychiatry
Regulators will soon grapple with how to safely administer powerful psychedelics for treating depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Paul Tullis
-
News Explainer |
COVID’s toll on smell and taste: what scientists do and don’t know
Researchers are studying the sensory impact of the coronavirus, how long it lasts and what can be done to treat it.
- Michael Marshall
-
News & Views |
Brain rhythms that help us to detect borders
Oscillations in neuronal activity in the medial temporal lobe of the human brain encode proximity to boundaries such as walls, both when navigating while walking and when watching another person do so.
- Hugo J. Spiers
-
News & Views |
A screen of brain organoids to study neurodevelopmental disease
A high-throughput technique has been developed to screen genes implicated in neurodevelopmental diseases in 3D cell cultures. It reveals a mechanism that might be involved in a rare disorder called microcephaly.
- Adriana Cherskov
- & Nenad Sestan
-
Outlook |
Better treatments for lung cancer that spreads to the brain
Metastasis to the brain is usually a swift death sentence but researchers are developing ways to make it less lethal.
- Natalie Healey
-
Article |
Coupling of hippocampal theta and ripples with pontogeniculooccipital waves
Studies using multi-structure recordings in macaque monkeys show that distinct phasic pontogeniculooccipital waves modulate hippocampal network events similar to those that underlie the learning and formation of memories during sleep.
- Juan F. Ramirez-Villegas
- , Michel Besserve
- & Nikos K. Logothetis
-
Technology Feature |
Probing fine-scale connections in the brain
Artificial intelligence and improved microscopy make it feasible to map the nervous system at ever-higher resolution.
- Esther Landhuis
-
Outlook |
A richer view of aura
Migraines are often associated with colourful visual disturbances called auras, but many mysteries remain about how they fit into the wider biology of the syndrome.
- Liam Drew
-
Outlook |
A visual guide to migraine headaches
The pain, the pressure, the way it ruins your mood — everyone has experienced a headache at one time or another. But whereas most are transient and easily managed, migraines are stubborn and debilitating.
- Neil Savage
-
News & Views |
The brain rhythms that detach us from reality
The rhythmic activity of a single layer of neurons has now been shown to cause dissociation — an experience involving a feeling of disconnection from the surrounding world.
- Ken Solt
- & Oluwaseun Akeju
-
News Round-Up |
Parenting brain switch, vanishing journals and COVID-19 in kids
The latest science news, in brief.
-
News & Views |
Unexpected amount of blood-borne protein enters the young brain
The discovery that larger quantities of blood-borne proteins enter the brains of young, healthy mice than enter those of aged animals will alter our understanding of the blood–brain barrier, and how it changes with age.
- Roeben N. Munji
- & Richard Daneman
-
Article |
Chemical gradients in human enamel crystallites
Hydroxylapatite crystallites in human dental enamel show gradients in chemical composition, with a layer of magnesium enrichment on each side of a core rich in sodium, fluoride and carbonate ions.
- Karen A. DeRocher
- , Paul J. M. Smeets
- & Derk Joester
-
Outlook |
Softsonics: a device to take blood-pressure readings continuously
The flexible sensors have been developed by one of the finalists for The Spinoff Prize.
- Neil Savage
-
Outlook |
Oxford Brain Diagnostics: turning MRI into a diagnosis tool for dementia
The firm behind the brain-imaging analysis is shortlisted for The Spinoff Prize.
- Simon Makin
-
Outlook |
EpiVario: mixing psychotherapy and small-molecule drugs
A firm with a formula for treating PTSD has been shortlisted for The Spinoff Prize.
- Michael Eisenstein
-
Outlook |
Sibel Health: designing vital-sign sensors for delicate skin
A start-up that makes flexible devices to monitor heart rate and blood pressure in premature babies wins The Spinoff Prize.
- Neil Savage
-
News & Views |
Flipping the switch on the body’s thermoregulatory system
A population of excitatory neurons has been found to have a key role in controlling body temperature in rodents. The discovery adds to a body of work that is raising questions about long-standing models of thermoregulation.
- Clifford B. Saper
- & Natalia L. S. Machado
-
News |
Artificial intelligence decodes the facial expressions of mice
Neuroscientists also uncover neural circuitry whose activity correlates with particular emotions.
- Alison Abbott
-
News & Views |
How stress can cause a fever
Psychological stress can trigger physiological responses, including an increase in body temperature. A neural circuit that underlies this stress-induced heat response has been identified.
- Dayu Lin
-
Book Review |
Surviving Hiroshima, humanity’s footprints, and the truth about stem cells: Books in brief
Andrew Robinson reviews five of the week’s best science picks.
- Andrew Robinson
-
Spotlight |
The neurobiologist studying how the brain changes as it ages
Xiaoming Zhou hopes his work will help to improve the health and welfare of China’s ageing population.
- Sarah O’Meara
-
Spotlight |
How health research will support China’s ageing population
Researchers are scrambling to meet the neurological demands posed by a rapidly ageing population with a low birth-rate.
- Sarah O’Meara
-
News Feature |
The quest to decipher how the body’s cells sense touch
From a painful pinch to a soft caress, scientists are zooming in on the pressure-sensitive proteins that allow cells to detect tension and pressure.
- Amber Dance
-
News & Views |
Brain states behind exploring and hunting revealed
The brain fluctuates between different internal states, each of which drives particular behaviours. Brain-wide imaging reveals the internal states that help zebrafish larvae to choose between exploring and hunting.
- Ethan Scott
-
News Feature |
Nature’s 10: Ten people who mattered in science in 2019
Picks include a quantum pioneer, a co-discoverer of Ebola and a bioethicist-turned-activist.
- David Cyranoski
- , Nisha Gaind
- & Alexandra Witze
-
Article |
Genetic predisposition to mosaic Y chromosome loss in blood
A genome-wide association study of mosaic loss of chromosome Y (LOY) in UK Biobank participants identifies 156 genetic determinants of LOY, showing that LOY is associated with cancer and non-haematological health outcomes.
- Deborah J. Thompson
- , Giulio Genovese
- & John R. B. Perry
-
Research Highlight |
Sleep-deprived and anxious? This brain region helps to explain why
Too little shut-eye raises anxiety; deep sleep offers protection against it.
-
Technology Feature |
Genetic light bulbs illuminate the brain
Genetically encoded voltage indicators change colour in real time when neurons transmit electrical information, offering unprecedented insight into neural activity.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
-
News & Views |
Alterations to the circadian clock make brain tumours vulnerable
The body’s circadian clock ensures the rhythmic expression of some genes across the day. The catalogue of genes under circadian control changes in an aggressive brain cancer — a discovery that might open up a new avenue for treatment.
- Guiomar Solanas
- & Salvador A. Benitah
-
News & Views |
Flies’ colour preferences depend on the time of day
Behavioural and genetic experiments have revealed that fruit flies prefer green light over other colours in the morning and evening, and always avoid blue. These colour preferences rely on different mechanisms.
- Charlotte Helfrich-Förster
-
News |
Cancer cells have ‘unsettling’ ability to hijack the brain’s nerves
Startling discovery could open up avenues for treating some aggressive tumours.
- Heidi Ledford
-
Outlook |
Cannabis research round-up
Highlights from laboratory studies and clinical trials.
- Liam Drew
-
Books & Arts |
Survival: the first 3.8 billion years
Lisa Feldman Barrett ponders Joseph LeDoux’s study on how conscious brains evolved.
- Lisa Feldman Barrett
-
Outlook |
The brain
This supremely complex organ is slowly giving up its valuable secrets.
- Richard Hodson
-
Nature Video |
Exploring the human brain with virtual reality
Virtual-reality mazes are helping to unlock the complexity of the brain.
- Shamini Bundell
-
Outlook |
How AI and neuroscience drive each other forwards
Bringing together artificial intelligence and neuroscience promises to yield benefits for both fields.
- Neil Savage
-
Outlook |
How to map the brain
As efforts to chart the brain’s neurons gather pace, researchers must find a way to make the accumulating masses of data useful.
- Sarah DeWeerdt
-
Outlook |
Neanderthal clues to brain evolution in humans
Studies of Neanderthal brain development could provide insights into the evolution and inner workings of the human brain.
- Sedeer el-Showk
-
Outlook |
A more human approach to artificial intelligence
Philosopher Andy Clark reflects on what it will take for artificially intelligent agents to become more capable.
- Michael Segal
-
Outlook |
The four biggest challenges in brain simulation
Simulating the human brain is one of the most ambitious scientific endeavours ever undertaken, and daunting technical obstacles lie ahead.
- Simon Makin
-
Outlook |
The forgotten part of memory
Long thought to be a glitch of memory, researchers are coming to realize that the ability to forget is crucial to how the brain works.
- Lauren Gravitz
-
Outlook |
Decoding the neuroscience of consciousness
A growing understanding of consciousness could lead to fresh treatments for brain injuries and phobias.
- Emily Sohn
-
Outlook |
The ethics of brain–computer interfaces
As technologies that integrate the brain with computers become more complex, so too do the ethical issues that surround their use.
- Liam Drew
-
Nature Podcast |
Backchat: Breaking news, audience-led journalism and human gene editing
Nick Howe hosts our regular roundtable discussion, with guests Davide Castelvecchi, Anna Nagle, and Heidi Ledford.
-
News |
Hallucinations implanted in mouse brains using light
Behavioural evidence suggests that targeting just 20 neurons prompted animals to ‘see’ an image.
- Sara Reardon
-
News |
Japanese hospital uncovers flood of research ethics violations
In nearly 160 cases, researchers failed to give patients a way to opt out of studies.
- Mark Zastrow
-
Nature Video |
Understanding transition
Meet researchers and participants of a unique study of transgender people.
- Adam Levy
-
News Feature |
The largest study involving transgender people is providing long-sought insights about their health
The research examines once taboo questions about the impacts of gender transition.
- Sara Reardon