Research Highlight |
Featured
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News Feature |
Is cannabis bad for teens? Here’s what the data say
Ten years after cannabis was first legalized for casual use in adults, scientists are struggling to provide evidence-based recommendations about the risks to young people.
- Anil Oza
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News |
Eat less meat: will the first global climate deal on food work?
A declaration on reducing the eye-watering emissions from food production is a start, say researchers — but it sidesteps contentious issues in the role of food production in global climate change.
- Carissa Wong
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Nature Podcast |
Sanitary products made from plants could help tackle period poverty
Researchers have extracted absorbent materials from the succulent Agave sisalana for making local, low-cost period products.
- Julie Gould
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Comment |
Generative AI could revolutionize health care — but not if control is ceded to big tech
Large language models such as that used by ChatGPT could soon become essential tools for diagnosing and treating patients. To protect people’s privacy and safety, medical professionals, not commercial interests, must drive their development and deployment.
- Augustin Toma
- , Senthujan Senkaiahliyan
- & Bo Wang
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Comment |
This is how the world finally ends the HIV/AIDS pandemic
Putting the specific needs of individuals and communities at the heart of HIV/AIDS care, by harnessing behavioural science, is key to building on the progress already been made.
- John Nkengasong
- , Mike Reid
- & Ingrid T. Katz
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Outlook |
Putting low-cost diagnostics to the test
The COVID-19 pandemic brought home the value of cheap, ‘good enough’ methods of detecting disease. Extending that approach to other illnesses could improve health care in low- and middle-income countries.
- Michael Eisenstein
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News |
These brain cells could influence how fast you eat — and when you stop
Scientists found the cells in mice — and say they could lead to a better understanding of human appetite.
- Carissa Wong
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Nature Podcast |
Polio could be eradicated within 3 years — what happens then?
How to ensure polio doesn’t return after eradication, and the space explosion that’s baffling scientists.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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Nature Index |
Science in cities benefits rural communities, too
Shouting about the far-flung impact of city-based research can help counter attempts at urban–rural division.
- Simon Baker
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News & Views |
People go the extra mile for food
GPS data reveal that people travel far from home to buy food in the United States, challenging ideas about how access to food relates to unhealthy eating habits.
- Abigail Klopper
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Nature Index |
Bridging the rural–urban health-care divide through community research partnerships
Scientists are working with Indigenous communities in Alaska to improve many facets of rural health.
- Lucas Trout
- , Margaret Smith
- & Stuart Harris
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Nature Index |
City-based scientists get creative to tackle rural-research needs
Californian projects show how community engagement can break down urban–rural barriers in the United States.
- Virginia Gewin
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News Feature |
Polio is on the brink of eradication. Here's how to keep it from coming back
The campaign to eradicate polio could succeed in the next few years. But that’s just the beginning of a new challenge — keeping it away.
- Aisling Irwin
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Nature Podcast |
Dust: the tiny substance with enormous power
Jay Owens joins us to talk about her book Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles.
- Benjamin Thompson
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News |
Giant UK programme to lower people’s blood-sugar levels really works
One of the world’s biggest campaigns to prevent diabetes through behaviour change holds promise for public-health gains.
- Heidi Ledford
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News & Views |
Diabetes prevention programme put to the test
Causal evidence shows that referring people who are at risk of developing diabetes to a nationwide lifestyle-change programme can result in health improvements — but only if programme participation can be sustained.
- Edward W. Gregg
- & Naomi Holman
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Article |
Quasi-experimental evaluation of a nationwide diabetes prevention programme
Analysis of the largest behaviour change programme for prediabetes globally provides causal evidence that lifestyle advice and counselling implemented at scale can improve key cardiovascular risk factors.
- Julia M. Lemp
- , Christian Bommer
- & Pascal Geldsetzer
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Editorial |
How our memories of COVID-19 are biased — and why it matters
Our view of the effectiveness of past pandemic responses is influenced by our present vaccination status. Public inquiries and future research must take this factor into account.
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News & Views |
The deep route to low-field MRI with high potential
A type of magnetic resonance imaging, known as low-field MRI, could make the technique more widely accessible, but only if the image quality can be improved. A deep-learning protocol might hold the key.
- Patricia M. Johnson
- & Yvonne W. Lui
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News Explainer |
Why is Delhi’s air pollution so bad right now?
The post-monsoon season creates ideal conditions for air pollution to accumulate in the Indian megacity.
- Dyani Lewis
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Outlook |
Tropical diseases move north
As Earth warms, the creatures that spread neglected tropical diseases are gaining a foothold in Europe. Wealthy countries must prepare themselves for more cases.
- Claire Ainsworth
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Nature Podcast |
How to tame a toxic yet life-saving antifungal
Researchers modify drug to prevent kidney damage, and the mystery of the phosphorus at the Milky Way’s edge.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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News Explainer |
Dengue is spreading. Can new vaccines and antivirals halt its rise?
Scientists warn that it will take multiple methods to stop the disease, which is also known as breakbone fever and was once confined to the tropics.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News |
Are these moths blinding children? Nepalese researchers seek answers
Researchers are carrying out environmental surveys and genomic sequencing to try to learn more about SHAPU, a severe eye condition that mainly affects children — but funding is still scarce.
- Saugat Bolakhe
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Nature Podcast |
A new hydrogel can be directly injected into muscle to help it regenerate
A soft and conductive material shows promise for muscle rehabilitation, and why starfishes have such strange body plans.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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Correspondence |
Gaza’s broken health-care system is compounding the risk of disease
- Ru’a Rimawi
- & Navid Madani
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News Explainer |
Dengue is spreading in Europe: how worried should we be?
The post-COVID travel boom combined with a warm summer have led to dengue outbreaks in Italy and France.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: Why BMI is flawed — and how to redefine obesity
Although body mass index is the main diagnostic test for obesity, it leaves out many factors that can affect how healthy someone is.
- McKenzie Prillaman
- & Benjamin Thompson
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News |
Dengue rates drop after release of modified mosquitoes in Colombia
Largest-ever deployment of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes yields ‘encouraging’ results in three densely populated cities.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Article
| Open AccessNormative spatiotemporal fetal brain maturation with satisfactory development at 2 years
A normative digital atlas of fetal brain maturation produced using 1,059 optimal quality, three-dimensional ultrasound brain volumes from 899 fetuses presents a unique spatiotemporal benchmark from a large cohort with normative postnatal growth and neurodevelopment at 2 years of age.
- Ana I. L. Namburete
- , Bartłomiej W. Papież
- & Stephen H. Kennedy
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Article |
Assessing the illegal hunting of native wildlife in China
Analysis of a database of convictions for illegal hunting in China reveals the scale of the threat to biodiversity posed by illegal hunting in China.
- Dan Liang
- , Xingli Giam
- & David S. Wilcove
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News |
Scientists deliberately gave women Zika — here’s why
‘Human challenge’ results suggest that such trials could be used to test vaccines when Zika incidence is low.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News |
How to rebuild trust in science: NIH director nominee fields questions
US senators grilled Monica Bertagnolli during a hearing over her plans for the National Institutes of Health, including how she will repair the agency’s reputation.
- Max Kozlov
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Spotlight |
How paediatrician researchers are advancing child health
Five clinicians describe how their research is contributing to the United Nations goal to boost good health and well-being in children, and the challenges ahead.
- Nikki Forrester
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Article
| Open AccessThe burden and dynamics of hospital-acquired SARS-CoV-2 in England
Data from acute hospitals in England are used to quantify hospital-acquired SARS-CoV-2 infections, evaluate likely pathways of spread and factors associated with heightened transmission risk, and explore the impact on community transmission.
- Ben S. Cooper
- , Stephanie Evans
- & Gwenan M. Knight
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Outlook |
Mental health: The invisible effects of neglected tropical diseases
The psychological burden of disability and stigma has been overlooked, to the detriment of those affected and their carers.
- Simon Makin
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News Feature |
Why BMI is flawed — and how to redefine obesity
The main diagnostic test for obesity — the body mass index — accounts for only height and weight, leaving out a slew of factors that influence body fat and health.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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News & Views |
Learn from the past to predict viral pandemics
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to understand the emergence of viral variants, given that these can have implications for vaccination success. A bioinformatics tool offers a way to predict viral evolution.
- Nash D. Rochman
- & Eugene V. Koonin
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Correspondence |
Collateral damage from accelerated drug approval
- Akihiko Ozaki
- , Kenji Gonda
- & Tetsuya Tanimoto
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World View |
Nipah virus is deadly — but smart policy changes can help quell pandemic risk
Repeated outbreaks increase the risk of a Nipah strain emerging that is better at spreading.
- Thekkumkara Surendran Anish
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News Explainer |
mRNA COVID vaccines saved lives and won a Nobel — what’s next for the technology?
Nature talks to experts about how messenger RNA is transforming medicine.
- Elie Dolgin
- & Heidi Ledford
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Outlook |
RSV treatments are here: now the work begins
Efforts to prevent infections and keep vulnerable people out of hospital are beginning to pay off, but deploying these strategies presents new challenges.
- Benjamin Plackett
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Nature Video |
The very first beat: how a heart starts to pulse
Hours of footage of zebrafish embryos let researchers capture and study this key moment in development.
- Shamini Bundell
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Outlook |
Tracking RSV in low- and middle-income countries
By surveilling respiratory syncytial virus, the World Health Organization is hoping to understand who the virus infects and the burden it has.
- Pratik Pawar
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Outlook |
For Indigenous infants, RSV prevention is better than a cure
Governments need to put remote communities at the forefront of strategies to prevent the respiratory disease.
- Anna Banerji
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Outlook |
Vaccines could offer fresh hope against respiratory syncytial virus
If deployed effectively and equitably, this latest generation of vaccines could help to prevent countless deaths and hospitalizations among the young and old.
- Michael Eisenstein