Research Highlight |
Featured
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News & Views |
Did the diarist who chronicled the Great Fire of London make up a scientific instrument?
The mention of a ‘scotoscope’ in Samuel Pepys’s diary is a subject of scrutiny, and Americans satiate British oyster lovers, in the weekly dip into Nature’s archive.
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News |
What drives mosquitoes’ bloodlust? Their hormones
One hormone seems to boost the insects’ thirst for a blood meal, and another shuts it down.
- Gemma Conroy
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Research Briefing |
Spongy but not glassy: Ediacaran fossil provides insight into early animal evolution
Sea sponges were among the first animals to evolve. But, perplexingly, they left few early fossils despite having dense yet porous bodies. The Ediacaran fossil Helicolocellus cantori is interpreted as having been a glass sponge without biomineralized spicules (little spikes made of glass) to support its body.
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News & Views |
Galapagos battles goats and tourists in 1974
Imports threaten the natural environment of Darwin’s favourite islands, and a reader ponders the longevity of carps, in the weekly dip into Nature’s archive.
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News & Views |
Sex organs sense vibrations through specialized touch neurons
A little-studied sensory structure called the Krause corpuscle is responsible for detecting light touch and is essential for normal sexual behaviour in mice. The findings have interesting implications for human sexual intimacy.
- Anastasia-Maria Zavitsanou
- & Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
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News & Views |
Pressure and particle motion enable fish to sense the direction of sound
Scientists have long sought to explain how fish can sense the direction of sound, given the challenges that hearing underwater poses. An experimental study testing a variety of models now provides some answers.
- Catherine E. Carr
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News |
Sensory secrets of penis and clitoris unlocked after more than 150 years
Low-frequency vibrations arouse genital nerve cells in mice — a finding that might lead to treatments for erectile dysfunction and more.
- Sara Reardon
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Article
| Open AccessThe mechanism for directional hearing in fish
A study demonstrates that the fish Danionella cerebrum is able to discriminate the direction of sound by comparing the relative phase of pressure and particle motion.
- Johannes Veith
- , Thomas Chaigne
- & Benjamin Judkewitz
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News & Views |
Air sacs reduce energy costs for soaring birds
Certain air sacs have evolved in multiple lineages of soaring birds, and it emerges that these probably function to reduce the force required from the major flight muscles as they hold the wings in place during gliding and soaring.
- Bret W. Tobalske
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Article |
The respiratory system influences flight mechanics in soaring birds
An investigation of the subpectoral diverticulum—an inflatable air sac structure between the major flight muscles—in 68 avian species reveals that the respiratory system has a role in the mechanics of flight in soaring birds.
- Emma R. Schachner
- , Andrew J. Moore
- & Karl T. Bates
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News |
Do elephants have names for each other?
Machine learning and careful observation suggest that some of the animals’ calls are specific to individuals, similar to a person’s name.
- Gemma Conroy
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Career Feature |
How we packed off the giant pandas from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo
As the zoo prepares to welcome two giant pandas from China, its director Brandie Smith discusses the departure of their predecessors, Tian Tian, Mei Xiang and a three-year-old cub.
- Anne Gulland
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Research Highlight |
A huge outbreak of butterflies hit three continents — here’s why
Swarms of painted ladies that descended on the Middle East, northern Africa and Europe have been traced to their source.
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News Q&A |
Why cicadas shriek so loudly and more: your questions answered
Billions of the insects are making an epic emergence in the eastern United States.
- Sumeet Kulkarni
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Research Briefing |
Monkey business: primates’ social life tracked with wireless neuronal recording
Primates have rich social lives orchestrated by brain circuits that are still poorly understood, partly because they have not been studied under naturalistic conditions. New wireless technology for recording neuronal activity in freely moving monkeys enabled insights into how neurons track natural social interactions, including reciprocity and social support towards a partner.
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Nature Podcast |
How AI could improve robotics, the cockroach’s origins, and promethium spills its secrets
We round up some recent stories from the Nature Briefing.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Elizabeth Gibney
- & Flora Graham
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News |
These crows have counting skills previously only seen in people
The corvids are the first animals other than humans known to produce a deliberate number of calls on command.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News & Views |
Seed-stashing chickadees overturn ideas about location memory
Certain neurons encode memories of events that occurred in specific physical locations known as place fields. Chickadees show patterns of neuronal activity that are specific to locations of hidden food but independent of place fields.
- Margaret M. Donahue
- & Laura Lee Colgin
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News |
The origin of the cockroach: how a notorious pest conquered the world
Genomic analysis suggests the common kitchen vermin spread from Europe to the world. But it wasn’t originally found in Europe.
- Bianca Nogrady
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Technology Feature |
DeepLabCut: the motion-tracking tool that went viral
Mackenzie and Alexander Mathis were still early in their careers when their software created a sensation. Now they’re using it to support other young scientists.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
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News & Views |
Parental-care puzzle in mice solved by thinking outside the brain
Both parents of oldfield mice care for offspring, whereas in deer mice, mothers usually care for pups. The discovery of a type of adrenal-gland cell that is present in oldfield mice but not in deer mice helps to explain the difference.
- Jessica Tollkuhn
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Nature Podcast |
Lizard-inspired building design could save lives
How knocking down a building helped researchers design a safer structure, and a sustainable 3D printing resin made from a bodybuilding supplement.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Elizabeth Gibney
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Research Highlight |
These parrots go on killing sprees over real-estate shortages
Scientists recorded green-rumped parrotlets pecking others’ chicks to death, probably to claim the nest space.
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Where I Work |
I make 3D models of conifer needles to explore their climate effects
Jan Pisek seeks a better understanding of how forests absorb sunlight, carbon and heat.
- Nic Fleming
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News |
Puppy-dog eyes in wild canines sparks rethink on dog evolution
The eyebrows of the African wild dog have scientists wondering whether other dogs can make the irresistible ‘puppy-dog eyes’ expression.
- Gillian Dohrn
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News & Views |
Streamlined skull helps foxes take a nosedive
Some fox species leap up and pounce head first into snow to capture prey that they hear below the surface. An analysis of the forces involved reveals how the shape of the skull has evolved to minimize damage from this behaviour.
- Mary Abraham
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News |
‘Orangutan, heal thyself’: First wild animal seen using medicinal plant
The Sumatran orangutan used a plant known to humans for its medicinal qualities.
- Gayathri Vaidyanathan
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Correspondence |
Zoos should focus on animal welfare before claiming to champion conservation
- Donald Broom
- , Hsiao Mei Yeh
- & Shawn Peng
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Research Briefing |
Elephant-nose fish ‘see’ farther by electric sensing when in groups
The elephant-nose fish senses its environment by emitting electrical pulses. A multi-pronged investigation suggests that this remarkable sensing ability is amplified in social groups by individuals ‘listening in’ on the pulses of their neighbours.
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News |
First glowing animals lit up the oceans half a billion years ago
Family tree of ‘octocorals’ pushes origin of bioluminescence back to 540 million years ago, when the first animal species developed eyes.
- Freda Kreier
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News & Views |
Marsupial genomes reveal how a skin membrane for gliding evolved
A parachute-like skin membrane, the patagium, evolved independently in several marsupial species. Genomic analysis suggests that this trait came about through different changes to the regulation of the same gene.
- Darío G. Lupiáñez
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News & Views |
Charles Darwin investigates: the curious case of primrose punishment
Birds emerge as top suspects for unexplained flower mutilation, and reflections from 1974 mark the 21st anniversary of the discovery of the DNA double helix, in the weekly dip into Nature’s archive.
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News |
Your perception of time is skewed by what you see
Features of a scene such as size and clutter can affect the brain’s sense of how much time has passed while observing it.
- Lilly Tozer
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News |
Do insects have an inner life? Animal consciousness needs a rethink
A declaration signed by dozens of scientists says there is ‘a realistic possibility’ for elements of consciousness in reptiles, insects and molluscs.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News |
Why queasiness kills hunger: brain circuit identified
Feelings of hunger, nausea and fullness seem to be governed by separate brain circuits, finds a study in mice.
- Gillian Dohrn
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Nature Video |
AI and robotics demystify the workings of a fly's wing
New research unveils the workings of one of the most complex bio-mechanical structures in the natural world
- Dan Fox
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Spotlight |
I dive for fish in the longest freshwater lake in the world
Biologist Carolin Sommer-Trembo describes her fascination for fish and why she enjoys doing science in Switzerland.
- Nikki Forrester
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News & Views |
An exploration of how the insect-wing hinge functions
The hinge enables insects to control their wing movements, but how it works is hard to study. Multidisciplinary research, using imaging and machine-learning methods, now sheds light on the mechanism that underlies its operation.
- Tanvi Deora
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Article |
Machine learning reveals the control mechanics of an insect wing hinge
Measurements of fly muscle activity using a genetically encoded calcium indicator and high-speed imaging of wing movement were used to construct a model of the insect wing hinge and the role of steering muscles in flight control.
- Johan M. Melis
- , Igor Siwanowicz
- & Michael H. Dickinson
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Research Highlight |
A spa session for humpback whales
The gigantic animals have worked out an unusual way to exfoliate — a perfect way to deal with whale lice.
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Obituary |
Frans de Waal (1948–2024), primatologist who questioned the uniqueness of human minds
Researcher and prolific science communicator who laid bare the social lives of apes.
- Andrew Whiten
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Book Review |
The comings and goings of ants: how are social skills shaped in an ever-changing world?
A colourful study of the natural history of ants that takes in dry deserts and lush forests aims to show that sociality is shaped by, and changes with, the environment.
- Seirian Sumner
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Book Review |
Survival of the nicest: have we got evolution the wrong way round?
How humans, animals and even single-celled organisms cooperate to survive suggests there’s more to life than just competition, argues a cheering study of evolutionary biology.
- Jonathan R. Goodman
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Nature Podcast |
Pregnancy’s effect on ‘biological’ age, polite birds, and the carbon cost of home-grown veg
We round up some recent stories from the Nature Briefing.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Noah Baker
- & Flora Graham
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News |
Scientists made a six-legged mouse embryo — here’s why
A rodent with two extra limbs instead of genitals shows the crucial role of a gene pathway in determining the fate of a primordial structure.
- Sara Reardon
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News & Views |
Birds convey complex signals in simple songs
The quality of a bird’s song during courtship can influence whether a male is selected as a mate. An innovative approach using machine learning offers a way to analyse the characteristics of birdsong.
- Kate T. Snyder
- & Nicole Creanza
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News & Views |
The 50th anniversary of a key paper on how bird flight evolved
For a century, scientists pondered whether bird flight evolved by animals gliding down from trees or by creatures running and flapping from the ground up. A landmark 1974 paper reset the debate to focus on the evolution of the flight stroke instead.
- Kevin Padian
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News & Views |
Whales make waves in the quest to discover why menopause evolved
Why do several species of whale experience menopause, and why does the phenomenon occur at all? Analysing whale data might help to answer these questions and shed light on why menopause evolved in humans.
- Rebecca Sear