Watch DeepMind’s AI robot slam-dunk a basketball
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00777-x
The firm has incorporated its Gemini artificial-intelligence model into robots to perform fiddly tasks.Sapphire anvils squeeze metals atomically-thin
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00776-y
Technique could help researchers probe strange properties of 2D metals — plus, five years after the pandemic, how did COVID change virology?Weather anomalies cannot explain insect decline
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08528-0
Weather anomalies cannot explain insect declineHigh temporal variability not trend dominates Mediterranean precipitation
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08576-6
Our assessment of a 27-country weather station dataset in the Mediterranean region revealed long-term stability in precipitation over 150 years, along with substantial short-term variability on annual to decadal scales driven by atmospheric circulation; these findings align with the precipitation trends seen in CMIP6 models.Genomic determinants of antigen expression hierarchy in African trypanosomes
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08720-w
A highly sensitive single-cell RNA sequencing approach reveals genomic features controlling the order of antigen activation in the model protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei.Perception of viral infections and initiation of antiviral defence in rice
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08706-8
Viral coat proteins are perceived by the RING1–IBR–RING2-type ubiquitin ligase, initiating the first step of the natural antiviral response in rice.TGFβ links EBV to multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08697-6
Multisystem inflammatory syndrome following SARS-CoV-2 infection results from increased serum levels of TGFβ, which impairs the reactivation of virus-specific T cells.An operating system for executing applications on quantum network nodes
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08704-w
A new quantum operating system architecture is described that is capable of executing applications on quantum networks in high-level software, which is a step towards bringing quantum network technology to society.A robustly rooted tree of eukaryotes reveals their excavate ancestry
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08709-5
The root of the eukaryote Tree of Life is estimated from a new, larger dataset of mitochondrial proteins including all known eukaryotic supergroups, showing it lies between two multi-supergroup assemblages.Realization of 2D metals at the ångström thickness limit
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08711-x
Melting and squeezing pure metals between two sapphires covered in molybdenum disulfide produces diverse two-dimensional metals at the ångström thickness limit.Species turnover does not rescue biodiversity in fragmented landscapes
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08688-7
An analysis of habitat fragmentation using a dataset of more than 4,000 species worldwide shows that fragmentation reduces biodiversity at all scales, and that increases in β diversity do not compensate for the loss of α diversity.The earliest human face of Western Europe
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08681-0
A Homo aff. erectus individual dated to 1.4 million to 1.1 million years ago found at Sima del Elefante (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain) does not display the modern-human-like aspect of Homo antecessor found at the neighbouring Gran Dolina site (900,000–800,000 years ago).Adaptive locomotion of active solids
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08646-3
The development of active solids based on centimetre-scale building blocks incorporating odd elasticity shows that they can spontaneously undergo limit cycles of shape changes, leading to adaptive locomotion such as rolling and crawling.Record sea surface temperature jump in 2023–2024 unlikely but not unexpected
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08674-z
Observations and climate models suggest that the global sea surface temperature jump in 2023–2024 was not unexpected and would have been nearly impossible without anthropogenic warming.<i>MYC</i> ecDNA promotes intratumour heterogeneity and plasticity in PDAC
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08721-9
In a model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, extrachromosomal DNAs are shown to be a source of high-level focal amplification driving MYC heterogeneity and phenotypic adaptation.Natural behaviour is learned through dopamine-mediated reinforcement
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08729-1
Studies in zebra finches show that dopamine has a key role as a reinforcement signal in the trial-and-error process of learning that underlies complex natural behaviours.Large recoverable elastic energy in chiral metamaterials via twist buckling
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08658-z
High-enthalpy elastic metamaterials constructed from freely rotatable chiral metacells have high stiffness, large recoverable strain and improved buckling strength.Magnetically and optically active edges in phosphorene nanoribbons
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08563-x
Phosphorene nanoribbons demonstrate extraordinary magnetic properties, ranging from large internal fields in films to macroscopic alignment in solution, which can be coupled to photoexcitations that localize to the magnetic edge of these ribbons.Hepatic stellate cells control liver zonation, size and functions via R-spondin 3
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08677-w
Hepatic stellate cells regulate hepatocyte functions via R-spondin 3.Basis functions for complex social decisions in dorsomedial frontal cortex
Nature, Published online: 12 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08705-9
A study combining group decision-making tasks with fMRI shows that the brain’s dorsomedial prefrontal cortex uses basis functions, similar to those in the visual, motor and spatial domains, to represent patterns of social interaction.