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Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00294-x

A fossil found in South Africa 100 years ago provides insights into the emergence of a crucial — and unusual — life stage.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-04153-z

The fossilized skull of a bird called Vegavis, which lived in the Antarctic some 68.7 million years ago, confirms it was an early member of the waterfowl group. However, the skull also suggests that, unlike most modern waterfowl, Vegavis used to dive for its fish prey.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00381-z

Research also shows that skills don’t transfer in the other direction either — plus, a new study of crowd movements could help prevent tragedy.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00311-z

Do mathematical skills that children acquire in the classroom transfer to real-world settings — and vice versa? Evidence from five large groups of children in India reveals that current school-based teaching practices are failing to bridge the gap. An innovative approach is needed to connect abstract maths to intuitively meaningful contexts and problems.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00382-y

Millennia-old genomes suggest Indo–European tongues originated from the Caucasus mountain region.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00057-8

A superconducting state can be induced in a twisted carbon-based material, but it can’t be described with conventional theory. A technique using high-frequency circuits could reveal the mechanism behind this fascinating state.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00314-w

A comprehensive atlas of the human hypothalamus, a brain region that regulates many bodily functions, including temperature, sleep and appetite, has been built using single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics. The atlas reveals previously unappreciated anatomical and cellular diversity, insights into obesity genetics and key therapeutic differences between humans and mice.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00036-z

Overcrowding can lead to disaster, and yet the dynamics of dense groups of people are poorly understood. Analysis of a festival uncovers collective rotational movements that emerge at critical densities, which could be universal.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00086-3

When a cancer cell no longer makes a particular functioning protein, it can become dependent on another protein for survival. The identification of one such relationship has uncovered a therapeutic target.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00348-0

Antibiotics show limited effectiveness against Salmonella bacteria in infected mice. Conventional methods of analysing bacterial growth suggest that a small subset of hyper-resilient bacteria is the main cause of this poor efficacy. However, direct monitoring of antibiotic action in real time reveals that such methods are misleading, and that Salmonella resilience is a population-wide trait.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00089-0

Ancient genomes from modern Ukraine and Russia reveal the origins of the Yamna people, pastoralists who migrated from the Eurasian steppe to Europe 5,000 years ago, spreading their ancestry, culture and, probably, language.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00335-5

Electronic health records and tumour-genome profiling offer promising real-world data with which to model cancer outcomes. Models built by using artificial intelligence (AI) to annotate clinical reports from more than 20,000 individuals with cancer can predict survival, as well as identify genomic features associated with metastasis and response to immunotherapy.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00321-x

A rude awakening.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00340-8

A miniaturized electromechanical device has been developed that attaches directly to the skin, utilizing it as an elastic, energy-storing element for delivering touch stimuli. This wireless, conformable interface enables sensory substitution for individuals with sensory impairments, such as problems with sight, sense of balance or foot orientation during walking.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00292-z

Search engines, GPS maps and other tech can alter our ability to learn and remember. Now scientists are working out what AI might do.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00345-3

In individuals receiving an allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplant, stem cells in the bone marrow, which give rise to blood and immune cells, are replaced with those from a donor. Genome-sequencing analyses in donor–recipient pairs years after transplantation show an accelerated loss of clonal diversity in the blood stem cells of recipients compared with those of donors.

Nature, Published online: 05 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00159-3

Domestic helicopter research — in which wealthy institutions exploit local communities — is on the rise.

Nature, Published online: 04 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00379-7

Omega-3 supplements seem to slow biological ageing. Plus, how scientific-integrity policies can help protect US scientists from political interference.

Nature, Published online: 04 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00368-w

The small trial will help to establish whether kidneys from genetically modified pigs can be transplanted into people safely and effectively.

Nature, Published online: 04 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00367-x

The mandate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention follows an executive order from president Donald Trump, and applies to research not yet published.