Author Correction: Postprandial lipid metabolism durably enhances T cell immunity
Nature, Published online: 14 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10620-6 Author Correction: Postprandial lipid metabolism durably enhances T cell immunity
Author Correction: The AIM2 inflammasome exacerbates atherosclerosis in clonal haematopoiesis
Nature, Published online: 14 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10573-w Author Correction: The AIM2 inflammasome exacerbates atherosclerosis in clonal haematopoiesis
Are we really headed for a ‘super’ El Niño? What the science says
Nature, Published online: 14 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01538-0 An El Niño is coming, models say, but Nature spoke to researchers about when and how we’ll know its intensity.
Hallucinated citations highest in social sciences preprints site
Nature, Published online: 14 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01545-1 More than 140,000 fake citations across four research repositories were identified in papers and preprints published in 2025 alone.
Immune cells in the blood drive cognitive ageing — blocking them improves memory
Nature, Published online: 14 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01531-7 Old T cells secrete an enzyme that can impair brain function in mice.
Mental-health research is too often invisible — it is time to change that
Nature, Published online: 14 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01550-4 Mental illness needs visibility more urgently than almost any other area of medicine and health care. A new award from Wellcome and Nature aims to raise its prominence.
Procrastination, productivity and inspiration: how research is like designing video games
Nature, Published online: 14 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00895-0 After leaving academia, Bennett Foddy sees connections between games design, creativity and research, as he tells John Tregoning.
Stereoelectronic manipulation of ligands for perovskite solar cells
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10626-0 Stereoelectronic manipulation of ligands for perovskite solar cells
The hunt for the next antibiotics
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01424-9 To battle antibiotic resistance, researchers are leaving no stone unturned, looking at folk traditions and harnessing AI to find new antibiotics.
Red-light therapy is all the rage — does it work?
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01547-z There are a multitude of red-light emitting consumer goods, but do they really do anything for your health? We look at the science behind the hype — plus, the increasing levels of obesity in lower-income countries.
Pristine Antarctic ice records the Solar System’s travels
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01505-9 Rare isotopes hint at when the Solar System entered the Local Interstellar Cloud.
An ultra-faint, chemically primitive galaxy forming in the reionization era
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10374-1 LAP1-B—an ultra-faint and tiny galaxy that formed in the reionization era and is strongly magnified by gravitational lensing—is chemically primitive and hosts very few stars in an otherwise dominant dark matter halo.
More concentrated precipitation decreases terrestrial water storage
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10487-7 Concentration of precipitation in large events decreases land water availability, and this effect will further increase with a future warming climate.
Efficient robot navigation inspired by honeybee learning flights
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10461-3 A highly efficient navigation strategy taking inspiration from the visual learning flights of honeybees is described, which enables drones to quickly return from longer flights by means of path integration and uses a neural network as a view memory to reach the home location.
Sustaining microglial reparative function enhances stroke recovery
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10480-0 Reparative microglia persist in the brain after stroke but become dysfunctional through ZFP384-mediated mechanisms; however, this process can be mitigated by targeting Zfp384 using therapeutic antisense oligonucleotides.
Adaptive cellular evolution in the intestine of hyperdiverse cichlid fishes
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10494-8 Single-cell transcriptomics combined with morphological and ecological data show that the rapid evolutionary radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika was accompanied by dietary specialization across multiple layers of biological organization.
Long-term editing of brain circuits using an engineered electrical synapse
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10501-y Connexin proteins found in white perch fish were used to engineer synthetic electrical synapses, enabling precision circuit editing in mammals.
State media control influences large language models
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10506-7 Government-controlled media influences the output of large language models via their training data, and models queried in the languages of countries with lower media freedom show a stronger pro-regime valence than models queried in the languages of countries with higher media freedom.
Enhanced response of extreme compound events to cumulative CO 2 emissions
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10544-1 A new metric shows that compound climate extremes rise faster with cumulative CO2 emissions than models project, implying higher risks and smaller remaining carbon budgets for the 1.5 °C and 2 °C targets.
Enamel proteins from six Homo erectus specimens across China
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10478-8 Palaeoproteomic analysis of ancient enamel proteins extracted from Middle Pleistocene Homo erectus specimens from the Zhoukoudian, Hexian and Sunjiadong sites in China suggests that they are a new genetic monogroup, and super-archaic introgression in Denisovans is likely to have originated from H. erectus.
Twenty-first century emergence of alpine fire in Central African mountains
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10511-w A twenty-first century fire is shown to be the first to have affected a high-elevation region in the central African mountains in the past 12,000 years, and previous burning at mid-elevations highlights the potential role of humans in transforming Afromontane ecosystems.
Ecotypes of triple-negative breast cancer in response to chemotherapy
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10469-9 Treatment data for triple-negative breast cancer show the importance of macrophage subtypes and cancer-cell metaprograms for interferon signalling, HLA expression and cell cycle activity that are associated with a good response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Gaussian boson sampling with 1,024 squeezed states in 8,176 modes
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10523-6 A programmable photonic quantum processor, Jiuzhang 4.0, incorporates 1,024 high-efficiency squeezed states into a hybrid spatial–temporal encoded 8,176-mode circuit.
Lineage and organ signals sequentially build organ intrinsic nervous systems
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10490-y Systems-level analyses of organ intrinsic nervous systems reveal that these networks are initially configured by lineage-dependent programmes, and their architecture and molecular identity are refined by intra-organ specific local cues.
SNOR promotes translation restart after dormancy
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10530-7 High-resolution in situ cryo-electron tomography in Schizosaccharomyces pombe identifies SNOR protein, which binds to ribosomes during dormancy induced by glucose depletion, priming them for rapid reactivation of protein synthesis upon glucose repletion.
Mesoscale atomic engineering in a crystal lattice
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10431-9 Electron-beam control enables deterministic placement of tens of thousands of atomic defects in three-dimensional crystals, creating stable, programmable artificial matter for scalable quantum and nanoscale technologies.
Subspace communication in the hippocampal–retrosplenial axis
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10481-z Hippocampal–neocortical communication reconfigures predetermined circuit motifs to flexibly encode experiences.
Large-scale discovery, analysis and design of protein energy landscapes
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10465-z An analysis of 5,778 domains 28–64 amino acids in length reveals hidden variation in conformational fluctuations, even between sequences sharing the same fold and global folding stability.
Asymmetric splitting in dividing lipid-nucleotide multilamellar droplets
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10489-5 Structured liquid droplets exhibit asymmetric division in the absence of reconstituted protein machinery.
Sleep chart of biological ageing clocks in middle and late life
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10524-5 A cross-organ, multi-omics U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and biological ageing clocks highlights the potential of sleep optimization to promote healthy ageing, lower disease risk and extend longevity.
Developmental gene expression patterns driving species-specific cortical features
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10491-x Machine learning analysis of cell-type-specific gene expression in mouse and human neocortex and human cortical organoids reveals human-specific cell-type and temporal variations in expression controlled by JUNB.
Obesity rise plateaus in developed nations and accelerates in developing nations
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10383-0 Global analysis of obesity trends from 1980 to 2024 in 200 countries and territories using data from 4,050 population-based studies reveals that framing obesity as a single global epidemic masks the highly varied dynamics across countries and age groups.
Eosinophils drive intestinal remodelling and innate defence in reproduction
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10531-6 From pregnancy until lactation, eosinophils accumulate in the small intestine where they regulate goblet cell fate and enhance innate defences against enteric pathogens.
A synaptic locus of song learning
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10510-x Combining a computational framework and optogenetic and chemogenetic manipulations within and downstream of the cortico-basal ganglia circuit identifies the specific cortico-basal ganglia synapses that drive the acquisition and expression of rapid vocal changes during juvenile song learning.
An X-linked long non-coding RNA, PTCHD1-AS , and the core features of autism
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10515-6 PTCHD1-AS, which encodes a long non-coding RNA, is associated with the aetiology of autism spectrum disorder in humans through striatal molecular and circuit-level dysregulation.
White matter micro- and macrostructure brain charts for the human lifespan
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10454-2 Integration of data representing 35,120 brain scans from diverse global studies enables construction of reference charts that define normative microstructural and macrostructural properties across the human lifespan for research and clinical diagnosis.
Street sellers and private physicians fuel antibiotic overuse
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01374-2 Limited access to medical professionals and irresponsible prescribing practices are contributing to antimicrobial resistance in low-resource settings.
Old antibiotics are being revived to fight new threats
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01379-x The last antimicrobial peptide was developed decades ago. Now, drug-resistant bacteria are forcing scientists to take a fresh look at this class of antibiotic.
Fast and furious: the gaseous outflows of quasars in the early Universe were extreme
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01485-w Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope reveal that extremely fast, galaxy-scale outflows from luminous objects called quasars were much more frequent, and on average more powerful, about one billion years after the Big Bang than at later cosmic epochs. These outflows could easily escape their host galaxies and regulate the evolution of early massive galaxies.
Sleep linked to slower ageing: huge study pinpoints the right amount
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01506-8 Health outcomes were better in people who slept for between about six and eight hours a day.
Growth charts reveal how the brain’s ‘communication highways’ change throughout life
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01318-w Studies of white matter — the tissue used for communication between brain regions — have revealed substantial changes in people with neurological diseases and disorders. The creation of white-matter brain charts enables individual deviations from the typical structure to be assessed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans.
Can AI tools assess coding assignments?
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01139-x Yulu Hou and her partner experimented with using ChatGPT to automate marking of undergraduate assignments. Here’s what they learnt.
Did Homo erectus and Denisovans mate? Tooth proteins hint at ancient trysts
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01532-6 Genetic analysis suggests interbreeding between two groups of human relatives.
The fightback against antimicrobial resistance starts at home
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01372-4 Microbiologist Alexander Fleming’s 80-year-old advice is still key to protecting the efficacy of antibiotics.
AI can design viruses, toxins and other bioweapons. How worried should we be?
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01476-x Scientists are debating whether to limit biological AI software to ward off threats.
Why farm workers need protection from antimicrobial resistance
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01377-z Antibiotic use in agriculture threatens the health of workers and their communities, but there are potential solutions.
Antibiotics look like any other drugs — and that’s a problem
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01375-1 Medical microbiologist Heiman Wertheim explains why the physical appearance and labelling of antibiotics matter when trying to limit resistance.
Daily briefing: Ice core is the longest-ever continuous record of Earth’s climate
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01561-1 Data from the 2.8-kilometre-deep core stretches back 1.2 million years. Plus, the cost of using AI tools in the lab and the greatest physics mysteries that still divide researchers.
Relics of the first stars spotted in a distant, ultra-faint galaxy
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01151-1 An observation of an ultra-faint galaxy, captured as it was shortly after the Big Bang, indicates the presence of material from the first generation of stars.
Targeted electron beam creates thousands of atomic crystal defects
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01328-8 An electron-beam technique that can precisely create thousands of atomic defects in a crystal could be used to build quantum devices.
Bee-inspired navigation robot pinpoints its home using a neural network
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01321-1 A simple machine-learning algorithm, inspired by honeybees’ visual memory and sense of direction, enables a flying robot to pinpoint its home location.
Six key developments in the fight against antimicrobial resistance
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01373-3 Antibiotics designed by artificial intelligence, immunotherapy for resistant infections and other highlights from studies and trials.
State media control shapes LLM behaviour by influencing training data
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01486-9 State control of the media is shown to alter the training data of large language models (LLMs) through its impact on the information environment. This has a substantial effect on the output of LLMs, with states rated more favourably in their own language when they have tighter media control.
Economic reform can save antibiotic innovation
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01378-y Governments must create meaningful incentives for biopharmaceutical companies to develop antimicrobial products.
Antifungal resistance is growing – will new treatments turn the tables?
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01380-4 Trials of drugs to fight deadly resistant infections are advancing, but they might fall victim to overuse of agricultural fungicides just like their predecessors.
Are non-antibiotic drugs contributing to antimicrobial resistance?
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01376-0 Plans to address drug resistance typically focus on the use of antibiotics, but there are signs that compounds with incidental antibacterial effects might be part of the problem, too.
The futile beauty of flightless birds
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01081-y Navigating by the stars.
Obesity has risen in all countries — but at a faster pace in poorer ones
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00909-x Trajectories of obesity prevalence over the past 45 years reveal patterns of growth, plateau and decline that differ across high-, middle- and low-income countries.
At last, a pill that can prevent COVID after exposure to infected people
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01546-0 Drug arrives years after pandemic’s peak, but could still offer protection to vulnerable populations.
Protective maternal gut instincts
Nature, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01322-0 Pregnancy poses many challenges, including protecting against infection and increased nutritional demands. Pregnancy-associated gut changes offer some help.
Author Correction: Predictive coding of reward in the hippocampus
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10615-3 Author Correction: Predictive coding of reward in the hippocampus
Author Correction: A mechanical ratchet drives unilateral cytokinesis
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10618-0 Author Correction: A mechanical ratchet drives unilateral cytokinesis
Cruise-ship hantavirus cluster exposes a wider preparedness gap
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01518-4 Cruise-ship hantavirus cluster exposes a wider preparedness gap
Charles Darwin reports a squirrel surprise
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01334-w An unexpected creature munches on cherry blossom flowers, and the value of drawing art is considered in this week’s pick from the Nature archive.
UK Biobank breach prompts the field of genomics to rethink open science
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01520-w UK Biobank breach prompts the field of genomics to rethink open science
Ice core reveals longest-ever continuous record of Earth’s climate
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01523-7 Data from Antarctica could help to solve the mystery of why ice ages became so brutal.
Animal-testing alternatives will require a cultural change in research institutions
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01519-3 Animal-testing alternatives will require a cultural change in research institutions
Dried to survive: desiccated tardigrades tolerate high heat
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01502-y The famously resilient creatures can withstand temperatures of 85 °C if allowed to dry out first.
Chemistry in the AI era
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01521-9 Chemistry in the AI era
Daily briefing: The cities getting ‘richer and cleaner’
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01544-2 Thousands of cities worldwide are nailing green growth without fossil fuels. Plus, why the common hormonal condition PCOS is now PMOS and how to vibe code in science.
Bacterial−viral conflicts shape cholera evolution
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01156-w Genomics and experimental data suggest that an evolutionary arms race between cholera-causing bacteria and their viral predators shapes the disease in humans.
Science can take the lead in making better measures of economic growth
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01474-z The United Nations wants scientists to help design indicators of progress that go beyond GDP. Researchers should seize the chance and be aware of past failures.
How to vibe code in science: early adopters share their tips
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01477-w Using AI coding tools can speed up your work, but there are plenty of pitfalls.
AI bills can be as big as a postdoc salary. Is the cost worth it?
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01369-z Recent price hikes, usage limitations and unreliable outputs are causing some scientific researchers to think twice about using artificial intelligence.
Open data is key to genomics research — if the information can be kept safe
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01475-y Trust is no longer enough: secure data sharing requires international collaboration across institutions and governments.