Stories by Nature magazine

Living things depend on water, but it breaks down DNA and other key molecules. So how did the earliest cells deal with the water paradox?

Scientists hope the dark grains from asteroid Ryugu will improve their understanding of the solar system’s formation

Google’s deep-learning program for determining the 3-D shapes of proteins stands to transform biology, scientists say

COVID-19 is straining African food security but also presents an opportunity for change

A new satellite image reveals the damage that shut down the facility, ending an era in astronomical observation

Rapid antigen tests are designed to tell in a few minutes whether someone is infectious. Will they be game changers?

Paratek Pharmaceuticals made a life-saving drug and got it approved. So why is the company’s long-term survival still in question?

Debate continues over a controversial report of phosphine in the planet’s atmosphere, as researchers reanalyze data and find a fainter signal

Preliminary data show that the immunization is 94 percent effective and seems to prevent severe infections

Chang’e-5 has just one lunar day to collect material from a previously unexplored region of the moon’s near side

Mobile phone data suggest restaurants, gyms and cafés can be COVID hotspots—and reveal strategies for limiting spread

The new president has the opportunity to reverse four years of anti-science policies—but he has a hard road ahead as he inherits a nation divided

Astrophysicists now have enough black-hole mergers to map their frequency over the cosmos’s history

Detective work reconstructs the final movements of the European Space Agency’s Philae probe

It’s too soon to say whether COVID is seasonal like the flu—but where clusters aren’t under control, infections will continue to swell

Why proposals to largely let the virus run its course—embraced by Donald Trump’s administration and others—are a false promise

Jigsaw-puzzle-shaped seams that hold a notoriously tough insect’s wing cases together could inspire engineers

Proponents of the trials say they can be run safely and help to identify effective vaccines, but others have questioned their value

A compound of hydrogen, carbon and sulfur has broken a symbolic barrier—but its high-pressure conditions make it difficult to analyze

China has promised vaccines to many countries, but whether it can meet its commitments is unclear

Researchers have spent decades searching for the elusive particles. A final generation of detectors should leave them no place to hide

Researchers are exploring ways to use people’s vocalizations to diagnose coronavirus infections, dementia and depression

The coronavirus pandemic, climate change and space exploration are among the issues that Biden will influence if he wins the upcoming U.S. election

Infernos in South America’s Pantanal region have burned twice the area of California’s fires this year