Pharmaceuticals
U.S. Lawsuit Threatens Access to Abortion Drug: The Science behind the Case
A judge’s decision could ban mifepristone across the country and weaken the Food and Drug Administration’s authority
Stories by Nature magazine
Neurology
Your Brain Could Be Controlling How Sick You Get—and How You Recover
Scientists are deciphering how the brain choreographs immune responses, hoping to find treatments for a range of diseases
Medicine
Another Patient Is Free of HIV after Receiving Virus-Resistant Cells
The risks associated with a bone marrow transplant used to treat HIV mean the procedure is unlikely to be widely used in its current form
Artificial Intelligence
AI Chatbots Are Coming to Search Engines. Can You Trust Them?
Google, Microsoft and Baidu are using tools similar to ChatGPT to turn Internet searches into a conversation. How will this change humanity’s relationship with machines?
Quantum Computing
Underdog Technologies Gain Ground in Quantum-Computing Race
Individual atoms trapped by optical “tweezers” are emerging as a promising computational platform
Archaeology
Surprising Chemicals Were Used to Embalm Egyptian Mummies
Resins used by ancient Egyptians to prepare bodies for the afterlife are found in vessels in a 2,500-year-old workshop
Materials Science
Scientists Made a New Kind Of Ice That Might Exist on Distant Moons
The “amorphous” solid is denser and could be water “frozen in time”
Vaccines
Should COVID Vaccines Be Given Yearly?
Some scientists say the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s suggestion of updating COVID vaccines each year, as happens with influenza vaccines, could boost uptake. But others are less convinced...
Astrophysics
Weird Supernova Remnant Blows Scientists’ Minds
Fireworks display from rare dying star is unlike anything astronomers have seen
Extraterrestrial Life
Will an AI Be the First to Discover Alien Life?
SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is deploying machine-learning algorithms that filter out earthly interference and spot signals humans might miss
Space Exploration
What Time Is It on the Moon?
Satellite navigation systems for lunar settlements will require local atomic clocks. Scientists are working out what time they will keep
Genetics
Dads Have Been Older than Moms since the Dawn of Humanity, Study Suggests
Using modern human DNA to estimate when new generations were born over 250,000 years, scientists suggest that fathers have been having children later in life than mothers throughout human history...
Artificial Intelligence
Research Summaries Written by AI Fool Scientists
Scientists cannot always differentiate between research abstracts generated by the AI ChatGPT and those written by humans
Quantum Computing
Are Quantum Computers about to Break Online Privacy?
A new algorithm is probably not efficient enough to crack current encryption keys—but that’s no reason for complacency, researchers say
Pharmaceuticals
‘Breakthrough’ Obesity Drugs Are Effective but Raise Questions
Drugs that reduce excess weight linked to chronic health problems have shown striking results in trials and in practice
Particle Physics
Hint of Crack in Standard Model Vanishes in LHC Data
A discrepancy in the measurement of a type of particle decay had raised hopes of new physics
Epidemiology
China’s COVID Wave Could Kill One Million People, Models Predict
Boosting vaccination rates, continuing widespread mask use and reimposing some restrictions on movement could reduce the number of deaths in China’s COVID wave
Public Health
Fauci Responds to Musk’s Twitter Attack and Rates World’s COVID Response
Public health leader Anthony Fauci advises early-career researchers “not to be deterred” by vitriol
Energy
Nuclear Fusion Lab Achieves ‘Ignition’: What Does It Mean?
Fusion researchers at the U.S. National Ignition Facility created a reaction that made more energy than they put in
Pharmaceuticals
$3.5-Million Hemophilia Gene Therapy Is World’s Most Expensive Drug
A hemophilia drug has the potential to save lives. But it cannot treat the most common form of the disease
