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In This Issue Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 121, Issue 20, May 2024.
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Response of tropical forest productivity to seasonal drought mediated by potassium and phosphorus availability Nat. Geosci. (IF 18.3) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 Raphael Manu, Najeeb Al-Amin Iddris, Marife D. Corre, Alfred Aleeje, Majaliwa J. G. Mwanjalolo, Oliver van Straaten, Edzo Veldkamp
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Clouds and climate Nat. Geosci. (IF 18.3) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
Cloud uncertainties have been a persistent problem in climate science, but innovative approaches are starting to make headway.
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I’m worried I’ve been contacted by a predatory publisher — how do I find out? Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-15
Researchers frequently receive invitations to publish in journals that they might not have heard of. Nature asked two scientists how they would check whether a publication is legitimate.
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Forestry social science is failing the needs of the people who need it most Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-15
Rich nations’ fixation on forests as climate offsets has resulted in the needs of those who live in or make a living from these resources being ignored. A broader view and more collaboration between disciplines is required.
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Explaining novel scientific concepts to people whose technical acumen does not extend to turning it off, then turning it on again Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-15
Guided by the light.
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Neglecting sex and gender in research is a public-health risk Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 Sue Haupt, Cheryl Carcel, Robyn Norton
The data are clear: taking sex and gender into account in research and using that knowledge to change health care could benefit billions of people.
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How to kill the ‘zombie’ cells that make you age Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-15
Researchers are using new molecules, engineered immune cells and gene therapy to kill senescent cells and treat age-related diseases.
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2023 summer warmth unparalleled over the past 2,000 years Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Jan Esper, Max Torbenson, Ulf Büntgen
Including an exceptionally warm Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer1,2, 2023 has been reported as the hottest year on record3-5. Contextualizing recent anthropogenic warming against past natural variability is nontrivial, however, because the sparse 19th century meteorological records tend to be too warm6. Here, we combine observed and reconstructed June-August (JJA) surface air temperatures to show that
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Africa’s lush tropical forests face a surprising threat: fire Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
Climate change and deforestation have increased the frequency of blazes in the humid forests of West and Central Africa.
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AI & robotics briefing: Why AI needs to see the ‘ugly’ side of science Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
The absence of negative results in the scientific literature is affecting AI tools trained on published data. Plus, why animals still outrun robots and AlphaFold gets major upgrade.
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Daily briefing: Amazing auroras are just a warm-up — more solar storms are coming Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
The upcoming solar maximum means more and bigger solar storms to come. Plus, how to decarbonise the workhorse of fossil fuel production: oil refineries.
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Evapotranspiration evaluation using three different protocols on a large green roof in the greater Paris area Earth Syst. Sci. Data (IF 11.4) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 Pierre-Antoine Versini, Leydy Alejandra Castellanos-Diaz, David Ramier, Ioulia Tchiguirinskaia
Abstract. Nature-based solutions have appeared as relevant solutions to mitigate urban heat islands. To improve our knowledge of the assessment of this ecosystem service and the related physical processes (evapotranspiration), monitoring campaigns are required. This was the objective of several experiments carried out on the Blue Green Wave, a large green roof located in Champs-sur-Marne (France).
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Water vapor Raman-lidar observations from multiple sites in the framework of WaLiNeAs Earth Syst. Sci. Data (IF 11.4) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 Frédéric Laly, Patrick Chazette, Julien Totems, Jérémy Lagarrigue, Laurent Forges, Cyrille Flamant
Abstract. During the Water Vapor Lidar Network Assimilation (WaLiNeAs) campaign, 8 lidars specifically designed to measure water vapor mixing ratio (WVMR) profiles were deployed on the western Mediterranean coast. The main objectives were to investigate the water vapor content during case studies of heavy precipitation events in the coastal Western Mediterranean and assess the impact of high spatio-temporal
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A global monthly field of seawater pH over 3 decades: a machine learning approach Earth Syst. Sci. Data (IF 11.4) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 Guorong Zhong, Xuegang Li, Jinming Song, Baoxiao Qu, Fan Wang, Yanjun Wang, Bin Zhang, Lijing Cheng, Jun Ma, Huamao Yuan, Liqin Duan, Ning Li, Qidong Wang, Jianwei Xing, Jiajia Dai
Abstract. The continuous uptake of anthropogenic CO2 by the ocean leads to ocean acidification, which is an ongoing threat to the marine ecosystem. The ocean acidification rate was globally documented in the surface ocean but limited below the surface. Here, we present a monthly four-dimensional 1°×1° gridded product of global seawater pH, derived from a machine learning algorithm trained on pH observations
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A 10 km daily-level ultraviolet radiation predicting dataset based on machine learning models in China from 2005 to 2020 Earth Syst. Sci. Data (IF 11.4) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 Yichen Jiang, Su Shi, Xinyue Li, Chang Xu, Haidong Kan, Bo Hu, Xia Meng
Abstract. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is closely related to health, but limited measurements hindered further investigation of its health effects in China. Machine learning algorithm has been widely used in predicting environmental factors with high accuracy, but limited studies have done for UV radiation. This study aimed to develop UV radiation prediction model based on random forest method, and predict
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Retrieving Ground-Level PM2.5 Concentrations in China (2013–2021) with a Numerical Model-Informed Testbed to Mitigate Sample Imbalance-Induced Biases Earth Syst. Sci. Data (IF 11.4) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 Siwei Li, Yu Ding, Jia Xing, Joshua S. Fu
Abstract. Ground-level PM2.5 data derived from satellites with machine learning are crucial for health and climate assessments, however, uncertainties persist due to the absence of spatially covered observations. To address this, we propose a novel testbed using untraditional numerical simulations to evaluate PM2.5 estimation across the entire spatial domain. The testbed emulates the general machine-learning
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Global mapping of oil palm planting year from 1990 to 2021 Earth Syst. Sci. Data (IF 11.4) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 Adrià Descals, David L. A. Gaveau, Serge Wich, Zoltan Szantoi, Erik Meijaard
Abstract. Oil palm is a controversial crop, primarily because it is associated with negative environmental impacts such as tropical deforestation. Mapping the crop and its characteristics, such as age, is crucial for informing public and policy discussions regarding these impacts. Oil palm has received substantial mapping efforts, but up-to-date accurate oil palm maps for both extent and age are essential
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A consistent dataset for the net income distribution for 190 countries and aggregated to 32 geographical regions from 1958 to 2015 Earth Syst. Sci. Data (IF 11.4) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Kanishka B. Narayan, Brian C. O'Neill, Stephanie Waldhoff, Claudia Tebaldi
Abstract. Data on income distributions within and across countries are becoming increasingly important for informing analysis of income inequality and understanding the distributional consequences of climate change. While datasets on income distribution collected from household surveys are available for multiple countries, these datasets often do not represent the same concept of inequality (or income
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Multiwavelength, aerosol lidars at Maïdo supersite, Reunion Island, France: instruments description, data processing chain and quality assessment Earth Syst. Sci. Data (IF 11.4) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Dominique Gantois, Guillaume Payen, Michaël Sicard, Valentin Duflot, Nicolas Marquestaut, Thierry Portafaix, Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Patrick Hernandez, Eric Golubic
Abstract. Understanding optical and radiative properties of aerosols and clouds is critical to reduce uncertainties in climate models. For over 10 years, the Observatory of Atmospheric Physics of La Réunion (OPAR) has been operating three active lidar instruments (named Li1200, LiO3S and LiO3T) providing time-series of vertical profiles from 3 to 45 km of the aerosol extinction and backscatter coefficients
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A Global Daily High Spatial-temporal Coverage Merged Tropospheric NO2 dataset (HSTCM-NO2) from 2007 to 2022 based on OMI and GOME-2 Earth Syst. Sci. Data (IF 11.4) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Kai Qin, Hongrui Gao, Xuancen Liu, Qin He, Jason Blake Cohen
Abstract. Remote sensing based on satellites can provide long-term, consistent, and global coverage of NO2 (an important atmospheric air pollutant) as well as other trace gases. However, satellite data often miss data due to factors including but not limited to clouds, surface features, and aerosols. Moreover, one of the longest continuous observational platforms of NO2 observations from space, OMI
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Spatio-Temporal Changes in China’s Mainland Shorelines Over 30 Years Using Landsat Time Series Data (1990–2019) Earth Syst. Sci. Data (IF 11.4) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Gang Yang, Ke Huang, Lin Zhu, Weiwei Sun, Chao Chen, Xiangchao Meng, Lihua Wang, Yong Ge
Abstract. Continuous monitoring of shoreline dynamics is essential to understanding the drivers of shoreline changes and evolution. A long-term shoreline dataset can describe the dynamic changes in the spatio-temporal dimension and provide information on the influence of anthropogenic activities and natural factors on coastal areas. This study, conducted on the Google Earth Engine platform, analyzed
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Potassium isotopic evidence for recycling of surface water into the mantle transition zone Nat. Geosci. (IF 18.3) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Kai-Chen Xing, Feng Wang, Fang-Zhen Teng, Wen-Liang Xu, Yi-Ni Wang, De-Bin Yang, Hong-Lin Li, Yan-Chao Wang
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Real-world plastic-waste success stories can help to boost global treaty Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
Letter to the Editor
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Interpersonal therapy can be an effective tool against the devastating effects of loneliness Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
Letter to the Editor
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Inequality is bad — but that doesn’t mean the rich are Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
Letter to the Editor
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Balls of lightning and flames from the sky: can science explain? Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Standardized metadata for biological samples could unlock the potential of collections Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
Letter to the Editor
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Why mathematics is set to be revolutionized by AI Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
Cheap data and the absence of coincidences make maths an ideal testing ground for AI-assisted discovery — but only humans will be able to tell good conjectures from bad ones.
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How does ChatGPT ‘think’? Psychology and neuroscience crack open AI large language models Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
Researchers are striving to reverse-engineer artificial intelligence and scan the ‘brains’ of LLMs to see what they are doing, how and why.
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The phenomenon of genomic imprinting was discovered 40 years ago Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Anne C. Ferguson-Smith, Marisa S. Bartolomei
Landmark 1984 experiments gave rise to a new epigenetics concept.
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How men evolved to care for babies — before society got in the way Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
An exploration of the evolution of male nurturing shows why, unlike fathers among other great apes, human dads are biologically wired to be hands-on parents.
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A DARPA-like agency could boost EU innovation — but cannot come at the expense of existing schemes Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
If Europe wants to create a high-risk, high-reward research body, it needs grass-roots backing.
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Mega study charts how genetic variants affect metabolism Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-14
The discovery of hundreds of genomic regions linked with metabolism promises to improve our understanding of metabolic diseases.
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Plasmid targeting and destruction by the DdmDE bacterial defence system Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-13 Jack P. K. Bravo, Delisa A. Ramos, Rodrigo Fregoso Ocampo, Caiden Ingram, David W. Taylor
While eukaryotic Argonautes play a pivotal role in post-transcriptional gene regulation through nucleic acid cleavage, some short prokaryotic Argonaute variants (pAgos) rely on auxiliary nuclease factors for efficient foreign DNA degradation (1). Here, we elucidate the activation pathway of the DNA Defense Module DdmDE system, which rapidly eliminates small, multicopy plasmids from Vibrio cholerae
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Dazzling auroras are just a warm-up as more solar storms are likely, scientists say Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-13
Nature talks to physicists about what to expect in the next months and beyond as the Sun hits its 'maximum'.
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Brain-reading device is best yet at decoding ‘internal speech’ Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-13
Technology that enables researchers to interpret brain signals could one day allow people to talk using only their thoughts.
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Human embryos embrace asymmetry to form the body Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-13
The cells generated by the very first division of the fertilized egg make a lopsided contribution to the body’s organs and tissues.
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Daily briefing: Internet use seems to boost well-being Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-10
A survey of people in 168 countries finds that Internet use might boost life satisfaction and sense of purpose. Plus, what a Neanderthal’s Mona-Lisa smile tells us about ourselves and how the cauliflower got its whorls.
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Daily briefing: A millimetre of brain in spectacular detail Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-10
Google scientists have modelled a tiny fragment of the human brain at nanoscale resolution. Plus, a bold proposal to limit extreme wealth.
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SRSF1 interactome determined by proximity labeling reveals direct interaction with spliceosomal RNA helicase DDX23 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Danilo Segovia, Dexter W. Adams, Nickolas Hoffman, Polona Safaric Tepes, Tse-Luen Wee, Paolo Cifani, Leemor Joshua-Tor, Adrian R. Krainer
SRSF1 is the founding member of the SR protein family. It is required—interchangeably with other SR proteins—for pre-mRNA splicing in vitro, and it regulates various alternative splicing events. Dysregulation of SRSF1 expression contributes to cancer and other pathologies. Here, we characterized SRSF1’s interactome using proximity labeling and mass spectrometry. This approach yielded 190 proteins enriched
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Lipid-derived electrophiles inhibit the function of membrane channels during ferroptosis Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Antonius T. M. Van Kessel, Gonzalo Cosa
The therapeutic targeting of ferroptosis requires full understanding of the molecular mechanism of this regulated cell death pathway. While lipid-derived electrophiles (LDEs), including 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE), are important biomarkers of ferroptosis, a functional role for these highly reactive species in ferroptotic cell death execution has not been established. Here, through mechanistic characterization
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Requirements for the biogenesis of [2Fe-2S] proteins in the human and yeast cytosol Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Joseph J. Braymer, Oliver Stehling, Martin Stümpfig, Ralf Rösser, Farah Spantgar, Catharina M. Blinn, Ulrich Mühlenhoff, Antonio J. Pierik, Roland Lill
The biogenesis of iron–sulfur (Fe/S) proteins entails the synthesis and trafficking of Fe/S clusters, followed by their insertion into target apoproteins. In eukaryotes, the multiple steps of biogenesis are accomplished by complex protein machineries in both mitochondria and cytosol. The underlying biochemical pathways have been elucidated over the past decades, yet the mechanisms of cytosolic [2Fe-2S]
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Dichotomous dynamics of magnetic monopole fluids Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Chun-Chih Hsu, Hiroto Takahashi, Fabian Jerzembeck, Jahnatta Dasini, Chaia Carroll, Ritika Dusad, Jonathan Ward, Catherine Dawson, Sudarshan Sharma, Graeme M. Luke, Stephen J. Blundell, Claudio Castelnovo, Jonathan N. Hallén, Roderich Moessner, J. C. Séamus Davis
A recent advance in the study of emergent magnetic monopoles was the discovery that monopole motion is restricted to dynamical fractal trajectories [J. N. Hallén et al. , Science 378 , 1218 (2022)], thus explaining the characteristics of magnetic monopole noise spectra [R. Dusad et al., Nature 571 , 234 (2019); A. M. Samarakoon et al. , Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 119 , e2117453119 (2022)]. Here
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Genome-wide CRISPR screens in spheroid culture reveal that the tumor suppressor LKB1 inhibits growth via the PIKFYVE lipid kinase Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 John R. Ferrarone, Jerin Thomas, Arun M. Unni, Yuxiang Zheng, Michal J. Nagiec, Eric E. Gardner, Oksana Mashadova, Kate Li, Nikos Koundouros, Antonino Montalbano, Meer Mustafa, Lewis C. Cantley, John Blenis, Neville E. Sanjana, Harold Varmus
The tumor suppressor LKB1 is a serine/threonine protein kinase that is frequently mutated in human lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). LKB1 regulates a complex signaling network that is known to control cell polarity and metabolism; however, the pathways that mediate the tumor-suppressive activity of LKB1 are incompletely defined. To identify mechanisms of LKB1-mediated growth suppression, we developed a spheroid-based
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A fungal protein organizes both glycogen and cell wall glucans Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Liza Loza, Tamara L. Doering
Glycogen is a glucose storage molecule composed of branched α-1,4-glucan chains, best known as an energy reserve that can be broken down to fuel central metabolism. Because fungal cells have a specialized need for glucose in building cell wall glucans, we investigated whether glycogen is used for this process. For these studies, we focused on the pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus neoformans , which causes
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Dark continuous noise from mutant G90D-rhodopsin predominantly underlies congenital stationary night blindness Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Zuying Chai, Yaqing Ye, Daniel Silverman, Kasey Rose, Alana Madura, Randall R. Reed, Jeannie Chen, King-Wai Yau
Congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB) is an inherited retinal disease that causes a profound loss of rod sensitivity without severe retinal degeneration. One well-studied rhodopsin point mutant, G90D-Rho, is thought to cause CSNB because of its constitutive activity in darkness causing rod desensitization. However, the nature of this constitutive activity and its precise molecular source have
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Bacterial lifestyle shapes pangenomes Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Anna E. Dewar, Chunhui Hao, Laurence J. Belcher, Melanie Ghoul, Stuart A. West
Pangenomes vary across bacteria. Some species have fluid pangenomes, with a high proportion of genes varying between individual genomes. Other species have less fluid pangenomes, with different genomes tending to contain the same genes. Two main hypotheses have been suggested to explain this variation: differences in species’ bacterial lifestyle and effective population size. However, previous studies
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Identification and characterization of a nonbiological small-molecular mimic of a Zika virus conformational neutralizing epitope Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Priscila M. S. Castanha, Patrick J. McEnaney, Yongseok Park, Anthea Bouwer, Elton J. F. Chaves, Roberto D. Lins, Nicholas G. Paciaroni, Paige Dickson, Graham Carlson, Marli T. Cordeiro, Tereza Magalhaes, Jodi Craigo, Ernesto T. A. Marques, Thomas Kodadek, Donald S. Burke
Antigenic similarities between Zika virus (ZIKV) and other flaviviruses pose challenges to the development of virus-specific diagnostic tools and effective vaccines. Starting with a DNA-encoded one-bead-one-compound combinatorial library of 508,032 synthetic, non-natural oligomers, we selected and characterized small molecules that mimic ZIKV epitopes. High-throughput fluorescence-activated cell sorter-based
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Microbes vary strategically in their metalation of mononuclear enzymes Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Sanjay Kumar Rohaun, Ramakrishnan Sethu, James A. Imlay
Studies have determined that nonredox enzymes that are cofactored with Fe(II) are the most oxidant-sensitive targets inside Escherichia coli . These enzymes use Fe(II) cofactors to bind and activate substrates. Because of their solvent exposure, the metal can be accessed and oxidized by reactive oxygen species, thereby inactivating the enzyme. Because these enzymes participate in key physiological
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ZEPPI: Proteome-scale sequence-based evaluation of protein–protein interaction models Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (IF 11.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-14 Haiqing Zhao, Donald Petrey, Diana Murray, Barry Honig
We introduce ZEPPI (Z-score Evaluation of Protein–Protein Interfaces), a framework to evaluate structural models of a complex based on sequence coevolution and conservation involving residues in protein–protein interfaces. The ZEPPI score is calculated by comparing metrics for an interface to those obtained from randomly chosen residues. Since contacting residues are defined by the structural model
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Tackling debt, biodiversity loss, and climate change Science (IF 56.9) Pub Date : 2024-05-10 Elizabeth C. Losos, Alexander Pfaff, Stuart L. Pimm
At the United Nations climate conference in late 2023, multilateral development banks and environmental institutions committed to raising the number, size, types, and effectiveness of funding mechanisms that support developing countries to address the interconnected crises of debt, climate, and biodiversity. A “Task Force on Sustainability-Linked Sovereign Financing for Nature and Climate” will convene
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Why my heart beats for Nigeria’s endangered bats Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-13
Iroro Tanshi works to better understand a number of threatened species.
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Decent work for all: why multinationals need a helping hand Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-13
Moses Ngoze explains why the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises in Africa are key to achieving global economic growth.
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World’s brightest X-rays: China first in Asia to build next-generation synchrotron Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-13
The US$665-million High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) outside Beijing puts China among only a handful of countries that have fourth-generation synchrotron light sources.
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Is the Internet bad for you? Huge study reveals surprise effect on well-being Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-12
A survey of more than 2.4 million people finds that being online can have a positive effect on welfare.
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Daily briefing: ‘The ugly side of science’ — how to report negative results Nature (IF 64.8) Pub Date : 2024-05-09
Data repositories, workshops and alternative journals allow scientists to destigmatize and discuss negative results. Plus, a major step toward ultra-precise ‘nuclear’ clocks and the first rocky exoplanet with a confirmed atmosphere.
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Predictive mapping of organic carbon stocks in surficial sediments of the Canadian continental margin Earth Syst. Sci. Data (IF 11.4) Pub Date : 2024-05-13 Graham Epstein, Susanna D. Fuller, Dipti Hingmire, Paul G. Myers, Angelica Peña, Clark Pennelly, Julia K. Baum
Abstract. Quantification and mapping of surficial seabed sediment organic carbon have wide-scale relevance for marine ecology, geology and environmental resource management, with carbon densities and accumulation rates being a major indicator of geological history, ecological function and ecosystem service provisioning, including the potential to contribute to nature-based climate change mitigation