Breaking: The Trump Admin just side-stepped the FDA to allow the sale of six unapproved peptide drugs. Several people in the MAHA movement stand to profit from this decision. They call it medical freedom, but my reporting shows how consumers have been harmed. kffhealthnews.org/public-healt...

People Say These Peptides Hurt Them. Their Stories Are Muffled in MAHA’s Push for Medical Freedom. - KFF Health News

People who have taken experimental peptides, such as BPC-157, complain of migraines, eye pain, fatigue, and more. Learning whether these popular but unproven drugs are to blame may become harder if Ro...

kffhealthnews.org

The limitation being that the data ISN'T REAL nbd

Sholto David@sholtodavid.bsky.social · last wk.

Inspired by @smutclyde.bsky.social and others I have found another paper with "limitations": pubpeer.com/publications...

An essential short read from philosopher Cailin O'Connor.

Cailin O’Connor@cailinmeister.bsky.social · last wk.

New court documents show that Meta has been explicitly scheming to control the scientific narrative about their social media platforms

Two new studies, including the first lipid atlas of the mouse brain, reveal key roles in both pregnancy and aging for lipids, previously understudied in the brain. By Lauren Schenkman www.thetransmitter.org/lipids/lipid...

Lipids enter brain mapping limelight

Two new studies, including the first whole-brain lipid atlas in mice, uncover unforeseen complexity and influence during pregnancy and aging.

thetransmitter.org

The 'average' human genome has 63 de novo variants (mostly non-coding) and 1-3 pathogenic ones linked with monogenic diseases. And much more besides!

Caroline Wright@carolinefwright.bsky.social · 2w ago

Excited to announce this new publication - everything you ever wanted to know about the "average" human genome - from @exeter.ac.uk @nihrexeterbrc.bsky.social. Variation is the norm; everyone has rare, deleterious, de novo, and pathogenic variants! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Worth making a song and dance about this paper 🥁 Some parrots coordinate singing with headbobs and other movements, and learn these combos socially. A bit like humans nodding and saying 'yes'. The brain puts it together by mixing vocal and gestural signals - even at the level of single neurons! 🦜

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 2w ago

Parrots imitate song and dance with mixed vocal-gestural neural signals https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760654v1

This study of the human insula in intricate detail took more than a decade to put together and featured 87 (!!) subjects with electrodes implanted in their brains (for medical reasons) 🧠

Nature@nature.com · 2w ago

Scientists have mapped one of the most mysterious parts of the human brain in unprecedented detail go.nature.com/4A6HcDV

Read about @rgast.bsky.social's efforts to study how the physiological heterogeneity of neurons contributes to the computational capacity of neural populations!

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 2w ago

Neurons in models are often all the same—some researchers are trying to change that. #neuroskyence By @natmesanash.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...

Whatever you cover, AI is going to show up in your beat. I I worked very hard on this and genuinely hope it will be a helpful resource for journalists. One person not credited below: @anilananth.bsky.social, my mentor for TON's Early-Career Fellowship. His AI expertise greatly elevated this story.

The Open Notebook@theopennotebook.bsky.social · 2w ago

Cutts speaks with Antonio José Paz Cardon, @silverjacket.bsky.social, @ewo.name, John Pavlus, @kathrynhulick.substack.com, @peterha2l.bsky.social, @ananyo.bsky.social, @benbenbrubaker.bsky.social, and @willdouglasheaven.bsky.social. www.theopennotebook.com/2026/10/20/a...

Why not be a protein-coding RNA and also regulate some gene expression on the side?

Philip Ball@philipcball.bsky.social · 3w ago

This is a truly startling paper. It shows that mRNA can perform regulatory functions *in addition to* its role in encoding a protein. In other words, the distinction between protein-coding RNA and noncoding regulatory RNA is fuzzy. /1 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

There will be metrologists partying in Paris tonight 🕺🧪 I've been following this for more than a decade and know how hard they've campaigned to make it happen. Sad day for me though, as no more reporting on the leap second. So long my pesky friend!

Richard Van Noorden@richvn.bsky.social · 3w ago

Governments have voted to abolish the leap second immediately and replace it with a leap hour. by @lizziegibney.bsky.social | @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...

As a PhD student designing my first survey, I added what I thought was a throwaway question at the end. To my surprise, thousands of academics answered it! The paper is out today: doi.org/10.1093/pnas...

Octopus fans 🐙 >> Why do cephalopods have such elaborate nervous systems? Maybe because of a long-ago re-org of their genomes that brought distant regions into contact www.nature.com/articles/s41... For more on octopus' weird brains check out our feature www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Genome reorganisation and expansion shape 3D genome architecture and define a distinct regulatory landscape in coleoid cephalopods - Nature Communications

How genome organisation contributes to the evolution of biological complexity is poorly understood. This study shows evolutionary changes in 3D genome architecture rewires gene regulation in coleoid c...

nature.com

New preprint 👀 🧠 Brains have to compromise between cost, robustness and capability - and most would rather be robust and good than cheap. As human brains develop, they first gain capability, and later optimize for efficiency www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Mapping the Trade-Offs That Shape Mammalian Brain Network Architecture

A brain's wiring must satisfy conflicting pressures, from the outside world (be capable) and from the inside (stay within finite resources). These pressures often have opposing requirements. Prior wor...

biorxiv.org

Over a century ago, Santiago Ramón j Cajal declared that in the adult mammal brain "nothing may be regenerated”. But is the tide now turning? @marilenharo.bsky.social explores the new evidence and fierce debate in a feature >> www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Can your brain grow new neurons? How researchers are solving a century-old puzzle

Scientists have debated for decades whether the human brain sprouts new neurons throughout life. What would it mean if it could — and how much evidence is enough?

nature.com

A single fertilised mouse egg followed cell-by-cell until it becomes a late-stage embryo - producing a record of each cell division and which cells end up where. Wild!

Nature@nature.com · 4w ago

‘Cell recorders’ based on gene editing have captured mouse development in unprecedented detail go.nature.com/4ybZCBw

Margaret Hamilton, who led the 100-person team that wrote the onboard software for the Apollo missions, has died.

Margaret Hamilton, Whose Software Guided the Apollo Missions, Has Died

Margaret Hamilton, the first female programmer hired to work on the space project at M.I.T., was 90.

nyti.ms

We were hoping we’d have to update the main portion of this quiz — but this year’s awardees were all men. Nonetheless, come test your knowledge: how many of the women who have won a science Nobel prize can you name? www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Can you name the women who have won a science Nobel prize?

Take Nature’s quiz on female Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry or physiology or medicine.

nature.com

Does the human brain continue sprouting new neurons throughout life? Many of us would like to believe that's true. But this is the debate that just won't end... we dig into the evidence in a feature > www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Can your brain grow new neurons? How researchers are solving a century-old puzzle

Scientists have debated for decades whether the human brain sprouts new neurons throughout life. What would it mean if it could — and how much evidence is enough?

nature.com

ICYMI: a study in @nature.com really nails down how 'prion-like' tau proteins transmit themselves faithfully through the brain - and could help researchers develop more accurate animal models of degenerative conditions like Alzheimer's www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Prion-like transmission of human tau strains in the mouse brain - Nature

Mouse experiments show that Alzheimer’s disease and corticobasal degeneration tau filaments retain their distinct structures during templated seeding, supporting strain-specific tau propagation a...

nature.com

This year's science Nobel winners follow the trends in terms of age, location and gender that we found when we looked at all science Nobels given up to 2024. They are men, average age early 60s, mostly based in US or Europe www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

How to win a Nobel prize: what kind of scientist scoops medals?

What subjects have past winners studied? What age were they when they won? Where do they live? Nature crunched the data on every science prizewinner to find out.

nature.com

Molecules can exist in mirror-image forms but life only uses one of them. These chemists solved the mystery of how these 'handed' molecules emerged

Nobel Prize@nobelprize.org · 4w ago

BREAKING NEWS The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2026 #NobelPrize in Chemistry to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.”

Exclusive: A new analysis refutes James Watson’s claim that he was the first to recognize the significance of the famed photograph 51. https://scim.ag/4rTKck8

How did Rosalind Franklin miss the helix in her iconic DNA image? She didn’t

New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51

scim.ag

Phys/Med Nobel goes to discoveries concerning channelrhodopsin and optogenetics - read more from the Nature archive www.nature.com/articles/497... www.nature.com/articles/465...

Neuroscience: Method man - Nature

Karl Deisseroth is leaving his mark on brain science one technique at a time.

nature.com

Nobel Prize@nobelprize.org · 4w ago

BREAKING NEWS The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.”

After my partner died of cancer, the fact I write about new treatments for it in my work has been complicated. Inspired by this, I am launching an Instagram account called The Widowers Guide to the Science of Cancer today - you can see the first post here: www.instagram.com/p/Dd-__vcALl... 🧪

Researchers say that using AI tools to visualize scientific images can become problematic when models misrepresent the underlying data. go.nature.com/3U0ylE8

This award-winning microscopy image used AI — igniting controversy in a prestigious competition

Researchers say that using artificial-intelligence tools to visualize scientific images can become problematic when models misrepresent the underlying data.

go.nature.com

Werner Herzog will be the last human being whose next word no language model can predict

Nature does AIBU 💥 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I turn up late to meetings to dodge small talk. Am I wrong?

A jury weighs in on whether a latecomer is simply using their time efficiently or disrespecting their colleagues.

nature.com

An enormous study of 650 babies refutes a classic 1999 finding about rule-learning in infants onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... This is the ManyBabies3 study; read about ManyBabies, ManyDogs, and many other multi-lab replication studies in our feature www.nature.com/articles/d41...

ManyBabies 3: A Multi‐Lab Study of Infant Algebraic Rule Learning

The ability to learn and apply rules lies at the heart of cognition. In a seminal study, Marcus et al. (1999) reported that 7-month-old infants learned abstract rules over syllable sequences and were...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Anaesthetics seem to work on everyone, and in all species tested. That alone is pretty remarkable - but now, in a study of 6 species (from humans to nematodes) and using multiple anaesthetics, a team uncovers the brain dynamics that underlie it www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Comprehensive profiling of brain dynamics during anesthesia across phylogeny - Nature Neuroscience

In this study, Luppi et al. systematically characterized and modeled more than 6,000 features of neural activity during anesthesia. They reveal a shared but reversible dynamical endpoint of anesthesia...

nature.com