Crooked Bough News Round-up

— Author Correction: Large recoverable elastic energy in chiral metamaterials via twist buckling

 

at 9/23/26 1:30pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11189-wAuthor Correction: Large recoverable elastic energy in chiral metamaterials via twist buckling

— Competition heats up in the regenerative-medicine ranks

 

at 9/23/26 1:30pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02856-zThe United States leads, but China poses strong competition, according to the latest Nature Index data.

— Chiral oxazolidinones via biocatalytic aziridination of unactivated alkenes

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11169-0Chiral oxazolidinones via biocatalytic aziridination of unactivated alkenes

— Bank accounts reveal the fingerprints of abusive financial control

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03021-2Analysis of anonymized banking data could help inform strategies to support victim-survivors of financial abuse — plus, how opposing forces within the Earth can alter the length of a day.

— The gene-regulatory evolution of the human skeleton

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11053-xMassively parallel reporter assays and human–ape hybrid skeletal cells are used to study the evolution of human cis-regulatory elements (CREs), revealing how differences in CREs have shaped the composition of human skeletal tissue.

— The anthropogenic fingerprint on emerging infectious diseases

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11058-6Emerging infectious disease outbreak risks are ubiquitous worldwide, and highest in landscapes where people, livestock and fragmented natural ecosystems coexist, but detection and data on outbreaks are currently limited by inequalities in healthcare access.

— Gravitational torque drives multidecadal variations in length of day

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10999-2Multidecadal fluctuations in Earth’s length of day are shown to be driven by gravitational torque and resisted by electromagnetic and topographic forces, improving our understanding of the material properties and dynamics of Earth’s deep interior.

— Single-nucleus transcriptome-wide association study of human brain disorders

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10836-6Single-nucleus transcriptomics across diverse populations is used to explore how genetic risk for brain disorders affects specific cell types, revealing previously hidden gene–trait associations and conserved, cell-type-specific mechanisms.

— Lu+ optical frequency references with accuracy verified at the 19th digit

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11072-8Two independent 176Lu+ single-ion optical clocks achieve fractional frequency uncertainties near 10−19 and agree at 5.7 × 10−19, advancing precision timekeeping.

— Sequence-encoded hexagonal lattices in multichannel peptide nanofibrils

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11016-2Nine-residue peptides can encode discrete interaction motifs that direct the formation of hexagonal pores, which hierarchically tile into laterally expandable multichannel nanofibrils with defined topology.

— Banking records reveal characteristics of financial abuse

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11049-7An analysis of UK banking data reveals that people who reported being victim-survivors of financial abuse experience worse financial outcomes compared with a control group.

— Hepatocytes promote liver metastasis of pancreatic cancer by providing serine

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11051-zMetastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in the liver that lack the enzyme necessary to synthesize serine can reprogram hepatocytes to produce this amino acid, thus promoting tumour growth and survival.

— A design approach for bitopic kinase inhibitors

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11056-8Detailed analyses of ligand choice, linkage vector and linker length enabled the development of bitopic inhibitors of ABL1 and EGFR kinases, including an ABL1 inhibitor with enhanced activity against resistance mutations and reduced off-target toxicity.

— A methanogen hydrolase reveals the structure of archaeal peptidoglycan

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11028-yArmA from Methanobrevibacter smithii, a dominant member of the human gut microbiome, is identified and characterized as a glycosyl hydrolase specific for cleaving the cell wall of methanogens, revealing an unsuspected chemical structure of archaeal peptidoglycan that includes a previously unidentified sugar.

— Reference genomes and fossils revise bat family phylogeny and biogeography

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11007-3An updated phylogeny of bats is presented, based on new genome assemblies and many ancient fossils and including all known bat families.

— mTORC1 drives cell-autonomous astrocyte reactivity in tuberous sclerosis

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11054-wReactive astrocytes emerge as a primary consequence of TSC2 loss in tuberous sclerosis complex, implicating glial dysfunction as a primary driver of pathogenesis and highlighting the astrocytes as potential therapeutic targets for tuberous sclerosis complex-related neuropathology.

— Targeting ZMYND8 unleashes IL-2 signalling to override T cell exhaustion

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11059-5ZMYND8 suppresses IL-2R–STAT5 signalling by inhibiting p300-mediated transcriptional activation of Il2ra to enforce CD8+ T cell terminal exhaustion, and its deletion boosts effector-like states and markedly enhances antiviral and antitumour immunity.

— Anomalous metal and superconducting phases in rhombohedral graphene

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11033-1Observations of rhombohedral graphene on a WSe2 substrate at varying temperature, magnetic field and current indicate the presence of regions of gate space with zero-resistance superconductivity alongside others with finite saturation resistance.

— Lifespan single-cell transcriptomic atlas of the human prefrontal cortex

 

at 9/23/26 12:57pm

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10271-7The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex exhibits non-linear, cell-type-specific transcriptional trajectories characterized by dynamic remodelling during development, relative stability in midlife and selective molecular reactivation in late adulthood.

— Huge hoard of metal bars hints at vast Iron Age trade

 

at 9/23/26 9:54am

Nature, Published online: 23 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02986-4One-tonne cache of iron is the largest ever found — and enough to make roughly 500 swords.

— About to give your first lecture? Read this first

 

at 9/23/26 9:54am

Nature, Published online: 22 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02369-9Ten researchers and faculty members share what surprised them when they began teaching — and what they wish they had known before walking into the room.

As of 9/23/26 2:39pm. Last new 9/23/26 1:30pm.