Crooked Bough News Round-up

— Magnetic muon measurements and gene-therapy advances win US$3 million Breakthrough prizes

 

at 4/18/26 7:26pm

Nature, Published online: 18 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01014-9This year’s winners include hundreds of physicists across more than 30 institutions.

— US lawmakers intensify scrutiny of scientific-publishing practices

 

at 4/17/26 12:17pm

Nature, Published online: 17 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01251-yA congressional hearing covered the rise of paper mills and the costs of open-access publishing — but there was little agreement on what reform would entail.

— Revealed: how male and female brain cells differ in gene activity

 

at 4/17/26 10:27am

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01227-yVariations in gene expression could help to explain why brain-disease risks differ according to sex.

— Briefing Chat: Penguins pick up PFAS pollution

 

at 4/17/26 9:56am

Nature, Published online: 17 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01263-8Nature staff discuss some of the week's top science news.

— Immune cells have a surprising role in exercise endurance

 

at 4/17/26 9:56am

Nature, Published online: 17 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01245-wStudy in mice suggests that B cells help regulate muscle performance.

— Daily briefing: AI systems can ‘teach’ biases to other models

 

at 4/17/26 9:56am

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01265-6Data generated by AI ‘teachers’ can subliminally pass on particular traits to ‘student’ models. Plus, sperm-whale communication is structured similarly to some human languages and the success of China’s ‘Great Green Wall’.

— Quantum computers take on health care: light-sensitive cancer drugs win US$2-million contest

 

at 4/17/26 8:15am

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01236-xQuantum machines are making inroads into biology but have no ‘advantage’ over classical machines yet.

— New year, old me

 

at 4/17/26 5:22am

Nature, Published online: 17 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01067-wA welcome change.

— Graves reveal plague’s inequitable toll

 

at 4/16/26 6:50pm

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01210-7Most of the individuals in a seventeenth-century-Switzerland burial site had performed strenuous manual labour and died before the age of 20.

— Quantum computers take on health care: light-sensitive cancer drugs win US$2 million contest

 

at 4/16/26 6:18pm

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01236-xQuantum machines are making inroads into biology, but have no ‘advantage’ over classical machines yet.

— Ageing could prime women for autoimmune disorders

 

at 4/16/26 5:44pm

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01213-4Study of gene expression also finds age-related increases in men’s vulnerability to certain cancers.

— The nine-to-five PhD: mere myth or an achievable goal?

 

at 4/16/26 5:44pm

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00509-9Can you squeeze your graduate programme into a 40-hour working week? These 13 current and former PhD candidates reveal their top time-management tips.

— Venus’s impenetrable haze could be made of cosmic dust

 

at 4/16/26 5:07pm

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01212-5Modelling suggests that the layer beneath the planet’s acidic clouds is comprised of particles from outer space.

— ‘Science needs defending’: record number of researchers run for office in US mid-terms

 

at 4/16/26 5:07pm

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01134-2Many Democrats making the switch to politics are motivated by the Trump administration’s cuts to science — whereas energy and AI are a pull for some Republicans.

— Cytoplasmic lattices are megadalton storage complexes in mammalian oocytes

 

at 4/16/26 4:36pm

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10513-8Cytoplasmic lattices are megadalton storage complexes in mammalian oocytes

— Author Correction: HER2 expression identifies dynamic functional states within circulating breast cancer cells

 

at 4/16/26 4:36pm

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10519-2Author Correction: HER2 expression identifies dynamic functional states within circulating breast cancer cells

— Retraction Note: The hidden fitness of the male zebra finch courtship song

 

at 4/16/26 4:02pm

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10483-xRetraction Note: The hidden fitness of the male zebra finch courtship song

— Editorial Expression of Concern: Creation of human tumour cells with defined genetic elements

 

at 4/16/26 4:02pm

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10504-9Editorial Expression of Concern: Creation of human tumour cells with defined genetic elements

— Carbonyl swapping converts cyclic ketones to saturated heterocycles

 

at 4/16/26 3:26pm

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10508-5Carbonyl swapping converts cyclic ketones to saturated heterocycles

— Giant cancer study reveals effectiveness of ‘off label’ treatments

 

at 4/16/26 3:26pm

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01241-0Genomics-guided trial could increase options for people undergoing cancer therapy — plus, a landmark ancient-genome study reveals natural selection in hundreds of human genes.

— Monolithic 3D integration of tantalum pentoxide nonlinear photonics

 

at 4/16/26 2:55pm

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10379-wMonolithic three-dimensional (3D) integration of tantalum pentoxide on a lithium niobate substrate enables scalable, multifunctional photonic systems and the incorporation of nonlinear optics directly into existing and emerging photonics infrastructure.

As of 4/19/26 4:40am. Last new 4/18/26 7:26pm.