Featured
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News |
US halts funding to controversial virus-hunting group: what researchers think
Some scientists think the decision regarding EcoHealth Alliance is fair; others say it might negatively affect virus surveillance.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Article |
Imprinting of serum neutralizing antibodies by Wuhan-1 mRNA vaccines
- Chieh-Yu Liang
- , Saravanan Raju
- & Michael S. Diamond
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News |
Bird flu in US cows: where will it end?
Scientists worry that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza will become endemic in cattle, which would aid its spread in people.
- Sara Reardon
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Article
| Open AccessComputationally restoring the potency of a clinical antibody against Omicron
By demonstrating a computational approach to restore the clinical efficacy of a COVID-19 antibody, the potential to rapidly update clinical antibodies is explored.
- Thomas A. Desautels
- , Kathryn T. Arrildt
- & Daniel M. Faissol
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News |
US funders to tighten oversight of controversial ‘gain of function’ research
New policy on high-risk biology studies aims to address criticism that previous rules were too vague.
- Max Kozlov
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News |
Chinese virologist who was first to share COVID-19 genome sleeps on street after lab shuts
Zhang Yongzhen shared the genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 with the world, speeding up the development of vaccines.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
Scientists tried to give people COVID — and failed
Researchers deliberately infect participants with SARS-CoV-2 in ‘challenge’ trials — but high levels of immunity complicate efforts to test vaccines and treatments.
- Ewen Callaway
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News |
Controversial virus-hunting scientist skewered at US COVID-origins hearing
Lawmakers interrogated Peter Daszak over his ties to China and whether his organization, EcoHealth Alliance, has been a good steward of taxpayer dollars.
- Mariana Lenharo
- & Lauren Wolf
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News |
Bird flu virus has been spreading among US cows for months, RNA reveals
Genomic analysis suggests that the outbreak probably began in December or January, but a shortage of data is hampering efforts to pin down the source.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News Explainer |
Bird flu in US cows: is the milk supply safe?
Pasteurized milk is probably not a threat to people, but fresh milk droplets on milking equipment could be spreading the virus in a herd.
- Julian Nowogrodzki
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News |
WHO redefines airborne transmission: what does that mean for future pandemics?
The World Health Organization was criticized for being too slow to classify COVID-19 as airborne. Will the new terminology help next time?
- Bianca Nogrady
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News |
Monkeypox virus: dangerous strain gains ability to spread through sex, new data suggest
A cluster of mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sparks worries of a wider outbreak.
- Max Kozlov
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Spotlight |
Deadly diseases and inflatable suits: how I found my niche in virology research
Virologist Hulda Jónsdóttir studies some of the world’s most pathogenic viruses at the Spiez Laboratory in Switzerland.
- Nikki Forrester
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News Feature |
What toilets can reveal about COVID, cancer and other health threats
Wastewater testing grew tremendously during the pandemic. But is it ready to tackle the opioid crisis, air pollution and antibiotic resistance?
- Betsy Ladyzhets
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News |
US COVID-origins hearing puts scientific journals in the hot seat
Politicians spar over whether academic publishers colluded with government scientists to suppress the lab-leak hypothesis.
- Max Kozlov
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News & Views |
Blocking cell death limits lung damage and inflammation from influenza
Animals that receive an inhibitor of an antiviral cell-death response called necroptosis are less likely to die of influenza even at a late stage of infection. This has implications for the development of therapies for respiratory diseases.
- Nishma Gupta
- & John Silke
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News Explainer |
Bird flu outbreak in US cows: why scientists are concerned
A virus that has killed hundreds of millions of birds has now infected cattle in six US states, but the threat to humans is currently low.
- Max Kozlov
- & Smriti Mallapaty
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News Feature |
Long COVID still has no cure — so these patients are turning to research
With key long COVID trials yet to yield results, people with the condition are trying to change how clinical trials are done.
- Rachel Fairbank
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News |
Google AI could soon use a person’s cough to diagnose disease
Machine-learning system trained on millions of human audio clips shows promise for detecting COVID-19 and tuberculosis.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News |
COVID’s toll on the brain: new clues emerge
A leaky blood–brain barrier and inflammation might account for some of the cognitive symptoms of COVID-19.
- Claudia López Lloreda
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Obituary |
Anthony Epstein (1921–2024), discoverer of virus causing cancer in humans
Pathologist whose finding that viruses can trigger tumours in humans transformed medical research.
- Alan Rickinson
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News & Views |
Mobile delivery of COVID-19 vaccines improved uptake in rural Sierra Leone
A trial that took mobile health services to rural Sierra Leone finds that this initiative increased COVID-19 vaccine uptake. But more must be done to expand the coverage of health services in low-income countries.
- Alison Buttenheim
- & Harsha Thirumurthy
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News & Views |
Epstein–Barr virus at 60
The 1964 discovery of Epstein–Barr virus shed light on factors that contribute to human cancer. Subsequent studies set the stage for finding ways to diagnose and treat cancer, and revealed how immune defences control viral infection.
- Lawrence S. Young
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News |
Massive public-health experiment sends vaccination rates soaring
The rate of vaccination against COVID-19 rose sharply in villages in Sierra Leone where health officials held mobile vaccination clinics.
- Max Kozlov
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Article |
The structure and physical properties of a packaged bacteriophage particle
Multiresolution computational simulations generate all-atom models of a complete packaged virus particle.
- Kush Coshic
- , Christopher Maffeo
- & Aleksei Aksimentiev
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News |
Brazil’s record dengue surge: why a vaccine campaign is unlikely to stop it
A vaccine shortage and persistent sanitation problems threaten the success of the world’s first public vaccination campaign against dengue virus.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Correspondence |
Speed up relief for long COVID through grassroots clinical trials
- Marc Jamoulle
- , Elena Louazon
- & Johan Van Weyenbergh
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Comment |
Save lives in the next pandemic: ensure vaccine equity now
The proposed Pandemic Agreement must ensure that COVID-19 vaccine nationalism is never repeated; 290 scientists call for action.
- Colin Carlson
- , Daniel Becker
- & Alexandra Phelan
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News |
Smoking scars the immune system for years after quitting
A cigarette habit and previous infection with a common virus both have important effects on the immune system.
- Heidi Ledford
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Editorial |
Research funders must join the fight for equal access to medicines
Pandemic treaty is a rare opportunity to ensure pandemic-related technologies are accessible and affordable to all.
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: Long COVID is a double curse in low-income nations — here’s why
A dearth of research means the condition is often ignored by physicians.
- Heidi Ledford
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Article
| Open AccessThe HIV capsid mimics karyopherin engagement of FG-nucleoporins
Dissection of the nuclear pore complex provides a model in which the HIV capsid enters the nucleus through karyopherin mimicry, a mechanism likely to be conserved across other viruses.
- C. F. Dickson
- , S. Hertel
- & D. A. Jacques
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Article
| Open AccessHIV-1 capsids enter the FG phase of nuclear pores like a transport receptor
The HIV-1 capsid behaves like a nuclear transport receptor entering and traversing an FG phase, with its interior serving as a cargo container, bypassing an otherwise effective barrier to viral infection.
- Liran Fu
- , Erika N. Weiskopf
- & Dirk Görlich
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News |
Long-COVID signatures identified in huge analysis of blood proteins
Proteins involved in immunity, clotting and inflammation could help to unravel the complexity of long COVID.
- Miryam Naddaf
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News |
Potent new pill provides COVID relief for the masses
The drug simnotrelvir shortens symptoms for those with mild infections and is sold at a lower price in China than its main rival.
- Saima Sidik
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News Feature |
Long COVID is a double curse in low-income nations — here’s why
Not only is the prevalence of the condition poorly understood, but it’s also often ignored by physicians and the wider public.
- Heidi Ledford
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News & Views |
Contact-tracing app predicts risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission
The risk of catching COVID-19 as calculated by a smartphone app scales with the probability of subsequently testing positive for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, showing that digital contact tracing is a useful tool for fighting future pandemics.
- Justus Benzler
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News |
Vaccines reduce the risk of long COVID in children
A study shows that US children who received mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have some protection against developing long-lasting symptoms of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
- Shannon Hall
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Article
| Open AccessStructures of the promoter-bound respiratory syncytial virus polymerase
A study reports cryogenic electron microscopy structures of the respiratory syncytial virus polymerase bound to its genomic and antigenomic viral RNA promoters.
- Dongdong Cao
- , Yunrong Gao
- & Bo Liang
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News & Views |
Viruses wrap up bacterial defence systems
Bacteria use diverse defences against viral predators called bacteriophages. A method to identify antibacterial counter-defences in viral genomes has revealed striking modes of defence inhibition.
- Tim R. Blower
- & Stineke van Houte
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Career Feature |
If you want something done right, do it yourself: the scientists who build their own tools
Three researchers who went out on a limb to bridge a gap in their field talk to Nature about how and why they went about designing their own, unique devices — and the challenges involved.
- Rachael Pells
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News & Views |
A next-generation inhalable dry powder COVID vaccine
Current injectable COVID-19 vaccines are unable to induce robust immunity in the mucosal tissues lining the airways. A protein-based vaccine delivered to the lungs in the form of an inhaled dry powder shows promise as a way forward.
- Zhou Xing
- & Mangalakumari Jeyanathan
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Research Briefing |
What makes people with diabetes more susceptible to serious lung infections?
Diabetes is a strong risk factor for viral respiratory infections, including influenza and COVID-19, which can be particularly dangerous for people with the condition. The discovery that the metabolism of lung dendritic cells, key sentinels of the immune system, is disrupted by high blood-sugar levels could provide a route to reversing this susceptibility.
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News |
Self-copying RNA vaccine wins first full approval: what’s next?
Researchers look ahead to the potential uses and benefits of a technology that has been more than 20 years in the making.
- Elie Dolgin
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News Explainer |
Why has swine flu emerged in a person in the UK — and what’s next?
Scientists are closely monitoring a virus that has been detected for the first time in a UK individual.
- Katharine Sanderson
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Comment |
This is how the world finally ends the HIV/AIDS pandemic
Putting the specific needs of individuals and communities at the heart of HIV/AIDS care, by harnessing behavioural science, is key to building on the progress already been made.
- John Nkengasong
- , Mike Reid
- & Ingrid T. Katz
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News Feature |
These volunteers want to be infected with disease to aid research — will their altruism help?
An advocacy group is pushing for more ‘human challenge’ trials to spur vaccine discovery. Following COVID-19 and Zika studies, hepatitis C could be next.
- Ewen Callaway
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News Explainer |
What’s behind China’s mysterious wave of childhood pneumonia?
Scientists expected a surge in respiratory disease, but what is happening in China is unusual.
- Gemma Conroy
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News |
‘Politicians don’t understand science’: advisers give evidence at UK COVID inquiry
Patrick Vallance, Chris Witty and others reflect on advising the UK government during the ongoing investigation into the country’s pandemic response.
- Katharine Sanderson
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