To help children with rare diseases, we must solve drug delivery
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02182-4Nanoparticle technologies hold promise for delivering gene therapies to children with few treatment options.
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The first known cephalopod was only a millimetre long and lived about 520 million years ago
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02319-5The locomotion of modern cephalopods, such as squid and cuttlefish, relies on buoyancy control achieved mainly by a specialized structure called a siphuncle. The discovery of fossils of Eoceras — a millimetre-sized cephalopod with a siphuncle — suggests that the group had already emerged in the early Cambrian, around 520 million years ago.
Amazonian earthwork survey indicates ancient population was much larger than thought
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02321-xAerial laser-scanning data reveal that, from ad 100 to ad 300, an area spanning less than 3% of the Greater Amazonia region probably supported between 1.25 million and 3 million people and contained more than 20,000 human-made earthworks. These findings call for a re-evaluation of the density of pre-colonial Amazonian populations and the influence these civilizations had on present-day tropical soils and forests.
Relatively few Black people benefited in the 1930s and 1940s from mortgages backed by the US government
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02246-5Newly digitized mortgage records from 38 US states reveal the profound racial inequality of two mortgage programmes during the 1930s and 1940s. These loans, supported by the Federal Housing Administration and the Veterans Administration, were mainly responsible for the emergence of a US society that idealized home ownership. However, Black households were systematically excluded from receiving such loans. By contrast, immigrants received mortgages proportional to their number.
Artificial algal blooms could remove atmospheric carbon — but can they be used responsibly?
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02126-yAdding iron to the ocean to stimulate carbon-absorbing phytoplankton could have ecological consequences that reach far beyond the intervention site.