Research, discovery, and the natural world.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10856-2Cryo-electron tomography uncovers the structure of a conserved hexameric ‘portal complex’ that spans the core wall in vaccinia virus, and shows how it is associated with viral functions such as assembly, mRNA release and genome uncoating.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10849-1GOOSE enables the design and testing of thousands of disordered protein region sequences to reveal distinct sequence-to-function relationships.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10841-9Complete sequencing of more than 2,000 centromeres from diverse humans reveals structures and elevated mutation rates that shape the evolution of these critically important regions.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10754-7A silicon quantum processing unit executes high-fidelity multiqubit circuits, with all time-varying control signals generated by a digitally programmed cryogenic complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor controller and delivered to the low-noise, exchange-only qubit device through a high-density superconducting ribbon cable.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10834-8Pathways to previously undescribed polyenes, including unusual enzymes that introduce more sugars onto polyene scaffolds, are discovered, and their accessibility through clean and efficient fermentation and potential for safe use as antifungal treatments is described.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10766-3A silicon spin-qubit device comprising a shuttling bus for transporting qubits is used to achieve parity checks up to weight four, highlighting the feasibility and benefits of incorporating shuttling into semiconductor quantum processors.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10850-8New data on homebuying loan records around the Second World War in the USA, linked to race and immigration status, show that Black borrowers were disproportionally excluded from mortgage programmes.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10839-3Perpendicular switching of the polarization state in the layered ferroelectric Bi4Ti3O12 is demonstrated by means of trilinear coupling, allowing manipulation of the in-plane polarization component with an out-of-plane electric field.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10881-1A nanopore-based ‘chop and measure’ method sequences peptides at single-amino-acid resolution by using enzymatic digestion to progressively shorten the N terminus one residue at a time, together with repetitive N-terminus re-reading.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10862-4Operando optical microscopy shows avalanche-like lithium deintercalation (intercalation) processes as the dilute stages of graphite are emptied (filled), showing how local disorder governs phase-transition dynamics and ion transport in lithium-ion battery electrodes.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10848-2A simple organic catalyst enables direct alternating copolymerization of CO2 with bicycloalkanes to produce high-performance polyesters that can be selectively depolymerized and recycled in a closed-loop lifecycle.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10791-2In senescent cells, mitochondria-derived acetyl-CoA promotes histone acetylation and increases chromatin accessibility at inflammatory gene loci. Inhibition of SLC25A1 attenuates these effects, underscoring the therapeutic potential of targeting mitochondrial metabolism and its epigenetic crosstalk to delay age-related functional decline.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10852-6Systematic analysis of prokaryotic STAND NTPases — relatives of animal and plant immune receptors — uncovers diverse antiviral sensors that detect most of the core structural and replicative proteins of bacteriophages.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10845-5The piezochiral effect, a new member of the family of strain-responsive functionalities alongside piezoelectricity and piezomagnetism, is introduced, enabling control of chirality through mechanical strain, with future applications in photonics, spintronics, biosensing and quantum information.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02359-xNew discoveries at famous archeological site add to mystery of ancient human culture.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02179-zThe field seems to be on the cusp of big advances, but a concerted effort is needed to realize its true potential.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02367-xDiscovery of almost 400 structures may help to redefine the true scale of the Aquiry civilization — plus, tiny fossils of the earliest fossil squid ancestor.
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10942-5Retraction Note: Human HDAC6 senses valine abundancy to regulate DNA damage
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10945-2Author Correction: A ductile solid electrolyte interphase for solid-state batteries
Nature, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02079-2Some 50 years after exposing gender discrimination in US academics’ retirement benefits, Mary Gray works as a statistician and social-justice campaigner.