Three rising stars of nanoscience and nanotechnology
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02181-5The smallest building blocks are enabling next-generation solutions.
Science
Research, discovery, and the natural world.
Can long COVID be prevented? Two drugs finally show promise
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02341-7Rigorous trials suggest they reduce the risk of long-term disease after coronavirus infection.
Electric dipoles go sideways in thin ferroelectric film
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02127-xCoupling between horizontal and vertical electric polarization enables an unconventional ferroelectric material to be controlled using standard device geometry.
The past is an open can of worms: a stimulated-memory exhibition
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02254-5A lost world.
Polio will come roaring back if the task of eradicating it isn’t finished soon
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02308-8Eliminating polio is within reach — if countries see it as an essential public-health priority.
A guide to the Nature Index
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02183-3A description of the terminology and methodology used in this supplement, and a guide to the functionality that is available free online at natureindex.com.
Papers with open peer-review reports are less likely to be retracted
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02282-1Researchers say that transparent publishing practices could be associated with research quality, but more evidence is needed.
Quantum meets capitalism: how to pair long-term bets on technology with commercial speed
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02310-0Quantum computing exists because governments funded risky bets. Capitalism can carry it the rest of the way — if quantum scientists are supported.
How silicon-chip technology is being re-engineered for quantum computing
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02124-0Two demonstrations of silicon-based quantum processors tackle the engineering challenges of building scalable quantum computers.
The past and future impact of climate change on childhood malaria in Africa
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10840-wClimate and econometric modelling reveal that human-induced climate change is shifting the burden of childhood malaria in Africa.
Intestinal stem cells count self-renewal divisions to switch multipotency
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10814-yIn Drosophila, cell fate switching in adult intestinal stem cells is determined through an epigenetic mechanism in which these cells count divisions, switching from producing enterocytes to producing an enteroendocrine mother cell every ninth division.
Cretaceous zhelestid mammals are zalambdalestoids
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10861-5New Mongolian fossil evidence shows zhelestids were not placental-like herbivore relatives, but a dental variant within Zalambdalestoidea, with distinctive molars alongside zalambdalestid skull and limb traits.
Miniaturizing and modifying natural proteins with Raygun
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10842-8Probabilistic sequence encoding from language model embeddings within a generative AI framework enables protein miniaturization, modification and augmentation while maintaining native architecture and functional integrity.
Over 20,000 precolonial earthworks in the Southwest Amazonia
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10835-7Using canopy-penetrating LiDAR data, the northern part of southwestern Amazonia appears to contain as many earthworks as previously estimated for the whole of Amazonia.
Climate benefit and ecological cost trade-offs for ocean iron fertilization
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10795-yA process-rich global biogeochemical model is used to determine the trade-offs between carbon dioxide removal efficiency and ecosystem impacts in ten ocean ocean biomes following ocean iron fertilization.
Photocatalytic water splitting by 2D polymer with out-of-plane carrier flow
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10866-0A strategy using polymeric carbon nitride crystals induces out-of-plane carrier migration by means of internal electric fields applied on facet-selective nanofilms placed on polymer photocatalysts, increasing the apparent quantum efficiency for overall water splitting.
In situ structures of plant photosystem supercomplexes
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10847-3The cryo‑EM structure of the Oryza sativa photosystem II–light harvesting complex II supercomplex in its native membrane reveals the intact plant photosystem architecture, retaining physiologically relevant proteins and lipids that are otherwise lost during purification.
Octahedral-coordinated Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> for water electrolysis in acid
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10851-7A new trigonal-phase Co3O4 manufactured using a vacuum-mediated molten-alkali mechanochemical method is described, demonstrating edge-shared octahedral coordination and achieving lower overpotential than spinel-type Co3O4 in the acidic oxygen evolution reaction, with reduced dissolution of cobalt.
Earliest siphuncle-bearing cephalopod from the early Cambrian
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10868-yEarly Cambrian Eoceras shaanxiense gen. et sp. nov. preserves septa and a segmented tube resembling a primordial siphuncle, extending cephalopod origins and revealing early assembly of chambered shells used for buoyancy regulation.
Plasmonic metamaterial time crystal
Nature, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10825-9A plasmonic metamaterial driven at terahertz frequencies achieves strong, ultrafast temporal modulation and shows a transition to the photonic time crystal regime with reduced plasmonic losses.