Microraptorines were bird-like dinosaurs that possessed some flight adaptations. A new fossil species from the early Cretaceous, Norellraptor barsboldi, suggests that this group evolved their own flight ability independently from the main lineage of modern birds.

Scientists are poking holes in established ideas about how cells live and die, and are harnessing these discoveries to fight diseases from cancer to autoimmune conditions.

Sea-level rise may create a new front for the landward expansion of marine invaders into inundated areas. The authors explore the probability of this, projecting that more than two-thirds of inundated land areas would be suitable for 122 non-native animals already established in adjacent marine ecoregions under future sea-level-rise scenarios.

Nearly one in three early-career researchers reports elevated psychological distress. New global evidence shows why supporting the next generation of scientists requires structural reform, not simply more training, webinars, resilience, or individual coping.

Despite decades of effort, inequality persists - across reproduction, childcare, health, work, and technology. Yet people care not only about equality of ...

Is Long COVID Still Affecting Lives Years Later? What Made Ancient Marsupial Hunters So Unique? When Should Care Go Beyond the Protocol? Can Exercise Transform Life with Alzheimer's Disease? Why Do Some Mothers Feel Unheard in the NICU?

Cameroonian microbiologist Luria Founou uses genomics to track how drug-resistant bacteria move between mothers, newborns and hospitals, and to find ways to stop them.

Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 23 September 2026

An updated phylogeny of bats is presented, based on new genome assemblies and many ancient fossils and including all known bat families.

With this Collection, editors invite primary, translational, and clinical research submissions focusing on women’s brain health.

The tiny power sources, tested in pigs, dissolve inside the digestive tract after several months.

Research also uncovers an efficient way to grow hindbrain cells from stem cells — a difficult feat.

An analysis of UK banking data reveals that people who reported being victim-survivors of financial abuse experience worse financial outcomes compared with a control group.

RAIBO2, an energy-efficient quadruped robot, completed a full marathon in 4 hours, 19 minutes and 52 seconds on a single battery charge, achieving a total cost of transport of 0.25 that surpasses the human benchmark of 0.37.

A 3-D thermal model identifies a ~ 4.33 Ga temporal “sweet spot” for life’s origin, when decreased bombardment enabled mild hydrothermal niches to support RNA World chemistry and stable biomolecule preservation, congruent with LUCA estimates.

This study presents a bioresorbable magnesium–molybdenum trioxide paper battery that delivers 1.84 V under physiological conditions and degrades after use. Validated in swine models, the platform powers battery-assisted RFID medication adherence tracking and capsule-based gastric electrical stimulation, establishing a foundation for retrieval-free bioelectronic medicine.

Xenocortication with human neurons enables circuit- and behaviour-level analysis of neurodevelopment in mice.

Published in Communications Biology — A new study reveals that preserved mitochondrial energy metabolism may be the key to cognitive resilience in the face of Alzheimer’s pathology.

Academics explain that their research freedom beats the increased salary they would get in the corporate sector, but emerging hybrid models might allow them to get the best of both worlds.

The pace of academia rarely slows, so researchers should make time to celebrate major career milestones.

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are major drivers of global mean sea level rise and are predicted to continue to do so in the future. However, they also represent the largest source of uncertainty in projections of future sea level rise making robust estimates of observed ice sheet mass changes critical. Here, we compare and combine 42 independent estimates of ice sheet mass balance derived from satellite observations of temporal changes in ice sheet flow, volume, and gravitational attraction to determine the ice sheet mass balance from 1972 (Greenland) and 1979 (Antarctica) until 2023. We then use regional climate models to partition the total mass balance into contributions associated with surface mass balance and ice dynamical imbalance. The ice sheets lost 11,309 ± 565 billion tonnes of ice between 1979 and 2023, with glacier dynamical imbalance driving 84% of the ice loss and surface mass balance the remainder. This dataset can be used to track the contribution of the ice sheets to sea level rise and constrain projections of future sea level rise.

Listen to an audio version of a recent Nature Feature.

A spatial analysis of nearly 300,000 km of Roman roads reveals they favoured straight routes when topography allowed, established provincial capitals as key transport hubs, and Roman roads correlate with major modern roads.