Francis Halzen wins the 2026 award for his work on a neutrino observatory at the South Pole that has helped to unlock mysteries of the Universe.

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.

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel “for discoveries leading to ...

Psychologist Mirta Galesic discusses an increase in hateful comments online, and the science-backed way to react.

Simões et al. show that nanobodies originally raised against the chaperone S100B unexpectedly cross-react with Tau as potential pathway-selective modulators of Tau self-assembly.

Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel win the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on optogenetics, which has revolutionized neuroscience.

Nature Human Behaviour, Published online: 05 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41562-026-02603-4Rosenbaum et al. show that targeted communications highlighting patients’ high-risk status increased influenza vaccination uptake. However, they did not find an additional effect of informing patients that a computer algorithm was used to identify their risk status.

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When most people picture a brain scan, they imagine someone lying inside a cylindrical machine, trying their best not to move or fall asleep as the machine gently beeps, thinking about whatever comes to mind. This is resting-state fMRI, and it has been the dominant paradigm for studying how brain regions communicate with each other for years.

This study reports that chronic exposure to microplastic and nanoplastic particles differentially affects Kupffer cells, which impairs their function and has consequences on both liver and systemic metabolism.

Advocates say that delivering lectures and presentations al fresco can energize students and provide them with a complete experience.

There is growing concern that AI can blunt memory and reasoning. But science shows ways to keep the brain sharp.

Researchers are trying everything they can to help coral reefs to survive severe heat stress from climate change, including playing sounds underwater.

Gene-editing techniques could soon allow researchers to replace entire genes and engineer complex cellular circuits — if the systems can be delivered safely into cells.

Researchers are testing whether blood biomarkers can work in Nigerian populations, while confronting the much larger gap in dementia care.

This Collection welcomes research on sustainable energy solutions, including renewable energy, clean fuels, energy storage, distributed energy systems, ...

A Nature investigation reveals a network of organizations that have been building their ranks through deceptive practices.