Kidney disease is growing worldwide. The secretariat of the World Health Organization has welcomed the call to include it as a non-communicable disease that causes premature deaths.Credit: Vsevolod Zviryk/SPL A quiet epidemic is building around the world. It is the third-fastest-growing cause of death globally. By 2040, it is expected to become the fifth-highest cause … Read more
Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here. As polar ice has melted and moved mass towards the Equator, it has slowed Earth’s rotation.Credit: Alessandro Dahan/Getty Melting ice caps are slowing the rotation of the Earth and could delay the next leap second by … Read more
Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here. A typical mouse embryo (left) has four limbs. An embryo in which a particular gene was switched off halfway through development has six limbs, and several of its internal organs protrude from its abdomen.Credit: Anastasiia Lozovska … Read more
Even before the applause had faded away, an old, balding rat was scurrying across the auditorium to overtake the raven who had given the talk. “Interesting seminar, Dr Blackfeather,” he shouted. Blackfeather turned, smiling as widely as his beak would allow. “Hello, Professor Shortfur. Didn’t think you’d be present.” “Couldn’t miss your talk, could I? … Read more
South Korean science minister Lee Jong-ho and European commissioner for research Iliana Ivanova celebrate South Korea joining Horizon Europe in March. Viewing research through a security lens makes it harder for other non-EU countries to follow.Credit: HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Last month, the European Commission published a ‘course correction’ for its Horizon Europe research fund, which is worth … Read more
In 2010, Theresa Chaklos was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia — the first in a series of ailments that she has had to deal with since. She’d always been an independent person, living alone and supporting herself as a family-law facilitator in the Washington DC court system. But after illness hit, her independence turned into … Read more
Scientists have pinpointed human gut bacteria that have a useful tool: an enzyme that can convert artery-clogging cholesterol into a more harmless form that is not absorbed by the body. The finding points towards possible treatments for high cholesterol levels. Although the newly described bacterial species can metabolize cholesterol in the laboratory, whether they can … Read more
Illustration: Fabrizio Lenci Lire en français sur Nature Africa Johnblack Kabukye struggles to explain to his colleagues back home in Uganda why he’s doing a two-year stint as a postdoctoral researcher in Sweden. “If you say you’re doing a master’s or a PhD, it’s clear what that means,” says the digital-health specialist, who worked as … Read more
A person has received an experimental treatment for the first time that, if successful, will lead them to grow an additional, ‘miniature liver’. The procedure, developed by the biotechnology firm LyGenesis, marks the beginning of a clinical trial designed for people whose livers are failing, but who have not received an organ transplant. First pig … Read more
Dozens of genetic factors have been associated with left-handedness, which occurs in roughly one in ever ten people.Credit: incamerastock/Alamy To what extent do genes determine how you pick up your morning cup of coffee? Researchers examined rare genetic variants from a database of more than 350,000 individuals’ genetic data to hunt for clues for what … Read more