[REPORTS] Detection of a Deep 3-μm Absorption Feature in the Spectrum of Amalthea (JV)
Amalthea, a small moon of Jupiter, is covered with hydrous minerals or organic matter, indicating that it formed far from Jupiter, reaching its present location by migration or capture.
Authors: Naruhisa Takato, Schelte J. Bus, Hiroshi Terada, Tae-Soo Pyo, Naoto Kobayashi
[REPORTS] First-Principles Theory for the H + CH4 → H2 + CH3 Reaction
A quantum mechanical calculation accurately describes rate constants for a six-atom reaction, that of hydrogen with methane, over a range of temperatures.
Authors: Tao Wu, Hans-Joachim Werner, Uwe Manthe
The pet trade puts reptiles and amphibians at risk: close legal gaps now
Nature, Published online: 14 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02852-3 Patchy legislation means that animals are routinely taken from […]
UK universities are on the brink — what is their greatest source of stress?
Nature, Published online: 14 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02608-z Nature asked eight leaders in higher education what they […]
[BREVIA] Cumulative Sperm Whale Bone Damage and the Bends
Bones from sperm whales contain lesions indicative of chronic decompression sickness, overturning
the dogma that these animals are immune.
Authors: M. J.Moore, G. A. Early
[RESEARCH ARTICLES] Distributions of Microbial Activities in Deep Subseafloor Sediments
Measurements of biomolecules and metabolic activity in several drill cores reveal that Pacific Ocean sediments host diverse microbial communities.
Authors: Steven D'Hondt, Bo Barker Jørgensen, D. Jay Miller, Anja Batzke, Ruth Blake, Barry A. Cragg, Heribert Cypionka, Gerald R. Dickens, Timothy Ferdelman, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, Nils G. Holm, Richard Mitterer, Arthur Spivack, Guizhi Wang, Barbara Bekins, Bert Engelen, Kathryn Ford, Glen Gettemy, Scott D. Rutherford, Henrik Sass, C. Gregory Skilbeck, Ivano W. Aiello, Gilles Guèrin, Christopher H. House, Fumio Inagaki, Patrick Meister, Thomas Naehr, Sachiko Niitsuma, R. John Parkes, Axel Schippers, David C. Smith, Andreas Teske, Juergen Wiegel, Christian Naranjo Padilla, Juana Luz Solis Acosta
[ESSAY] PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: What Is Good for Children Is Good for Mankind: The Role of Imagination in Discovery
In an essay derived from her Presidential Address at the 2004 AAAS Annual Meeting, Mary Ellen Avery highlights the role that imagination plays in the discoveries of science.
Author: Mary Ellen Avery
The super El Niño is already wreaking havoc: here’s what’s in store
Nature, Published online: 13 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02826-5 The extreme weather of this year’s mega El Niño […]
[PERSPECTIVES] ECOLOGY: A Head Start for Some Redstarts
Most ornithologists working in Europe, Canada, and North America arduously study breeding patterns of migratory birds, while ignoring molting, migration, and the time migratory birds spend in their southern wintering grounds. In his Perspective, Hill comments that the introduction of new techniques that measure, for example, isotope ratios in bird feathers is enabling ornithologists to analyze these long-ignored aspects of the annual life cycle of migratory birds (Norris et al.).
Author: Geoffrey E. Hill
[PERSPECTIVES] MICROBIOLOGY: Peptide Signals Sense and Destroy Target Cells
It is well established that bacteria secrete signals enabling them to communicate with other members of the same species and also with other bacterial populations. In an illuminating Perspective, Garsin discusses a cytolysin signal produced by a human pathogen, Enterococcus faecalis, that enables the bacterium to sense host target cells from afar and to ramp up production of cytolysin such that target cells are efficiently lysed (Coburn et al.).
Author: Danielle A. Garsin