Table Of Contents Page, PNAS Volume 123, Number 8
This Week in PNAS
Editorial
Opinion
Retrospective
Chen Ning Yang made important contributions to the theory of solvable models in statistical
mechanics, including generalizations of the Bethe Ansatz, magnetization in the Ising
model, the Lee-Yang circle theorem, and the Yang-Baxter equation. Most ...
Profile
Atmospheric scientist Qiang Fu uses satellite observations, numerical simulations,
and theoretical analysis to investigate how changes across different layers of the
atmosphere—and their circulation—are linked to climate change. Early in his career,
Fu ...
View related content:
Global stratospheric methane loss from satellite observations
Commentaries
Perspective
The current cosmological paradigm, ΛCDM, is characterized by its expansive description
of the history of the Universe, its deep connections to particle physics and the large
quantities of data that support it. Nonetheless, ΛCDM’s critics argue that it has
...
Letters
View the original article:
The potential existential threat of large language models to online survey research
This article has a reply:Brief Report
Classical theories of nematic ordering in charged platelets predict that increasing
surface charge stabilizes alignment. They also predict enhanced alignment when ionic
strength is reduced. Here, in agreement with established theories, we show that in
...
Physical Sciences
Applied Mathematics
Sampling from probability distributions of the form
Applied Physical Sciences
Pedestrian routing choices play a crucial role in shaping collective crowd dynamics,
yet the influence of interactions among unfamiliar individuals remains poorly understood.
In this study, we analyze real-world pedestrian behavior at a route split within ...
Amorphous materials driven away from equilibrium display a diverse repertoire of complex,
history-dependent behaviors. One striking feature is a failure to return to equilibrium
after an abrupt change in otherwise static external conditions. Instead, ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) are central to nutrient transport in egg yolk and
have emerged as natural nanocarriers for drug delivery. Their biological function
critically depends on mobility within densely crowded environments, yet the mechanisms
...
That night-migratory songbirds have a magnetic compass sense is undisputed. The nature
of the sensor, however, is far from certain. The two leading hypotheses are organic
radical pairs in cryptochrome flavoproteins and crystals of inorganic magnetic ...
Unraveling the molecular mechanisms underlying long-range mutational effects on function
is a challenging prospect. In this study, we delineate the consequences of a mutation
located at a site distal to the functional region in a promiscuous acyl-CoA ...
As made evident by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1) and
SARS-CoV-2 pandemics, the possibility of a SARS-like coronavirus (SL-CoV) emerging
again in humankind after zoonotic spillover represents a significant global health
...
Chemistry
Racemic compounds, consisting of an equimolar mixture of enantiomers in crystalline
form, are conventionally regarded as fully symmetric and are often dismissed as a
trivial phenomenon due to their abundance—as they account for a substantial fraction
(90 ...
Despite their adaptability and mechanical stability, Pickering emulsions based on
the interfacial assembly of colloidal particles have not found use in iontronics,
since the dense interfacial packing of micron-sized particles precludes functional
...
Peptide-based molecules have widespread therapeutic applications due to their potent
binding affinity and relative metabolic safety. Peptide therapeutics are developed
using library screening that samples a diverse chemical space within primary sequences
...
Optimizing the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance of Pt-based alloy nanocatalysts
requires a quantitative understanding of how catalytic activity and durability depend
on nanoparticle composition, size, and atomic ordering. In this work, we ...
Atmospheric water inputs such as dew are often overlooked in plant biology. We show
that foliar dewdrops act as biochemical microreactors that trigger flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana, a small plant from the mustard family (Brassicaceae). These droplets ...
Computer Sciences
Quantum computing improves substantially on known classical algorithms for various
important problems, but the nature of the relationship between quantum and classical
computing is not yet fully understood. This relationship can be clarified by free
...
Hallucinated facts in large language models have recently been shown to obey a statistical
lower bound determined by the monofact rate (related to the classical Good-Turing
missing mass estimator) minus model miscalibration [A. T. Kalai, S. S. Vempala, “...
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
The ocean’s biological carbon pump exports atmospheric CO2 to the deep ocean, where it can remain sequestered for decades to centuries, and
attempts to artificially enhance this natural carbon sink by fertilizing portions
of the open ocean could help ...
Samples collected from the carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid Bennu and delivered to
Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission contain organic molecules relevant to prebiotic
chemistry. Stable isotopic measurements of extraterrestrial soluble organic matter
...
Although it is generally accepted today that climate and other environmental factors
affected past human societies at different spatiotemporal scales, direct linkages
are difficult to determine, and correlation should not be confused with causation.
Here, ...
The spatial pattern of sea surface temperature (SST) change in the tropical Pacific
plays a central role in shaping global climate through its influence on atmospheric
circulation, rainfall, and extreme weather. Accurately simulating this pattern is
...
Engineering
Innovations in soft materials have advanced the development of implantable devices
for pressure monitoring, but fabrication and integration challenges remain, such as
limited patterning resolution and poor scalability, hindering their miniaturization
and ...
The preference in synonymous codon usage—the so-called codon usage bias (CUB)—is governed
by several factors such as the host organism, context and function of the gene, and
the position of the codon within the gene itself. We demonstrated that this ...
Adoptive cell therapies that genetically engineer immune cells with chimeric antigen
receptors (CARs) have shown limited success against solid tumors due to the immunosuppressive
tumor microenvironment (TME) and logistical challenges of ex vivo cell ...
Environmental Sciences
Human-induced climate change has increased wildfire risks, associated air pollution,
and health damages in North America. Despite its large potential for damage, climate-induced
wildfire smoke is rarely incorporated in estimates of the societal costs of ...
Physics
The transport of deformable self-propelling objects like bacteria, worms, snakes,
and robots through heterogeneous environments is poorly understood. Here we use experiment,
simulation, and theory to study a snake-like robot as it undulates without ...
Dissipation in amorphous solids at low frequencies is commonly attributed to activated
transitions of isolated two-level systems (TLS) that come in resonance with elastic
or electric fields. Materials with low mechanical or dielectric loss are urgently
...
Social Sciences
Anthropology
The Golden Horde, the northwestern extension of the Mongol Empire ruled by Genghis
Khan’s descendants, holds a pivotal place in the history of Central Eurasia and Eastern
Europe. Consequently, understanding the genetic legacy of Genghis Khan and his ...
Advances in global satellite-based remote sensing, big data, and machine learning
are making large-scale geographic analysis increasingly accessible. Archaeology can
benefit from multitemporal and multisensor satellite data even when direct archaeological
...
Demography
Human sex ratios at birth (SRBs) shape population composition and are closely linked
to maternal health and gender discrimination. In the context of environmental change,
SRBs may theoretically be skewed by physiological or behavioral responses to ...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Autonomy promotes important psychological outcomes. Although cooperation and competition
are the building blocks of social interactions, little is known about how they shape
feelings of autonomy in dyads, teams, and work organizations. We hypothesize that
...
Social Sciences
Pedestrian routing choices play a crucial role in shaping collective crowd dynamics,
yet the influence of interactions among unfamiliar individuals remains poorly understood.
In this study, we analyze real-world pedestrian behavior at a route split within ...
Negative social ties, or “hasslers,” are pervasive yet understudied components of
social networks that may accelerate biological aging and morbidity. Using ego-centric
network data and DNA methylation-based biological aging clocks (i.e., DunedinPACE
and ...
Sustainability Science
Human-induced climate change has increased wildfire risks, associated air pollution,
and health damages in North America. Despite its large potential for damage, climate-induced
wildfire smoke is rarely incorporated in estimates of the societal costs of ...
Scaling up solar photovoltaics (PV) is essential for global decarbonization, particularly
in China—the world’s largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter. Despite leading in PV installations,
China has yet to widely adopt the more efficient tracking ...
The presence of high levels of PM2.5 pollution is a major health threat in India. We evaluate the benefits of reducing
ambient PM2.5 and household air pollution from a 2019 baseline, when over 70% of the population
of India was exposed to annual average ...
Biological Sciences
Agricultural Sciences
Atmospheric water inputs such as dew are often overlooked in plant biology. We show
that foliar dewdrops act as biochemical microreactors that trigger flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana, a small plant from the mustard family (Brassicaceae). These droplets ...
Liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) has emerged as an important strategy for plant
stress resistance, yet its dynamic regulation during plant–pathogen interaction remains
poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the stripe rust fungus Puccinia ...
Anthropology
The Golden Horde, the northwestern extension of the Mongol Empire ruled by Genghis
Khan’s descendants, holds a pivotal place in the history of Central Eurasia and Eastern
Europe. Consequently, understanding the genetic legacy of Genghis Khan and his ...
Applied Biological Sciences
The preference in synonymous codon usage—the so-called codon usage bias (CUB)—is governed
by several factors such as the host organism, context and function of the gene, and
the position of the codon within the gene itself. We demonstrated that this ...
Adoptive cell therapies that genetically engineer immune cells with chimeric antigen
receptors (CARs) have shown limited success against solid tumors due to the immunosuppressive
tumor microenvironment (TME) and logistical challenges of ex vivo cell ...
Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapy holds significant promise in regenerative
medicine, leveraging their multipotent differentiation capacity and paracrine effects.
However, clinical translation is limited by poor cell survival and engraftment in
a ...
Erythroid progenitors undergo dynamic morphological changes and robust heme biosynthesis
during differentiation. Zinc is essential for erythropoiesis, yet the mechanisms linking
zinc availability to heme biosynthesis and anemia risk remain unclear. This ...
Biochemistry
Mycolic acids (MAs) are the major component of the mycobacterial outer membrane, a
key contributor to the intrinsic resistance of mycobacteria to external insults including
multiple antibiotics. After being synthesized in the cytoplasm and before reaching
...
The human long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) RMRP, initially identified as part of the RNase MRP complex, is linked to various human
diseases. However, its structural flexibility and broader cellular roles are not well
understood. Here, we offer a comprehensive ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) are central to nutrient transport in egg yolk and
have emerged as natural nanocarriers for drug delivery. Their biological function
critically depends on mobility within densely crowded environments, yet the mechanisms
...
Unraveling the molecular mechanisms underlying long-range mutational effects on function
is a challenging prospect. In this study, we delineate the consequences of a mutation
located at a site distal to the functional region in a promiscuous acyl-CoA ...
In prokaryotes, CorA is the primary influx pathway for magnesium, a critical divalent
cation in cellular physiology and biochemistry. Mechanistic studies show that homopentameric
CorA is regulated through an intracellular [Mg2+]-dependent negative ...
Intrinsically disordered proteins and protein regions (IDRs) underpin a wide range
of vital biological processes but exhibit dynamic and heterogeneous conformations.
Currently, many computational efforts seek to elucidate the conformational ensembles
of ...
Imaging cells and their interactions across the whole biosphere with molecular-scale
resolution is key for understanding structure–function relations. Cryogenic electron
tomography (cryo-ET) is a powerful method for obtaining this critical information.
...
Association of auxiliary subunits (β1-4 and γ1-4) with the pore-forming α subunit
of the calcium- and voltage-activated potassium (BK) channel provides functional diversity.
γ1 promotes a significant leftward shift in the voltage-activation curve, ...
Cell Biology
Chromatin loading of the hexameric replicative helicase MCM2–7 complex requires coordinated
interactions with the origin recognition complex (ORC), CDC6, and CDT1. MCM2–7 not
bound to DNA forms a single hexamer (SH) with an open DNA entry gate between ...
Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3β (GSK-3β) is a key coordinator of neuronal development
and maintenance; hyperactive GSK-3β is linked to neurodevelopmental and -degenerative
diseases and therefore a promising therapeutic target. In neurons, GSK-3β coordinates
...
Plasma membrane (PM) phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2] regulates indispensable processes such as exocytosis, endocytosis, and actin cytoskeleton
remodeling in eukaryotic cells. Since phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate [PI(4)P] has
long been ...
Cancer cells migrate through regions of tissue confinement during metastasis, causing
nuclear envelope (NE) rupture, which generates heritable DNA damage and disease aggression.
We sought to determine if NE rupture was intrinsic to malignant ...
Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell damage is a critical factor of age-related macular
degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness among the aged population. This
study focuses on the AMD susceptible gene, Death associated protein like 1 (DAPL1),
...
NADPH is essential for cellular biosynthesis and redox balance in CD8+ T cells. Here, we demonstrate that the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway (non-oxPPP),
mediated by transketolase (TKT) and transaldolase (TALDO1), is critical for CD8+ T cell ...
Ecology
Wolves (Canis lupus) recolonizing human-dominated landscapes encounter anthropogenic risks and opportunities,
but how this shapes their fear of humans is unknown. We tested 185 individually identified
wild wolves across 44 locations covering a wide ...
Climate forecasts project rising temperatures for every land surface on Earth. Predicting
the consequences of climate warming poses a challenge for science and society. Shifts
in plant–microbial interactions can lead to significant changes in ecosystem-...
The island species−area relationship (ISAR) is known to be near-ubiquitous, but its
properties across the fullest span of island areas globally and how island endemism
shapes the ISAR remain poorly understood. We determine the global ISAR for native
(Nat...
The generality of the worldwide leaf economics spectrum (LES) has made it a pillar
of trait-based ecological research. Yet, few studies have examined the processes shaping
the evolution of the LES within species, in part, because most species occupy only
...
Enhanced plant productivity under climate warming may partially offset soil carbon
losses in cold ecosystems, but this compensation depends on whether soil nitrogen
(N) supply can keep pace with the increased N demand associated with accelerated plant
...
Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are valued for sustainable pest control, yet their
efficacy hinges on matching foraging behavior to host ecology. The nematode Steinernema carpocapsae, long regarded as an ambusher, paradoxically infects the cryptic red ...
Grassland soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks are increasingly vulnerable to intensified
drought. Yet, how long-term, especially extreme, drought affects these C reserves
across soil profiles remains unresolved. Here, we present the response of SOC stocks
at ...
Environmental Sciences
The ocean’s biological carbon pump exports atmospheric CO2 to the deep ocean, where it can remain sequestered for decades to centuries, and
attempts to artificially enhance this natural carbon sink by fertilizing portions
of the open ocean could help ...
Previous research on the generational stability of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance
was conducted through a ten-generation study of all transgenerational generations
in mammals. This study demonstrated both the stability of epigenetic inheritance ...
Saline and freshwater wetlands store large amounts of carbon, which has driven interest
in their role as nature-based climate solutions. Because these ecosystems can be both
sinks and sources of carbon to the atmosphere as environmental conditions and ...
Straw return reshapes the biogeochemical processes in paddy soils by driving microbial
transformation of key elements. Despite growing awareness of these individual processes,
the integration of these processes under millimeter-scale spatiotemporal ...
Evolution
Insect sociality is a major evolutionary transition based on the suppression of worker
reproduction in favor of a queen’s reproductive monopoly. Although sophisticated insect
societies have arisen independently on multiple occasions in the Hymenoptera (...
The diversification of life is driven by the acquisition of new phenotypic traits,
known as evolutionary novelties. While some genetic mechanisms underlying such traits
have been identified, the role of physical properties of cellular and extracellular
...
Ecologists use multiple approaches to decipher factors mediating the origin and maintenance
of biodiversity. Using closely related species, we retrospectively investigated divergence
in diet and defense among seed bugs that co-occur at small spatial ...
Genetics
Habitat fragmentation is one of the most immediate and substantial threats to biodiversity,
generating isolated populations with reduced genetic diversity. Genetic monitoring
has become essential for detecting fragmentation and tracking its progress. ...
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the leading cause of inherited intellectual disability
and autism. One common physical feature of FXS is macrocephaly, a condition typically
associated with brain overgrowth and dysfunction; however, the mechanisms underlying
...
The Hippo pathway, which is highly conserved from Drosophila to mammals, plays a crucial role in regulating organ size and tissue homeostasis.
Dysregulation of this pathway has been linked to various diseases, including tumors.
The pathway controls the ...
Immunology and Inflammation
The NLRP3 inflammasome is crucial for host defense against pathogen invasion and is
implicated in various inflammatory disorders. The pathogenic association and the involved
mechanism between the NLRP3 inflammasome and inflammatory diseases have garnered ...
Metabolic-dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is a chronic liver disease
driven by the confluence of metabolic stress and destructive inflammation. The immunoregulatory
mechanisms that temper this process remain poorly understood. Multipronged ...
Medical Sciences
Negative social ties, or “hasslers,” are pervasive yet understudied components of
social networks that may accelerate biological aging and morbidity. Using ego-centric
network data and DNA methylation-based biological aging clocks (i.e., DunedinPACE
and ...
Pelizaeus–Merzbacher disease (PMD) is an X-linked hypomyelinating disorder caused
by pathogenic variants in the proteolipid protein (PLP1) gene. We report a spontaneous canine dysmyelinating leukodystrophy in English Cocker
Spaniel puppies. The most ...
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality. It
is often diagnosed at advanced stages and characterized by high recurrence rates.
Although chronic liver inflammation and metabolic dysfunction are established contributors
...
T-cadherin, which is a major adiponectin binding partner, exerts various organ-protective
effects. However, the specific changes in intracellular signaling that are induced
by T-cadherin in metabolic tissues/cells remain unclear. We demonstrated that T-...
In early breast cancer surgery (EBC), free margins significantly decrease local recurrence
in breast-conserving surgery (BCS), while metastatic status of sentinel lymph node
(SLN) impacts axillary management. However, intraoperative visualization of ...
The skin epidermis is a multilayered lipid rich organ completely reliant on exogenous
delivery and uptake of the essential fatty linoleate for the synthesis of acylceramides
required for barrier function. Disruption of the epidermal skin barrier is a ...
We previously reported initial results from a clinical trial testing a strategy in
which patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) achieving a clinical complete
response after cystoscopic resection of the bladder tumor plus systemic therapy ...
Aging is a major risk factor for breast cancer, yet how it shapes tumor development,
molecular phenotype, and immune evasion remains incompletely understood. Deciphering
how aging influences cancer evolution is critical for improving risk assessment, ...
Microbiology
As made evident by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1) and
SARS-CoV-2 pandemics, the possibility of a SARS-like coronavirus (SL-CoV) emerging
again in humankind after zoonotic spillover represents a significant global health
...
β2-microglobulin inhibits Escherichia coli biofilm formation via selectively blocking curli assembly
Bacteria have evolved a remarkable strategy to thrive in hostile environments by creating
well-organized microcommunities known as biofilms. Biofilms pose a serious global
health challenge due to their contribution to antibiotic resistance and suppression
...
Neuroscience
Promotion of remyelination has become a new therapeutic avenue, to prevent neuronal
degeneration and promote recovery in white matter diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
Clemastine fumarate among several promyelinating agents, has been validated as a ...
Lateralization of neuronal functions plays a critical role in regulating behavioral
flexibility, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are challenging to establish
at a single-neuron level. We previously showed that attraction of Caenorhabditis elegans ...
Collective animal behaviors arise from a complex interplay between internal physiological
states and external environmental cues. In Caenorhabditis elegans, favorable conditions promote dispersal, while stressors like food scarcity trigger
aggregation. ...
Understanding motor representation in the human brain requires mapping beyond the
primary motor cortex, into the distributed networks that coordinate complex movements.
The insular cortex, a multifunctional hub buried within the Sylvian fissure, has been
...
Activity-dependent synaptic remodeling, essential for neural circuit plasticity, is
orchestrated by central organizers within the postsynaptic density (PSD), including
the scaffolding protein PSD95. However, the molecular mechanisms driving this process
...
In daily life, living beings encounter a continuous stream of mixed information, which
has to be disentangled by the brain to form proper representations. Using computational
modeling, we demonstrate that the interplay between dendritic calcium–mediated ...
Salt intake must be tightly regulated: Too little compromises physiological function,
while too much is harmful. Animals therefore display an adaptive salt appetite, dynamically
switching between attraction and avoidance depending on internal sodium ...
Spatially precise protein synthesis is critical for synaptic plasticity and cognitive
function. The GRIN2B transcript encodes the GluN2B subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and
has a 25 kb-long 3’-untranslated region (3’UTR) of unknown ...
Pathological progression in sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (sAD) initiates with an early
rise in soluble amyloid-β (Aβ), preceding plaque formation and neurodegeneration.
However, the molecular event triggering this initial accumulation remains unknown.
We ...
The relationship between different cell populations in monkey primary visual cortex
and their role in visual function is not fully resolved. We combined high-density
Neuropixels recordings across layers of macaque V1, and a state-of-the-art nonlinear
...
Topography is a well-described and well-known concept for cortical organization in
primary sensory and motor cortices of mammalian brains. Similar isomorphic mapping
of the environment is absent in most higher association areas such as the hippocampus;
...
Using gas chromatography-electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD), gas chromatography-mass
spectrometry (GC-MS), and chiral capillary GC with synthetic stereoisomers, followed
by laboratory and field validation, we identified the sex pheromone of the ...
The integrated stress response (ISR) plays a crucial role in cognition via bidirectional
modulation of the two major forms of synaptic plasticity, long-term potentiation,
and long-term depression (LTD). Specifically, inhibition of the ISR blocks ...
Plant Biology
Self-incompatibility (SI) describes a widespread collection of genetic mechanisms
in flowering plants used to specifically recognize and reject self-pollen. These mechanisms
are fundamental to plant sexual reproduction and offer valuable insight into the ...
Cardenolides, widely distributed across multiple plant families, have long been utilized
in traditional and modern medicine for treating heart failure and various cancers.
Despite progress in understanding the initial steps of cardenolide biosynthesis, ...
Sustainability Science
Marine ecosystems are facing multiple pressures from human activities, such as fishing
and nutrient inputs from farming and agriculture, compounded by the global effects
of climate change. As a result, the ecosystem services that societies depend on are
...
Corrections
%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas.webp)
%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas_006.webp "View the PNAS Table of Contents Vol.123; No.8")
Cover image: Pictured is a red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) perched on the trunk of a palm tree. The invasive weevil is a destructive pest of palms worldwide. Sheng-Yen Wu et al. found that the weevil emits chemical cues that influence interactions with its natural enemies. A key volatile compound released by red palm weevils alters how a parasitic nematode searches its environment for the weevils. The nematode’s enhanced host-finding behavior occurs via a neural mechanism involving cellular organelles called lysosomes. The findings reveal how parasites modify their behavior in response to host-derived chemical signals and suggest opportunities for improving biological pest control. Image credit: Yan Zhao, Sheng-Yen Wu, and Jiayi Shi (Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China).
Sign up for PNAS alerts.
Get alerts for new articles, or get an alert when an article is cited.
Manage alertsAdvertisement
%20_%20PNAS_files/frontmatter-ad.webp)
Recent Issues
%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas_005.webp)
%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas_007.webp)
%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas_010.webp)
%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas_003.webp)
%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas_009.webp)
%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas_008.webp)
%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas_002.webp)
%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas_004.webp)
%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas_011.webp)
Submit to PNAS
Submit to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and have your research discovered by millions of researchers in the biological, physical, and social sciences.
Submit your manuscript