Table Of Contents Page, PNAS Volume 123, Number 9
This Week in PNAS
Opinion
Retrospective
Distinguished Bruce D. Hammock (1947–2026) was a prolific scientist, gifted teacher,
and extraordinary collaborator whose work transformed entomology, immunochemistry,
and inflammation biology. Author of more than 1,500 peer-reviewed publications and
...
Profile
To study the interplay of mechanical stress and strain in faults, seismologist Emily
Brodsky looks for earthquakes with a known trigger, such as a volcano or injection
of underground wastewater. These triggers help explain how a fault breaks. Brodsky
...
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Commentaries
Perspective
In order to understand adaptation by natural selection, it is necessary to observe
organisms in their natural habitat. For this reason, the field of behavioral ecology,
which specializes in testing adaptive explanations for biological observations, is
...
Letters
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Surface tension between coexisting phases of active Brownian particles
Brief Report
Complex I is known as the primary entry point for electrons within the mitochondrial
electron transport system (ETS). However, the glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) shuttle,
composed of cytosolic and mitochondrial G3P dehydrogenase (cG3PDH and mtG3PDH, ...
Physical Sciences
Applied Physical Sciences
Organisms often inhabit environments comprising complex structures across various
scales. Animals rely on visual information from surrounding geometrical structures
for navigation. Even at the microscale, various microsediments form complex structures
in ...
To trigger precipitation, water droplets in warm clouds need to attain a sufficient
size. Theoretical estimates based on condensation and gravitational collisions alone
fail to explain the observed timescales for the onset of precipitation for a range
of ...
The rapid integration of generative AI into academic writing has prompted widespread
policy responses from journals and publishers. However, the effectiveness of these
policies remains unclear. Here, we analyze 5,114 journals and over 5.2 million papers
...
Manipulation of kinetic pathways is essential to self-assemble nanoparticle building
blocks into complex ordered structures, as the emergence of intermediate metastable
states could either facilitate or hinder crystallization of the target lattice. ...
The advent of interlayer twist has introduced a groundbreaking paradigm, unveiling
novel physical phenomena spanning from correlated insulating states to superconductivity.
This unprecedented platform facilitates the manipulation of electrons and extends
...
Astronomy
Giant planets and brown dwarfs play a crucial role in star and planet formation as
they are situated at the boundary between planets and stars with uncertain formation
mechanisms. Previous observational searches for the formation boundary were hampered
by ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Cyanobacteria are the earliest known organisms that produced oxygen through photosynthesis,
leading to the oxygen atmosphere that allowed the evolution of more complex life forms.
Many species of cyanobacteria exhibit gliding motility along surfaces to ...
Glycans are not only one of the four fundamental macromolecular classes that constitute
life, but also the most abundant among these four across the Earth. However, compared
with proteins and nucleic acids, our understanding of the structures and ...
Chemistry
Nanoconfinement as observed in natural (e.g. green fluorescent protein, GFP) or artificial
(metal-organic or covalent organic frameworks) systems effectively modulates chemical
and physical properties of encapsulated molecules for various photonic, ...
Electrochemical hydrogen isotope separation has been constrained for decades by the
similar energy barriers of the rate-determining O–H and O–D bond cleavage step in
water isotopologues. Herein, we compact H-bond connectivity through screening a series
of ...
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
The Great Unconformity (GUn)—a widely recognized discontinuity and associated gap
in the rock record between Precambrian and Cambrian rocks—represents a globally important
interval of continental exposure and erosion that is notable also for the first ...
Evolution is a historical process whose trajectories are determined in part by the
introduction of new phenotypes. Although most phenotypes have evolved repeatedly within
and among clades of organisms, others are unique and apparently originated only once,...
Engineering
Electrified carbon capture and release holds promise in carbon management; but it
is constrained by high energy demand. Here, we studied two candidate systems for electrochemical
CO2 release from a direct air capture (DAC) postcapture liquid: The first, a ...
Establishing intrinsic structure–property relationships in amorphous solids remains
a central challenge in materials science because the absence of long-range order obscures
universal structural descriptors. Here, we introduce a structural disorder ...
Environmental Sciences
Multiple toxic metal elements usually coexist and thus their competitive adsorption
always occurs in natural and engineered clay-rich systems. Currently, however, the
competitive adsorption mechanisms of multicomponent metal systems on clay mineral
...
Viewed from space, a “green wave” seasonally traverses Earth’s surface, from the north
in boreal summer to the south in austral summer. This wave represents vegetation phenology,
driven primarily by solar irradiation and modulated by climate variability ...
Physics
Gas bubbles frequently accumulate at liquid interfaces, compromising throughput, selectivity,
and stability across scales from microfluidics to natural ecosystems. Here, we experimentally
show that highly permeable aerophilic membranes placed on a liquid–...
The rapid advancement of quantum information technology has increased the demand for
precise testing and calibration of quantum modules, especially in optical quantum
circuits where module reliability directly impacts system performance. To address
this ...
Statistics
Whole genome sequencing (WGS) studies in large biobanks provide an unprecedented opportunity
to study the rare-variant (RV) effects on the natural history of human diseases by
analyzing censored time-to-event (TTE) phenotypes, such as age at disease ...
Sustainability Science
Natural ecosystems are increasingly threatened by global agricultural supply chains,
and a narrow policy focus on forests has fueled agricultural expansion into ecologically
significant but severely overlooked non-forest ecosystems, including grasslands ...
Social Sciences
Anthropology
As humans, we store and share information. This allows us to distribute knowledge
necessary for survival and to coordinate large groups. Our hominin ancestors harnessed
the surfaces of mobile artifacts and cave walls as information carriers since the
...
Humans have been using psychoactive substances for millennia, despite their potential
negative health and social consequences. According to some scholars, our craving for
mind-altering drugs is an evolutionary mistake—a hijacking of our reward system. In
...
Economic Sciences
Social distancing can mitigate the spread of diseases in humans and animals. Social
distancing allows susceptible individuals to protect themselves (and others) but confers
no personal benefit for infected individuals if recovery provides immunity. ...
Political Sciences
The American public consistently supports stricter gun laws. We show that the gun
lobby is most concerned that this support will translate into federal legislative
action when fatal school shootings occur. Leveraging a dataset of political action
...
The Biden Administration enacted the largest federal policy framework to incentivize
clean energy and decarbonization in U.S. history. We examine whether Biden-era green
investments produced political returns by affecting public opinion. Using geolocated
...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Human behavior often relies on executing a specific sequence of actions to achieve
a desired outcome. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the dynamic construction
and maintenance of such sequences during goal-directed behavior are not yet clear.
...
Sustainability Science
Natural ecosystems are increasingly threatened by global agricultural supply chains,
and a narrow policy focus on forests has fueled agricultural expansion into ecologically
significant but severely overlooked non-forest ecosystems, including grasslands ...
The US electricity grid is rapidly evolving with the entry of low-cost renewable electricity.
As a result, new supply is not spatially matched to demand, and the transmission network
has become more strained. Better market integration could thus lower US ...
Biological Sciences
Agricultural Sciences
Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide globally, especially due to the extensive
cultivation of genetically modified glyphosate-resistant crops. However, its intensive
application has raised public concerns about the risks to food safety and human ...
Biochemistry
Virus maturation is a fundamental biological process involving large-scale structural
reorganizations that drive functional activation and lead to infectivity. Understanding
the steps from the initial procapsid assembly to mature virions is essential, ...
Nanoconfinement as observed in natural (e.g. green fluorescent protein, GFP) or artificial
(metal-organic or covalent organic frameworks) systems effectively modulates chemical
and physical properties of encapsulated molecules for various photonic, ...
Enzymatic detoxification of organophosphate (OP) insecticides can confer resistance
in some insects, yet the precise molecular basis of this trait, and how it has evolved,
remains poorly understood. In certain dipteran species, a G→D mutation in the ...
Structural analyses of ribosomes by single particle cryogenic electron microscopy
(cryoEM) have traditionally relied on purified or reconstituted samples, with particles
often trapped in desired states using genetic, pharmacological, or biochemical ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Organisms often inhabit environments comprising complex structures across various
scales. Animals rely on visual information from surrounding geometrical structures
for navigation. Even at the microscale, various microsediments form complex structures
in ...
Cyanobacteria are the earliest known organisms that produced oxygen through photosynthesis,
leading to the oxygen atmosphere that allowed the evolution of more complex life forms.
Many species of cyanobacteria exhibit gliding motility along surfaces to ...
Glycans are not only one of the four fundamental macromolecular classes that constitute
life, but also the most abundant among these four across the Earth. However, compared
with proteins and nucleic acids, our understanding of the structures and ...
Meiotic recombination ensures genetic diversity and accurate chromosome segregation
by mediating reciprocal DNA exchange between homologous chromosomes. In this process,
the meiosis-specific recombinase DMC1 plays a pivotal role in homology search and
...
Cell Biology
Nuclear Envelope Membrane Protein 1 (NEMP1) is crucial for metazoan fertility; loss
of Nemp1 causes death of primordial oocytes that reside in the mechanically challenging
ovarian cortex. Here, we show that softening the ovary rescues oocyte loss and ...
Epilepsy is increasingly recognized as a disorder involving metabolic dysregulation
beyond neural hyperexcitability, yet the underlying metabolic mechanisms remain poorly
defined. Here, we identify a mitochondrion–immunity–metabolism axis that drives ...
Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is an essential cellular process that needs to
operate efficiently across a wide range of conditions. Internalization of the endocytic
site involves forces generated by membrane-bound proteins and Arp2/3-mediated ...
PEX19 is a cytosolic receptor that directs membrane proteins posttranslationally to
peroxisomes, as well as to mitochondria, lipid droplets, and the endoplasmic reticulum.
A comprehensive Trypanosoma PEX19 interactome analysis uncovered PEX38 as an ...
The mitochondrial permeability transition (mPT) is an evolutionarily conserved destructive
process that permeabilizes the inner mitochondrial membrane in response to calcium
overload. The molecular mechanism underlying the mPT is not established. To ...
Developmental Biology
The formation of boundaries separating developmental fields with distinct gene expression
and cell fate trajectories is a universal feature of noncolonial multicellular organisms.
Developmental boundaries arise reiteratively during ontogeny and are ...
Ecology
The social environment experienced during development plays a crucial role in shaping
social competence—the ability to respond appropriately to social challenges. Sibling
number and the social interactions between them are key components of the early ...
Nitrogen cycling regulates terrestrial ecosystem productivity and carbon sequestration,
yet its response to climate warming remains uncertain. Here, we compiled the most
comprehensive dataset to date, integrating 7,941 observations from 413 field warming
...
Environmental Sciences
Viewed from space, a “green wave” seasonally traverses Earth’s surface, from the north
in boreal summer to the south in austral summer. This wave represents vegetation phenology,
driven primarily by solar irradiation and modulated by climate variability ...
Evolution
Evolution is a historical process whose trajectories are determined in part by the
introduction of new phenotypes. Although most phenotypes have evolved repeatedly within
and among clades of organisms, others are unique and apparently originated only once,...
Same-sex sexual behavior (SSB) in insects has historically been considered a byproduct
of sex recognition failure, or “mistaken identity,” and consideration of other hypotheses
lags behind that of vertebrates where it is often thought to adaptively ...
Classical mate choice theories assume independent decision-making, yet mounting evidence
shows that individuals often use social information and copy conspecifics’ mate choices,
a behavior termed mate copying. While this nonindependent mate choice has ...
Many traits influence fitness indirectly by modifying shared environments that are
transmitted across generations, a process known as ecological inheritance. Here, we
investigate how variation in traits to improve common resources emerges when locally
...
Ensuring information flow (heredity) and metabolic processes (catalysis) are two important
prerequisites for early evolution. The widely accepted “RNA world” theory proposes
that ancient RNAs ensured both heredity and catalysis during the transition from ...
Genetics
Whole genome sequencing (WGS) studies in large biobanks provide an unprecedented opportunity
to study the rare-variant (RV) effects on the natural history of human diseases by
analyzing censored time-to-event (TTE) phenotypes, such as age at disease ...
The goal of meiosis is typically to produce haploid gametes (eggs or sperm). Failure
to do so is catastrophic for fertility. However, Lepidopteran (moths and butterflies)
males produce two sperm morphs: nucleated (eupyrene) sperm and anucleated (apyrene)
...
Medical Sciences
Sepsis in humans, as well as mouse models of infection, demonstrates sex-biased outcomes
in which males tend to have a higher incidence, higher severity, and higher mortality
compared to females. Despite this important sex-bias in sepsis outcomes, little ...
Microbiology
Never in mitosis A (NIMA)-related kinase 2 (NEK2) is a serine/threonine kinase that
plays a crucial role in cell cycle regulation and is frequently induced across multiple
cancer types, where its elevated levels are associated with poor prognosis. Epstein–...
The fusion of newly formed early endosomal vesicles after endocytosis is a crucial
step in viral infection. It facilitates the transition of many viruses from viral
internalization to downstream intracellular trafficking within the endosomal network,
...
The gut–lung axis is involved in acute lung injury (ALI) and its fatal sequela, acute
respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), yet the molecular mechanisms governing this
crosstalk remain poorly defined. Untargeted metabolomics of plasma revealed significant
...
Neuroscience
Human behavior often relies on executing a specific sequence of actions to achieve
a desired outcome. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the dynamic construction
and maintenance of such sequences during goal-directed behavior are not yet clear.
...
Billions of people throughout the world are bilingual, and they can extract meaning
from multiple languages. While some evidence suggests that there is a shared system
in the human brain for processing semantic information from native and non-native
...
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) develop
as spatial pathologies in which neurons and glial cells are interconnected. TAR DNA-binding
protein 43 (TDP-43) is a major pathological protein that is inextricably ...
Humans rely on both proprioceptive and visual feedback during reaching, integrating
these two sensory streams to improve movement accuracy and precision. Patients using
a brain-computer interface will similarly require artificial proprioceptive feedback
...
Plant Biology
The formation of boundaries separating developmental fields with distinct gene expression
and cell fate trajectories is a universal feature of noncolonial multicellular organisms.
Developmental boundaries arise reiteratively during ontogeny and are ...
Population Biology
Social distancing can mitigate the spread of diseases in humans and animals. Social
distancing allows susceptible individuals to protect themselves (and others) but confers
no personal benefit for infected individuals if recovery provides immunity. ...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Error monitoring is crucial for inferring how controllable an environment is, and
thus for estimating the value of control processes (metacontrol). In this study, we
use computational simulations with deep neural networks to investigate its behavioral
and ...
Corrections
Cover image: Pictured is a brown dwarf orbiting a Sun-like star. Kaiming Cui et al. analyzed 55 planetary and substellar companions detected in wide orbits around main-sequence stars to explore the documented dearth of brown dwarfs, which are objects heavier than planets but not massive enough to become true stars. The authors confirmed a deficit of brown dwarfs at around 30 Jupiter masses and showed that this gap extends to separations of roughly 20 astronomical units from their host stars. The results likely reflect two distinct formation pathways for lower- and higher-mass companions. See the article by Cui et al. e2524764123. Image credit: Tsung-Dao Lee Institute/Bangqian Zheng (artist). © 2026 Tsung-Dao Lee Institute.
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