Open access

Papers, explained

338 open-access papers, free to watch.

Animal models of cancer metastasis to the bone

Animal models of cancer metastasis to the bone

Yihan Yu, Kanglu Li, Yizhong Peng, Wei Wu, Fengxia Chen, Zengwu Shao, Z. Zhang

When cancer reaches bone, the consequences can be devastating: pain, fractures, loss of movement, and sometimes death. To understand how that journey happens, and how to stop it, researchers build living models of it.

Overview In depth

A pilot survey of selenium status and its geospatial variation among children and women in three rural districts of Zimbabwe

A pilot survey of selenium status and its geospatial variation among children and women in three rural districts of Zimbabwe

Beaula Mutonhodza, Christopher Chagumaira, Mavis Precious Dembedza, Edward J. M. Joy, Muneta G. Manzeke‐Kangara, Handrea Njovo, Tasiana K. Nyadzayo, R. M. Lark, Alexander Kalimbira, Elizabeth H. Bailey, Martin R. Broadley, Tonderayi M. Matsungo, Prosper Chopera

A hidden shortage of a tiny mineral may affect nearly every young child tested in three rural districts of Zimbabwe. And the risk is not spread evenly: where a family lives appears to matter.

Overview In depth

Precise bulk density measurement of planktonic foraminiferal test by X-ray microcomputed tomography

Precise bulk density measurement of planktonic foraminiferal test by X-ray microcomputed tomography

Katsunori Kimoto, Rika Horiuchi, Osamu Sasaki, Tomohiro Iwashita

Tiny drifting shells help scientists reconstruct what the ocean was like in the past. Now, a scan can measure not only their shape, but how densely built they are, without breaking them open.

Overview In depth

Eu3+ Complex-Based Superhydrophobic Fluorescence Sensor for Cr(VI) Detection in Water

Eu3+ Complex-Based Superhydrophobic Fluorescence Sensor for Cr(VI) Detection in Water

Wei Ding, Sravanthi Vallabhuneni, Jin Liu, Xinzhi Wang, Yue Zhao, Yao Wang, Qinglin Tang, Yanxin Wang, Xiaolin Zhang, Arun K. Kota, Jianguo Tang

A tiny drop of water can reveal a dangerous pollutant without a large laboratory machine. This sensor turns the drop itself into a simple warning signal: the brighter light disappears when hexavalent chromium is present.

Overview In depth

Assessing the association between tea intake and risk of dental caries and periodontitis: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

Assessing the association between tea intake and risk of dental caries and periodontitis: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

Bilun Jin, Heng Chen, Peiqi Liu, Yijie Wang, Yi Guo, Chenxu Wang, Yue Jia, Rui Zou, Lin Niu

Tea is often treated as a healthy choice for your mouth. But this study found a genetic clue pointing in the opposite direction for gum disease, while finding no link with cavities.

Overview In depth

Validation of a novel numerical model to predict regionalized blood flow in the coronary arteries

Validation of a novel numerical model to predict regionalized blood flow in the coronary arteries

Daniel J. Taylor, Jeroen Feher, Krzysztof Czechowicz, Ian Halliday, D. Rodney Hose, Rebecca Gosling, Louise Aubinière-Robb, Marcel van’t Veer, Danielle Keulards, Pim A.L. Tonino, Michel Rochette, Julian Gunn, Paul Morris

A heart artery is not just one pipe carrying one stream of blood. Its smaller branches constantly draw blood away, and a computer model may now estimate where that flow goes, without measuring every drop directly.

Overview In depth

Effectiveness and Safety of the MVA–BN Vaccine against Mpox in At-Risk Individuals in the United States (USMVAc)

Effectiveness and Safety of the MVA–BN Vaccine against Mpox in At-Risk Individuals in the United States (USMVAc)

Soowoo Back, Bethany Knox, Ciara Coakley, Nicolas Deltour, Emmanuelle Jacquot, Hanaya Raad, Elizabeth M. Garry

Mpox seemed to fade from the headlines, but the risk did not disappear. In U.S. health records, people who received both recommended vaccine doses had far less mpox than similar unvaccinated people.

Overview In depth

Combined SERS-Raman screening of HER2-overexpressing or silenced breast cancer cell lines

Combined SERS-Raman screening of HER2-overexpressing or silenced breast cancer cell lines

Sara Spaziani, Alessandro Esposito, Giovannina Barisciano, Giuseppe Quero, Elumalai Satheeshkumar, M. Di Leo, Vittorio Colantuoni, Maria Mangini, Marco Pisco, Lina Sabatino, Anna Chiara De Luca, Andrea Cusano

Breast cancers that look alike can behave very differently. This study uses light to find a key cancer marker on individual cells, and then reveals a surprising change that remains even after that marker is silenced.

Overview In depth

Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold

Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold

John Jumper, Richard Evans, Alexander Pritzel, Tim Green, Michael Figurnov, Olaf Ronneberger, Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool, Russ Bates, Augustin Žídek, Anna Potapenko, Alex Bridgland, Clemens Meyer, Simon A. A. Kohl, Andrew J. Ballard, Andrew Cowie, Bernardino Romera-Paredes, Stanislav Nikolov, Rishub Jain, Jonas Adler, Trevor Back, Stig Petersen, David Reiman, Ellen Clancy, Michał Zieliński, Martin Steinegger, Michalina Pacholska, Tamas Berghammer, Sebastian Bodenstein, David Silver, Oriol Vinyals, Andrew W. Senior, Koray Kavukcuoglu, Pushmeet Kohli, Demis Hassabis

Every cell depends on proteins, but scientists have seen the shape of only a tiny fraction of them. AlphaFold showed that a sequence of chemical letters can be enough to predict a protein’s three-dimensional form with near-experimental accuracy.

Overview In depth

Reinforced Labels: Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for Point-Feature Label Placement

Reinforced Labels: Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for Point-Feature Label Placement

Petr Bobák, Ladislav Čmolík, Martin Čadík

A map can spend half its production time deciding where words should go. This study teaches each label to move out of the way of the others, and the result is more complete, clearer maps, at a steep cost in time.

Overview In depth

Access to Healthcare Services among Thai Immigrants in Japan: A Study of the Areas Surrounding Tokyo

Access to Healthcare Services among Thai Immigrants in Japan: A Study of the Areas Surrounding Tokyo

Sopak Supakul, Pichaya Jaroongjittanusonti, Prangkhwan Jiaranaisilawong, Romruedee Phisalaphong, Tetsuya Tanimoto, Akihiko Ozaki

Many Thai immigrants in Japan understood why health insurance matters and viewed it positively. Yet almost half reported having no insurance, and people without clear residency status were especially unlikely to have it.

Overview In depth

The burden of colorectal cancer attributable to dietary risk in Middle East and North African from 1990 to 2019

The burden of colorectal cancer attributable to dietary risk in Middle East and North African from 1990 to 2019

Yahya Pasdar, Fatemeh Khosravi Shadmani, Hawal Lateef Fateh, Davood Soleimani, Behrooz Hamzeh, Mojtaba Ghalandari, Behrooz Moloudpour, Mitra Darbandi

Bowel cancer is rising in lower- and middle-income countries, and this study finds that the share linked with diet increased across all 21 countries examined. What we eat may be part of a changing regional health story.

Overview In depth