Research Highlights

Selections from the scientific literature by Nature's news team

Light micrograph of a section through an ovary shown in blue, pink and purple colours.

An egg (small oval on top of the large white area) develops in an ovarian follicle. Myostatin, a hormone that inhibits muscle growth, also affects the release of eggs in female mice. Credit: Eye of Science/Science Photo Library

Physiology

The surprising link between muscle and the reproductive system

Myostatin, which blocks muscle development, unexpectedly has an effect on ovulation in female mice.
Coloured transmission electron microscopy image of influenza virus, shown in pink, yellow and blue colours

Some influenza viruses (artificially coloured) have developed resistance to a widely used antiviral. Credit: Cavallini James/BSIP/Science Photo Library

Medical research

Got flu? Promising drug shortens symptoms

Influenza viruses have not evolved resistance to suraxavir marboxil, which relieves cough, fever and other symptoms.
A woman and her black labrador cuddle and sleep on a sofa

Sleep helps to clear the brain of toxins that have accumulated during the day. Experiments in mice show how the brain orchestrates this self-cleaning process. Credit: Getty

Brain

How the brain cleans itself during deep sleep

Blood vessels in the brain rhythmically constrict and dilate to drive waves of cleansing fluid through the organ.
A small male spider, yellow with brown legs, and much larger female, yellow and brown with black stripes, sitting on a web.

A male wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi; left) detects the mating odour released by a female (right) through pores in his legs. Credit: Michael Schmitt

Zoology

Male spiders smell with their legs

Sensory organs on the walking legs of the male wasp spider can catch the scent of a female in a mood for romance.
A synthetic colour image of WeSb 1 shown in red and blue colours

The planetary nebula WeSb 1 (artificially coloured), where astronomers have now detected what is probably the detritus of planets and asteroids around the central star. Credit: J. Budaj et al./Nature Astron.

Astronomy and astrophysics

Cosmic carnage: planetary rubble spotted at a dying star

Dust cloud is thought to be the first debris disk to be seen around a planetary nebula.
A coloured scanning electron micrograph of liver tissue shown in red, blue and orange colours

Liver tissue (artificially coloured). High levels of senescence-related gene activity in the liver have been correlated with high blood levels of certain proteins. Credit: Thomas Deerinck, NCMIR/Science Photo Library

Ageing

A blood test detects aged cells

Proteins could serve as biomarkers for senescent cells, which have stopped dividing but have not yet died.
Close-up of a yellow avalanche warning board in front of a snowy mountain

A sign warns of avalanche danger in the Swiss Alps, where a type of avalanche caused by the infiltration of water could become more frequent as the climate changes. Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty

Climate change

Enigmatic Alpine avalanches to get a boost as Earth warms

Climate change could raise the frequency of ‘wet-snow avalanches’ at high elevations in the Swiss Alps.
An artist's impression of exoplanet HIP 67522 b in space

The gaseous world called HIP 67522 b (artist’s impression), one of the wispiest exoplanets ever found, whips around its star in just seven days. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

Planetary science

A featherweight baby planet is fading away with age

The gas planet has a density less than 2% that of Earth ― and is gradually shedding mass.
Composite coloured scanning electron micrograph of T-cells and an apoptotic brain cancer cell shown in green and purple colours

T cells (green; artificially coloured; composite image) attack a brain cancer cell (purple). Scientists have programmed T cells that can take chemotherapies directly to brain tumours. Credit: Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library

Biotechnology

Engineered cells take drugs deep into the brain ― and nowhere else

Altered T cells, which have the ability to cross the blood–brain barrier, can deliver drugs straight to brain tumours.