Browse Articles
Discover research articles across all indexed journals
South Korea’s AI framework act focuses on rights and safety
Author Correction: Inference and reconstruction of the heimdallarchaeial ancestry of eukaryotes
Exploiting attP landing sites and gypsy retrovirus insulators to identify and study viral suppressors of RNA silencing
Going ‘beyond GDP’ should not mean sidelining the SDGs
Predatory aggression evolved through adaptations to noradrenergic circuits
Abstract Behaviours are adaptive traits evolving through natural selection. Crucially, the genetic, molecular and neural modifications that shape behavioural innovations are poorly understood 1 . Here, we identify specialized adaptations linked to the evolution of invertebrate aggression 2 . Using the predatory nematode Pristionchus pacificus , we developed a machine learning model from behavioural tracking data and identified robust behavioural states associated with aggressive episodes. Strikingly, predatory aggression coincides with a rewiring of key circuits across nematode evolution. We find modifications to the noradrenergic pathway, with octopamine promoting aggressive predatory bouts whereas tyramine antagonistically induces passive states. Modulation occurs through the octopamine receptors Ppa-ser-3 and Ppa-ser-6 , and tyramine receptor Ppa-lgc-55 . These localize to sensory neurons whose inhibition diminishes aggressive events. Crucially, this octopaminergic innovation emerged within this predatory lineage, consistent with an ancient divergence in function. Thus, evolutionary adaptations in noradrenergic circuits facilitated the emergence of aggressive behavioural states associated with complex predatory traits.
Effect of temperature on 2D terahertz plasmons in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures
Comparing effective and functional connectivity
Giant magnetocaloric effect and spin supersolid in a metallic dipolar magnet
Unsupervised cluster analysis identifies risk profiles driving heterogeneity and survival patterns in aortic aneurysm patients
Parity-doublet coherence times in optically trapped polyatomic molecules
Prenatal and postnatal risk factors associated with Kawasaki disease up to 3 years of age
AI agents are ‘aeroplanes for the mind’: five ways to ensure that scientists are responsible pilots
The qualitative and quantitative relationship between the spatiotemporal variations of potential evapotranspiration and meteorological variables in the Hexi corridor, Northwest China
Evolution and dip effect of boundary spatial morphology of top-coal limit equilibrium zone in steeply dipping coal seam
Abstract As the sole medium between the support and the roof, the mechanical state of top-coal governs the stability of the “support-surrounding rock” system in steeply dipping coal seam. Therefore, accurately predicting the evolution of the top-coal failure boundary morphology is essential for the stability control of the system. Based on the fully mechanized caving face at Changshanzi Coal Mine as the engineering background. A quantitative analysis of the evolution of the boundary spatial morphology of the top-coal limit equilibrium zone and its dip effect was achieved, and the instability mechanism of the “support-surrounding rock” system in steeply dipping coal seam was revealed. The evolution of the boundary spatial morphology in the top-coal limit equilibrium zone can be divided into three stages: the initial stage, the formation stage of the “asymmetric arc-shaped ribbon-like curved surface,” and the stable stage. The evolution exhibits asymmetry and sequential nature. (1) As the working face advances, the asymmetry of the boundary spatial morphology along the dip direction gradually intensifies. (2) Along the dip direction of the working face, the evolution occurs sequentially from the lower, lower-middle, upper, to the upper-middle sections. Along the strike direction, the evolution proceeds in a top-down order. As the dip angle of the coal seam increases, the evolution of the boundary spatial morphology accelerates, accompanied by an increase in failure depth and a more pronounced asymmetry in the boundary morphology. This offers solid theoretical support for guiding safe and efficient production in similar mine working faces.
The hidden lives behind China’s great Internet firewall
A circulating MicroRNA signature for the diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension and functional characterization of candidate miR-3168
‘No one quite like her’: meet the female colleagues who inspire these award-winning women in science
Mapping nocturnal arousal across sleep and pain disorders
Abstract Sleep’s microstructure emerges from the continual coupling of intrinsic arousal with the homeostatic descent of the night. To ask how this coupling unfolds across disorders, we mapped the nocturnal trajectory of phasic events in idiopathic REM sleep behaviour disorder (iRBD; n = 19), narcolepsy type 1 (NT1; n = 19), NREM parasomnia ( n = 18), fibromyalgia ( n = 13) and healthy controls ( n = 40). Using an automated, cyclic alternating pattern (CAP)- inspired, A‑phase index (API), a B‑phase–agnostic, 60‑s read‑out of phasic burden, we profiled subtype‑specific activity across normalised nights in retrospective polysomnography. In controls, early‑night slow‑wave–dominant phasic responses rose steeply and decayed with dissipating pressure, consistent with thalamocortical homeostasis. In iRBD and NT1, early-night A1 prominence was attenuated, and in fibromyalgia it was broadly reduced across the night. NREM parasomnias showed a distinctive pattern: transient amplification of phasic drive in early, with later attenuation in deep NREM sleep. Stage‑wise comparisons showed the largest group separations in N2 for A1/A2; between group differences were described from normalised time curves without inferential testing. These trajectories suggest that disorders may differ in how intrinsic arousal couples to homeostatic drift across the night. However, findings are hypothesis‑generating given unmatched controls, small groups and lack of adjustment for additional confounds. Descriptive prospective work combining A- and B-phase estimation is warranted.