Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Articles in this Issue
A 12,000-year-old clay figurine of a woman and a goose marks symbolic innovations in Southwest Asia
Paleolithic representations of human–animal interaction are rare, with only a few painted or engraved examples recorded in Upper Paleolithic contexts, mostly from Europe. Such scenes, depicting real o...
Cognitive correlates of human endurance
Recent work suggests combining physical activity with cognitive tasks may have been critical to human evolution and may be beneficial to human brain health today. These combined tasks are key elements...
High-resolution single-cell analyses reveal evolutionary constraints and evolvability of sexual circuits in <i>Drosophila</i>
Understanding how the cellular and molecular composition of neural circuits evolves to generate species-specific behaviors remains a major challenge in evolutionary biology and neuroscience. The remar...
Thalamus–cortex interactions drive cell type–specific cortical development in human pluripotent stem cell–derived assembloids
The thalamus is pivotal for the development and function of neural circuits in the cerebral cortex. However, how thalamus–cortex interactions influence human cortical development remains unknown prima...
Viscosity of concentrated antibodies from a dynamic model of electrostatics
Amyloid-beta glycation induces neuronal mitochondrial dysfunction and Alzheimer’s pathogenesis via VDAC1-dependent mtDNA efflux
Glycation, the nonenzymatic attachment of reactive dicarbonyls to proteins, lipids, or nucleic acids, contributes to the formation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). In Alzheimer’s disease (AD...
Rubisco is slow across the tree of life
Rubisco is the main gateway through which inorganic carbon enters the biosphere, catalyzing the vast majority of carbon fixation on Earth. This pivotal enzyme has long been observed to be kinetically...
Female fertility and infant survivorship increase following lethal intergroup aggression and territorial expansion in wild chimpanzees
Lethal coalitionary intergroup aggression is a conspicuous aspect of wild chimpanzee behavior. Evidence indicates that such violence can lead to territorial expansion, but whether this results in fitn...
Cultural innovation can increase and maintain biodiversity: A case study from medieval Europe
Numerous research efforts have used paleoecological data to reconstruct past biodiversity in Europe. In these projects, researchers have identified increases in biodiversity over the Holocene and hint...
Reply to González-Bailón and Lazer: Industry control and conflicts of interest in social media research
Dynamic extracellular interactions with AMPA receptors
Synaptic plasticity in the central nervous system enables the encoding, storing, and integrating new information. AMPA (alpha-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-isoxazole-4-propionic acid)-type glutamate recep...
Morphological and genomic responses to hurricanes arise and persist during a biological invasion
Hurricanes can be a source of strong, episodic natural selection, especially for coastal and island populations. In Anolis lizards, selection favors morphologic...
Dysregulated proteostasis in p.A53T-α-Synuclein astrocytes aggravates Lewy-like neuropathology in a Parkinson’s disease iPSC model
Alpha-Synuclein (αSyn) plays a central role in Parkinson’s disease (PD), and the p.A53T mutation causes an early-onset familial form of PD with severe manifestations. While its effects on neurons are...
Rac1 promotes proximal tubule kidney repair by coupling the actin cytoskeleton to mitochondrial function
The kidney proximal tubule (PT) is a specialized polarized epithelium that functions as a high capacity resorptive machine. PT cells are exquisitely sensitive to ischemia due to their high metabolic r...
Contractile forces direct the chiral swirling of minimal cell collectives
Chirality is a conserved biological feature with critical implications in tissue morphogenesis and embryonic development. In culture, multicellular groups exhibit spontaneous chiral symmetry break whe...
Structure of the D1-Val185Asn mutated photosystem II complex with slow O–O bond formation reveals changes in the Cl1 water channel
During photosynthesis, the photosystem II (PSII) enzyme catalyzes the light-driven oxidation of water, fueling life on Earth by storing light energy and releasing O 2...
Ethical oversight in impact evaluations: External advisory committees to assess programming risks
Social scientists not only conduct impact evaluations but also participate in the design and implementation of the programs being evaluated. While Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) oversee research a...