Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Articles in this Issue
Semantic change in adults is not primarily a generational phenomenon
A central question in the study of language change is whether or not such change is generational. If a language changes over time generation-by-generation, the process looks as follows: New generation...
Indigenous territories and protected areas are crucial for ecosystem connectivity in the Amazon basin
Ecosystem connectivity—the uninterrupted flow of natural processes within and among ecosystems—is critical for maintaining healthy ecosystem functions. However, in the Amazon drainage basin, multiple...
Perchlorate in stratospheric aerosol particles
Perchlorate is a toxic, regulated contaminant in drinking water. According to previous isotopic studies, much of the perchlorate deposited to the Earth’s surface is formed in the atmosphere, with...
Methane-munching symbionts fuel sea spiders in the deep sea
Genomics of Neotropical biodiversity indicators: Two butterfly radiations with rampant chromosomal rearrangements and hybridization
A central question in evolutionary biology is what drives the diversification of lineages. Rapid, recent radiations are ideal systems for this question because they still show key morphological and ec...
Synergies between speciation and conservation science yield novel insights for mitigating the biodiversity crisis of the Anthropocene
Phylogenetic networks empower biodiversity research
Reticulate evolution has long been recognized as a key mechanism that contributes to genetic and trait diversity. With the widespread availability of genomic data, investigating historical reticulate...
From science to impact: Conserving ecological connectivity in large conservation landscapes
Implementing ecological connectivity conservation in large landscapes requires cutting-edge science combined with consideration of ecological, socioeconomic, and cultural factors that collectively sha...
The effect of habitat loss and fragmentation on isolation by distance and divergence
Natural habitats have undergone drastic changes in quality, continuity, and extent during the Pleistocene, influencing the distribution of many species. More recently, human activities have converted...
Face (e)motion and the third visual pathway
Biodiversity conservation requires integration of species-centric and process-based strategies
Conservation science and policy are geared primarily toward the preservation of species and habitats, with priority often given to the rarest, most vulnerable or most charismatic forms. This pattern-b...
Fossil samples archive functional diversity in marine ecosystems: An empirical test from a present-day coastal environment
The fossil record of functional diversity is increasingly used to study ecosystem evolution, extinction recovery, and factors affecting long-term trends in biodiversity. In addition, the youngest foss...
General anesthesia in early infancy accelerates visual cortical development
How human brain function is established through protracted trajectories of development is not yet fully understood. Maturation of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) circuits drives critical periods of cortica...
SARS-CoV-2 uptake and inflammatory response in senescent endothelial cells are regulated by the BSG/VEGFR2 pathway
Aging is a risk factor for severe COVID-19, characterized by vascular endothelial dysfunction. Although possible susceptibility of vascular endothelial cells (ECs) to SARS-CoV-2 infection has been sug...
From biologging to conservation: Tracking individual performance in changing environments
Under an accelerating biodiversity crisis, increased urbanization, habitat fragmentation, and climate change require new approaches to assess conservation impact. We argue that animal biologging is a...
Genetic rescue of Florida panthers reduced homozygosity but did not swamp ancestral genotypes
Pumas ( Puma concolor ) occupy a vast geographical range spanning from Canada to Argentina. Due to urbanization and unregulated hunting, pumas in Florida, known...
Translocations contribute to population rescue in an imperiled woodpecker
Anthropogenic destruction and fragmentation of habitat restrict many species to small, isolated populations, which often experience high extirpation risk. Restoring connectivity through translocations...
Combining MicroED and native mass spectrometry for structural discovery of enzyme–small molecule complexes
With the goal of accelerating the discovery of small molecule–protein complexes, we leverage fast, low-dose, event-based electron counting microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) data collection a...
Decide, act, reflect, and maybe a self in all this?
Suturing fragmented landscapes: Mosaic hybrid zones in plants may facilitate ecosystem resiliency
Many widespread plant taxa of western North America have diversified into phenotypically and genetically divergent lineages due to complex biogeographic histories across heterogeneous landscapes. Mosa...
Micro magnetic resonance spectroscopy for noninvasive metabolic screening of mammalian embryos and oocytes
Analyzing cellular health and metabolism without compromising cell integrity is a major challenge. We present a noninvasive technique using micro magnetic resonance spectroscopy (micro MRS) for nondes...
Early-life human CD8 <sup>+</sup> T cells exhibit rapid, short-lived effector responses and a unique transcription factor landscape
Neonates and infants are distinct in their clinical and cellular responses to viral infections, with neonatal CD8 + T cells displaying innate-like characteristi...
A trans-species cytoplasmic polymorphism is associated with seed shape and aridity across multiple species of sunflowers
The cytoplasmic genomes of plants and animals often fail to track species boundaries. However, the mechanisms responsible for such patterns are poorly understood, in part because few studies have link...
Rare variants in <i>BMAL1</i> are associated with a neurodevelopmental syndrome
Through international gene-matching efforts, we identified 10 individuals with ultrarare heterozygous variants, including 5 de novo variants, in BMAL1 , a core...
Structural basis of auxin binding and transport by <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i> AUX1
Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), the major form of auxin, is essential for plant growth. Auxin resistant 1 (AUX1), the first identified auxin importer, plays a crucial role in polar auxin transport (PAT)....