Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Vol. 123, Issue 19 Issue 19 2026
92
Articles

Articles in this Issue

Traveling-wave transcranial alternating current stimulation (twtACS) causally links neural timing to cognitive function

Sangjun Lee, Jimin Park, Ivan Alekseichuk et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2527296123

Cortical traveling waves (TWs) are brain oscillation patterns that support the transfer of neural information across distinct brain regions, with their direction shaping cognitive function. However, d...

Intramolecular bonding as a design strategy for robust intermolecular binding of oligomers

Mohammed Suliman Alshammasi, R. Kenton Weigel, Christopher A. Alabi et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2534579123

In this study, a combined multiscale-modeling and experimental framework is presented to elucidate design rules to optimize the binding thermodynamics and kinetics of sequence-defined oligomers. It is...

MCM8-9 helicase activity protects primordial germ cell development to prevent premature ovarian insufficiency

Xiaofei Jiao, Zhifang Li, Zhenghui Tang et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2535910123

MCM8 and MCM9 form a hexameric helicase critical for homologous recombination (HR). While their variants are strongly associated with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), with many clustering within...

Single-cell multiomic and spatial landscape of the primate pineal gland reveals circadian and melatonin regulatory architecture

Jihong Zheng, Yuchen Xiao, Jianjun Lyu et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2524839123

The mammalian pineal gland maintains normal circadian rhythms and homeostasis by secreting melatonin. However, the lack of a single-cell-resolved regulatory map limits our understanding of how these n...

Alternative vegetation states on the Loess Plateau and implications for large-scale afforestation success

Li Ma, Xuan Li, Xingchao Xu et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2527794123

Large-scale afforestation on the Loess Plateau, costing hundreds of billions of Chinese yuan, has increased vegetation cover but also depleted soil water, raising concerns about the long-term ecosyste...

Lactylated NAT10 contributes to elesclomol-triggered cuproptosis via the NAT10/ac4C-DLAT-mRNA/DLAT positive feedback loop in CRC

Wen-Dong Yang, Meng-Ru Lu, Qi Shen et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2501185123

Cuproptosis represents a promising therapeutic strategy for cancer; however, its clinical application remains limited. We observed elevated copper levels and increased expression of DLAT, a key procup...

Social cognition and interpersonal violence

Megan Kang, Kathryn Edin, Jens Ludwig et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2519361123

Why do some people resort to violence while others in similar circumstances do not? Drawing on 99 in-depth interviews with men from high-violence Chicago neighborhoods who participated in a community...

Early-life adversity shapes the relationship between growth and reproduction in free-ranging female rhesus macaques

Rachel M. Petersen, Sam K. Patterson, Anja Widdig et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2524909123

Life history theory predicts that organisms allocate resources across physiological processes to maximize fitness. Under this framework, early-life adversity (ELA) which limits energetic capital could...

Subsurface soil inorganic carbon gains offset half of surface losses in China’s upland croplands over the last four decades

Andong Cai, Tianfu Han, Zhenghu Zhou et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2531214123

Soil inorganic carbon (SIC) constitutes half of the terrestrial carbon pool and exerts a profound influence on global carbon cycling and ecosystem multifunctionality. Contrary to the view of millennia...

Visualization of the interaction between sphingomyelin and cholesterol in lipid bilayer membranes

Jared C. Smothers, Chieu H. B. Nguyen, Yan Han et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2528400123

Biomembranes are complex two-dimensional liquids composed of hundreds of lipid species that interact in a myriad of ways. One such interaction, that between sphingomyelin (SM) and cholesterol in plasm...

Pde4 mediates MHCII expression in oligodendroglia

Miguel M. Madeira, Zachary Hage, Dimitris Koliatsis et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2511231123

Chronic psychosocial stress is a major precipitant of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), yet the glial mechanisms that translate sustained stress into maladaptive myelin and immune changes remain unclea...

Microhomology-mediated tandem duplication is a conserved mechanism of genomic variation with implications for human disease

Xianfang Wei, Wanxin Gong, Yifan Zheng et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2606747123

Tandem repeats are highly mutable genomic elements with significant functional consequences, yet the mechanisms underlying their evolutionary origin remain unclear. One proposed mechanism is microhomo...

Genomic ancestry predicts rapid responses to drought across spatiotemporal scales

Rozenn M. Pineau, Natalia Bercovich, Loren H. Rieseberg et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2531142123

How genetic diversity responds to environmental change across spatiotemporal scales remains poorly understood despite its importance for species persistence in changing landscapes. Agricultural weeds...

Synthetic control over proximity of metal and acid dual sites switches the selectivity of acetophenone hydrodeoxygenation

Luyan Li, Xinhui Guo, Jiajia Huang et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2526002123

Though spatial arrangement between metal and acid has proven efficiency for enhancing catalytic performance, their precise regulation on controlling the product selectivity and revealing related catal...

Can privacy technologies replace cookies? Ad revenue in a field experiment

Zhengrong Gu, Garrett A. Johnson, Shunto J. Kobayashi May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2603752123

Digital advertising finances much of the open web, yet relies on tracking technologies that regulators increasingly seek to restrict. In response, industry has developed privacy-enhancing technologies...

Conserved regulatory core and lineage-specific diversification of light–temperature integration in plants

Bruno Catarino, Fernando Rodríguez-Marín, Cristina Úrbez et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2601574123

Plants rely on environmental information such as light and temperature to control growth and development. Integrating these cues improves developmental precision, yet it remains unclear how this capac...

A sugar chain–dependent two-component chemical defense in <i>Hedera helix</i> reveals substrate-driven β-glucosidase evolution in Apiales

Han Xiaoyang, Yang Jirong, Deng Zixin et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2533820123

Plants have evolved diverse chemical strategies to defend against herbivores and pathogens, yet the mechanisms underlying their origin and diversification remain unclear. Here, we identify a sugar cha...

Design of an ultrabright biosensor for dynamic imaging of kinase activity in cells

Xiaoquan Li, Sophia K. Tan, Chan-I Chung et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2523631123

Protein kinases regulate almost every major signaling pathway. Visualizing spatiotemporal dynamics of kinase activity is thus essential to understand cell signaling. Here, we report a de novo–designed...

Correction for Matsumura et al., Stress-induced organismal death is genetically regulated by the mTOR–Zeste–Phae1 axis

May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2613748123

Transmembrane ROOM proteins ensure rooms for germ cells by maintaining intercellular bridges

Kenta Sugiura, Ichiro Kawasaki, Hidetaka Kosako et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2522264123

Germ cells of diverse species form a syncytium, which is a multinucleated cell complex, and share cytoplasmic components via intercellular bridges. Here, we demonstrate that the paralogous transmembra...

Biased and inattentive responding contribute to apparent metacognitive biases in mental health

Noam Sarna, Reuven Dar, Matan Mazor May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2520832123

Large-scale online studies with healthy adults have documented consistent associations between transdiagnostic psychiatric traits and metacognitive biases. Here, analysis of existing and new large-sca...

Selection maintains diversity in a connected ocean

Nina Overgaard Therkildsen May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2605416123

Social media promotion improves job market outcomes

Jingyi Qiu, Yan Chen, Alain Cohn et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2528289123

Social media has transformed how academics disseminate research, but its effect on academic job outcomes remains unclear. Previous research has shown correlations between social media exposure and met...

The cortical canvas

Bevil R. Conway, Spencer R. Loggia May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2610120123

Attention control ability is associated with frontoparietal control network interactions

Dolly T. Seeburger, Jason S. Tsukahara, Nan Xu et al. May 12, 2026 10.1073/pnas.2526828123

Attention control predicts academic achievement, professional success, and health outcomes. However, the neural basis of stable, individual differences in attention control remains unclear. Prior rese...

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Journal Info

Publisher National Academy of Sciences
ISSN 0027-8424
E-ISSN 1091-6490
Subject Life Sciences
Language English
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