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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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Explore groundbreaking news and research from PNAS, one of the world's most-cited scientific journals. Discover its sibling journal, @pnasnexus.org, both official journals of the National Academy of Sciences. Visit www.pnas.org for more info.
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 11d
In this issue: Baleen whale excreta and marine food webs, the structure of mosquito CO2-sensing neurons, and mirror-based nanoscale X-ray ptychographic imaging. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/1CV450XkuhP
Pictured are murine bone cancer cells (outlined in gray) invading normal bone (blue) with peripheral nerves (green) and blood vessels (red) around the tumor, visualized using confocal microscopy. Image credit: Sowmya Ramesh.
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Well-preserved marine fossils from North Dakota are a treasure trove of data on life in the Ordovician Period, and they suggest that previously documented Ordovician deposits from marginal habitats may not be representative of the period. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/wbpX50XpuS9
Artistic reconstruction of shallow marine faunas from the early Palaeozoic of North Dakota, spanning the Early (left) to Middle (right) Ordovician. CREDIT: Franz Anthony
November 11, 2025 at 12:00 AM
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Satellite data show both hemispheres reflect less sunlight—but the Northern Hemisphere is darkening faster. The finding challenges Earth’s natural albedo balance and raises key climate questions.

In Smithsonian Magazine: https://ow.ly/vGV750XpsR9

In PNAS: https://ow.ly/jO4K50XpsA6
A view of the Earth's Northern Hemisphere. New research reveals that Earth's Northern Hemisphere is growing darker faster than the Southern Hemisphere is. Image credit: Bill Anders, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
November 10, 2025 at 10:00 PM
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Analysis of nearly 6 million scientific publications shows that Chinese institutions now lead 45% of US-China collaborative research teams, up from 30% in 2010, signaling shifting power dynamics in international scientific collaboration. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/Itpx50XpuBb
China’s lead share with select partners over time.
November 10, 2025 at 8:01 PM
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Inspired by the inner workings of the #HumanBrain, #NeuromorphicComputing could potentially help reduce AI’s high #energy costs. A PNAS Core Concept explainer: https://ow.ly/e9W150Xpsbv

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #LLMs #ChatGPT #NeuralNetwork #DataCenter
From 2020 to 2030, data center electricity consumption will continue to vary greatly by region, according to projections from the International Energy Association (IEA). Image credit: IEA, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
November 10, 2025 at 6:01 PM
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Read highlights in this week’s issue of PNAS: We explore the role of inflammasomes in periodontitis, analyze rare meteorite fragments on the Moon, and examine regional deforestation and global biogeochemical cycles. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/sxEk50XprLK
Pictured are small skeletal elements called sclerites from a red gorgonian (Leptogorgia chilensis). Image credit: James C. Weaver and Ling Li.
November 10, 2025 at 4:01 PM
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Bigger, hotter fires mean more toxic #smoke. Recent blazes are releasing dangerous #pollutants as they burn the #BuiltEnvironment. Read this PNAS Inner Workings piece: https://ow.ly/QMzX50Xotoc

#plastics #VOCs #AirPollution #ClimateChange #benzene #acetone
The Sniffer Van, at work in Los Angeles, holds two mass spectrometers. Image credit: Daniel Sung (University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX).
November 8, 2025 at 6:00 PM
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How do #networks connect people, cities & technology? 🌐

Explore the Human, Urban & Technological Networks Collection in PNAS Nexus—research across #biology, #engineering & #socialsciences revealing how #connectivity shapes our world: https://ow.ly/JLPY50Xoqxk

#Science #Research
PNAS Nexus Illuminations Collection - Human, Urban & Technological Networks. Explore the most recent articles from PNAS Nexus on human, urban, and technological networks, and learn more about publishing your ow research on this topic!
November 8, 2025 at 4:00 PM
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A thin magma ocean above Earth's core could only have generated the planet's magnetic field if the magma was far more electrically conductive than estimated, suggesting that another mechanism is needed to explain early Earth's magnetic field. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/Xv0150XoufQ
Artist’s rendering showing magnetic field lines extending into space from a model of early Earth. An early thick shelled basal magma ocean’s flow field, or vorticity, is shown in the modeled planet’s interior. CREDIT: Nathanaël Schaeffer
November 8, 2025 at 12:00 AM
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In a recent PNAS QnAs, molecular biologist Deborah K. Morrison discusses her career-long investigation of RAF kinases and shares new insights into how the cancer-linked enzyme BRAF is activated—findings that could inform targeted therapies. Read more: https://ow.ly/MffM50XoqUk
QnAs with Deborah K. Morrison. US National Cancer Institute. National Academy of Sciences Member.
November 7, 2025 at 10:00 PM
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An investigation into representations formed by LLMs during inference tasks concludes that human-like conceptual representations can emerge purely from language prediction without real-world grounding. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/vFfL50XotMQ
Visualizations of LLM-derived conceptual representations (C), static word embeddings (D), and sense vectors (E).
November 7, 2025 at 8:00 PM
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A slick #math trick offers a new way to return a rotated object to its original state. In PNAS Journal Club: https://ow.ly/7ZKR50Xotjb

#MathematicalModel #QuantumComputer #QuantumMechanics #RandomWalk
A 3D random walk can get complicated quickly, as shown in this simulation. Image credit: Tsvi Tlusty (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea) and Jean-Pierre Eckmann (University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland).
November 7, 2025 at 6:01 PM
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Fermentable fashion: your next pair of jeans or cozy socks could be made of protein derived from yeast, a sustainable alternative to synthetic fabrics that could reduce plastic pollution and free up land and water for growing food. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/ZFxL50Xou93
Biomanufactured protein fibers. CREDIT: Melik C. Demirel
November 7, 2025 at 5:02 PM
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Never miss a discovery.

Get the latest open access research from PNAS Nexus. Sign up for email alerts and get notified as new articles publish: https://ow.ly/saze50XopBx
PNAS Nexus | Get notified when new content is published—sign up for free email alerts today! Button: Sign Up | www.pnasnexus.org
November 7, 2025 at 4:01 PM
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Antarctic ice cores preserve air up to 6 million years old, dated by their deficit in Argon-40. The air captures a record of progressive cooling over the Pliocene. Even older basal ice may date from the adolescence of the Antarctic ice sheet. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/s3fU50XnO0K
Map of the Allan Hills blue ice area (BIA) and the shallow ice cores used in this study (ALHIC1901, ALHIC1902, and ALHIC1903).
November 7, 2025 at 12:00 AM
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One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Engineered 3D immuno-glial-neurovascular human miBrain model.” Explore the article here: https://ow.ly/B5ho50XnNGa

For more trending articles, visit https://ow.ly/2k2o50XnNGg.
Human integrated 3D-immuno-glial-neurovascular miBrain model.
November 6, 2025 at 10:00 PM
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Is it possible that social media, which promised to connect the world, instead increased polarization? A model of human social dynamics predicts a sharp transition into a polarized state above a certain threshold of social connectivity. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/Gym350XnNW8
Conceptual image showing a hand reaching out to a network of people icons. Stock photo.
November 6, 2025 at 8:01 PM
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Opinion piece: How gene drives and species complexes pose real risks of collateral damage. In PNAS Front Matter: https://ow.ly/UPH750XnNxh

#GeneDrive #TargetSpeciesComplex #RiskAssessment #PublicHealth #agriculture #malaria #mosquitoes #vector #AnophelesGambiae
A close up of an Anopheles gambiae mosquito on a person’s finger. Image credit: Science Source/CDC/James Gathany.
November 6, 2025 at 6:01 PM
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Vaccine development is in its nanotechnology era. A new Perspective, part of a Special Feature with 14 papers, explores how nanotherapeutic design and modification are enabling rapid, personalized, and powerful vaccine strategies In PNAS: https://ow.ly/3ijJ50XnOjy
Structural immunotherapy is the notion that the structural arrangement of an immunotherapeutic is important in dictating potency. Through deliberate design of structural parameters, including ligand spacing, conjugation chemistry, and valency, nanoparticle therapeutics can be targeted to immune resident sites, thereby enhancing immune responses. Such precise control allows for enhanced biological understanding and chemical programmability to be harnessed for preventative infectious disease and therapeutic cancer vaccines and autoimmune disorder treatments.
November 6, 2025 at 5:02 PM
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In this issue: Neighboring cells in fat tissue lend a hand when critical genes stop working, regional deforestation impacts and global biogeochemical cycles, and the chronology of the Early Triassic Period is refined. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/vMAu50XnNlt
Pictured are small skeletal elements called sclerites from a red gorgonian (Leptogorgia chilensis). Image credit: James C. Weaver and Ling Li.
November 6, 2025 at 4:01 PM
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Deforestation and soil erosion following wildfires altered carbon and sulfur cycles during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, but not until several hundred thousand years after the volcanic events that kicked off the extinction event. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/YfcE50XmLFm
A drilling machine ready to begin its core sampling work. CREDIT: Jianbo Chen
November 5, 2025 at 12:00 AM
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Ancient ash beds in South China are dated through U-Pb zircon isotope ratios and Bayesian eruption age modeling. The resulting model provides a framework to evaluate the tempo of biotic evolution after the Permian–Triassic mass extinction. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/Rw7n50XmLAg
Cathodoluminescence image of zircons found in a volcanic ash layer. CREDIT: Xu Dai
November 4, 2025 at 8:30 PM
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One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Engineered 3D immuno-glial-neurovascular human miBrain model.” Explore the article here: https://ow.ly/q1U350XmIwf

For more trending articles, visit https://ow.ly/sweo50XmIw6.
Neuronal and vascular phenotypes enabled by the miBrain. (A) Characterization of neurons integrated into miBrain immunohistochemistry
November 4, 2025 at 7:31 PM
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Soft corals switch between flexible and rigid states by jamming together or pulling apart branched skeletal structures suspended in gel. A study explores the shapes of the structures, called sclerites, with implications for soft robotics. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/rRgI50XlMmA
Three-dimensional rendering of microscopic sclerites produced by the soft coral Leptogorgia chilensis. CREDIT: Chenhao Hu and Ling Li
November 4, 2025 at 12:00 AM
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Nonpolar hydrocarbons like methane and ethane can mix with polar hydrogen cyanide in solid form—defying “like dissolves like.” This finding sheds light on Titan’s icy chemistry and geological evolution.

In Space.com: https://ow.ly/QBE550XlKE9

In PNAS: https://ow.ly/PXvW50XlKEl
Saturn's moon Titan, seen beyond the planet's rings. The little moon Epimetheus is visible in the foreground. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.)
November 3, 2025 at 10:00 PM
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The Indonesian island of Sulawesi was formed 1–3 million years ago when six islands that had been separated for up to 25 million years fused. When populations of sun skinks met again, some hybridized but others coexisted as separate species. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/QnoL50XlMsM
Blue-throated male Sulawesi sun skink (Eutropis rudis). CREDIT: Benjamin Karin
November 3, 2025 at 8:00 PM