Nature

Can’t get motivated? This brain circuit might explain why — and it can be turned off

Scientists have uncovered a way to manipulate the pathway in monkey brains that puts the brakes on motivation.

AIs are biased toward some Indian castes — how can researchers fix this?

Benchmarks reveal how artificial-intelligence systems reinforce discriminatory social hierarchies.

Mohana Basu
News12 Jan 2026
AI models were given four weeks of therapy: the results worried researchers

Chatbots put through psychotherapy report trauma and abuse. Authors say models are doing more than role play, but researchers are sceptical.

Elizabeth Gibney
News09 Jan 2026
A hidden diversity of ceratopsian dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Europe

New results indicate that rhabdodontids and the previously described Ajkaceratops are actually distinctive European ceratopsians, a group better known from Asia and North America.

Susannah C. R. Maidment
Richard J. Butler
Attila Ősi
Article07 Jan 2026
Daily briefing: Octopus-inspired synthetic ‘skin’ changes appearance on demand

A new material can switch from matte to shiny and display a variety of other effects as required. Plus, humans were using poison arrows 60,000 years ago and the quest to authenticate a da Vinci drawing using DNA.

Jacob Smith
Nature Briefing08 Jan 2026
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Current Issue08 Jan 2026

News & Comment

Fresh starts: how to thrive when you leave academia

Do your New Year resolutions include a plan to leave higher education? These researchers explain how to reinvent your career.

Josie Glausiusz

Career Feature12 Jan 2026
Student mental health is in crisis — here’s how to help
Lauro Miranda Demenech
Anne Duffy

Comment12 Jan 2026
‘We’re humans — brilliant and a mess’: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on trust and optimism
Nicola Jones

Book Review12 Jan 2026
AIs are biased toward some Indian castes — how can researchers fix this?
Mohana Basu

News12 Jan 2026
To infinity and beyond Earth’s pale blue dot: Books in brief
Andrew Robinson

Book Review09 Jan 2026
AI models were given four weeks of therapy: the results worried researchers
Elizabeth Gibney

News09 Jan 2026
Can’t get motivated? This brain circuit might explain why — and it can be turned off
Lynne Peeples

News09 Jan 2026

Latest Reviews & Analysis

- The complex role of nutrients in cancer spread
  
  An in-depth analysis of nutrient availability across mouse tissues reveals their influence on the spread of cancer to other organs.
  
  Sandhya Yadav
  Tara TeSlaa
  
  News & Views07 Jan 2026
- Ultra-low-density exoplanets observed around a young star
  
  Measurements of the masses of exoplanets orbiting a young star have identified a system of low-density ‘super-puff’ planets.
  
  Valerio Nascimbeni
  
  News & Views07 Jan 2026
- Of all the quarries: Casablanca fossils reveal African ancestors of Homo sapiens
  
  Surprising fossil finds in a Moroccan quarry reveal 773,000-year-old hominin specimens that are close to the ancestor of modern humans.
  
  Antonio Rosas
  
  News & Views07 Jan 2026
- How viral RNAs escape a host mechanism that controls translation
  
  A long-standing question has been how viral RNAs that use genetic codes different from those used in human cells can still drive efficient viral protein production during infection. It emerges that the sequences of 5′ untranslated regions in viral RNAs drive codon-usage-independent translation by blocking mRNA circularization, enabling viruses to evade the host’s codon-usage control of translation.
  
  Research Briefing07 Jan 2026
- Chronic pain could be eased by uncoupling the sensory and emotional experiences
  
  Researchers identify the neurons involved in the emotional distress associated with pain, and design a genetic approach that could soothe suffering without opioid drugs.
  
  Nicolas Massaly
  Monique L. Smith
  
  News & Views07 Jan 2026
- Exotic quasiparticles glimpsed in graphene
  
  Research Briefing07 Jan 2026
- A way to identify the biological basis of gene–trait associations
  
  Research Briefing07 Jan 2026
- Blood protein thwarts deadly fungal disease
  
  Katrina B. Mar
  Tobias M. Hohl
  
  News & Views07 Jan 2026
- A framework for addressing racial and related inequities in conservation
  
  Moreangels M. Mbizah
  Tanesha Allen
  Duan Biggs
  
  Perspective07 Jan 2026

Latest Research articles

Electrochemical defluorinative Matteson-type homologation

Tsoh Lam Cheung
Yujun Li
Hairong Lyu
Article07 Jan 2026
Systematic analyses of lipid mobilization by human lipid transfer proteins

Kevin Titeca
Antonella Chiapparino
Anne-Claude Gavin
Article07 Jan 2026
A hidden diversity of ceratopsian dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Europe

New results indicate that rhabdodontids and the previously described Ajkaceratops are actually distinctive European ceratopsians, a group better known from Asia and North America.

Susannah C. R. Maidment
Richard J. Butler
Attila Ősi
Article07 Jan 2026
A young progenitor for the most common planetary systems in the Galaxy

A nine-year transit-timing campaign has measured the extremely low masses and densities of four large planets orbiting the young star V1298 Tau, which are now predicted to contract and form a typical compact super-Earth and sub-Neptune system.

John H. Livingston
Erik A. Petigura
Lorenzo Pino
ArticleOpen Access07 Jan 2026
Surface optimization governs the local design of physical networks

Analysis of the local branching geometries of several physical networks shows violations of predictions of length and volume minimization, leading to the hypothesis that estimating the material cost requires accounting for the full three-dimensional geometry.

Xiangyi Meng
Benjamin Piazza
Albert-László Barabási
ArticleOpen Access07 Jan 2026

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Can’t get motivated? This brain circuit might explain why — and it can be turned off

AIs are biased toward some Indian castes — how can researchers fix this?

AI models were given four weeks of therapy: the results worried researchers

A hidden diversity of ceratopsian dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Europe

Daily briefing: Octopus-inspired synthetic ‘skin’ changes appearance on demand

News & Comment

Fresh starts: how to thrive when you leave academia

Student mental health is in crisis — here’s how to help

‘We’re humans — brilliant and a mess’: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on trust and optimism

AIs are biased toward some Indian castes — how can researchers fix this?

To infinity and beyond Earth’s pale blue dot: Books in brief

AI models were given four weeks of therapy: the results worried researchers

Can’t get motivated? This brain circuit might explain why — and it can be turned off

Latest Reviews & Analysis

The complex role of nutrients in cancer spread

Ultra-low-density exoplanets observed around a young star

Of all the quarries: Casablanca fossils reveal African ancestors of Homo sapiens

How viral RNAs escape a host mechanism that controls translation

Chronic pain could be eased by uncoupling the sensory and emotional experiences

Exotic quasiparticles glimpsed in graphene

A way to identify the biological basis of gene–trait associations

Blood protein thwarts deadly fungal disease

A framework for addressing racial and related inequities in conservation

Latest Research articles

Electrochemical defluorinative Matteson-type homologation

Systematic analyses of lipid mobilization by human lipid transfer proteins

A hidden diversity of ceratopsian dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Europe

A young progenitor for the most common planetary systems in the Galaxy

Surface optimization governs the local design of physical networks

Collections

Influenza

Trending - Altmetric

Science jobs

Postdoctoral Researcher in human intestinal tumor- and inflammation research

Institute of Nanotechnology And Intelligence Global Recruitment for Outstanding Young Scientists

High-Level Talent at the Major Agricultural Microbiology Research Facility of HZAU

Assistant/Associate/Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatology)

Postdoctoral Fellow

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Early hominins from Morocco basal to the Homo sapiens lineage

Sunyaev–Zeldovich detection of hot intracluster gas at redshift 4.3

Mitochondrial transfer from glia to neurons protects against peripheral neuropathy

A hidden diversity of ceratopsian dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Europe

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