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Animals maintain stability by monitoring their body position and correcting errors with every step

With every step we take, our brains are already thinking about the next one. If a bump in the terrain or a minor misstep has thrown us off balance, our stride may need to be altered to prevent a fall. Our two-legged posture makes maintaining stability particularly complex, which our brains solve in part by continually monitoring our bodies and adjusting where we place our feet.

Reliable forecasts of heat-health emergencies at least one week in advance

Nature Medicine, Published online: 03 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41591-025-04123-6We estimate that there were more than 181,000 heat-related deaths in Europe during the three exceptionally hot summers of 2022–2024, with 62,775 deaths during 2024 alone. Our assessment of a new generation of impact-based early warning systems shows that these emergencies can be reliably forecast at least one week ahead, enabling provision of tailored information for vulnerable populations.

ARNI Over ACEI Lacks Clinical Benefit in Patients With Chagas Cardiomyopathy

Chagas cardiomyopathy is the most common presentation of the determinate form of Trypanosoma cruzi infection and carries a worse prognosis than other common causes of heart failure. The 3 most common causes of death from Chagas cardiomyopathy are sudden cardiac death due to malignant ventricular arrhythmias, progression of heart failure, and, less frequently, thromboembolic events. Although traditionally a neglected disease in Latin America, the impact of Chagas cardiomyopathy is no longer confined to historically endemic areas, owing to population migration and northward expansion of the vector habitats. Chagas cardiomyopathy is endemic in the US, with autochthonous transmission (ie, transmission originating within the local environment) reported in at least 8 southern US states. Over the past 2 decades, there has been a growing recognition of Chagas cardiomyopathy, with dedicated clinical research uncovering key disease-specific insights. Potential preventive and therapeutic strategies include traditional infectious disease approaches aimed at parasite eradication as well as interventions directed at the cardiac manifestation of disease, such as reducing and treating arrhythmic burden and optimizing guideline-directed medical therapy.

Nanorate sequencing reveals the Arabidopsis somatic mutation landscape

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificanceSomatic mutations accumulate throughout an organism over its lifespan and may be present in only one leaf or even a single cell. Here, we used a sequencing method capable of detecting these rare somatic mutations—nanorate sequencing—to …

Small siphophage binding to an open state of the LptDE outer membrane lipopolysaccharide translocon

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificanceThe outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria is a protective barrier generated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a complex glycolipid that makes up the outer leaflet of the OM. Following its synthesis and transport from the inner membrane, LPS …

ATG2 is a triglyceride transfer protein

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificanceBridge-like lipid transfer proteins (BLTPs) regulate lipid metabolism and membrane dynamics at numerous membrane contact sites within the cell. Among BLTPs, ATG2 and VPS13 are known to localize to lipid droplets and control their size and …

SUPPRESSOR OF LAZY QUADRUPLE 1 acts at ER–plasma membrane contact sites to control a gravitropism pathway in the Arabidopsis stem

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificanceLand plants use molecular pathways to convert the gravity vector into a signal that guides the growth of organs. The pathways appear more elaborate with each new finding. Currently we know that LAZY family proteins feature in pathways that …

Deconstructing dynamics of symmetry breaking

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificanceTests of the scaling law in numerical and laboratory experiments have confirmed wide validity of the Kibble–Zurek mechanism (KZM). We focus on the question: Why does the KZM hold? We address this by analyzing the temporal and spatial evolution …

China’s post-zero-COVID Omicron wave: A Bayesian analysis

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificanceChina’s exit from its “dynamic zero-COVID” policy in late 2022 triggered a major Omicron wave. Our analysis of national surveillance data suggests that approximately 88% of the population was infected by mid-February 2023. Following the policy …

Isoform-specific regulation of PKM by acetylation

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificancePyruvate kinase (PK) catalyzes the last step in glycolysis, the pathway by which glucose is metabolized. In humans, the M1 isoform of PK (PKM1) is constitutively active, but the activity of the highly homologous PKM2 isoform is regulated by, …

Redox regulation of memory formation by Rrp1 in Drosophila

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificanceLong-term memory formation relies on activating specific genes and producing proteins that help store or shape memories. In this study, we found that a protein called recombination repair protein 1 (Rrp1) is essential for this process in fruit …

Tattoo ink induces inflammation in the draining lymph node and alters the immune response to vaccination

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificanceIn this study, we characterized the immune responses to the tattoo ink accumulating in the lymph nodes (LNs). This is very relevant as tattoo ink commonly reaches and persists in this organ in most tattooed subjects, often lifelong. We have …

The importance of local racial demographic changes in democratic erosion in the mass American public

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificanceOur main takeaway American counties with White decline and Black increase are localities that are susceptible to extremist attitudes. On a granular group-based level, we approach the question of demographic change along the lines of local …

Native metabolomics identifies pteridines as CutA ligands and modulators of copper binding

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificanceWe identified the molecular class of pteridines as natural ligands of the cryptic CutA protein, including a so far unknown 2’-deoxyxanthopterin B2. Our data showed increased copper binding to CutA in the presence of pteridines. Together, these …

Microbial necromass carbon enhances arsenic methylation in paddy soils

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 48, December 2025. SignificanceMicrobial necromass carbon (MNC) is a key component of soil organic carbon, and methylated arsenic (As) critically affects rice yield. However, the role of MNC in regulating microbial As methylation remains unclear. We found that three MNC …