Nature Portfolio

What makes the brain maintain voluntary exercise despite attractive alternative options such as eating? A study in Nature Neuroscience shows that orexin/hypocretin neurons are crucial for implementing the underlying valuation of eating versus running in mice. Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/euuHf38P

As the carbon emissions from healthcare come under greater scrutiny, student doctors are pushing for the health impacts of extreme weather to be taught in medical school, according to a feature in Nature Medicine.

Scientists play a crucial role in addressing climate change. Using a large-scale international survey, a study in Nature Climate Change explores scientists’ beliefs about climate change and their perceived barriers to climate change engagement. Read the article: https://lnkd.in/eem2cZ2T 🔒

Procrastination is often viewed as innocuous as long as deadlines are met but it is associated with negative life outcomes. A Review in Nature Reviews Psychology brings together procrastination research in adults and children and explores their mutual implications for measurement, theory and interventions. Read the Review: https://lnkd.in/esyhKZjp

We are excited to share that our 2023 OA report is now live. Highlighting key initiatives underway to support OA equity, the data shows that Springer Nature’s approach towards OA continues to deliver the highest impact for its authors and the research community. Read our press release to learn more: https://lnkd.in/dZH7R4eZ

A genetic study in Nature Genetics shows that published COVID-19 risk variants are not associated with influenza. It also finds an association between influenza and noncoding variants in B3GALT5 and ST6GAL1, neither of which was associated with COVID-19. Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/e_prD8uP

"Do fewer things, work at a natural pace, obsess over quality." But can #academics today apply "slow productivity" as espoused by computer scientist Cal Newport in his latest book? Thanks Cal, Maya Gosztyla and Megan Rogers, for sharing perspectives with Anne Gulland and Nature Magazine.

Nature Neuroscience publishes a special issue on glia! Our August issue just went live, and it's a special issue on glia. Glia is a blanket term that refers to several very different cell-types: astrocytes, microglia and oligodendrocytes (as well as their antecedents, oligodendrocyte precursor cells). Research into glia has become one of the most exciting and dynamic subfields of neuroscience, yet there is still much to be discovered about the diverse forms and functions of these cells. As the editors of Nature Neuroscience, we have been exhilarated by the pace of discoveries in this area and are delighted to showcase some of this transformative work in our pages. This month’s issue represents a celebration of glia from start to finish. We begin by highlighting some exciting papers about glia that have been published in other journals in recent weeks. We share conversations with established leaders and emerging voices in the field, Lucas Cheadle, Sonia Mayoral, Beth Stevens and Andrea Volterra. A Review from Lindsay Osso and Ethan Hughes challenges the dogmatic view of myelin as static and illuminates what is known about its renewal and remodeling. We also present primary research papers that reflect the breadth of the glial research field. Tewari et al. describe how astrocytic regulation of synapses depends on perineuronal nets, and O’Shea et al. characterize border-forming wound-repair astrocytes that emerge following spinal cord injury or stroke. Foerster et al. demonstrate a role for oligodendrocyte heterogeneity — specifically cells of dorsal versus ventral origin — in brain development, and we learn about roles for oligodendrocyte lineage cells in diseases that have mostly been thought of as involving neurons: neurofibromatosis type 1 and prion-induced neurodegeneration. Three papers examine interactions between microglia and other glial cell types: Kedia, Ji and colleagues reveal how CD8+ T cells trigger microglia to damage myelin in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease; Chen, Luan, Liu and colleagues describe how brain injury causes astrocytic ATP release (an ‘inflare’) that in turn signals to microglia; and Huang, Wang and colleagues examine how plexin-B1 expressed in periplaque reactive astrocytes in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease restricts access of microglia to amyloid plaques. Brown et al. even describe some circuit maturation processes that do not require microglia. And, rest assured, we have some compelling papers for our neuron-loving readers, too.

Cities may have expanded vertically more than they have horizontally since the 1990s, according to an analysis of three decades of satellite data from around the world published in Nature Cities. Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/ehJSE-HY

In a study of 46 million adults, living with diabetes-related multiple long-term health conditions (MLTCS), particularly during young adulthood, led to extended periods of time with MLTCS, while also substantially reducing the years of life, according to a paper in Nature Medicine. Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/eY6b6ZWD