Celebrate women in science — today, and every day p.187

International Women’s Day can serve to bring hope, highlight progress, and inspire research communities to continue their efforts to push hard for true gender quality.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00670-5

‘Elite university’ strategies might boost profile and rankings — but at what cost? p.188

Japan plans to share US$2 billion annually between a handful of top universities. Experience from elsewhere suggests the negatives of this approach might outweigh the positives.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00639-4

One MRI for 4.7 million people: the battle to treat Syria’s earthquake survivors p.193

With only 64 X-ray and 73 kidney-dialysis machines, 7 CT scanners and one MRI machine, doctors in northwest Syria are racing against the clock to treat 8,500 injuries.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00547-7

Asteroid lost 1 million kilograms after collision with DART spacecraft p.195

Studies reveal final moments before NASA probe crashed into an asteroid.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00601-4

How to stop the bird flu outbreak becoming a pandemic p.196

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00591-3

Ancient genomes show how humans escaped Europe’s deep freeze p.197

A pair of studies offer the most detailed look yet at groups of hunter-gatherers living before, during and after the last ice age.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00611-2

China Initiative’s shadow looms large for US scientists p.198

Anti-Asian scrutiny has only intensified since the controversial programme ended one year ago, researchers say.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00543-x

Data hint at Russia’s shifting science collaborations after year of war p.199

Nature analysis suggests that Russia is increasing partnerships with China and India.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00552-w

In AI, is bigger always better? p.202

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00641-w

Indoor air is full of flu and COVID viruses. Will countries clean it up? p.206

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00642-9

How an anxious heart talks to the brain p.217

During periods of anxiety, the brain affects the heart, but does a racing heart also talk to the brain to cause anxiety-related behaviour? Use of a light-stimulated pacemaker in mice shows that it does, and pinpoints a brain region involved.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00502-6

MicroRNA uses a gym to get fit for cuts by Dicer enzyme p.218

The enzyme Dicer cleaves a type of RNA called a pre-microRNA to make the mature functional RNA. Structural evidence now sheds light on the catalytic mechanism involved and the role of a newly found RNA sequence termed GYM.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00478-3

How wildfires deplete ozone in the stratosphere p.219

Unexpected smoke-particle chemistry is shown to be the link between intense wildfires and stratospheric ozone loss. As the climate changes, more-frequent and more-intense fires might delay the recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00598-w

Hopes raised for room-temperature superconductivity, but doubts remain p.221

A hydrogen-rich compound has taken the lead in the race for a material that can conduct electricity with zero resistance at room temperature and ambient pressure — the conditions required for many technological applications.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00599-9

Path unveiled for protein entry into chloroplasts p.222

Structures of the machinery for importing proteins into chloroplast organelles of algae, determined using cryo-electron microscopy, have opened a new chapter in efforts to understand how chloroplasts are built.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00539-7

Fatty acids prime the lung as a site for tumour spread p.224

The mechanisms that enable the deadly spread of cancer are not fully understood. It emerges that tumours can signal to the lung to manipulate lipids and so prime the organ to support tumour cells that subsequently spread there.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-00538-8

Deuterium-enriched water ties planet-forming disks to comets and protostars p.227

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05676-z

Atomic Bose–Einstein condensate in twisted-bilayer optical lattices p.231

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05695-4

Geometric frustration of Jahn–Teller order in the infinite-layer lattice p.237

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05681-2

Evidence of near-ambient superconductivity in a N-doped lutetium hydride p.244

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05742-0

Population-based heteropolymer design to mimic protein mixtures p.251

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05675-0

Chlorine activation and enhanced ozone depletion induced by wildfire aerosol p.259

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05683-0

The evolution of the marine carbonate factory p.265

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05654-5

Tropical deforestation causes large reductions in observed precipitation p.270

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05690-1

Valley formation aridifies East Africa and elevates Congo Basin rainfall p.276

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05662-5

Coastal phytoplankton blooms expand and intensify in the 21st century p.280

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05760-y

Evolution of the germline mutation rate across vertebrates p.285

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05752-y

Cardiogenic control of affective behavioural state p.292

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05748-8

Coordination of bacterial cell wall and outer membrane biosynthesis p.300

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05750-0

Autoimmunity in Down’s syndrome via cytokines, CD4 T cells and CD11c⁺ B cells p.305

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05736-y

TET2 guards against unchecked BATF3-induced CAR T cell expansion p.315

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05692-z

Sequence determinant of small RNA production by DICER p.323

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05722-4

Structure of the human DICER–pre-miRNA complex in a dicing state p.331

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05723-3

H3K4me3 regulates RNA polymerase II promoter-proximal pause-release p.339

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05780-8

Architecture of chloroplast TOC–TIC translocon supercomplex p.349

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05744-y