US Supreme Court on affirmative action: a bitter blow to educational inclusion p.7

The highest US court’s decision that race cannot be considered in university admissions risks rolling back what little progress has been made on racial equity in the sector.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02206-3

Hunger and famine are not accidents — they are created by the actions of people p.8

Hundreds of millions of people are going hungry as conflicts affect food supplies. There is also growing evidence that food producers are exploiting the situation to increase their profits.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02207-2

Monster gravitational waves spotted for first time p.13

Using beacon stars called pulsars, a decades-long effort has found space-time ripples that are light years wide.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02167-7

Decades-long bet on consciousness ends — and it’s philosopher 1, neuroscientist 0 p.14

Christof Koch wagered David Chalmers 25 years ago that researchers would learn how the brain achieves consciousness by now. But the quest continues.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02120-8

These six distant galaxies captured by JWST are wowing astronomers p.16

See researchers’ favourites from a survey of the deep Universe by the James Webb Space Telescope.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02157-9

Hundreds file suit targeting Mexico’s divisive science law p.18

Scientists and some opposing lawmakers say the passing of the legislation violated normal procedures.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02062-1

Beyond Ozempic: brand-new obesity drugs will be cheaper and more effective p.19

Hormone mimics offer advantages even beyond those of the potent weight-loss jabs on the market now.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02092-9

Long COVID: answers emerge on how many people get better p.20

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02121-7

Lab-grown meat: the science of turning cells into steaks and nuggets p.22

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02095-6

Fungi bacon and insect burgers: a guide to the proteins of the future p.26

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02096-5

How to define unjust planetary change p.35

Biophysical and sociopolitical factors have been integrated into a set of measures of planetary change that aim to pinpoint safe and just thresholds for all living things. The exercise is immensely ambitious and inevitably challenging.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-01743-1

Polio endgame finish is in sight p.36

Efforts to eradicate polio globally have been under way for more than 35 years. The development of modified versions of a vaccine in current use now makes eradication a real possibility.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-01773-9

First light on orbitronics as a viable alternative to electronics p.38

An effect that transfers information using the rotational motion of electrons has been detected with light, forging a path towards technologies that are cheaper — and less harmful to the environment — than existing electronics.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02072-z

Viruses trick bystander cells into lowering their defences p.39

The microenvironment of virus-infected cells and uninfected adjacent cells influences infection. Human cytomegalovirus dampens the immune response of neighbouring uninfected cells, but distant cells can mount an antiviral defence.

doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02135-1

X-ray polarization evidence for a 200-year-old flare of Sgr A^* p.41

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06064-x

Orbital Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov state in an Ising superconductor p.46

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05967-z

Observation of the orbital Hall effect in a light metal Ti p.52

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06101-9

Excitonic topological order in imbalanced electron–hole bilayers p.57

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06065-w

Attosecond electron microscopy of sub-cycle optical dynamics p.63

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06074-9

Optimality guarantees for crystal structure prediction p.68

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06071-y

Liquid metal for high-entropy alloy nanoparticles synthesis p.73

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06082-9

Harnessing a paper-folding mechanism for reconfigurable DNA origami p.78

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06181-7

General cross-coupling reactions with adaptive dynamic homogeneous catalysis p.87

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06087-4

Medieval demise of a Himalayan giant summit induced by mega-landslide p.94

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06040-5

Safe and just Earth system boundaries p.102

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06083-8

A pangenome reference of 36 Chinese populations p.112

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06173-7

The dynamics of pattern matching in camouflaging cuttlefish p.122

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06259-2

Wake-like skin patterning and neural activity during octopus sleep p.129

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06203-4

Genetic stabilization of attenuated oral vaccines against poliovirus types 1 and 3 p.135

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06212-3

GDF15 promotes weight loss by enhancing energy expenditure in muscle p.143

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06249-4

PD-1 maintains CD8 T cell tolerance towards cutaneous neoantigens p.151

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06217-y

Pan-KRAS inhibitor disables oncogenic signalling and tumour growth p.160

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06123-3

Injury prevents Ras mutant cell expansion in mosaic skin p.167

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06198-y

Epigenetic dysregulation from chromosomal transit in micronuclei p.176

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06084-7

Heritable transcriptional defects from aberrations of nuclear architecture p.184

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06157-7

Origin and evolutionary malleability of T cell receptor α diversity p.193

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06218-x

Break-induced replication orchestrates resection-dependent template switching p.201

doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06177-3