Nature, Published online: 24 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03029-8Nature unpacks why AI companies are calling for a slowdown. Plus, the best clock ever and a new, unusual phase of boron.
Nature, Published online: 25 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03005-2Many scientists use artificial intelligence in their work, but agents are increasingly soliciting researchers for collaborations.
Scientists discovered a surprising backup system that lets mammalian cells make the essential amino acid cysteine even when the pathways once considered indispensable are disabled. The same survival mechanism may help cancer cells resist treatment, raising the possibility that shutting it down could make tumors easier to kill.
A magnet-producing bacterium extended the average lifespan of C. elegans worms by more than 43% while helping protect their neurological and intestinal health. Researchers traced much of the effect to suppression of ferroptosis, a damaging form of cell death linked to iron buildup and oxidative stress.
Ancient grains inside one of the oldest known meteorites reveal that a surprisingly strong magnetic field existed during the solar system’s first 200,000 years. The discovery suggests magnetism worked alongside gravity to help transform a vast cloud of gas and dust into the sun and planetary disk.