Assembly and characterization of a cellular nanoparticle (CNP) platform in which bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are stably coated onto a STING (stimulator of interferon genes)-adjuvanted nanoparticle core (CNP-KpSTING).

There’s no vaccine against Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp), a major cause of severe pneumonia and sepsis. Stabilizing bacterial outer membrane vesicles on an adjuvanted nanoparticle core achieves high-level protection against Kp in mice. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/6xoS50YKFfg

A Tokara Leaf Warbler on a branch.

Genomics is uncovering hidden biodiversity in island species—revealing cryptic lineages & population health insights. Overlooked species may be at risk of extinction and need protection now.

In Mongabay: https://ow.ly/T8Xl50YMJZc

In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/i6Hi50YMJWE

Support for an industrial carbon tax by positive partisanship (warm feelings toward the right, in red) and negative partisanship (cold feelings toward the left, in blue).

A survey of thousands of Canadians finds that while most liberals support policies to combat climate change, conservatives have more heterogeneous views. Strongly partisan conservatives were more likely to oppose climate action than liberals. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/q5PF50YMYMP

2025 Cozzarelli Prize. Class II Finalist: “Horizontal transfer of nuclear DNA in transmissible cancer.” Authors: Kevin Gorim, Adrian Baez-Ortega, Andrea Strakova et al.

Congratulations to the finalists of the 2025 Cozzarelli Prize for their paper, “Horizontal transfer of nuclear DNA in transmissible cancer.” Explore the research: https://ow.ly/OYMr50YKyyU

2025 Cozzarelli Prize. Class I Finalist: “A universal wind–wave–bubble formulation for air–sea gas exchange and its impact on oxygen fluxes.” Authors: Luc Deike, Xiaohui Zhou, Paridhi Rustogi, Rachel H. R. Stanley, Brandon G. Reichl, Seth M. Bushinsky, and Laure Resplandy

Congratulations to the finalists of the 2025 Cozzarelli Prize for their paper, “A universal wind–wave–bubble formulation for air–sea gas exchange and its impact on oxygen fluxes.” Explore the research: https://ow.ly/URok50YKytv

Tsu-Jae Liu, President of the National Academy of Engineering. CREDIT: Christopher Michel

Tsu-Jae Liu, president of the National Academy of Engineering, suggests that AI is not replacing engineers, but rather is empowering them. AI can expand the capacity of engineers to solve complex problems in ways that benefit society. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/BvNT50YKF3J

2025 Cozzarelli Prize Winner. Class VI Winner: “A quantitative risk assessment framework for mortality due to macroplastic ingestion in seabirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles.” Authors: Sean J. Westwood

Join us in celebrating the 2025 Cozzarelli Prize Class VI winning paper, “A quantitative risk assessment framework for mortality due to macroplastic ingestion in seabirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles.” Read the article here: https://ow.ly/bPSf50YKyhZ

Conceptual illustration of the ethical dilemma presented in the experiment.

Asking students to decide who should plunge their hands into icy water and for how long allowed researchers to distinguish between 3 motivations for moral judgment: avoiding personally causing harm, minimizing total harm, and being unfair. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/Ib8i50YKF2J

Americans vote. Stock photo.

Surveys from presidential election years 2008–2024 show that ideological differences decreased sharply by race, driven by a shift of Black and Hispanic respondents to the right, while educational differences have grown dramatically. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/3iru50YKF0n

Explore the latest Advance Articles from PNAS Nexus! Read now at pnasnexus.org

In this week’s Advance Articles: Reversible and causal epigenetic information loss in liver aging and disease, the structural and biochemical basis of ROC-dependent activation of LRRK2, and more. Explore now: https://ow.ly/JHZ650YKz0e

2025 Cozzarelli Prize Winner. Class V Winner: “The potential existential threat of large language models to online survey research.” Authors: Sean J. Westwood

Join us in celebrating the 2025 Cozzarelli Prize Class V: Behavioral and Social Sciences winning paper, “The potential existential threat of large language models to online survey research.” Read the article here: https://ow.ly/BFA450YKxZF

Cytological smear of Pap-stained peri-implant mucosa showing intracellular dark, refractile particles consistent with titanium debris (arrows), demonstrating that phagocytosis of particles by epithelial cells is occurring in human peri-implantitis. On the right, implant-derived titanium particles are shown inside macrophages.

Peri-implantitis affects millions of patients with dental implants. A study suggests the inflammatory condition is worsened by implant-derived titanium particles, which actively disrupt immune cell function giving bacteria free rein . In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/izFW50YJYTP

2025 Cozzarelli Prize Winner. Class IV Winner: “Inhibiting 15-PGDH blocks blood–brain barrier deterioration and protects mice from Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury.” Authors: Yeojung Koh, Edwin Vázquez-Rosa, Farrah Gao et al.

Join us in celebrating our 2025 Cozzarelli Prize Class IV: Biomedical Sciences winning paper, “Inhibiting 15-PGDH blocks blood–brain barrier deterioration and protects mice from Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury.” Read the article here: https://ow.ly/bxEu50YJUWe

Locations for the 86 atlatl and dart and 50 bow and arrow radiocarbon-dated weapon systems used in this study. The size of each circle corresponds to the calibrated calendar date in years before present (cal.BP). The sample is split at 55° north latitude, with specimens >55° considered the north sample and specimens <55° considered the south sample.

One of the most-viewed PNAS Nexus articles in the last week is “Rapid adoption of bow technology across western North America ∼1,400 years ago.” Explore the article here: https://ow.ly/aUiC50YIomy

To submit your own research, visit PNAS Nexus at https://ow.ly/3xZk50YIomx

Robot hand and human hand holding light bulbs. Stock image

American and Chinese users work better with LLMs trained on data from their own countries. Cultural alignment produced more useful outputs when a given task was intended for a local audience, in part by fostering psychological flow states. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/zGMQ50YFJYt

2025 Cozzarelli Prize Class III Winner: “Viscoelastic structural damping enables broadband low-frequency sound absorption.” Authors: Yanlin Zhang, Junyin Li, Qiongying Wu, Marco Amabili, Diego Misseroni, and Hanqing Jiang

Join us in celebrating our 2025 Cozzarelli Prize–winning paper for Class III: Engineering and Applied Sciences, “Viscoelastic structural damping enables broadband low-frequency sound absorption.” Read the article here: https://ow.ly/ZzX450YImmt

A Tokara Leaf Warbler Image credit: Per Alström

Genomics is uncovering hidden biodiversity in island species—revealing cryptic lineages & population health insights. Overlooked species may be at risk of extinction and need protection now.

In Miami Herald: https://ow.ly/SzRE50YInHK
In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/MREE50YInu7

Diet as a key to understanding long-term inequalities based on archaeological skeletons. CREDIT: Oscar Maso y Guëll Rivet

Isotope data from 12,281 individuals across 393 European sites over millennia show a consistent pattern: men eat more meat than women do. Inequalities may be rooted in food taboos, cosmological beliefs, norms, or false nutritional ideas. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/vSBi50YFJS7

2025 Cozzarelli Prize Class II Winner: “The emergence of eukaryotes as an evolutionary algorithmic phase transition.” Authors: Enrique M. Muro, Fernando J. Ballesteros, Bartolo Luque, and Jordi Bascompte

Join us in celebrating our 2025 Cozzarelli Prize–winning paper for Class II: Biological Sciences, “The emergence of eukaryotes as an evolutionary algorithmic phase transition.” Read the article here: https://ow.ly/r0NG50YIm7O

Explore peer-reviewed research from UN SDG 4: Quality Education Collection.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and PNAS Nexus publish high-impact peer-reviewed research on learning outcomes, education access, and evidence-based policy. Explore the UN SDG 4 Research Collection: https://ow.ly/Pn5z50YGHIF

#SDG4 #EducationForAll #PNAS #PNASNexus #EdResearch

A group of friends react to a witty remark. Stock photo.

According to a Perspective, combining words in a novel and funny way could be a kind of fitness, a theory suggested by a linguistic reconstruction of early grammar. Sexual selection may have made humans wittier over the generations. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/iZsW50YH8Qq

Explore the latest Advance Articles from PNAS Nexus! Read now at pnasnexus.org.

In this week’s Advance Articles: Multi-step co-evolution of HIV-1 and HLA-C-restricted HIV-1-specific CD8+ T cells and their association with disease progression; crystallization of stardust analogs under an electron flux atmosphere; and more. Explore now: https://ow.ly/NeIM50YH7t3

2025 Cozzarelli Prize Class I Winner: “Physics-tailored machine learning reveals unexpected physics in dusty plasmas.” Authors: Wentao Yu, Eslam Abdelaleem, Ilya Nemenman, and Justin C. Burton

Join us in celebrating our 2025 Cozzarelli Prize–winning paper for Class I: Physical and Mathematical Sciences, “Physics-tailored machine learning reveals unexpected physics in dusty plasmas.” Read the article here: https://ow.ly/iTVL50YH7gp

PNAS Nexus – 2026 Issue 3 is now available. Pnasnexus.org

2025 Issue 3 of PNAS Nexus is now available! Insights on topics such as the art and science behind human linguistic and cognitive evolution, mental health impact of intragroup vs. intergroup wartime violence, and more. Explore now: https://ow.ly/7GVt50YGEgp

Children being tested for COVID-19. Stock photo.

A study of 25 primary schools in France found that weekly screening of all students during the Delta and Omicron waves of the COVID-19 pandemic reduced school transmission by around 40% compared to reactive strategies used at other schools. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/jhii50YCrcm

Quantifying the level of interdisciplinarity of individual publications and grants. Major publication databases assign each paper to certain scientific fields, whereas grant classifications are specific to individual funding agencies.

One of the most-viewed PNAS Nexus articles in the last week is “Interdisciplinary papers supported by disciplinary grants garner deep and broad scientific impact.” Explore now: https://ow.ly/oVpA50YCsAF

To submit your own research, visit PNAS Nexus at https://ow.ly/bLak50YCsuB

Illustration of two people standing in a city during extreme heat with a large red thermometer showing high temperature between them. Image credit: BRO.vector / Shutterstock

Behavioral and experimental economist Alessandra Cassar shares a multicountry study showing heat stress has little impact on prosocial behavior or decision-making—gender & culture matter more.

In NautilusMag: https://ow.ly/nV6M50YEwuE
In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/WJFP50YEwbu

Elephant Pass War Memorial is a memorial erected in honor of fallen Civil War heroes near Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

A study of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, 13 years after its civil war, shows that intragroup violence—violence at the hands of members of one’s own ethnic group—inflicts nearly four times more trauma than intergroup violence. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/jTXk50YCrjv

Explore peer-reviewed research from the UN SDG 5: Gender Equality Collection.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and PNAS Nexus publish high-impact, peer-reviewed research on gender dynamics in health, labor, leadership, and representation. Explore the UN SDG 5 Research Collection: https://ow.ly/eegK50YCU91

#SDG5 #GenderEquality #ScienceAndSociety

PNAS – PNAS Improves Accessibility with Alternative Text

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences now includes alternative text for all published figures, helping ensure research is accessible to readers with visual impairments.

Learn more about this step toward more inclusive scientific communication: https://ow.ly/uTtO50YCYM4