1 October 2026

Paired single-nucleus ATAC and RNA profiling of 10 million blood immune cells from 1,108 Finns mapped 51,083 expression QTLs and 338,100 chromatin accessibility QTLs. Variants that change both chromatin and expression colocalize with disease twice as often as chromatin-only variants; reporter assays validated 10,428 fine-mapped QTLs.

Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11078-2

A multi-ancestry GWAS of fetal haemoglobin in 28,279 people found 91 independent associations; one variant lowers BACH2 and raises fetal haemoglobin. BACH2 represses the gamma-globin genes independently of BCL11A, a second target for sickle cell and thalassaemia therapy.

Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11113-2

Gut Eubacterium species enriched in poor metformin responders carry an enzyme, AdhE, that converts metformin to inactive products. Removing the enzyme or the bacteria restored glycaemic control in mice, and the soy compound daidzein blocked it.

Cell Metabolism · doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2026.09.003

In 173 stem cell transplant patients tracked over 9,419 meals, eating sweets during antibiotic treatment predicted lower gut microbial diversity and more Enterococcus overgrowth. Sucrose had the same effect in mice.

Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11077-3

Autoimmune hair loss in mice needed two hits: loss of regulatory T cells, and sympathetic nerve activity during the hair growth phase, which reactivates endogenous retroviruses in follicle stem cells and triggers AIM2-driven CD8 T cell attack. Psychological stress could supply the second hit.

Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11098-y

Tau filaments from brains of people with Alzheimer's disease or corticobasal degeneration, injected into wild-type mice, seeded mouse tau filaments with the same structures as the seeds. Tau strains keep their structure on transmission, as prion strains do.

Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11061-x

Live imaging of two cultured Asgard archaea, the closest prokaryotic relatives of eukaryotes, showed them extending and retracting protrusions at 1.5-4.8 micrometres per minute and crawling on glass. Actin inhibitors stopped the movement.

Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11063-9

In cancer spread to the dura mater, the membrane around the brain, tumour-associated osteoclasts disrupt meningeal lymphatic drainage and suppress immunity, a mouse model showed. The skull erosion pattern seen on imaging distinguishes these from other metastases.

Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11082-6

In previously stressed mice, the anterior hypothalamic nucleus became more reactive to stress, and more of its neurons encoded negative experiences. The region had received little attention in stress research.

Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11075-5

Protein structure prediction found a family of IL-1 cytokines, IL-1anc, with homologues across animals beyond vertebrates. In sea lamprey and sea urchin these proteins share key features with mammalian IL-1, placing inflammatory cytokines early in animal evolution.

Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-026-03191-2

The Pango naming system, used for SARS-CoV-2 since 2020, is generalized to any virus: lineages are named clusters on a phylogeny with hierarchical sublineage names. A first application assigns 21 chikungunya lineages under 8 founders.

Nature Microbiology · doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02468-3

High-contrast butterfly wing patterns combined with flight movement create false motion cues for predators. High-speed filming, phylogenetic analysis, simulated evolution and behavioural tests all supported this.

Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11062-w

New data on Westlothiana, long cited as the earliest land-adapted stem amniote, show internal gills and other aquatic traits; it is reclassified as a stem tetrapod. Land adaptations appeared piecemeal across early tetrapods.

Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11090-6

A Nature comment argues that PhD training should teach students to raise ethical objections.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03053-8

QTL mapping in cultivated by wild rice populations found a receptor-like kinase gene, OsRLK, mostly present in wild rice, that recruits Acinetobacter root bacteria which improve nitrogen uptake. Knockout and overexpression lines confirmed the effect, including in field trials.

Nature Microbiology · doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02498-x

Researchers found that a few overused names reveal large numbers of fake AI-generated experts on academic publishing platforms, Nature reports.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02991-7

A Nature editorial warns of sham scientific societies, which AI-generated content makes harder to spot, and calls for more scrutiny of such organizations.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03047-6

Nature interviews Jacob Trefethen, life sciences lead at the OpenAI Foundation, on how the charity plans to spend about $25 billion on science, starting with disease.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03015-0

SynthIDBio embeds a detectable watermark in AI-designed protein sequences and structures. Watermarked binders kept binding affinity close to unmarked versions, with near-perfect detection.

Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10965-y