Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2 July 2026 · From issue 02

Being worse at guessing original protein sequences made a model better at real design tasks.

Foster Birnbaum, Amy E. Keating, Beyond native sequence recovery: Improved modeling of the sequence-energy landscape of protein structures, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Also in issue 02 10 papers

Uneven atom layers make it easier for this material to flip its charge.
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A magnet based on orbital flow boosted a resistance effect 70 times more than a normal magnet.
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A new genetic letter swap made cells build more protein, faster, with fewer errors than the current method.
Nature
Chemical clues in volcanic lava point to rock from Earth's first 100 million years still hiding deep underground.
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The new DNA test found a cause in 11 of 31 patients with no prior diagnosis.
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A chain of cell signals controls which shape mucinous colon cancer takes, and blocking key proteins can reverse it.
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A lab-built artificial energy system helped power a carbon-capturing chemical cycle outside living cells.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Blood pressure drugs lower heart risk quickly, and the benefit does not grow with more years of treatment.
Nature Medicine
People whose immune cells reacted fastest and hardest were more likely to get sick from flu.
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