Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 4 August 2026 · From issue 16

Ancient grains grew bigger from wetter soil, not from early farmers picking large seeds.

Jade Whitlam, Pascal Flohr et al., Developmental plasticity under human management shaped cereal evolution prior to domestication in the Early Holocene southern Levant, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Also in issue 16 14 papers

A DNA folding map in human immune cells links gut disease risk genes to specific gene switches.
Nature Genetics
In mice, a potassium-based particle blocked harmful immune cell death and eased severe lung injury.
Nature Communications
In lab-grown brain tissue, immune cells survived over 6 months and showed Alzheimer's warning signs.
Nature Neuroscience
Life faced more stress exactly when Earth's climate switched between five stable long term states.
Nature Communications
Joining social media before grade 9 lowered later test scores in Italian, English and math.
Nature Human Behaviour
Dining out cut social isolation by 47.3% compared to staying in home neighborhoods.
PNAS Nexus
In one solar eruption, a spacecraft filmed a magnetic rope slowly detaching from the sun.
The Astrophysical Journal
A detector measured leftover neutrino particles still coming from a shut down nuclear reactor.
Physical Review Letters
In lab tests, redesigned fungus-fighting drugs worked better and harmed cells less.
Nature
Clustered Arctic storms melt sea ice twice as much and 2.5 times longer than single storms.
Nature Communications
In fruit flies, the fluid thickness inside gut cells changes with how much protein they eat.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Babies who ate less sugar during rationing had far lower cancer rates as adults.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
In mice, custom bacteria mixes blocked a lung germ by competing for the same space.
eLife

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