PNAS Nexus · 10 August 2026 · From issue 19

YouTube videos told sharply divided stories, but comments below them were much less divided.

Jan Elfes, Marco Bastos et al., Measuring narrative polarization in online discourse, PNAS Nexus.

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Also in issue 19 15 papers

In mice, two gene switches normally curb harmful immune cells but fail inside inflamed brain tissue.
PLOS Biology
In sun images, a new AI model estimates coronal temperature fast and reports its own confidence.
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In rodents, a tiny protein cage vaccine protected against two deadly Ebola virus types.
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People automatically assign value to useless details, hurting their choices even when warned.
Nature Communications
A new tool predicts flood clusters across many river sites for the next 1 to 10 years.
Geophysical Research Letters
In a lab material, magnetic swirls moved smoothly together at high current, with no wobble.
Nature Physics
A single computer model explains how eyes move during reading to save effort.
Nature Human Behaviour
In yeast cells, a brief protein tag lets scientists track single nuclear pores over time.
eLife
Liraglutide lowers a key water balancing hormone in healthy people and changes related proteins in rats.
Science Advances
Bengalese finch songs have word-like chunks that follow the same pattern as human language.
Science Advances
Fruit and honey sugars, not just meat, may have fueled brain growth in early human ancestors.
Science
In lab tests, a copper based material separated two hydrogen gas types 20 times better than usual.
Nature Communications
In plants, extra fat droplets in cells cut virus levels without slowing growth.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
In mice and monkeys, a new gene tool skipped broken gene sections better than older versions.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences