Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 11 September 2026 · From issue 36

Why did some viruses evolve to be giants while others did not?

Giant viruses grew huge by stealing host genes, not by evolving into cell-like life.

Eugene V. Koonin, Mart Krupovic.

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Also in issue 36 15 papers

An AI tool using blood and health data helped doctors predict immunotherapy response in lung cancer better than standard scores.
Nature Medicine
Once-common species are declining faster than rare species on land and at sea.
Nature Communications
A plant protein has a pocket shaped to grab broken bits of chewed-up cell walls.
Science
Rising air, not wind-blown moisture, mainly controls oxygen patterns in Asian monsoon rain.
Nature Communications
In Arabidopsis plants, one enzyme family makes a different breakdown product of a stress hormone than scientists thought.
Nature Communications
The sun's northern and southern coronal holes differ in size, strength, and lifespan patterns.
The Astrophysical Journal
A particle's breakup rate into kaon pairs has two possible values, not one.
Physical Review Letters
Floating genetic material does not directly switch on the nerve-damage protein SARM1, lab tests show.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
A soft sensor detects tiny pressures accurately and barely drifts, even under heavy repeated force.
Science Advances
In mice, blocking a protein called SPP1 made immune therapy shrink KRAS-mutant lung tumors better.
Science Advances
A tough, permanently hardened plastic can be broken apart and recycled using a gentle chemical process.
Science Advances
Two proteins hold together a gate inside airway cilia, and losing either one causes disease.
Science
In zebrafish, learning to smell better reshaped brain activity patterns to separate important smells more clearly.
Nature Neuroscience
A single protein helps brain cells shut off overactive electric signals before they cause harm.
eLife

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