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This year’s winners are Dieter Oesterhelt, Peter Hegemann, Karl Deisseroth, Drew Weissman, Katalin Karikó, and David Baltimore.

Both of the mRNA vaccines available in the US are highly effective against severe COVID-19, but recent studies suggest that Moderna’s elicits a stronger immune response and might be better at preventing breakthrough infections.  

Researchers excavated human footprints out of a small bluff next to a dried-up playa lake and radiocarbon-dated embedded seeds to around 23,000 years ago. Their results suggest that people entered the Americas thousands of years earlier than the accepted estimate.

A study probes how genetic duplications that can swell protein length influence human traits such as height and kidney function.

Correcting misinformation and providing reliable data are collective responsibilities of the research community.

A transposable element that jumped into the TBXT gene, which is linked to tail morphology, appears to be to blame for our missing appendage.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute appoints 33 new researchers, each of whom will receive roughly $9 million over seven years.

A study links the loss of DNA methylation across the genome—as is common in cancer—to the disruption of the 3-D compartments that organize the genome and to the timing of DNA replication.

The revision allows more time on previous extensions due to COVID-19 and other life events such as childbirth that disproportionately impact early-career women in science.  

A high-salt diet suppressed the growth of tumors in a mouse model of melanoma, apparently because of an interplay between the gut microbiome and natural killer cells.

Prolonged exposure to morphine triggers cells in the spine to release signaling molecules that increase pain sensitivity and dull the relief of the drug. Blocking this activity could improve pain management.

In both a mouse model and the hospital records of more than 3 million children, researchers found a connection between strong immune activation in males and later symptoms of autism spectrum disorder.