Researchers are exploring more personalized approaches to mental-health treatment, while new studies examine the neural patterns associated with consciousness and the risks of gene-editing therapies. This briefing also covers efforts to make scientific publishing more transparent, declining public trust in science, conservation challenges for endangered frogs, and the impending end of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.
Illustration: Muhammad Fatulofi
Precision psychiatry aims to personalize mental-health care
An approach known as precision psychiatry could reduce the trial and error involved in finding the right treatment and dosage for people with mental-health conditions. Researchers hope to use data-driven methods to divide broad, often vague diagnoses into more useful subgroups and match them with personalized treatments.
Some psychiatrists are investigating how genetics, biometric data and socioeconomic factors could be combined to create this individualized approach. However, some researchers caution that its benefits have not yet been demonstrated.
Nature | 11 minute read
News
Brain activity in macaques switches between conscious and unconscious processing
In visual-perception tests, researchers showed macaque monkeys two images, each visible to only one eye, that produced known patterns of neural activity. The animals’ brain activity switched between the two patterns 15 times per second.
One pattern corresponded to an image the macaque was consciously processing, while the other corresponded to an image that was not recognized. The researchers say the findings could represent a small step towards understanding how the brain produces consciousness, or the subjective experience of awareness.
Nature | 5 minute read
Reference: bioRxiv preprint (not peer reviewed)
Gene-editing trial for Duchenne muscular dystrophy ends after participant’s death
Researchers have announced results from the first human clinical trial of an experimental gene-editing therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). A young boy died after experiencing a devastating immune response.
The treatment used an adeno-associated virus to deliver a base editor—a type of CRISPR gene-editing technology—to muscles, where it was intended to correct the mutations that cause DMD. The study found that the therapy edited some of the targeted genes, but its therapeutic effect was limited. The boy who died was one of four trial participants.
Nature | 6 minute read
Reference: Cell paper
European funders back more transparent research publishing
European scientific funders and research institutions are joining the European Commission’s efforts to expand open-access publishing and make peer review more transparent.
The programme will operate on an expanded version of the Open Research Europe (ORE) platform, which the Commission plans to launch in early November. The platform uses a model in which preprints are openly reviewed by identifiable reviewers.
“This is a collaborative effort to build a more transparent and sustainable publishing system that serves the research community and society at large,” said Karla Anaya-Carlsson, chair of the ORE Funders Group.
Nature | 4 minute read
This week’s infographic
The latest results from the largest public survey of trust in science show that confidence in research has declined since the coronavirus pandemic. The survey examines attitudes towards science and health, including vaccines, pandemic preparedness, clean energy and, for the first time, artificial intelligence.
Despite the decline, scientists were still considered more trustworthy than government officials and neighbouring countries.
Nature | 3 minute read
Reference: Wellcome Global Monitor 2026 Survey
Features and analysis
Conservationists search for safer homes for endangered frogs
In Southern California, researchers are racing to save the yellow-legged frog. Invasive species, habitat loss and infectious fungi drove the once-thriving frog population close to extinction in the 2000s.
A captive-breeding programme has enabled thousands of yellow-legged frogs to be released into the wild. But as wildfires in the region become more intense, researchers have repeatedly had to search for new places where the amphibians can live safely—and viable options may be running out.
Scientists were forced to repeatedly search for new places to safely house amphibians.
BioGraphic | 18 minute read
Should educators worry about student evaluations?
Marketing communications specialist Lan Nguyen Chaplin asks, “Are we okay with not worrying about student ratings anymore?”
“The important thing is that I challenge them, not whether they like me or not,” she says of her students. A panel of Nature readers has offered its own judgments. Continue reading to decide whether you agree.
Nature | 5 minute read
Quote of the day
NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is scheduled to plunge into Earth’s atmosphere and disappear next week, after spending nearly 22 years in orbit. Caryl Gronwall, who led Swift’s science operations team, said astronomers are mourning the loss of the spacecraft but are grateful for the vast archive of data it has left for scientists to explore.
Nature | 4 minute read
And finally
One option for spending £35.5 million (US$47.3 million), I learned, is to buy a model approximately 67 million years old: a Nanotyrannus skeleton. Because it is a fossil, however, it is not exactly a model. The skeleton sold for that amount at auction on 26 October.
If you made a multimillion-dollar purchase this week or have feedback about this newsletter, please contact briefing@nature.com.
Thank you for reading,
Jacob Smith, Associate Editor, Nature Briefing
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