How to turn a paper into an AI agent

Hello Nature readers,
Today we hear promising news for an RNA-based treatment for ALS, explore a host of AI advances in science and discover how psychoactive drugs might have shaped pre-Incan culture.

First for gene-targeting RNA therapy

An RNA therapy for rare forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has shown promising results in the first person to receive it. He experienced improved symptoms and continued to work as a physician a year after starting treatment. Antisense oligonucleotide therapy uses short strands of genetic material to target RNA produced by a faulty gene called CHCHD10. Roughly 5–10% of people with ALS have a known genetic mutation, and antisense oligonucleotide therapies could someday benefit them and others with neurodegenerative diseases caused by rare mutations.

Sanctioned Chinese firms turned to science

Chinese firms subject to sanctions by the US government seemed to produce more science-related patents and publish more papers than did unsanctioned companies. It’s not certain that being placed on the US ‘Entity List’ actually caused an increase in innovation, but the findings might be a sign of unintended consequences of such restrictions. “Whether or not one supports technology controls, it is important to recognize that they can come with costs,” says political economist Dinsha Mistree.

Psychoactive drugs in pre-Incan culture

Chavín de Huántar, a 3,000-year-old temple complex high in the Peruvian Andes, has long been thought to be a centre for rituals amplified by the use of psychoactive drugs. Now advances that make it possible to detect the faintest traces of chemical and biological substances — and a research environment that is increasingly open to the topic of hallucinogens and other drugs — are adding to the evidence of what happened there.

Futures: I who have never known trees

The latest short story for Nature’s Futures series asks: as nature declines, how can we grieve for a world we have never known? It is environmental researcher Hannah Cocks’s first published creative writing piece. “I hope the first of many,” she writes. “I would like to write to remind us that we are part of nature and always have been.”

Five best science books this week

Andrew Robinson’s pick of the top five science books to read this week includes an engaging study of the relationship between astrology and science, a celebration of polio vaccine pioneer Albert Sabin and a vision of the social world that exists around, outside and in opposition to money.

Podcast: human brain cells in mice

In this week’s Nature Podcast, hosts Benjamin Thompson and Nick Petrić Howe speak to researchers about a new study in which human brain organoids were transplanted into mice genetically engineered to lack most of their cerebral cortex.