Nature, Published online: 01 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10296-yIn mice, a circuit between the spinal cord and various regions of the brain, centring on spinal-cord-projecting neurons in the rostral ventromedial medulla, has a key role in driving chronic pain.

Nature, Published online: 01 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10303-2A fully automated methodology based on rubrics capturing a broad range of cognitive and intellectual demands is illustrated using LLMs and tasks, demonstrating a new way to evaluate the capabilities of AI systems and anticipate their performance.

Nature, Published online: 01 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10251-xRobustness checks and reproduction of analyses with existing and updated data based on 110 articles in economics and political science journals with data and code-sharing requirements found high levels of robustness and reproducibility and determined that robustness was not dependent on author characteristics or data availability.

Nature, Published online: 01 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00806-3Modified nitazenes, opioids 1,000 times stronger than morphine, show remarkably few adverse effects in rodents, renewing the potential of these drugs for pain relief.