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Received — 5 August 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence
Received — 3 August 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence

Reinforcement learning steers generative crystal design

3 August 2026 at 00:00

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 03 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01282-0

Generative machine learning methods have led to progress in crystal discovery, but cannot fully explore the space of material candidates that are both novel and useful. A reinforcement learning-based method steers candidate generation to these areas, enabling the design of novel functional materials.

Beyond representational alignment with brain-guided language models for robust reasoning

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 03 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01278-w

Xiao et al. show that large language models partially align with human brain activity during deductive reasoning. They further show that brain signals can directly guide and improve model performance, with transfer across reasoning types.
Received — 30 July 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence

Classifying multipartite continuous-variable entanglement structures through data-augmented neural networks

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01284-y

Gao et al. introduce a quantum data augmentation method to enable neural networks to classify multipartite entanglement structures in infinite-dimensional systems, substantially improving accuracy and reducing the data acquisition costs that typically limit training.

Reusability report: Exploring the utility and extensibility of an integrated modelling framework for liquid electrolyte design

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01277-x

Lai et al. extend and evaluate a unified framework for liquid electrolyte design, showing how data size and composition affect robustness, and demonstrating improved cross-system transferability and multiscale performance over baselines.
Received — 24 July 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence

Capable language models can outgrow the benefits of collaboration

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 24 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01268-y

A controlled study of large language model agents across 260 configurations shows when multi-agent collaboration helps or hurts performance, and introduces a predictive model that selects the best architecture in 87% of held-out within-domain configurations.
Received — 21 July 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence

Neural sampling from cognitive maps enables goal-directed imagination and planning

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 21 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01254-4

Lin et al. introduce a brain-inspired generative model that provides two key features of intelligence: planning and problem-solving. It uses cognitive maps, stochastic computing and compositional coding, and requires only local synaptic plasticity.
Received — 20 July 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence

A neural network model of free recall learns multiple memory strategies

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 20 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01274-0

Li et al. show that recurrent neural networks optimized for free recall discover diverse, human-like memory strategies beyond classical temporal context models, with top models using an index-based mechanism resembling the memory palace technique.
Received — 15 July 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence

Enabling local neural operators to perform equation-free system-level analysis

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 15 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01265-1

Moving beyond brute-force simulations, local neural operators—combined with equation-free methods and Krylov subspace techniques—enable system-level stability and bifurcation analysis of complex spatiotemporal systems directly from data.
Received — 14 July 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence

A unifying framework from neural superposition to sparse interpretable codes

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 14 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01259-z

Kindt et al. present a unifying framework for superposition in neural networks. Their three-step approach clarifies how latent features can be identified, disentangled and assessed.
Received — 13 July 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence

The brain is a diverse place, why not computing?

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 13 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01273-1

The brain’s architecture exhibits diversity across many temporal and spatial scales, yet our computing architectures remain largely homogeneous. Low-powered neuromorphic hardware offers a path towards energy-efficient AI, but could these approaches be improved with heterogeneous computing architectures?

Towards shared embodied intelligence in humanoid robots through optimization, development and testing of the human-aware ergoCub robot

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 13 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01272-2

Sartore et al. present ergoCub, a humanoid robot that prioritizes human safety at hardware and motion levels. Using a shared embodied intelligence framework, design and control are jointly optimized with human-related metrics such as back stress alongside locomotion objectives, reducing spinal load and improving walking robustness.

A manifesto for Sustainability Robotics

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 13 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01260-6

Song et al. propose Sustainability Robotics as a new discipline to overcome fragmentation and enhance societal and environmental impact. They define three guiding principles, alongside two dimensions spanning sustainable design and robotics for sustainability.
Received — 10 July 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence
Received — 6 July 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence
Received — 3 July 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence

Principled approaches for extending neural architectures to function spaces for operator learning

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 03 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01267-z

Berner et al. show how to adapt popular neural networks into discretization-agnostic neural operators that learn from continuous scientific data, enabling scientific simulations that generalize more reliably across resolutions.
Received — 2 July 2026 Nature Machine Intelligence

Empowering biomedical evidence exploration and synthesis with deep knowledge graph research

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 02 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01266-0

Wang et al. develop DeepEvidence, a biomedical deep research agent for exploring and synthesizing evidence across various knowledge sources to support drug discovery, clinical trials and evidence-based medicine.

Reshaping biomolecular structure prediction through strategic conformational exploration with HelixFold-S1

Nature Machine Intelligence, Published online: 02 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s42256-026-01264-2

Liu and colleagues introduce HelixFold-S1, a guided sampling strategy for biomolecular complex structure prediction that targets high-probability interaction regions. The method achieves higher accuracy than traditional unguided methods while reducing computational costs.
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