
A cross-disciplinary early-attention ranking of five Nature and Science papers from 18 to 25 September 2026, with quantitative findings, evidence limits, and discussion signals for deciding what to read next.
| Rank | Paper | Journal, date, discipline | Corresponding author / institution | Early attention signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reference genomes and fossils revise bat family phylogeny and biogeography | Nature, online 23 September; evolutionary genomics and palaeontology | David A. Ray, Sonja C. Vernes, Liliana M. Dávalos, Michael Hiller and Emma C. Teeling; Texas Tech University, University of St Andrews, Stony Brook University, Senckenberg and University College Dublin | Altmetric 672; 82 news outlets, 69 X users, 4 blogs; 8,857 article accesses 1 |
| 2 | The anthropogenic fingerprint on emerging infectious diseases | Nature, online 23 September; ecological epidemiology and One Health | Rory Gibb, Sadie J. Ryan and Colin J. Carlson; University College London, University of Florida and Yale University | Altmetric 327; 94 X users, 13 news outlets, 2 Facebook pages, 1 blog; 7,671 article accesses 2 |
| 3 | Neural evidence that dogs segment the speech they hear with a humanlike consonant bias | Science, volume 393, issue 6818, 24 September, pages 1354–1358; cognitive neuroscience and speech perception | Attila Andics; ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest | Altmetric 245; 28 news outlets, 23 Bluesky users, 18 X users 3 |
| 4 | Lu⁺ optical frequency references with accuracy verified at the 19th digit | Nature, online 23 September; atomic physics and optical metrology | Kyle J. Arnold and Murray D. Barrett; Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore | Altmetric 182; 24 news outlets, 9 X users, 3 blogs, 1 Facebook page; 3,142 article accesses 4 |
| 5 | A quadruped robot designed to complete a marathon on a single battery charge | Nature, online 23 September; robotics and mechanical engineering | Jemin Hwangbo; Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, KAIST | Altmetric 140; 25 X users, 15 news outlets; 322 article accesses 5 |



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