In the News story ‘Clash over killer-whale captivity’ (Nature 531, 426–427; 2016), we erroneously referred to Jeffrey Ventre as a veterinary surgeon. He is, in fact, a physician. And in the story ‘Scientists say “no” to UK exit from Europe in Nature poll’ (Nature 531, 559; 2016), the labels numbered 2 and 4 in the graphic ‘What impact would a UK exit from the EU have on UK science?’ were the wrong way round. The opening paragraph also potentially implied that the poll was more representative of scientists in the UK and greater EU than perhaps was warranted.