News & Comment

Ecological approaches to agriculture have a major role to play, alongside biotechnology.

Recent advances in AI-based 3D protein structure prediction could help address health-related questions, but may also have far-reaching implications for evolution. Here we discuss the advantages and limitations of high-quality 3D structural predictions by AlphaFold2 in unravelling the relationship between protein properties and their impact on fitness, and emphasize the need to integrate in silico structural predictions with functional genomic studies.

Jennifer Grenz is currently a sessional lecturer at the University of British Columbia and owns a land healing company, Greener This Side. Her recently completed PhD dissertation explores the science of invasive species management and restoration through the lens of an ‘Indigenous ecology’, which she defines as “relationally guided healing of our lands, waters, and relations through intentional shaping of ecosystems by humans to bring a desired balance that meets the fluid needs of communities while respecting and honouring our mutual dependence through reciprocity.” Here we ask about her research and experiences as an Indigenous woman in ecology.

The future of SARS-CoV-2, including the possibility of elimination and eradication, remains uncertain, but much hinges on characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 immunity. The next few months to a year is a critical period for understanding these characteristics.

A paper published in Nature Ecology & Evolution has recently become the journal’s first retraction. We take the opportunity to reflect on a kinder and more open way of maintaining scientific rigour.

Global scientific partnerships should generate and share knowledge equitably, but too often exploit research partners in lower-income countries, while disproportionately benefitting those in higher-income countries. Here, I outline my suggestions for more-equitable partnerships.

The ethical issues surrounding Burmese amber expose a tangle of problems within twenty-first century palaeontology, which has not fully reckoned with its genesis as a colonial science. This editorial accompanies an update to Nature Portfolio policy which takes a first step towards combatting parachute science in palaeontological, archaeological and geological fields.

Global conceptions of Antarctica are dominated by colonial narratives despite an ostensibly collaborative paradigm. We argue that an Indigenous Māori framework centring relational thinking and connectedness, humans and non-human kin, and drawing on concepts of both reciprocity and responsibility, offers transformational insight into true collective management and conservation of Antarctica.

Kimberleigh Tommy is a PhD candidate and science communicator, based at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where she studies hominin functional morphology as it relates to locomotion. She has won numerous awards for both her science communication and research; most recently she was named one of The Mail and Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans making a difference in their fields as well as a recipient of the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science South African National Young Talents programme awards. We asked her about her background, her interests and her hopes for the future.

The founder of plant functional ecology.

Ocean conservation is needed within various and complex contexts. A nuanced understanding of this will bring better results for the global oceans, argues Dyhia Belhabib.

A renewed focus on nature’s utility is intended to enhance biodiversity protection. To avoid undermining conservation goals, this must be accompanied by safeguards on resource extraction, as well as meaningful acknowledgement and integration of Indigenous knowledge.

We invite researchers to make use of our community site to disseminate their research and foster discussion.

Concerted conservation efforts have led to a remarkable recovery of multiple green turtle (Chelonia mydas) populations worldwide. The voracious feeding of these returning populations is radically transforming tropical seagrass habitats in ways that prompt a re-think of the reference state and management plans for seagrass meadows.