Comment in 2019

There is no room for squeamishness in the face of the world’s growing water shortage — three steps could vastly improve the image of reused water for drinking.

A pioneer in sustainable innovation explains why she has spent the past decade fighting the first lawsuit to force a government to act on global heating.

Leading scholars and publishers from ten countries have agreed a definition of predatory publishing that can protect scholarship. It took 12 hours of discussion, 18 questions and 3 rounds to reach.

Researchers from racial and ethnic groups that are under-represented in US geoscience are the least likely to be offered opportunities to speak at the field’s biggest meeting.

Corporations selling DNA-profiling technology are aiding human-rights abuses. Governments, legislators, researchers, reviewers and publishers must act.

The growing threat of abrupt and irreversible climate changes must compel political and economic action on emissions.

A swift increase in scientific productivity has outstripped the country’s ability to promote rigour and curb academic misconduct; it is time to seize solutions.

Study the effects of earthquakes, floods and other natural hazards with sensitivity to ethical dilemmas and power imbalances.

Governments worldwide must invest in girls’ education, family planning, agriculture and security in this vulnerable region.

A scientific paper today is inspired by more disciplines than ever before, shows a new analysis marking the journal’s 150th anniversary.

Research cannot fulfil its social contract and reach new horizons by advancing on the same footing into the future, argues Philip Ball in the last essay of a series on how the past 150 years have shaped today’s science system, to mark Nature’s anniversary.

Tackling mental disorders before they arise in pregnant women and new mothers is an approach that could be scaled up online — and would aid the overall health of populations.

From all too scarce, to professionalized, the ethics of research is now everybody’s business, argues Sarah Franklin in the sixth essay in a series on how the past 150 years have shaped science, marking Nature’s anniversary.

Historian Paul Lucier traces the explosion and fragmentation of industrial research in the fifth essay in a series on how the past 150 years have shaped today’s science system, marking Nature’s anniversary.

How did data get so big? Through political, social and economic interests, shows Sabina Leonelli, in the fourth essay on how the past 150 years have shaped the science system, marking Nature’s anniversary.

Biological advances have repeatedly changed who we think we are, writes Nathaniel Comfort, in the third essay of a series marking Nature’s anniversary on how the past 150 years have shaped science today.

Shellen Wu traces the rise of the dominant force in science, in the second of a series of essays on the ways in which the past 150 years have shaped today’s research system, marking Nature’s anniversary.

People can get a false sense of security from flimsy gauze, and linger too long outdoors in toxic air, argue Wei Huang and Lidia Morawska.

Virtual models boost smart manufacturing by simulating decisions and optimization, from design to operations, explain Fei Tao and Qinglin Qi.

David Kaiser traces the roots of government support for science, in the first of a series of essays on how the past 150 years have shaped the research system, marking Nature’s 150th anniversary.