Outlook |
Featured
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Nature Podcast |
Our ancestors lost nearly 99% of their population, 900,000 years ago
A roundup of stories from the Nature Briefing, including how human ancestors came close to extinction, historic pollution in Antarctica, and the AI that predicts smell from a compound's structure.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Dan Fox
- & Shamini Bundell
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Book Review |
Dust: how the pursuit of power and profit has turned the world to powder
From atmospheric nuclear testing to the US Dust Bowl, human activities have left a toxic legacy of particulate pollution — and the unseen fallout continues to this day.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
How would room-temperature superconductors change science?
The prized materials could be transformative for research — but only if they have other essential qualities.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Career Q&A |
Biotechnologist’s long-life bananas unite business and social solutions
George William Byarugaba Bazirake brings academic values to his company.
- Christopher Bendana
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Research Highlight |
Which graduate students gain patents? Gender holds an answer
PhD students with supervisors who are prolific inventors have an edge, as do male students.
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Nature Video |
AI finally beats humans at a real-life sport — drone racing
The new system combines simulation with onboard sensing and computation.
- Dan Fox
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Nature Podcast |
Physicists finally observe strange isotope Oxygen 28 – raising fundamental questions
The long-sought finding challenges scientists' understanding of the strong nuclear force, and the AI that can beat human champions at drone racing.
- Dan Fox
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Correspondence |
Neurotechnology: we need new laws, not new rights
- Sjors Ligthart
- , Christoph Bublitz
- & Susie Alegre
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Nature Video |
Mind-reading computers turn brain activity into speech
Algorithms trained to associate sounds with neural activity can give people back their voice
- Shamini Bundell
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Career Feature |
‘Gagged and blindsided’: how an allegation of research misconduct affected our lab
Bioengineer Ram Sasisekharan describes the impact of a four-year investigation by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which ultimately cleared him.
- Anne Gulland
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Spotlight |
Why scientists are delving into the virtual world
Virtual-reality software and headsets are increasingly being used by researchers to form deeper collaborations or work remotely.
- Rachael Pells
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News |
If AI becomes conscious: here’s how researchers will know
A checklist derived from six neuroscience-based theories of consciousness could aid in the assessment.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Nature Podcast |
Brain-reading implants turn thoughts into speech
Two studies demonstrate how brain-computer interfaces could help people to communicate, and working out how hot it can get before tropical leaves start to die.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Correspondence |
Digital tech: some way to go for IPCC-style governance
- Sean T. Norton
- & Jacob N. Shapiro
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Career Q&A |
Leveraging my training in space medicine for technological innovation
Shawna Pandya explores entrepreneurial niches to bring virtual-reality medicine to space exploration.
- Lesley Evans Ogden
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Career Feature |
How to make the leap into industry after a PhD
Landing that first job in industry requires planning, homework and networking — and a bit of soul-searching.
- Spoorthy Raman
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News Feature |
Rules to keep AI in check: nations carve different paths for tech regulation
A guide to how China, the EU and the US are reining in artificial intelligence.
- Matthew Hutson
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News |
How the ‘groundbreaking’ Henrietta Lacks settlement could change research
Thermo Fisher Scientific and Lacks’s family reach a deal over the unethical use of her cells.
- Anil Oza
- & Mariana Lenharo
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World View |
I’ve witnessed the wonders of the deep sea. Mining could destroy them
Deep-sea mining could wreck more than just the ocean floor in ways we have no idea how to repair.
- Beth N. Orcutt
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News Feature |
ChatGPT broke the Turing test — the race is on for new ways to assess AI
Large language models mimic human chatter, but scientists disagree on their ability to reason.
- Celeste Biever
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News |
Mind-reading machines are coming — how can we keep them in check?
Devices that can record and change brain activity will create privacy issues that challenge existing human-rights legislation, say researchers.
- Liam Drew
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Editorial |
The global fight for critical minerals is costly and damaging
Elements such as rare-earth metals are crucial for the clean-energy transition. Sustainability, equity and security are all at risk in the rush to break China’s dominance over their production.
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Nature Podcast |
Disrupting snail food-chain curbs parasitic disease in Senegal
Intervention against schistosomiasis also shows agricultural and economic benefits, and the successful launch of India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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Comment |
How to build a circular economy for rare-earth elements
Rare-earth elements that are crucial for clean-energy technologies are jealously fought over. Policies and programmes to encourage recycling and recovery could reduce tensions.
- Yong Geng
- , Joseph Sarkis
- & Raimund Bleischwitz
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News Feature |
Lab-grown meat: the science of turning cells into steaks and nuggets
Companies making cultured meat are attracting billions of dollars of investment. Here are their biggest challenges.
- Nicola Jones
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News Feature |
Fungi bacon and insect burgers: a guide to the proteins of the future
Humanity needs to eat less meat. Here are seven alternatives.
- Nicola Jones
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Comment |
COVID-19 digital contact tracing worked — heed the lessons for future pandemics
For all the controversy over decentralized contact-tracing apps, data show that these privacy-preserving tools saved thousands of lives during the pandemic. National and international authorities must invest in the technology now.
- Marcel Salathé
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: ‘Almost magical’ — chemists can now move single atoms in and out of a molecule’s core
Methods to insert, swap or delete atoms in the backbones of molecules could transform medicinal chemistry.
- Mark Peplow
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Outlook |
Robots need better batteries
As mobile machines travel farther from the grid, they’ll need lightweight and efficient power sources.
- Jeff Hecht
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Obituary |
John Bannister Goodenough, battery pioneer (1922–2023)
Materials scientist and Nobel laureate who invented the rechargeable lithium batteries used in electric cars and phones.
- Bill David
- & Michael Thackeray
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Career Q&A |
No drug for COVID: ‘the most successful failure in my life’
Laura Walker co-founded a spin-off company, but she moved to big pharma after the therapy the firm had been testing came to nothing. She explains why.
- Rachel Brazil
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Where I Work |
Helping to protect elephants — using software
Jes Lefcourt aims to guard African wildlife by creating a real-time tracking software.
- Hannah Docter-Loeb
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Career Q&A |
Women in engineering: giving Porsche 911s the ‘ultimate’ makeover
As a child, Imogen Howarth enjoyed solving problems and playing with cars. Now, she helps to redesign a classic and acts as a role model for aspiring female engineers.
- Jacqui Thornton
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News Feature |
War shattered Ukrainian science — its rebirth is now taking shape
The war is far from over but Ukraine’s government is already considering how to build back — and use the opportunity to move on from a Soviet-era system.
- Nisha Gaind
- & Layal Liverpool
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News |
Tiny spinning robots sorted themselves into this beautiful pattern
The microbots help to explain how order arises in a disordered system — image of the week.
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Where I Work |
Teaching robots how to touch
Through better sensing, Yuhan Hu hopes to bring robots and humans closer together.
- James Mitchell Crow
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Obituary |
Gordon Moore (1929–2023)
Microchip entrepreneur and architect of Moore’s Law.
- Christophe Lécuyer
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Career Q&A |
Pay, perks and culture shocks: a toolkit for scientists moving to industry
Don’t underestimate the steep learning curve involved when you switch sectors, says Jonathan Bowen.
- Anne Gulland
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Nature Podcast |
What IBM’s result means for quantum computing
A test case for practical applications of quantum computers, and how psychedelic drugs might make brains more malleable.
- Shamini Bundell
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Correspondence |
Europe: hold industry accountable for forever chemicals
- Muhammad Usman
- & Khalil Hanna
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Career News |
Are you a postdoc working in academia or industry? Share your career experiences with Nature
Our second global survey of postdoctoral researchers is now live, with new questions to reflect seismic changes to the world of work since 2020.
- David Payne
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Outlook |
Brain-zapping technology helps smokers to quit
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation is already approved to help people overcome addiction to cigarettes, but researchers still have a lot to learn about how to deliver the treatment effectively.
- Simon Makin
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News |
Arab world’s first asteroid hopper will visit seven space rocks
The UAE’s MBR Explorer aims to solve mystery of ultra-red celestial body in the asteroid belt beyond Mars.
- Miryam Naddaf
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News Feature |
‘Almost magical’: chemists can now move single atoms in and out of a molecule’s core
An explosion of skeletal editing methods to insert, delete or swap individual atoms in molecular backbones could accelerate drug discovery.
- Mark Peplow
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Nature Podcast |
AI identifies gene interactions to speed up search for treatment targets
How an AI overcomes data-scarcity to map gene networks, and assessing the impact of rocket noise on wildlife.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson