Featured
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News |
‘Milestone’ discovery as JWST confirms atmosphere on an Earth-like exoplanet
55 Cancri e is too hot to support life as we know it, but could provide clues about Earth’s formation.
- Sumeet Kulkarni
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Article |
Venus water loss is dominated by HCO+ dissociative recombination
Water loss to space late in Venus history is shown to be more active than previously thought, with unmeasured HCO+ dissociative recombination dominating present-day H loss.
- M. S. Chaffin
- , E. M. Cangi
- & H. Gröller
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News |
China’s Chang’e-6 launched successfully — what happens next?
Scientists have high hopes for the first mission to collect rocks from the far side of the Moon.
- Ling Xin
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News Q&A |
The science of 3 Body Problem: what’s fact and what’s fiction?
Nature spoke to the sci-fi programme’s adviser and two other researchers about the portrayal of PhD scientists and their technologies.
- Sumeet Kulkarni
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News |
What China’s mission to collect rocks from the Moon’s far side could reveal
The Chang’e-6 mission aims to land in the Moon’s oldest and largest crater, where it will collect rocks to bring back to Earth.
- Ling Xin
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News |
China's Moon atlas is the most detailed ever made
The Geologic Atlas of the Lunar Globe doubles the resolution of Apollo-era maps and will support the space ambitions of China and other countries.
- Ling Xin
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News Feature |
The Maldives is racing to create new land. Why are so many people concerned?
The island nation is expanding its territory by dredging up sediment from the ocean floor. But scientists, former government officials and activists say such reclamation can harm marine ecosystems and make the country more vulnerable to rising seas.
- Jesse Chase-Lubitz
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Nature Podcast |
How gliding marsupials got their ‘wings’
Researchers find the genetic mutations that allow some marsupials to soar, and an ultra-accurate clock is put through its paces on the high seas.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Elizabeth Gibney
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Correspondence |
The Middle East’s largest hypersaline lake risks turning into an environmental disaster zone
- Alireza Mohammadi
- , Ali Azareh
- & Moslem Sharifinia
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News |
Violent volcanoes have wracked Jupiter’s moon Io for billions of years
Understanding the volcanic moon’s history could offer fresh insights into conditions on early Earth.
- Sarah Wild
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News |
Nearly half of China’s major cities are sinking — some ‘rapidly’
Tens of millions of people in the country’s coastal lands might find their homes below sea level by 2120 owing to sinking and sea-level rise.
- Xiaoying You
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News |
NASA admits plan to bring Mars rocks to Earth won’t work — and seeks fresh ideas
The agency’s head calls the current plan for delivering samples collected by the Perseverance rover ‘too expensive’ and its schedule ‘unacceptable’.
- Sumeet Kulkarni
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Research Briefing |
Artificial intelligence can provide accurate forecasts of extreme floods at global scale
Anthropogenic climate change is accelerating the hydrological cycle, causing an increase in the risk of flood-related disasters. A system that uses artificial intelligence allows the creation of reliable, global river flood forecasts, even in places where accurate local data are not available.
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News |
Taiwan hit by biggest earthquake in 25 years: why scientists weren’t surprised
A complex network of faults lies in the area that experienced the earthquake, and more shocks are expected.
- Gemma Conroy
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News |
This super-Earth is the first planet confirmed to have a permanent dark side
Convincing evidence of 1:1 tidal locking had been absent until a new analysis of the exoplanet LHS 3844b.
- Joseph Howlett
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Correspondence |
Don’t underestimate the rising threat of groundwater to coastal cities
- Daniel J. Rozell
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News |
Planet-eating stars hint at hidden chaos in the Milky Way
A handful of middle-aged stars seem to have gobbled up a planet, challenging assumptions about the stability of such systems.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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Correspondence |
‘Global swimways’ on free-flowing rivers will protect key migratory fish species
- Twan Stoffers
- , Catherine A. Sayer
- & Fengzhi He
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World View |
Climate models can’t explain 2023’s huge heat anomaly — we could be in uncharted territory
Taking into account all known factors, the planet warmed 0.2 °C more last year than climate scientists expected. More and better data are urgently needed.
- Gavin Schmidt
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News |
Is the Mars rover’s rock collection worth $11 billion?
Budget woes force NASA to reassess Perseverance’s travel plan, and seek cheaper ways of getting samples back to Earth.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Did ‘alien’ debris hit Earth? Startling claim sparks row at scientific meeting
Astrophysicist Avi Loeb says that an interstellar meteor showered Earth with particles. At a planetary-science conference this week, researchers begged to differ.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article
| Open AccessA rapidly time-varying equatorial jet in Jupiter’s deep interior
An axisymmetric, equatorial jet in Jupiter’s interior has a wavelike fluctuation with a 4-year period, revealing hidden aspects of the magnetic field within the metallic hydrogen region and constraining the dynamo that generates the magnetic field.
- Jeremy Bloxham
- , Hao Cao
- & Scott J. Bolton
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News |
Private Moon lander is dying — it scored some wins for science
The Odysseus spacecraft gathered data successfully from the lunar surface.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article
| Open AccessThe Dimorphos ejecta plume properties revealed by LICIACube
Dimorphos ejecta plume properties were revealed by the observations from the LICIACube cube satellite, which was deployed 15 days in advance of the impact of DART.
- E. Dotto
- , J. D. P. Deshapriya
- & M. Zannoni
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News |
Japanese Moon-lander unexpectedly survives the lunar night
Its engineers never gave up hope, but the Moon-lander continues to beat the odds.
- Ling Xin
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News |
Earthquakes are most deadly in these unexpected countries
Haiti and Turkmenistan are among the nations with the highest earthquake fatality load, a measure of the burden imposed by quake-related deaths.
- Sumeet Kulkarni
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News |
First private Moon lander touches down on lunar surface to make history
After a nail-biting descent, the Odysseus spacecraft has landed near the lunar south pole and prepares to kick off a week of data gathering.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Private Moon launch a success! But will the craft land safely on the lunar surface?
Anxiety is high as the company Intuitive Machines takes its first crack at a touchdown.
- Alexandra Witze
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Where I Work |
I listen to the sounds this remote wetland makes to learn its rhythms
Peter Chatanga uses weeks-long audio recordings to build a picture of biodiversity in Lesotho’s crucial wetlands.
- Linda Nordling
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News Explainer |
How to test a Moon landing from Earth
The world is racing to land on the Moon. How do space agencies and commercial companies test their landers ahead of time?
- Jatan Mehta
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News & Views |
Mimas’s surprise ocean prompts an update of the rule book for moons
The shifting orbit of one of Saturn’s moons indicates that the satellite has a subsurface ocean, contradicting theories that its interior is entirely solid. The finding calls for a fresh take on what constitutes an ocean moon.
- Matija Ćuk
- & Alyssa Rose Rhoden
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Article |
A recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon Mimas
An analysis of the orbital motion of Saturn’s moon Mimas shows that a recently formed global subsurface ocean lies beneath its cratered icy shell and that this ocean is probably still evolving.
- V. Lainey
- , N. Rambaux
- & K. Baillié
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News |
The Solar System has a new ocean — it’s buried in a small Saturn moon
The sea inside Saturn’s satellite Mimas formed in the past 25 million years, a blink of the eye in geological terms.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Near death experience — Japan’s Moon lander makes a comeback
After nine days in a state of suspension, the upside-down Moon lander has received enough sunlight to start operating again.
- Gemma Conroy
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News |
First aircraft to fly on Mars dies — but leaves a legacy of science
The record-setting Mars helicopter Ingenuity broke during a final, fatal flight.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Japan’s successful Moon landing was the most precise ever
Landing within 100 metres of its target zone, the craft has pioneered a new image-based automatic navigation system. But its mission might be cut short.
- Ling Xin
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Article
| Open AccessSulfur dioxide in the mid-infrared transmission spectrum of WASP-39b
Observations from the JWST MIRI/LRS show the detection of SO2 spectral features in the 5–12-μm transmission spectrum of the hot, Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b, suggesting that photochemistry is a key process in high-temperature exoplanet atmospheres.
- Diana Powell
- , Adina D. Feinstein
- & Sergei N. Yurchenko
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World View |
Stop sending human remains to the Moon
The Peregrine lander was due to deposit several people’s ashes on the Moon. The Navajo Nation is calling for broader discussion.
- Alvin D. Harvey
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Nature Podcast |
The science stories you missed over the holiday period
We highlight some of the Nature Briefing’s stories from the end of 2023, including a polar bear fur-inspired sweater, efforts to open OSIRIS-REx’s sample canister, and a dinosaur’s last dinner.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Noah Baker
- & Flora Graham
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News |
Mission failure feared for private US Moon lander — what’s next?
Astrobotic, the firm that launched the Peregrine spacecraft, says it will learn from any missteps and look ahead to its next attempt.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Private US Moon mission launches — will it open a new era for science?
Astrobotic could be the first commercial firm to successfully deliver research equipment to the lunar surface, if it sticks the landing.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Explainer |
Japan earthquakes: the science behind the deadly tremors
A massive quake that triggered tsunamis, fires and multiple aftershocks was the largest on the country’s west coast in more than a century.
- Gemma Conroy
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Outlook |
The human factor in water disasters
Decisions about land use and infrastructure have left little space for water, amplifying the effects of natural disasters and climate change.
- Erica Gies
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News |
Korean lunar mission provides a view into the Moon’s dark spaces
South Korea’s first trip to the Moon has been labelled a success.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Feature |
The engineer who helped India to reach the Moon
Kalpana Kalahasti had a crucial role in ensuring Chandrayaan-3’s triumphant touchdown on the Moon.
- Jatan Mehta
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Article |
A unified explanation for the morphology of raised peatlands
Physical analysis of processes universal to raised peatlands produces an equation that explains their morphology and carbon storage across biomes, from Alaska to New Zealand.
- Alexander R. Cobb
- , René Dommain
- & Charles F. Harvey
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News |
‘Head-scratcher’: first look at asteroid dust brought to Earth offers surprises
Researchers have begun examining the pristine space rocks collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission.
- Alexandra Witze
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