World View |
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News |
COVID vaccines have higher approval in less-affluent countries
Surveys show that people in ten low- and middle-income nations are generally more eager to receive the COVID-19 jab than are people in two wealthier nations where vaccine is plentiful.
- Max Kozlov
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Editorial |
Vulnerable nations lead by example on Sustainable Development Goals research
A United Nations study of world science is a wake-up call that richer countries must also shift science towards the SDGs.
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Correspondence |
Africa: renewables infrastructure avoids stranded assets
- Zhanyun Wang
- & Miriam Diamond
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Correspondence |
Cameroon: doubt could mean vaccine doses expire
- Amani Adidja
- , Yap Boum
- & Pierre Ongolo-Zogo
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Career Column |
Meaningful collaborations can end ‘helicopter research’
Instead of flying in, collecting samples and leaving, scientists should treat local people as partners, and think fair instead of charitable when it comes to authorship.
- Fernanda Adame
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Where I Work |
Shell shock: a biologist’s quest to save the endangered painted snail
Bernardo Reyes-Tur aims to unravel the mating mysteries of Cuba’s imperilled Polymita.
- Kendall Powell
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Where I Work |
Fighting food insecurity with CRISPR at Zimbabwe’s first private research institute
Molecular biophysicist Brighton Samatanga hopes to develop crops resistant to drought and pests.
- Abdullahi Tsanni
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Comment |
Count the cost of disability caused by COVID-19
Focusing only on cases and deaths hides the pandemic’s lasting health burden on people, societies and economies.
- Andrew Briggs
- & Anna Vassall
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Technology Feature |
How waste water is helping South Africa fight COVID-19
Detecting the coronavirus in samples from treatment plants could give early warning of outbreaks and new variants.
- Heather Richardson
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Article
| Open AccessThe nutritional quality of cereals varies geospatially in Ethiopia and Malawi
Geospatial variation in the micronutrient composition (calcium, iron, selenium and zinc) of staple cereal grains is nutritionally important at subnational scales in Ethiopia and Malawi; these data could be used to improve surveillance of micronutrient deficiencies in the region.
- D. Gashu
- , P. C. Nalivata
- & M. R. Broadley
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Technology Feature |
Smartphone science: apps test and track infectious diseases
The prevalence, power and portability of smartphones make them valuable tools for pathogen monitoring and citizen science.
- Sandeep Ravindran
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Nature Podcast |
Meet the inflatable, origami-inspired structures
The self-supporting structures that snap into place, and how a ban on fossil-fuel funding could entrench poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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World View |
Blanket bans on fossil-fuel funds will entrench poverty
Africa needs reliable energy infrastructure, not rich-world hypocrisy.
- Vijaya Ramachandran
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Comment |
More floods, fires and cyclones — plan for domino effects on sustainability goals
Without new models, better metrics and more investment, cascades of extreme events could derail the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
- Markus Reichstein
- , Felix Riede
- & Dorothea Frank
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Editorial |
Net-zero carbon pledges must be meaningful to avert climate disaster
More countries are pledging to achieve carbon neutrality. They must now show how they plan to do this.
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Editorial |
It’s time to consider a patent reprieve for COVID vaccines
The pandemic is not a competition between companies and will not end without more-equal distribution of coronavirus vaccines.
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Where I Work |
Engineering a brighter future for refugees and female scientists in Uganda
Dorothy Okello teaches computing to displaced people, and launches programmes to get more women into science, technology and business.
- Sara Moraca
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Article
| Open AccessMeasuring human capital using global learning data
Analyses of a global database reveal that in many developing countries progress in learning remains limited despite increasing enrolment in primary and secondary education, and uncover links between human capital and economic development.
- Noam Angrist
- , Simeon Djankov
- & Harry A. Patrinos
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Editorial |
The UN Environment Programme needs new powers
Fifty years after its creation, the agency’s member states must agree to be held accountable for their green promises.
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World View |
Rich countries should tithe their vaccines
Game theory suggests that donating doses can help nations of all income levels.
- Gavin Yamey
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Editorial |
The world’s largest radio telescope should open its skies to all
The Square Kilometre Array must invite the best ideas from around the globe to help it probe astronomy’s deepest questions.
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Career Q&A |
How to put societal impact at the heart of your research
Global-health researcher Joshua Vogel describes challenges in maternal and newborn health and how to translate research into practice.
- Nikki Forrester
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Editorial |
Global climate action needs trusted finance data
An agreed system for measuring funding of green projects in poorer nations will be vital to achieving action on climate change in 2021.
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News & Views |
Precise mapping reveals gaps in global measles vaccination coverage
Precise maps of routine first-dose measles vaccinations show slowing progress around the world between 2010 and 2019, and large gaps in coverage in many places. Many countries are unlikely to achieve global 2020 coverage targets.
- C. Edson Utazi
- & Andrew J. Tatem
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Correspondence |
What counts as climate finance? Define urgently
- Romain Weikmans
- , J. Timmons Roberts
- & Stacy-ann Robinson
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News |
Snakebite steals millions of years of quality life in India
New data provide first estimate of the toll that snakebites take on survivors.
- Carrie Arnold
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Editorial |
UNESCO must reform to stay relevant — and reconnect people through science
At 75, the UN agency with a focus on science cooperation is fighting for its future role.
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Technology Feature |
How DIY technologies are democratizing science
Open science and 3D printing are making it easier than ever for researchers to embrace do-it-yourself lab tools.
- Sandeep Ravindran
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World View |
What if tropical diseases had as much attention as COVID?
As the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to erode huge gains against much more devastating infections, I look for silver linings.
- Francine Ntoumi
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Comment |
Redesign open science for Asia, Africa and Latin America
Researchers in many countries need custom-built systems to do robust and transparent science.
- Sandersan Onie
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World View |
Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya face devastating drought
The next rainy season in East Africa is forecast to fail, jeopardizing food security for millions of people. Act now.
- Chris Funk
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Outlook |
Pandemic of hunger
COVID-19 is straining African food security, but also presents an opportunity for change.
- Linda Nordling
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Comment |
COVID-19 vaccines: how to ensure Africa has access
History must not repeat itself — global and continental cooperation are essential.
- John N. Nkengasong
- , Nicaise Ndembi
- & Tajudeen Raji
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Article |
Local exposure to inequality raises support of people of low wealth for taxing the wealthy
Local exposure to inequality in low-income areas is positively associated with support for a tax on wealthier individuals to address economic disparities.
- Melissa L. Sands
- & Daniel de Kadt
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News |
India will supply coronavirus vaccines to the world — will its people benefit?
The country will struggle to make and distribute enough doses to control its own massive outbreak, scientists say.
- Gayathri Vaidyanathan
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News |
Africa declared free from wild polio — but vaccine-derived strains remain
No new cases of wild poliovirus have been recorded on the continent since 2016, but other types of the virus persist.
- Giorgia Guglielmi
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Editorial |
Why locusts congregate in billion-strong swarms — and how to stop them
Researchers are starting to understand the behaviour of insects ravaging parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. This work must be furthered, funded and field-tested.
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Comment |
Cities: build networks and share plans to emerge stronger from COVID-19
Responses to the pandemic in India’s slums, Brazil’s favelas and Africa’s marketplaces show that networks play a crucial part in making cities more resilient. Let’s enhance and empower them.
- Xuemei Bai
- , Harini Nagendra
- & Haiyan Liu
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News |
Brazilian lawmakers in showdown to double science budget
President Jair Bolsonaro has threatened deep cuts to research budgets — now scientists hope legislation will give them protected funds.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Editorial |
How to stop COVID-19 fuelling a resurgence of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis
A focus on the coronavirus has disrupted detection and treatment of other infectious diseases. Governments and funders can do four things to avert a catastrophe.
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Comment |
Averting hunger in sub-Saharan Africa requires data and synthesis
As the United Nations warns of famine on a scale not seen in 50 years, researchers must help to build agile, inclusive data collection and analysis to inform agricultural policy.
- Jaron Porciello
- , Hale Ann Tufan
- & Ronnie Coffman
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Article |
New Guinea has the world’s richest island flora
A catalogue of the vascular flora of New Guinea indicates that this island is the most floristically diverse in the world, and that 68% of the species identified are endemic to New Guinea.
- Rodrigo Cámara-Leret
- , David G. Frodin
- & Peter C. van Welzen
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Career Column |
How African scientists can give back to their home continent
Rafiou Agoro’s early-career experiences in France and the United States inspired him to mentor colleagues in Africa and those whose careers also took them overseas.
- Rafiou Agoro
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News |
Ebola prepared these countries for coronavirus — but now even they are floundering
In Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the hard-won lessons of a deadly pandemic cannot entirely compensate for poverty and weak health systems.
- Amy Maxmen
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Career Column |
Four ways to build your network without attending a conference
AuthorAID, LinkedIn and WeChat can help to plug the connections gap when events get cancelled, says Edmond Sanganyado.
- Edmond Sanganyado