Featured
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News |
India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks — experts are baffled
Nature has learnt that the periodic table, as well as evolution, won’t be taught to under-16s as they start the new school year.
- Dyani Lewis
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Editorial |
Why is India dropping evolution and the periodic table from school science?
India’s curriculum body needs to explain why it has removed foundational topics from school textbooks.
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News |
Turkey’s researchers fear loss of freedom after Erdoğan re-elected
Researchers expect the administration to further restrict autonomy and free speech. Some say they will move away or retire.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Career Feature |
Why scientists should be part of conversations about decolonizing humanities
Sociologist Meghan Tinsley calls for a two-way dialogue about making university curricula more inclusive.
- Audrey Thompson
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Career Feature |
Decolonizing the humanities: striving to make the arts and media more diverse
For many students from under-represented backgrounds, the career pipeline into creative industries is blocked. Karen Patel leads an initiative to help fix it.
- Audrey Thompson
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Career Column |
Equity is more than a buzzword
Departments and principal investigators must do the hard, uncomfortable work to cultivate truly inclusive, safe environments, says Ashley Paynter.
- Ashley Paynter
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Editorial |
Encourage whistle-blowing: how universities can help to resolve research’s mental-health crisis
Low pay, job insecurity, bullying and harassment all contribute to academic researchers reporting above-average levels of anxiety and depression. Institutions can improve working environments by looking at best practice elsewhere.
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Career Feature |
How mixing academia and industry opens doors in graduate school and beyond
A growing number of PhD programmes and postdoc positions combine academic questions and industry resources.
- Freda Kreier
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News & Views |
Changes in education levels across generations in Africa are linked to religion
Census data from across Africa reveal that religion is a strong predictor of whether a child is likely to complete more or less education than their parents. The analysis calls into question current approaches to closing education gaps.
- Melina R. Platas
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News |
Turkey’s landmark election: researchers urge winner to abolish university council
Opposition alliance agrees it’s time for military-era council to go. Governing party silent on calls to axe body with the power to hire and fire academics.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Technology Feature |
How Latin America’s genomics revolution began — and why the field is under threat
The sequencing of two bacterial species created a legacy that could be at risk without further investment, warn the region’s genomic leaders.
- Carrie Arnold
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News |
India opens its doors to first foreign universities
India is aiming to boost research through international recognition of qualifications and welcoming foreign universities.
- Dyani Lewis
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Career News |
Academics fight moves to defund diversity programmes at US universities
Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida wage war on ‘woke’ projects, with other US states threatening similar clampdowns.
- Virginia Gewin
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Nature Index |
Freeing up Japan’s PhD potential
Better prospects are needed in universities and industry to make the most of valuable talent.
- Ayuko Hoshino
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Correspondence |
Universities without walls: global trend v. Ukraine’s reality
- Yana Suchikova
- & Natalia Tsybuliak
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News |
Where infectious diseases erupt, and more — this week’s best science graphics
Three charts from the world of research, selected by Nature editors.
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News |
COVID school closures cost children one-third of a year’s learning
A sustained catch-up effort is needed to help students to recover lost skills and knowledge.
- Miryam Naddaf
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News |
UK universities report sharp post-Brexit drop in EU students
The 2021–22 academic year saw a 53% fall in the number of first-year EU students enrolling at British universities.
- Freda Kreier
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Technology Feature |
‘Arms race with automation’: professors fret about AI-generated coursework
Instructors are rethinking student assignments to tackle an anticipated surge in bogus essays, a Nature poll finds.
- Amanda Heidt
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World View |
Preprint review should form part of PhD programmes and postdoc training
Institutions owe it to young researchers to prepare them for careers outside academia. Preprint review is a perfect opportunity.
- Richard Sever
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Career Q&A |
How coaching could help tackle toxic research cultures
Simon Kay wants to use his newly acquired skills as a life and leadership coach to improve how science is led and managed.
- Linda Nordling
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Career Feature |
Classroom assistance: the scientists turning the tools of their trade to education
A small but growing number of scientific faculty positions are focusing on the science of teaching.
- Amber Dance
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News |
Climate-change content shrinks in US university textbooks
Sections on climate change have become shorter and moved farther back in biology textbooks since the 2000s.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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Career News |
International students are returning to the United States, but will that last?
Enrolments are on the rise, despite longer-term concerns about rising costs and political tensions.
- Virginia Gewin
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News Explainer |
AI bot ChatGPT writes smart essays — should professors worry?
The bot is free for now and can produce uncannily natural, well-referenced writing in response to homework questions.
- Chris Stokel-Walker
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Career News |
Are your students using AI to write papers? Take Nature’s poll
Artificial-intelligence tools are becoming increasingly adept at autogenerating text, raising concerns around authorship and research integrity. How is your institution addressing the issue?
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Career Feature |
‘Beyond anything I could have imagined’: graduate students speak out about racism
Bias and discrimination are rife in master’s and PhD programmes worldwide, a Nature survey finds.
- Chris Woolston
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Career Feature |
Institutions must acknowledge the racist roots in science
Funders and universities should move beyond talk to actions.
- Virginia Gewin
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Book Review |
How science museums can use their power
A trawl through exhibition halls and storage rooms reveals a drive to do better.
- Anna Novitzky
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Career Feature |
‘Intellectual challenge’: master’s students find reasons to be satisfied with their degree programmes
Graduate scholars are eager to launch their careers, eschewing the years of further study required for doctoral degrees.
- Chris Woolston
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Correspondence |
Linked research hubs train students to tackle societal challenges
- Michael Y. Schakelaar
- , Quique Bassat
- & Niels Bovenschen
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Career Feature |
Obstacle race: the barriers facing graduates who study abroad
Visa woes and a lack of career prospects affect many international students, Nature’s survey finds.
- Chris Woolston
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Career Feature |
Are divisive US politics repelling international early-career scientists?
Gun violence, the high cost of living and health care, abortion bans and racial tensions raise concerns for scientists who choose to further their careers abroad.
- Virginia Gewin
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Career Feature |
‘I don’t want this kind of life’: graduate students question career options
As interest in academia fades, scholars in PhD and master’s programmes are dubious about the value of their degree in advancing their professional lives, finds Nature survey.
- Chris Woolston
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Career Q&A |
How a passion for research could hinder your career and exacerbate inequities in science
Engineer-turned-sociologist Erin Cech describes how she coined the term ‘passion principle’, which challenges the belief that people should love their jobs.
- Jacqui Thornton
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Editorial |
The scandal of researchers paid less than a living wage
The cost-of-living crisis is a fundamental threat for PhD scholars and early-career researchers. They need to be paid properly.
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Career Feature |
‘Not even enough money for food’: graduate students face cash crunch
The cost-of-living crisis is causing widespread financial distress among those in master’s and PhD programmes worldwide.
- Chris Woolston
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Career Feature |
Stress and uncertainty drag down graduate students’ satisfaction
Scholars in PhD and master’s programmes struggle with securing work–life balance and support around career training and mental health, finds Nature survey.
- Chris Woolston
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News |
COVID derailed polar research projects. Here’s how students have coped
Disruption from the pandemic forced graduate students to find innovative workarounds — and some changes might stick.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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Nature Careers Podcast |
Burnout and breakdowns: how mid-career scientists can protect themselves
Trying to achieve a perfect work–life balance is a misguided strategy at the mid-career stage, Julie Gould discovers.
- Julie Gould
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Career Feature |
Community science draws on the power of the crowd
Participatory-science projects bring amateurs and experts together to collect and crunch data, and even design research.
- Amber Dance
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Correspondence |
Fieldwork: institutions can make it more ethical
- Laura E. Picot
- & Catherine Fallon Grasham
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News & Views |
From the archive: pollution link to mental health, and museum envy
Snippets from Nature’s past.