Featured
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News Q&A |
Exposing Sahara science in the shadow of terrorism
Geologist Stefan Kröpelin's expedition to the Sahara desert will skirt areas of political instability and rumoured ISIS training camps.
- Quirin Schiermeier
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Books & Arts |
Books in brief
Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week's best science picks.
- Barbara Kiser
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Comment |
Human adaptation: Manage climate-induced resettlement
Governments need research and guidelines to help them to move towns and villages threatened by global warming, argue David López-Carr and Jessica Marter-Kenyon.
- David López-Carr
- & Jessica Marter-Kenyon
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News |
China predicted to outspend the US on science by 2020
Overview of world R&D spending shows China rising and other countries narrowing the gap with major powers.
- Barbara Casassus
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Outlook |
Rice by the numbers: A good grain
Millions of people around the world rely on rice as the bulk of their daily diet. This snapshot of the crop's production, consumption and trade shows an overall surplus, but population growth in future decades may affect the situation, writes Emily Elert.
- Emily Elert
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News |
World population unlikely to stop growing this century
Baby boom in Africa set to push global population as high as 12 billion by the year 2100, study finds.
- Quirin Schiermeier
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News |
Switzerland braces for Alpine lake tsunami
Authorities in Swiss canton blaze a trail by factoring the risk into hazard planning.
- Laura Spinney
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News Q&A |
Take a virtual voyage into Darwin's library
A science historian describes how he reconstructed the collection of texts the naturalist used aboard the HMS Beagle.
- Anna Simmonds
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News |
Avalanche hotspot revealed
Study of disaster-prone Russian islands underscores perils of colonizing unfamiliar terrains.
- Jane Qiu
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Comment |
Society: Realizing China's urban dream
Local implementation and public scrutiny will make or break the government's urbanization strategy, say Xuemei Bai, Peijun Shi and Yansui Liu.
- Xuemei Bai
- , Peijun Shi
- & Yansui Liu
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News |
Two-hundred-year drought doomed Indus Valley Civilization
Monsoon hiatus that began 4,200 years ago parallels dry spell that led civilizations to collapse in other regions.
- Emma Marris
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News |
Marine reserves planned around commercial interests
Australia's seas tend to be set aside only where mining and fishing are not affected, study warns.
- Daniel Cressey
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News |
Polar drilling problems revealed
Report into failings of expedition to explore Antarctic lake finds equipment to blame — but complications can be fixed.
- Quirin Schiermeier
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Correspondence |
Storm-surge impact depends on setting
- Thomas Spencer
- , Susan M. Brooks
- & Iris Möller
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News |
Charismatic mammals can help guide conservation
Formula combines flagship species with lesser-known groups to measure value of hotspots.
- Emma Marris
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Career Brief |
International impact
Mobile scientists perform better than those who stay in their home nation.
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Q&A |
Turning point: Molly Brown
Earth scientist tackles societal problems using an interdisciplinary approach.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
Crowdsourcing goes mainstream in typhoon response
Relief agencies tapped online volunteers to map damage in stricken areas of the Philippines.
- Declan Butler
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Correspondence |
Safeguard species in warming flatlands
- Josef Settele
- , Ingolf Kühn
- & Jeremy A. Thomas
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News |
Britain ponders scrapping 200-year-old census
Potential overhaul would yield surveys that are more frequent but less detailed.
- Daniel Cressey
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News |
Poorest Costa Ricans live longest
Biological markers confirm unusually slow ageing regardless of wealth, at least in one population.
- Jo Marchant