Featured
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Research Highlight |
How Venus keeps its cool
Earth’s planetary twin leaks heat into space from geologically active regions.
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Review Article |
Origin of life-forming volatile elements in the inner Solar System
The processes that distributed life-forming volatile elements throughout the early Solar System and how they then became incorporated into planetary building blocks are reviewed.
- Michael W. Broadley
- , David V. Bekaert
- & Bernard Marty
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Nature Podcast |
Flies can move their rigid, omnidirectional eyes — a little
The mysterious muscles that move flies’ retinas, and calls for militaries to report their climate emissions.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson
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News |
NASA spacecraft records epic ‘marsquakes’ as it prepares to die
InSight lander reports largest-ever meteorite strikes on Mars, and scientists wish it a fond farewell.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Highlight |
Heaviest metal yet found in exoplanet skies
Two super-hot planets have atmospheres laced with barium.
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Article |
Calcium dissolution in bridgmanite in the Earth’s deep mantle
Experiments show that calcium solubility in bridgmanite increases with depth in Earth’s lower mantle, resulting in the disappearance of CaSiO3 perovskite and indicating a transition from a two-perovskite to a single-perovskite domain.
- Byeongkwan Ko
- , Eran Greenberg
- & Sang-Heon Shim
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News Round-Up |
Asteroid diversion, economics Nobel and recycling plastics
The latest science news, in brief.
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News & Views |
From the archive: how spiders might turn accurately, and a sparkly meteor
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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News |
Renowned Arecibo telescope won’t be rebuilt — and astronomers are heartbroken
The US National Science Foundation has decided to instead open an educational centre at the site.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Smashing success: humanity has diverted an asteroid for the first time
NASA confirms that its DART spacecraft ‘nudged’ the asteroid Dimorphos into a new orbit.
- Rahul Rao
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Article |
Nd isotope variation between the Earth–Moon system and enstatite chondrites
Isotopic analysis reveals that the samarium/neodymium ratio of the Earth–Moon system is higher than that of chondrites, and that the neodymium composition of Earth is similar to that of enstatite chondrites.
- Shelby Johnston
- , Alan Brandon
- & Peter Copeland
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Editorial |
Deflecting asteroids is not enough — we need to know when they approach
After NASA’s DART asteroid-deflection experiment, a fully funded telescope for detecting space rocks is an equally pressing priority.
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News |
What do Nord Stream methane leaks mean for climate change?
Researchers are rushing to calculate the greenhouse-gas emissions resulting from mysterious leaks in major gas pipelines that connect Russia to Europe.
- Katharine Sanderson
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News |
Asteroid crash, COVID sleuths — the week in infographics
Nature highlights three key graphics from the week in science and research.
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News |
Fresh images reveal fireworks when NASA spacecraft ploughed into asteroid
Astronomers are ‘stoked’ as data pour in from the celestial crash.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article
| Open AccessLayered subsurface in Utopia Basin of Mars revealed by Zhurong rover radar
A ground-penetrating radar survey of Martian subsurface structure in a southern marginal area of Utopia Planitia constructed a detailed subsurface image profile showing a roughly 70-m-thick, multi-layered structure below regolith.
- Chao Li
- , Yikang Zheng
- & Fuyuan Wu
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News |
This spacecraft just smashed into an asteroid in an attempt to change its path
NASA’s DART mission is testing whether humanity could deflect a space rock if it were going to hit Earth.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
NASA’s Mars rover makes ‘fantastic’ find in search for past life
Perseverance has collected four rock samples from an ancient river delta where organisms might have thrived.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Highlight |
Giant stars turn to theft to snag jumbo planets
Jupiter-sized planets orbiting massive stars were probably stolen from other stars or captured from somewhere else.
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News Explainer |
Why NASA’s Artemis Moon launch is delayed — and what’s next
The mega rocket and capsule must wait until engineers can resolve tricky hydrogen leaks.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article
| Open AccessIdentification of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere
Transmission spectroscopy observations from the James Webb Space Telescope show the detection of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the gas giant exoplanet WASP-39b.
- Eva-Maria Ahrer
- , Lili Alderson
- & Sebastian Zieba
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News |
Webb telescope spots CO2 on exoplanet for first time: what it means for finding alien life
Report heralds what’s to come from the landmark observatory, which is set to explore 76 worlds during its first year.
- Shannon Hall
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News |
NASA’s Artemis Moon mission is set to launch: here’s the science on board
The most powerful rocket ever built will soon head for the Moon, carrying with it a trove of satellites and radiation experiments.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Round-Up |
Multicoloured Mars, drone delivery and dust-storm disease
The latest science news, in brief.
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Research Highlight |
Which glaciers are the biggest? Scientists finally have an answer
The world’s record holders are in Antarctica, regardless of how ‘glacier’ is defined.
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Research Highlight |
First space rock found inside Venus’s orbit — and it’s jumbo-sized
An asteroid that travels inside the orbit of Venus probably wandered there from further afield.
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Article |
Giant impacts and the origin and evolution of continents
Oxygen isotope compositions of dated magmatic zircon show that the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia, Earth’s best-preserved Archaean continental remnant, was built in three stages initiated by a giant meteorite impact.
- Tim E. Johnson
- , Christopher L. Kirkland
- & Michael I. H. Hartnady
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News |
‘Everybody is so excited’: South Korea set for first Moon mission
The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, or Danuri, has captivated scientists and the public.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News Round-Up |
Biggest bacterium, comet capture and growing deserts
The latest science news, in brief.
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: These six countries are about to go to the Moon
A multitude of missions are heading to the Moon — will they be successful?
- John Pickrell
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Article |
Hadean isotopic fractionation of xenon retained in deep silicates
An explanation of the Earth’s ‘missing Xe’ problem that involves multiple magma ocean stages combined with atmospheric loss is proposed.
- Igor Rzeplinski
- , Chrystèle Sanloup
- & Denis Horlait
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News |
The European space mission that plans to ambush a comet
Comet Interceptor will be first probe to be parked in space waiting for the ideal target — possibly one from outside the Solar System.
- Jonathan O'Callaghan
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News |
Burst of underwater explosions powered Tonga volcano eruption
Research expeditions find that the caldera’s collapse exposed huge amounts of hot magma to water.
- Jonathan O'Callaghan
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Nature Podcast |
Ancient 'giraffes' sported thick helmets for headbutting
A roundup of stories from the Nature Briefing, including the academics joining the ‘great resignation’, the latest on the Perseverance rover, and more.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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News |
NASA’s Perseverance rover begins key search for life on Mars
Rolling up an ancient river delta in Jezero Crater, the rover starts crucial rock sampling.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article |
Binarity of a protostar affects the evolution of the disk and planets
Binarity and multiplicity in general strongly affect the properties of emerging stars, as well as the physical and chemical structures of protoplanetary disks and therefore potentially any emerging planetary systems.
- Jes K. Jørgensen
- , Rajika L. Kuruwita
- & Edwin A. Bergin
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News Feature |
These six countries are about to go to the Moon — here’s why
Japan, South Korea, Russia, India, the United Arab Emirates and the United States aim to send missions to the Moon in the next year. But will they all make it?
- John Pickrell
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News Feature |
The $93-billion plan to put astronauts back on the Moon
The world’s most powerful rocket will make a trip around the Moon in 2022 — a step towards landing people there in 2025, and part of the US Artemis programme.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Highlight |
Carbon dioxide glaciers sculpted Martian south pole
Ice masses flowed into valleys and grew thick enough to remain frozen during warm spells.
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Article |
Early Solar System instability triggered by dispersal of the gaseous disk
Dynamical simulations of the early Solar System show that the giant planets’ instability was triggered by the dispersal of the Sun’s gaseous disk, constrained by astronomical observations to be a few to ten million years after the birth of the Solar System.
- Beibei Liu
- , Sean N. Raymond
- & Seth A. Jacobson
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News |
Next stop, Uranus? Icy planet tops priority list for next big NASA mission
Influential panel’s recommendation makes the ice giant a likely destination for a flagship space mission.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article |
UV absorption by silicate cloud precursors in ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-178b
Analysis is presented that indicates that there is strong evidence that SiO or Mg, the major constituents of silicate condensates, must be present in gaseous form in the atmosphere of ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-178b.
- Joshua D. Lothringer
- , David K. Sing
- & Autumn T. Winch
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Research Highlight |
Massive floodgates protect Venice — but damage natural areas
The barriers that shield the city of canals from rising sea levels have knock-on effects for local marshes.
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Research Briefing |
Snippets of the Martian soundscape
For the first time, audible sounds have been recorded at the surface of Mars by two microphones aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover. Recordings across frequencies of 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz and above reveal the dynamics of the planet’s atmosphere and the distinctive sound-propagation properties of an atmosphere dominated by carbon dioxide.
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Article
| Open AccessIn situ recording of Mars soundscape
Using data gathered from the microphones of the Perseverance rover, the first characterization of the acoustic environment on Mars is presented, showing two distinct values for the speed of sound in CO2-dominated atmosphere.
- S. Maurice
- , B. Chide
- & P. Willis
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News & Views |
Mobile mantle could explain volcanic hotspot locations
Ancient records of Earth’s magnetic field seem to contradict a conceptual picture of how regions of volcanic activity form. Statistical modelling now reconciles these data with our understanding of mantle fluid dynamics.
- Allen K. McNamara
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News |
China’s first Moon rocks ignite research bonanza
Samples collected by Chang’e-5 are revealing exciting insights into the Moon’s evolution.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Research Highlight |
The world’s rivers exhale a massive amount of carbon
Nearly 6,000 measurements from rivers big and small allow scientists to estimate carbon emissions from Earth’s waterways.
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