Featured
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World View |
Ecologists: don’t lose touch with the joy of fieldwork
Amid the data deluge provided by lab-based techniques, such as environmental-DNA analysis, true connection still comes only in the outdoors.
- Chris Mantegna
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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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Article
| Open AccessNetwork of large pedigrees reveals social practices of Avar communities
Analysis of ancient DNA from 424 individuals in the Avar period, from the sixth to the ninth century AD, reveals population movement from the steppe and the prolonged existence of a steppe nomadic descent system centred around patrilineality and female exogamy in central Europe.
- Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone
- , Zsófia Rácz
- & Zuzana Hofmanová
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Correspondence |
Chemistry lab destroyed by Taiwan earthquake has physical and mental impacts
- Fun Man Fung
- & Yi-Hsin Liu
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Correspondence |
India’s 50-year-old Chipko movement is a model for environmental activism
- N. S. Prasanna
- & Gudasalamani Ravikanth
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Correspondence |
More work is needed to take on the rural wastewater challenge
- Jinlou Huang
- , Duo Li
- & Xiao Jin Yang
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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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Career Feature |
Breaking ice, and helicopter drops: winning photos of working scientists
Nature’s annual photography competition attracted stunning images from around the world, including two very different shots featuring the Polarstern research vessel.
- Jack Leeming
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News & Views |
Charles Darwin investigates: the curious case of primrose punishment
Birds emerge as top suspects for unexplained flower mutilation, and reflections from 1974 mark the 21st anniversary of the discovery of the DNA double helix, in the weekly dip into Nature’s archive.
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World View |
European ruling linking climate change to human rights could be a game changer — here’s how
The European Court of Human Rights’ judgment in a Swiss case cements the concept that climate inaction violates human rights — responsible nations around the world will take heed.
- Charlotte E. Blattner
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News Feature |
Lethal AI weapons are here: how can we control them?
Autonomous weapons guided by artificial intelligence are already in use. Researchers, legal experts and ethicists are struggling with what should be allowed on the battlefield.
- David Adam
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Editorial |
Any plan to make smoking obsolete is the right step
The United Kingdom is correct to attempt to end the single largest preventable cause of illness and death, as was New Zealand before its government changed its mind.
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Where I Work |
How ground glass might save crops from drought on a Caribbean island
In Grenada, public-health researcher Lindonne Telesford tests a soil additive made from recycled glass that could help farmers adapt to climate change.
- Kendall Powell
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Comment |
Will AI accelerate or delay the race to net-zero emissions?
As artificial intelligence transforms the global economy, researchers need to explore scenarios to assess how it can help, rather than harm, the climate.
- Amy Luers
- , Jonathan Koomey
- & Eric Horvitz
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Book Review |
Dogwhistles, drilling and the roots of Western civilization: Books in brief
Andrew Robinson reviews five of the best science picks.
- Andrew Robinson
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News |
Do insects have an inner life? Animal consciousness needs a rethink
A declaration signed by dozens of scientists says there is ‘a realistic possibility’ for elements of consciousness in reptiles, insects and molluscs.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Career News |
Londoners see what a scientist looks like up close in 50 photographs
Nature’s Where I Work images are being exhibited in the UK capital until June.
- Jack Leeming
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Research Highlight |
Burnt remains of Maya royalty mark a dramatic power shift
Finds in pyramid at Guatemalan site suggest that remains were disinterred and desecrated in a public ritual.
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Nature Index |
Researchers want a ‘nutrition label’ for academic-paper facts
An ‘at a glance’ approach to publication details, such as journal acceptance rates and the number of peer reviewers, would promote transparency, scientists say.
- Dalmeet Singh Chawla
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News |
Canadian science gets biggest boost to PhD and postdoc pay in 20 years
Government budget includes more money for basic research and notable increases to postgraduate stipends.
- Brian Owens
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News |
Humans and their livestock have sheltered in this Saudi Arabian cave for 10,000 years
Saudi herders have travelled the same routes for millennia, cave discovery suggests.
- Gillian Dohrn
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Spotlight |
How young people benefit from Swiss apprenticeships
Computational biologist Jitao David Zhang says that the country’s vocational training programme teaches key work and life skills.
- Jitao David Zhang
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Research Highlight |
This water bottle purifies your drink with energy from your steps
Static electricity generated by the foot striking the ground can be captured to kill pathogens.
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World View |
We must protect the global plastics treaty from corporate interference
A United Nations-backed agreement to end plastic pollution is within reach — but only if scientists, civil society and businesses unite against powerful vested interests.
- Martin Wagner
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Spotlight |
Deadly diseases and inflatable suits: how I found my niche in virology research
Virologist Hulda Jónsdóttir studies some of the world’s most pathogenic viruses at the Spiez Laboratory in Switzerland.
- Nikki Forrester
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Spotlight |
CERN’s impact goes way beyond tiny particles
A global effort to uncover the nature of the Universe has had resounding effects on scientists and society.
- Nikki Forrester
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Spotlight |
I dive for fish in the longest freshwater lake in the world
Biologist Carolin Sommer-Trembo describes her fascination for fish and why she enjoys doing science in Switzerland.
- Nikki Forrester
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Editorial |
UN plastics treaty: don’t let lobbyists drown out researchers
Tackling plastic pollution needs scientists to be in the negotiating room at upcoming talks.
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Article
| Open AccessThe economic commitment of climate change
Analysis of projected sub-national damages from temperature and precipitation show an income reduction of 19% of the world economy within the next 26 years independent of future emission choices.
- Maximilian Kotz
- , Anders Levermann
- & Leonie Wenz
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News |
Smoking bans are coming: what does the evidence say?
Countries are cracking down on tobacco use and vaping — the laws could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars, say scientists.
- Carissa Wong
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Correspondence |
Female academics need more support — in China as elsewhere
- Daxin Wang
- , Yongbing Cao
- & Chuanli Ren
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Editorial |
How India can become a science powerhouse
As the world’s largest election kicks off this week, India has an opportunity to reimagine science funding.
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Career Feature |
Shrouded in secrecy: how science is harmed by the bullying and harassment rumour mill
Academics are calling for greater transparency in harassment cases. But do the benefits outweigh the risks?
- Sarah Wild
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Correspondence |
Use game theory for climate models that really help reach net zero goals
- Kathleen B. Aviso
- , Raymond R. Tan
- & Maria Victoria Migo-Sumagang
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Correspondence |
It’s time to talk about the hidden human cost of the green transition
- Manuel Prieto
- & Nicolás C. Zanetta-Colombo
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News & Views |
A step along the path towards AlphaFold — 50 years ago
Paring down the astronomical complexity of the protein-folding problem, plus Isaac Newton’s ambiguous use of the word ‘axiom’, in the weekly dip into Nature’s archive.
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World View |
Structure peer review to make it more robust
Everyone who reviews a manuscript should answer a transparent set of questions, to ensure that scientific literature is subject to reliable quality control.
- Mario Malički
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News |
US COVID-origins hearing puts scientific journals in the hot seat
Politicians spar over whether academic publishers colluded with government scientists to suppress the lab-leak hypothesis.
- Max Kozlov
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Research Briefing |
Long online discussions are consistently the most toxic
An ambitious investigation has analysed discourse on eight social-media platforms, covering a vast array of topics and spanning several decades. It reveals that online conversations increase in toxicity as they get longer — and that this behaviour persists despite shifts in platforms’ business models, technological advances and societal norms.
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News Explainer |
Do climate lawsuits lead to action? Researchers assess their impact
Litigation can lead governments to strengthen their climate policies and curb companies’ greenwashing, say scientists.
- Carissa Wong
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Comment |
Citizenship privilege harms science
Researchers from the global south face often-distressing immigration bureaucracy that most from the global north do not. Six steps can begin to counteract this inequity.
- Mayank Chugh
- & Tiffany Joseph
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Where I Work |
Acid test: why the chemistry of this unique crater lake matters
Hanik Humaida monitors the activity of Indonesia’s volcanoes to help protect the public.
- James Mitchell Crow
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Book Review |
Are women in research being led up the garden path?
A moving memoir of botany and motherhood explores the historical pressures on female scientists.
- Josie Glausiusz
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Career Q&A |
‘Shrugging off failure is hard’: the $400-million grant setback that shaped the Smithsonian lead scientist’s career
Planetary scientist Ellen Stofan thought about leaving research after a funding bid was rejected. But new opportunities emerged.
- Anne Gulland
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News |
Revealed: the ten research papers that policy documents cite most
An exclusive analysis shows that economics and interdisciplinary teams get the attention of policymakers.
- Dalmeet Singh Chawla
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Technology Feature |
A milestone map of mouse-brain connectivity reveals challenging new terrain for scientists
A pioneering ‘connectomics’ collaboration has successfully reconstructed one cubic millimetre of brain tissue, but researchers are still just scratching the surface of the complexity it contains.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Nature Careers Podcast |
How a young physicist’s job move helped Argentina join the ATLAS collaboration
A stint at CERN exposed María Teresa Dova to longstanding collaborators and mentors, culminating in a successful bid to join a landmark project.
- Julie Gould