Featured
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Nature Podcast |
How AI could improve robotics, the cockroach’s origins, and promethium spills its secrets
We round up some recent stories from the Nature Briefing.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Elizabeth Gibney
- & Flora Graham
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News Feature |
The AI revolution is coming to robots: how will it change them?
The melding of artificial intelligence and robotics could catapult both fields to new heights.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long read: How does ChatGPT ‘think’? Psychology and neuroscience crack open AI large language models
To understand the 'brains' of LLMs, researchers are attempting to reverse-engineering artificial intelligence systems.
- Matthew Hutson
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Technology Feature |
Software tools identify forgotten genes
Find My Understudied Genes and the Unknome database highlight interesting genes that have been neglected by science.
- Matthew Hutson
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Nature Index |
Guidelines for academics aim to lessen ethical pitfalls in generative-AI use
Researchers warn against normalizing the use of AI without safeguarding against risks.
- Liam Drew
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Correspondence |
Internet use and teen mental health: it’s about more than just screen time
- Linxiao Zhang
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Correspondence |
Social-media influence on teen mental health goes beyond just cause and effect
- Michael A. Spikes
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Technology Feature |
DeepLabCut: the motion-tracking tool that went viral
Mackenzie and Alexander Mathis were still early in their careers when their software created a sensation. Now they’re using it to support other young scientists.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
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News Feature |
How does ChatGPT ‘think’? Psychology and neuroscience crack open AI large language models
Researchers are striving to reverse-engineer artificial intelligence and scan the ‘brains’ of LLMs to see what they are doing, how and why.
- Matthew Hutson
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News Q&A |
The US Congress is taking on AI — this computer scientist is helping
Kiri Wagstaff, who temporarily shelved her academic career to provide advice on federal AI legislation, talks about life inside the halls of power.
- Nicola Jones
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Technology Feature |
Powerful ‘nanopore’ DNA sequencing method tackles proteins too
Latest methods bring the speed, portability, and long read lengths of nanopore sequencing to proteomics.
- Caroline Seydel
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Editorial |
Reinvent oil refineries for a net-zero future
From petrol to plastics, oil-derived products define modern life. A bold plan to change that comes with huge costs — but researchers and policymakers should take it seriously.
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News |
Who’s making chips for AI? Chinese manufacturers lag behind US tech giants
Researchers in China say they are finding themselves five to ten years behind their US counterparts as export restrictions bite.
- Jonathan O'Callaghan
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Spotlight |
I fell out of love with the lab, and in love with business
The COVID-19 pandemic changed Karolina Makovskytė’s career ambitions, propelling her to a business development role in her home nation of Lithuania.
- Jacqui Thornton
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News |
This social sciences hub galvanized India’s dynamic growth. Can it survive?
The Centre for Policy Research has lost its chief executive, most of its staff and is running out of cash.
- Michele Catanzaro
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Technology Feature |
85 million cells — and counting — at your fingertips
Chan Zuckerberg CELL by GENE Discover aims to be a one-stop shop for single-cell RNA sequencing data storage, access and analysis.
- Jeffrey M. Perkel
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Outlook |
Are robots the solution to the crisis in older-person care?
Social robots that promise companionship and stimulation for older people and those with dementia are attracting investment, but some question their benefits.
- Tammy Worth
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News Explainer |
NATO is boosting AI and climate research as scientific diplomacy remains on ice
As the military alliance created to counter the Soviet Union expands, it is prioritizing studies on how climate change affects security, cyberattacks and election interference.
- Natasha Gilbert
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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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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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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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News |
AI now beats humans at basic tasks — new benchmarks are needed, says major report
Stanford University’s 2024 AI Index charts the meteoric rise of artificial-intelligence tools.
- Nicola Jones
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Correspondence |
How to break big tech’s stranglehold on AI in academia
- Michał Woźniak
- & Paweł Ksieniewicz
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Correspondence |
Use fines from EU social-media act to fund research on adolescent mental health
- Christian Montag
- & Benjamin Becker
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Technology Feature |
‘Without these tools, I’d be lost’: how generative AI aids in accessibility
A rush to place barriers around the use of artificial intelligence in academia could disproportionately affect those who stand to benefit most.
- Amanda Heidt
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Correspondence |
Don’t dismiss carbon credits that aim to avoid future emissions
- Edward Mitchard
- , Peter Ellis
- & Roselyn Fosuah Adjei
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Technology Feature |
How synthetic biologists are building better biofactories
Artificial electron donors and acceptors expand researchers’ metabolic engineering options — if only cells would cooperate.
- Sara Reardon
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Nature Video |
No sweat: Moisture-wicking device keeps wearable-tech dry
Breathable patch could allow for comfortable and multifunctional wearable electronics.
- Dan Fox
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News Explainer |
Divisive Sun-dimming study at Harvard cancelled: what’s next?
As the climate crisis rages on, advocacy for testing controversial solar geoengineering technology is ramping up.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Career Q&A |
The beauty of what science can do when urgently needed
Working amid New York City’s pandemic response inspired Nili Ostrov’s approach to expanding the list of organisms that can be used in synthetic biology and engineering.
- Katherine Bourzac
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News Feature |
How AI is improving climate forecasts
Researchers are using various machine-learning strategies to speed up climate modelling, reduce its energy costs and hopefully improve accuracy.
- Carissa Wong
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Technology Feature |
One year, three researchers, millions of cells: how a small team created the largest mouse-embryo atlas so far
A map of mouse development from conception to birth tracks 12.4 million cells at single-cell resolution as they mature into organs and other tissues.
- Sara Reardon
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Spotlight |
China’s medical-device industry gets a makeover
The country is keen to boost its production of medical technology to reduce its reliance on imports. Analysts discuss the impact of policies.
- Sandy Ong
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Nature Podcast |
AI hears hidden X factor in zebra finch love songs
Machine learning detects song differences too subtle for humans to hear, and physicists harness the computing power of the strange skyrmion.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Technology Feature |
So … you’ve been hacked
Research institutions are under siege from cybercriminals and other digital assailants. How do you make sure you don’t let them in?
- Michael Brooks
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Career Column |
A year in the life: what I learnt from using a time-tracking spreadsheet
A low-tech solution helped Megan Rogers to increase her productivity and maintain a good work–life balance.
- Megan Rogers
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News |
More than 4,000 plastic chemicals are hazardous, report finds
Year-long effort compiles comprehensive database of chemicals in plastics.
- Nicola Jones
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Nature Index |
How AI is being used to accelerate clinical trials
From study design to patient recruitment, researchers are investigating ways that technology could speed up the process.
- Matthew Hutson
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News |
How OpenAI’s text-to-video tool Sora could change science – and society
OpenAI’s debut of its impressive Sora text-to-video tool has raised important questions.
- Jonathan O'Callaghan
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Technology Feature |
No installation required: how WebAssembly is changing scientific computing
Enabling code execution in the web browser, the multilanguage tool is powerful but complicated.
- Jeffrey M. Perkel
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Book Review |
Act now to prevent a ‘gold rush’ in outer space
As private firms aim for the Moon and beyond, a book calls for an urgent relook at the legal compact that governs space exploration.
- Timiebi Aganaba
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News |
Will these reprogrammed elephant cells ever make a mammoth?
The de-extinction company Colossal is the first to convert elephant cells to an embryonic state, but using them to make mammoths won’t be easy, say researchers.
- Ewen Callaway
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Technology Feature |
Five tips for digitizing handwritten data
Need to digitize field notes or historical documents? Researchers share their best practices.
- Alla Katsnelson
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World View |
Here’s what many digital tools for chronic pain are doing wrong
To address the chronic-pain crisis, digital health technologies must break out of their silos and become integrative and holistic.
- Benjamin Lipp
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News & Views |
Well-matched vibrations cool electronic hot spots
Diamond layers can help to dissipate the heat generated by high-power semiconductor devices. This effect has now been enhanced by adding layers of materials and engineering their crystal-lattice vibrations to be compatible at the interfaces.
- Liwen Sang
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Comment |
Big science in Latin America: accelerate particles and progress
An advanced light source for research would boost growth in the Greater Caribbean region — scientific, economic and societal.
- Victor M. Castaño
- , Pedro Fernández de Córdoba
- & Galileo Violini
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Career Q&A |
‘This is my calling’: building point-of-care diagnostic tools to fight tuberculosis
Mireille Kamariza talks about her journey from community college to biotech chief executive, and the uphill battle to stop the spread of the deadly lung disease.
- Abdullahi Tsanni
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Outlook |
Robot, repair thyself: laying the foundations for self-healing machines
Advances in materials science and sensing could deliver robots that can mend themselves and feel pain.
- Simon Makin