Retraction to: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-018-0063-z

The authors are retracting this article because of a problem in the convergence criterion in the structure optimization parameters used to obtain the computational models from which the universal descriptor was derived. This led to some structures being trapped in a local minimum rather than the global minimum, thus invalidating part of the analyses. The authors have now recalculated the entire dataset using the same methods but with tighter convergence criteria. The corrected dataset reduces the applicability of the descriptor and impacts the trends in Figures 2-4. The corrected results are now published in a new article https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-023-01106-z. The reanalysis described in the new article introduces a correction factor to the descriptor for each class of materials while capturing the essence of the original descriptor. All authors agree to this retraction.