Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The limits on late accretion and its associated water delivery to potential habitable planets are derived by examining the dynamical stability of the resonance-bound TRAPPIST-1 system.
A simulated hybrid emission model to mimic the morphology of the jet launching region of M87 reproduces the observed shape of the innermost jet and favours a high spin of the central black hole.
The resonant chain of the TRAPPIST-1 planets is dynamically fragile, as small perturbations during its lifetime would have disrupted it. N-body simulations show that the system could not have interacted with more than 0.05 Earth masses of material after its formation. Thus, any water in the planets must come from the planets’ original accretion.
The Chang’e-4 rover observed a small crater formed less than one million years ago, finding glassy materials with spectral characteristics similar to those of carbonaceous chondrites that are identified as remnants of the original impactor that have not yet been affected by weathering processes.
A fluorine abundance measurement in a high-redshift galaxy demonstrates an early, quick rise in chemical enrichment of the Universe. The presence of fluorine at this early epoch also reveals a unique early source of the element.
Although often not publicly identified, the personalities and life experiences of our referees affect their reviewing practices. Therefore having the most diverse set of reviewers possible underpins our efforts to ensure a fair peer review process.
Recent work has questioned whether nature can extract the rotational energy of a black hole via electromagnetic fields. Although we show that the Blandford–Znajek effect is sound, the deeper physics of the electric nature of black holes remains unresolved.
The detection of the HF molecule in a lensed galaxy at z = 4.4 suggests a rapid chemical enrichment. Wolf–Rayet stars are the most likely providers of the fluorine.
General relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations with general relativistic radiative transfer reproduce remarkably well the broadband spectrum and morphology of the innermost jet of M87, allowing some first rough constraints on the spin of M87*.
The annual Fast Radio Bursts conference was again held entirely online this year, from 28 July to 5 August 2021. It included plenary talks, posters, lightning talks, late-breaking news and discussion sessions.
The question of the possibility of life beyond Earth, as framed by the Drake equation, can be quantified to show that habitable environments for life as we know it are commonplace in the Galaxy.
Up to 40% of ultra-diffuse galaxies could have formed via stripping of material by ram pressure. A study on 11 low-mass post-starburst galaxies in the Coma and Abell 2147 clusters shows ubiquitous marks of ram-pressure stripping and recent star formation, and most of them will evolve into ultra-diffuse galaxies in the next 10 Gyr.
Wet chemistry experiments performed in situ by the Curiosity rover in the sand of Bagnold Dunes detected an array of organic molecules including aromatic benzoic acid, nitrogen-bearing organics and other unidentified compounds.
As the Perseverance rover landed on the Martian surface, the sensors on NASA’s InSight Mars lander picked up no seismic or acoustic waves. This non-detection provides information on the crust and atmosphere of Mars.
