News Feature in 2015

Ten people who mattered this year.

False beliefs and wishful thinking about the human experience are common. They are hurting people — and holding back science.

Researchers are gaining insight into the causes of a devastating form of muscle wasting that is often the final stage of cancer and other diseases.

The use of aborted fetal tissue has sparked controversy in the United States, but many scientists say it is essential for studies of HIV, development and more.

There are too many PhD students for too few academic jobs — but with imagination, the problem could be solved.

Researchers want to wire the human body with sensors that could harvest reams of data — and transform health care.

After 25 years of negotiations, all countries are finally set to take steps to limit global warming. A special issue examines the path to the Paris climate summit, and the road beyond.

Countries have pledged to limit global warming to 2 °C, and climate models say that is still possible. But only with heroic — and unlikely — efforts.

A Nature comic examines the 25-year quest for a climate treaty. Can nations unite to save Earth’s climate?

Many physicists believe that entanglement is the essence of quantum weirdness — and some now suspect that it may also be the essence of space-time geometry.

Social media is shaking up how scientists talk about gender issues.

Gene-editing technologies have breathed life into the languishing field of xenotransplantation.

A London lab is deploying every technology it can to understand infant brains, and what happens when development goes awry.

Seven centuries ago, tens of thousands of people fled their homes in the American Southwest. Archaeologists are trying to work out why.

Researchers hope to show that using the gas as a raw material could make an impact on climate change.

The island nation of Kiribati is one of the world's most vulnerable to rising sea levels. But residents may have to leave well before the ocean claims their homes.

Armed with 850,000 diaries, an Oxford centre is trying to find out why modern life seems so hectic.

As a massive El Niño warming builds in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, researchers hope to make the most of their chance to study this havoc-wreaking phenomenon.

Neuroscientists are probing the idea that intestinal microbiota might influence brain development and behaviour.

A look at the legal landscape suggests where human genome editing might be used in research or reproduction.