Obituary |
Featured
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News Feature |
Mystery gamma rays could help solve age-old lightning puzzle
Researchers in Japan are enlisting an army of citizens to explore how storms on Earth create extreme bursts of gamma radiation.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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News & Views |
Shedding squeezed light on dark matter
Hypothetical particles called axions could constitute dark matter — the unseen component of the Universe. An experiment shows how quantum-manipulation technology can improve the sensitivity of axion detectors.
- Igor G. Irastorza
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Research Highlight |
Four-in-one: telescopes join forces to spot a dim star in a black hole’s clutches
Technique could help to determine the spin of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our Galaxy.
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News |
Life on Venus claim faces strongest challenge yet
New studies knock down a controversial report observing phosphine in the planet’s atmosphere.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article |
Metastability of diamond ramp-compressed to 2 terapascals
X-ray diffraction measurements of solid carbon compressed to pressures of about two terapascals (approximately twenty million atmospheres) find that carbon retains a diamond structure even under these extreme conditions.
- A. Lazicki
- , D. McGonegle
- & J. S. Wark
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Book Review |
Meteorites: ‘a story written across light years down the barrel of a microscope’
Chemical clues reveal stories from the birth of the Solar System.
- Meenakshi Wadhwa
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Article |
A bright γ-ray flare interpreted as a giant magnetar flare in NGC 253
The γ-ray burst GRB 200415A is probably a giant flare emitted from a magnetar in the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253.
- D. Svinkin
- , D. Frederiks
- & R. Starr
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News & Views |
Cosmic electromagnetic bomb sheds light on the origins of γ-ray bursts
Celestial eruptions known as giant magnetar flares have been seen in our cosmic backyard, but were so bright they blinded observational instruments. The discovery of a more distant flare finally reveals details of these emissions.
- Christopher Thompson
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Article |
Rapid spectral variability of a giant flare from a magnetar in NGC 253
Observations of a giant flare associated with the starburst galaxy NGC 253 suggest that the flare is probably associated with relativistic plasma in the magnetic field of a magnetar.
- O. J. Roberts
- , P. Veres
- & E. Burns
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Review Article |
Core-collapse supernova explosion theory
The factors affecting how and why supernovae occur are discussed, and the current status of core-collapse supernova explosion theory is reviewed.
- A. Burrows
- & D. Vartanyan
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Research Highlight |
Brilliant X-rays reveal what might be a new type of star
A strange and unstable astronomical object seems to have formed from the merger of two white dwarfs.
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Nature Podcast |
Our podcast highlights of 2020
The Nature Podcast team select some of their favourite stories from the past 12 months.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Dan Fox
- & Nick Howe
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News Round-Up |
Asteroid treasure, COVID vaccine and public peer review
The latest science news, in brief.
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World View |
Arecibo Observatory: another great lost in 2020
Amid all the year’s losses, I grieve what was once the world’s biggest radio telescope, where I got my scientific start.
- Abel Méndez
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News |
Asteroid dust recovered from Japan’s daring Hayabusa2 mission
Scientists hope the dark grains from asteroid Ryugu will improve their understanding of the Solar System’s formation.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News & Views |
Viruses, microscopy and fast radio bursts: 10 remarkable discoveries from 2020
Highlights from News & Views published this year.
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News |
2020 beyond COVID: the other science events that shaped the year
Mars missions, record-breaking wildfires and a room-temperature superconductor are among this year’s top non-COVID stories.
- Davide Castelvecchi
- , Jeff Tollefson
- & Alexandra Witze
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News Round-Up |
COVID vaccine allocation and a dramatic telescope collapse
The latest science news, in brief.
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Article |
Detection of large-scale X-ray bubbles in the Milky Way halo
Observations from the eROSITA telescope reveal soft-X-ray-emitting bubbles extending above and below the Galactic plane, which arose from energy injected into the Galactic halo from past activity in the Galactic centre.
- P. Predehl
- , R. A. Sunyaev
- & J. Wilms
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News |
Best map of Milky Way reveals a billion stars in motion
Data haul from Gaia space observatory offers a glimpse of what Earth’s night sky will look like for 1.6 million years to come.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News |
Gut-wrenching footage documents Arecibo telescope’s collapse
Instrument platform crashed into the telescope’s dish, irrevocably ending the facility’s role in astronomy.
- Alexandra Witze
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Nature Podcast |
Neutrinos give insights into the workings of the Sun’s core
Scientists have finally confirmed the existence of a CNO cycle fusion reaction in the Sun, and why women’s contraception research needs a reboot.
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News & Views |
Neutrino detection gets to the core of the Sun
The first detection of neutrinos produced by the Sun’s secondary solar-fusion cycle paves the way for a detailed understanding of the structure of the Sun and of the formation of massive stars.
- Gabriel D. Orebi Gann
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Correspondence |
Explain ESA’s last-minute ditching of new space telescope
- David L. Clements
- , Stephen Serjeant
- & Shoko Jin
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News |
Hints of twisted light offer clues to dark energy’s nature
Cosmologists suggest that an exotic substance called quintessence could be accelerating the Universe’s expansion — but the evidence is still tentative.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News |
Legendary Arecibo telescope will close forever — scientists are reeling
New satellite image reveals the damage that shut down the facility, ending an era in astronomical observation.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Round-Up |
COVID in Kenya, science in space and Europe’s budget boost
The latest science news, in brief.
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Article |
A blue ring nebula from a stellar merger several thousand years ago
Observations and stellar evolution models of a blue ring nebula and its central star (TYC 2597-735-1) suggest that the remnant star merged with a lower-mass companion several thousand years ago.
- Keri Hoadley
- , D. Christopher Martin
- & Bradley E. Schaefer
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News |
Prospects for life on Venus fade — but aren’t dead yet
Debate continues over controversial report of phosphine in the planet’s atmosphere, as researchers reanalyse data and find a fainter signal.
- Alexandra Witze
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Book Review |
What NASA missions can teach us about teamwork
A sociologist embedded in the agency shows that what gets discovered depends on how scientists collaborate.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Round-Up |
Black-hole clashes, US climate hope and COVID antibodies
The latest science news, in brief.
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News & Views |
Primordial element production studied beneath a mountain
Experiments conducted deep beneath a mountain have provided the most precise measurements yet of a key nuclear reaction that occurred seconds after the Big Bang — refining our knowledge of the constituents of the Universe.
- Brian D. Fields
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Article |
A fast radio burst associated with a Galactic magnetar
Observations of the fast radio burst FRB 200428 coinciding with X-rays from the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154 indicate that active magnetars can produce fast radio bursts at extragalactic distances.
- C. D. Bochenek
- , V. Ravi
- & D. L. McKenna
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Article |
A bright millisecond-duration radio burst from a Galactic magnetar
Measurements of an intense radio burst from a Galactic magnetar provide evidence that magnetars are the probable source of some fast radio bursts.
- B. C. Andersen
- , K. M. Bandura
- & A. V. Zwaniga
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News & Views |
A fast radio burst in our own Galaxy
The origins of millisecond-long bursts of radio emissions, known as fast radio bursts, from beyond our Galaxy have been enigmatic. The detection of one such burst from a Galactic source helps to constrain the theories.
- Amanda Weltman
- & Anthony Walters
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News Round-Up |
Philae’s landing, frequent flyers of research and animal COVID
The latest science news, in brief.
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Review Article |
The physical mechanisms of fast radio bursts
The mechanisms and origins of fast radio bursts are reviewed in connection with data and insights from the neighbouring fields of gamma-ray bursts and radio pulsars.
- Bing Zhang
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Article |
No pulsed radio emission during a bursting phase of a Galactic magnetar
An 8-hour radio observational campaign of the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154, assisted by multi-wavelength data, indicates that associations between fast radio bursts and soft γ-ray bursts are rare.
- L. Lin
- , C. F. Zhang
- & J.-H. Zou
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Nature Podcast |
A powerful radio burst from a magnetic star
Astronomers pin down the likely origins of mysterious fast radio bursts, and the latest on what the US election means for science.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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News |
What 50 gravitational-wave events reveal about the Universe
Astrophysicists now have enough black-hole mergers to map their frequency over the cosmos’s history.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Nature Video |
Inside a comet: Philae’s final secret
Data from an accidental crash landing reveals comet 67P's hidden interior
- Shamini Bundell
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News & Views |
Eye of a skull reveals details of cometary materials
The Philae spacecraft was meant to anchor itself to the surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, but instead bounced into a hidden grotto. The telltale markings of its passage reveal details of the comet’s fragile boulders.
- Erik Asphaug
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News |
‘Like froth on a cappuccino’: spacecraft’s chaotic landing reveals comet’s softness
Detective work reconstructs the final movements of the European Space Agency’s Philae probe.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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News Round-Up |
Asteroid ‘fist bump’, pooling COVID tests and open-access deal
The latest science news, in brief.
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Article |
Diverse polarization angle swings from a repeating fast radio burst source
Polarization observations of the fast radio burst FRB 180301 with the FAST radio telescope show diverse polarization angle swings, consistent with a magnetospheric origin of the emission.
- R. Luo
- , B. J. Wang
- & Y. Zhu
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Article |
The Philae lander reveals low-strength primitive ice inside cometary boulders
When the Philae lander bounced on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, it exposed primitive icy-dust material within cometary boulders; the intrinsic strength and porosity of this material is reported.
- Laurence O’Rourke
- , Philip Heinisch
- & Holger Sierks
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Correspondence |
Satellite megaclusters could fox night-time migrations
- Chris Lintott
- & Paul Lintott
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Article |
Bennu’s near-Earth lifetime of 1.75 million years inferred from craters on its boulders
Analysis of the size and depth of craters on boulders on the asteroid (101955) Bennu indicates that Bennu has been in near-Earth space for 1.75 ± 0.75 million years.
- R.-L. Ballouz
- , K. J. Walsh
- & D. S. Lauretta