Featured
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast: A synthetic eye that 'sees' like a human
Listen to the latest science news, brought to you by Nick Howe and Shamini Bundell.
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Article |
A cold, massive, rotating disk galaxy 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang
A massive rotating disk galaxy was formed a mere 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, a surprisingly short time after the origin of the Universe.
- Marcel Neeleman
- , J. Xavier Prochaska
- & Marc Rafelski
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News Q&A |
The first footprints on Mars could belong to this geologist
NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins is at the forefront of a new crop of space explorers destined for the Moon, and maybe one day, Mars.
- Alexandra Witze
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News & Views |
A glimpse inside δ Scuti stars
Patterns in the vibrations of stars produce a sort of natural music that offers clues to the stars’ internal structure. Astronomers have identified such patterns for some δ Scuti stars, a group for which this music had been elusive.
- József M. Benkő
- & Margit Paparó
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Article |
Very regular high-frequency pulsation modes in young intermediate-mass stars
The pulsation spectra of intermediate-mass stars (so-called δ Scuti stars) have been challenging to analyse, but new observations of 60 such stars reveal remarkably regular sequences of high-frequency pulsation modes.
- Timothy R. Bedding
- , Simon J. Murphy
- & Roland K. Vanderspek
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast: Galileo and the science deniers, and physicists probe the mysterious pion
Tune in for the latest from the world of science, with Shamini Bundell and Nick Howe.
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Book Review |
Galileo’s story is always relevant
With science denialism stronger than ever, who better to revisit? By Alison Abbott
- Alison Abbott
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: On the signature of a 70-solar-mass black hole in LB-1
- Jifeng Liu
- , Roberto Soria
- & Hailong Yuan
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Matters Arising |
On the signature of a 70-solar-mass black hole in LB-1
- Michael Abdul-Masih
- , Gareth Banyard
- & Hugues Sana
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Obituary |
E. Margaret Burbidge (1919–2020)
Astronomer and co-discoverer of evidence that elements are made in stars.
- Virginia Trimble
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Article |
The wide-binary origin of (2014) MU69-like Kuiper belt contact binaries
The high obliquity and low rotation period of the Kuiper belt object (2014) MU69 and other similar contact binaries is successfully reproduced from the collision and post-collision characteristics of initially wide binaries.
- Evgeni Grishin
- , Uri Malamud
- & Christoph M. Schäfer
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast: Denisovan DNA in modern Europeans, and the birth of an unusual celestial object
Listen to the latest from the world of science, brought to you by Nick Howe and Shamini Bundell.
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News Round-Up |
Black hole collision, funding disruption and Mars rocks
The latest science news, in brief.
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Research Highlight |
Star’s loops around a giant black hole uphold Einstein’s predictions
The supermassive black hole at the core of the Milky Way adds to support for general relativity.
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News |
This black-hole collision just made gravitational waves even more interesting
An unprecedented signal from unevenly sized objects gives astronomers rare insight into how black holes spin.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Editorial |
Neutrinos could shed light on why the Universe has so much more matter than antimatter
A major finding in particle physics reminds us of the importance of robust preliminary results — and paves the way for more exciting discoveries.
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News |
Is this telescope-on-a-plane worth its pricetag?
NASA’s high-flying SOFIA observatory has struggled to prove its scientific worth.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Highlight |
Elusive middle-weight black hole is caught shredding a star
The discovery could help to unravel the evolution of the Universe’s most extreme environments.
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News Round-Up |
Coronavirus volunteers, bushfire deaths and a telescope delay
The latest science news, in brief.
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News |
How the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the world's biggest physics experiments
Many major facilities have essentially shut down, but some are soldiering on.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News |
Coronavirus pandemic threatens launch of world's most-expensive telescope
NASA halts work on the US$8.8-billion James Webb Space Telescope, which was due to launch next year.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
How China is planning to go to Mars amid the coronavirus outbreak
The launch is on track for July, as Europe and Russia announce a two-year delay in their journey to the red planet.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Obituary |
Katherine Johnson (1918–2020)
NASA mathematician who calculated trajectories for early space flights.
- Margot Lee Shetterly
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Obituary |
Freeman Dyson (1923–2020)
Nuclear physicist, polymath, disarmament pioneer and government adviser.
- Phillip F. Schewe
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Article |
Nightside condensation of iron in an ultrahot giant exoplanet
Absorption lines of iron in the dayside atmosphere of an ultrahot giant exoplanet disappear after travelling across the nightside, showing that the iron has condensed during its travel.
- David Ehrenreich
- , Christophe Lovis
- & Filippo Zerbi
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News Feature |
The golden age of neutron-star physics has arrived
These stellar remnants are some of the Universe’s most enigmatic objects — and they are finally starting to give up their secrets.
- Adam Mann
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News Round-Up |
Coronavirus nixes conference, twilight zone beckons and a faded star brightens
The latest science news, in brief.
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News |
Destination Uranus! Rare chance to reach ice giants excites scientists
A planetary alignment provides a window to visit Uranus and Neptune — but time is tight.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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Research Highlight |
Triple-threat team of black holes lurks at a galaxy’s core
Radio signals suggest a grouping of two large black holes and one small one.
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News |
Mysterious faded star Betelgeuse has started to brighten again
‘Orion’s shoulder’ had reached unprecedented dimness in mid-February, leaving astronomers befuddled.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Book Review |
The woman who explained the stars
Public acclaim escaped one of the twentieth century’s most illustrious astronomers, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin; a new biography sets her in the firmament. By Giuseppina Fabbiano.
- Giuseppina Fabbiano
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News Round-Up |
Coronavirus name, animal-research data and a Solar System snowman
The latest science news, in brief.
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported a stamp that celebrated the 150th anniversary of a learned society in 1970, and a call for nasal hair to be more widely appreciated, from 1870.
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Nature Video |
Inside Japan's big physics
Video series goes behind the scenes of three flagship detectors — Super Kamiokande, KAGRA and Belle II.
- Noah Baker
- & Davide Castelvecchi
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News Round-Up |
CRISPR enhancement, coronavirus source and a controversial appointment
The latest science news, in brief.
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Book Review |
From Big Bang to cosmic bounce: an astronomical journey through space and time
A physicist and humanist takes us on a grand tour of all time. By Philip Ball
- Philip Ball
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News Round-Up |
HIV vaccine failure, coronavirus papers and an unprecedented glimpse of the Sun
The latest science news, in brief.
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Article |
An orbital water-ice cycle on comet 67P from colour changes
Spectral analysis of the VIRTIS dataset shows two opposite seasonal colour cycles in the coma and on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, indicating an orbital water-ice cycle.
- Gianrico Filacchione
- , Fabrizio Capaccioni
- & Stefano Mottola
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News |
World’s most powerful solar telescope is up and running
First images from a new Sun observatory in Hawaii show churning plasma in unprecedented detail.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
World’s largest radio telescope needs to hit US$1-billion target
Countries won’t say how much they have pledged to the Square Kilometre Array in Australia and South Africa.
- Sarah Wild
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast: Strange objects at the centre of the galaxy, and improving measurements of online activity
Listen to the latest from the world of science, brought to you by Benjamin Thompson and Nick Howe.
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News Round-Up |
A new illness, an Earth-size exoplanet and a 12-year prison sentence
The latest science news, in brief.
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Article |
A population of dust-enshrouded objects orbiting the Galactic black hole
The Galactic Centre is orbited by two objects that look like gas and dust clouds but behave more like stars, and now four additional similar objects are reported.
- Anna Ciurlo
- , Randall D. Campbell
- & Alexander P. Stephan
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Book Review |
Data judo, the interconnected self, and the dystopia in Silicon Valley: Books in brief
Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week’s best science picks.
- Barbara Kiser
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News |
How the fight over a Hawaii mega-telescope could change astronomy
Thirty Meter Telescope controversy is forcing scientists to grapple with how their research affects Indigenous peoples.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
SpaceX tests black satellite to reduce ‘megaconstellation’ threat to astronomy
Latest launch includes ‘DarkSat’ prototype to reduce reflection from fleets of broadband Internet satellites.
- Alexandra Witze
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast: A look ahead at science in 2020
From missions to Mars to modified mosquitoes, we hear what science has in store for the new year.