Featured
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Editorial |
Are there limits to economic growth? It’s time to call time on a 50-year argument
Researchers must try to resolve a dispute on the best way to use and care for Earth’s resources.
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: The size of the land carbon sink in China
- Jing Wang
- , Liang Feng
- & ChaoZong Xia
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: On the role of atmospheric model transport uncertainty in estimating the Chinese land carbon sink
- Jing Wang
- , Liang Feng
- & ChaoZong Xia
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Research Briefing |
Net carbon uptake has kept pace with increasing fossil-fuel emissions
Roughly half of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions remain in the atmosphere, but whether this airborne fraction is changing has been unclear, partly because the emissions from deforestation are uncertain. We used proxy data on deforestation emissions over the past six decades to show that the airborne fraction has decreased.
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Perspective |
The land-to-ocean loops of the global carbon cycle
An assessment of the land-to-ocean cycling of carbon through inland waters, estuaries, tidal wetlands and continental shelf waters provides a perspective on the global carbon cycle and identifies key knowledge gaps.
- Pierre Regnier
- , Laure Resplandy
- & Philippe Ciais
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Matters Arising |
The size of the land carbon sink in China
- Yilong Wang
- , Xuhui Wang
- & Josep G. Canadell
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Article |
Limited increases in savanna carbon stocks over decades of fire suppression
A direct estimate is provided of the whole-ecosystem carbon response to fire suppression in a mesic African savanna, showing limited increase in carbon storage despite a large increase in tree cover.
- Yong Zhou
- , Jenia Singh
- & A. Carla Staver
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News & Views |
Savannahs store carbon despite frequent fires
An analysis of carbon stored in the plants and soil of an African savannah suggests that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations — and thus global warming — might be less affected by frequent fires than we thought.
- Niall P. Hanan
- & Anthony M. Swemmer
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Article |
RETRACTED ARTICLE: New land-use-change emissions indicate a declining CO2 airborne fraction
By generating a land use and land cover change emissions dataset using visibility data from two key deforestation regions, analysis of the data suggests a decrease in the CO2 airborne fraction since 1959.
- Margreet J. E. van Marle
- , Dave van Wees
- & Guido. R. van der Werf
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News |
AI reads Greek, COVID’s catastrophe — the week in infographics
Nature highlights three key graphics from the week in science and research.
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News |
China’s first Moon rocks ignite research bonanza
Samples collected by Chang’e-5 are revealing exciting insights into the Moon’s evolution.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Comment |
Africa: sequence 100,000 species to safeguard biodiversity
Build a major genomics resource on the continent to help breeders and conservationists.
- ThankGod Echezona Ebenezer
- , Anne W. T. Muigai
- & Appolinaire Djikeng
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News |
Antarctic sea ice hits lowest minimum on record
Natural variability is probably the cause, although global warming could have a role.
- Tosin Thompson
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World View |
The geopolitics of fossil fuels and renewables reshape the world
To navigate the long road to net zero, energy researchers must grapple with the lessons of history.
- Helen Thompson
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Nature Index |
Japan strives to improve its global standing in science
A nation’s ambitious scientific goals are bringing in the best from around the world.
- David McNeill
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Matters Arising |
Aquaculture will continue to depend more on land than sea
- Wenbo Zhang
- , Ben Belton
- & Max Troell
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Article |
Weak cubic CaSiO3 perovskite in the Earth’s mantle
At temperatures and pressures typical of the Earth’s lower mantle, cubic CaSiO3 perovskite is found to have lower strength and viscosity compared to bridgmanite and ferropericlase, providing clues to its role in subduction regions.
- J. Immoor
- , L. Miyagi
- & H. Marquardt
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Article |
Discovery of a Ni2+-dependent guanidine hydrolase in bacteria
A bacterial enzyme is characterized and demonstrated to have Ni2+-dependent activity and high specificity for free guanidine enabling the bacteria to use guanidine as the sole nitrogen source for growth.
- D. Funck
- , M. Sinn
- & J. S. Hartig
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Article |
Methane formation driven by reactive oxygen species across all living organisms
Methane formation by a ROS-mediated process is linked to metabolic activity and is identified as a conserved feature across living systems.
- Leonard Ernst
- , Benedikt Steinfeld
- & Frank Keppler
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Research Highlight |
Wispy clouds are born of dust in the wind
Dust from deserts and plains drives the formation of cirrus clouds, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere.
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News |
Omicron’s advantage, particle accelerators — the week in infographics
Nature highlights three key graphics from the week in science and research.
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Editorial |
Landmark treaty on plastic pollution must put scientific evidence front and centre
United Nations resolution on greening plastics is a positive step. As negotiations begin, they must be evidence-based.
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Research Highlight |
The world’s rivers exhale a massive amount of carbon
Nearly 6,000 measurements from rivers big and small allow scientists to estimate carbon emissions from Earth’s waterways.
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Research Highlight |
Madagascar’s biggest mine achieves striking conservation success
Efforts to protect at-risk forests are projected to make up for the forest lost to an enormous mine.
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Comment |
Rewilding Argentina: lessons for the 2030 biodiversity targets
A foundation that turns private land into national parks is reintroducing native species to restore ecosystems and build ecotourism.
- Emiliano Donadio
- , Sebastian Di Martino
- & Sofía Heinonen
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News Explainer |
This US Supreme Court decision could derail Biden’s climate plan
Controversial lawsuit has put the US government’s ability to slash carbon emissions on the line.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Comment |
G20’s US$14-trillion economic stimulus reneges on emissions pledges
Analysis of pandemic economic recovery packages from the 20 largest economies reveals that governments are not spending on emissions cuts despite promises to ‘build back better’.
- Jonas M. Nahm
- , Scot M. Miller
- & Johannes Urpelainen
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News Round-Up |
COVID reinfections, sneezing hamsters and huge methane emissions
The latest science news, in brief.
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Nature Podcast |
COVID stimulus spending failed to deliver on climate promises
G20 COVID stimulus packages fail to deliver on emissions, how knowing something about a stranger could alter your behaviour, and scientists condemn the invasion of Ukraine.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Article |
A wet heterogeneous mantle creates a habitable world in the Hadean
A hydrated, heterogeneous mantle resulting from magma ocean solidification is shown to be key to the rapid formation of Earth’s habitable surface environment during the Hadean era.
- Yoshinori Miyazaki
- & Jun Korenaga
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Research Highlight |
Huge comet is biggest of its kind
Gargantuan object is roughly 140 kilometres across — making it by far the largest comet from the farthest reaches of the Solar System.
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News |
Moon crashes, distant radio bursts — the week in infographics
Nature highlights three key graphics from the week in science and research.
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News |
Ukraine conflict jeopardizes launch of Europe’s first Mars rover
Sanctions mean joint Russian–European ExoMars mission is likely to be postponed for a third time.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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News |
Climate change is hitting the planet faster than scientists originally thought
Latest IPCC climate report warns that rising greenhouse-gas emissions could soon outstrip the ability of many communities to adapt.
- Jeff Tollefson
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World View |
Climate change won’t wait for future innovation — we need action now
Governments must focus on solutions that are already working, even when they aren’t glamorous or supported by powerful lobbyists.
- Marie Claire Brisbois
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News |
Space junk heading for Moon will add to 60+ years of lunar debris
In an upcoming collision, a spent rocket booster will be the first long-circulating piece of human-made debris to smash into the lunar surface.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Highlight |
Extreme rains are drenching China’s booming cities
The Yangtze River Delta, the nation’s economic powerhouse, is soaked by heavy rainstorms more often today than 50 years ago.
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Article |
Observed poleward freshwater transport since 1970
A study uses a temperature-percentile water mass framework to analyse warm-to-cold poleward transport of freshwater in the Earth system, and establishes a constraint to help address biases in climate models.
- Taimoor Sohail
- , Jan D. Zika
- & John A. Church
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Career Q&A |
An engineer advances fire-management laws in Colombia
María Constanza Meza Elizalde wants to change fire laws and attitudes.
- Christine Ro
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News & Views Forum |
Atomic changes can map subterranean structures
A quantum device uses ultracold atoms to sense gravitational changes that can detect a tunnel under a city street. Here, scientists discuss the advance from the viewpoints of quantum sensing and geophysics.
- Nicola Poli
- , Roman Pašteka
- & Pavol Zahorec
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Nature Podcast |
Dinosaur-destroying asteroid struck in spring
Researchers pinpoint the season that a cataclysmic asteroid struck Earth, and how climate change is affecting the intensity of fires at night.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Article |
Emergent constraints on future precipitation changes
Model simulations show that the historical relationship between global temperature and precipitation under a medium greenhouse gas concentration scenario lowers the projected high end of future precipitation change.
- Hideo Shiogama
- , Masahiro Watanabe
- & Nagio Hirota
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Article
| Open Access
Quantum sensing for gravity cartography
A study reports a quantum gravity gradient sensor with a design that eliminates the need for long measurement times, and demonstrates the detection of an underground tunnel in an urban environment.
- Ben Stray
- , Andrew Lamb
- & Michael Holynski
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Article
| Open Access
The Mesozoic terminated in boreal spring
Examination of fish that died on the day the Mesozoic ended reveal that the impact that caused the Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction occurred during boreal spring.
- Melanie A. D. During
- , Jan Smit
- & Jeroen H. J. L. van der Lubbe
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Correspondence |
Apply Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity at scale
- Lena Chan
- , Kenneth Er
- & Elizabeth Maruma Mrema
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Research Highlight |
First quadruple asteroid found hiding in plain sight
A dive into old data reveals that the space rock Elektra has not two moons, but three.
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News |
Hidden black hole, COVID reinfections — the week in infographics
Nature highlights three key graphics from the week in science and research.
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Book Review |
Lies of the land: how eugenicists tried to hijack the north
There’s so much more to the Arctic than tundra, explorers and pseudoscience.
- Josie Glausiusz
On the role of atmospheric model transport uncertainty in estimating the Chinese land carbon sink