Research Briefing |
Featured
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Nature Podcast |
Our podcast highlights of 2021
The Nature Podcast team select some of their favourite stories from the past 12 months.
- Shamini Bundell
- , Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson
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News |
Webb telescope blasts off successfully — launching a new era in astronomy
Hundreds of engineering steps must now take place as the observatory unfurls and travels to its new home.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Q&A |
Mars mission is China’s ‘first step’ in planetary exploration
Nature talks to Zhang Rongqiao, architect of the China National Space Administration’s Tianwen-1 mission, which landed the Zhurong rover on Mars.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Nature Podcast |
The Nature Podcast annual holiday spectacular
Games, seasonal science songs, and Nature’s 10.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Noah Baker
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Nature Video |
Pluto’s mysterious polygons explained
Surface patterns seen by New Horizons mission are driven by sublimation.
- Shamini Bundell
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Article |
Deep-mantle krypton reveals Earth’s early accretion of carbonaceous matter
The krypton isotopic pattern of Earth’s deep mantle indicates that volatile-rich material from the outer Solar System was delivered early in Earth’s accretion history.
- Sandrine Péron
- , Sujoy Mukhopadhyay
- & David W. Graham
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Article |
Sublimation-driven convection in Sputnik Planitia on Pluto
A modelling study describing the formation of the polygonal surface structures in Sputnik Planitia on Pluto shows that convection driven by ice sublimation can generate planetary-scale surface patterns.
- Adrien Morison
- , Stéphane Labrosse
- & Gaël Choblet
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Nature Podcast |
Pluto's strange ice patterns explained by new theory
An explanation for giant ice structures on Pluto, and dismantling the mestizo myth in Latin American genetics.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Matters Arising |
On the liquid–liquid phase transition of dense hydrogen
- Valentin V. Karasiev
- , Joshua Hinz
- & S. B. Trickey
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News |
NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever
The Parker Solar Probe has passed through a boundary and into the Sun’s atmosphere, gathering data that will help scientists better understand stars.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Round-Up |
Metal planet, COVID pact and Hubble telescope time
The latest science news, in brief.
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Research Highlight |
Famous space family has a surprisingly peaceful history
The seven planets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1 were largely spared cosmic collisions, raising questions about where these worlds got their water.
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News |
This tiny iron-rich world is extraordinarily metal
The discovery of GJ 367b, which orbits its star in about 8 hours, demonstrates astronomers’ prowess at finding extreme planets.
- Alexandra Witze
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News & Views |
Robotic sample return reveals lunar secrets
A mission to unexplored lunar territory has returned the youngest volcanic samples collected so far. The rocks highlight the need to make revisions to models of the thermal evolution of the Moon.
- Richard W. Carlson
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News |
China’s Mars rover has amassed reams of novel geological data
Data collected by the Tianwen-1 mission and Zhurong Mars rover are offering insights into a previously unexplored region of Mars’s northern hemisphere.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
Asteroid deflection and disordered diamonds — the week in infographics
Nature highlights three key infographics from the week in science and research.
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News |
NASA spacecraft will slam into asteroid in first planetary-defence test
The DART mission has launched. Next up, it will try out a manoeuvre that could one day deflect killer asteroids from Earth.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article |
Episodic deluges in simulated hothouse climates
Through an idealized set of simulations, with a model that incorporates key physics, research reveals dramatic swings between massive rainfall events and extended dry periods in hothouse climates.
- Jacob T. Seeley
- & Robin D. Wordsworth
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Article |
A solar C/O and sub-solar metallicity in a hot Jupiter atmosphere
The C/O ratio of the transiting hot Jupiter WASP-77Ab is measured here and found to be approximately solar, though the (C+O)/H ratio is subsolar.
- Michael R. Line
- , Matteo Brogi
- & Joost P. Wardenier
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News Round-Up |
COVID reinfections, asteroid mission and tuskless elephants
The latest science news, in brief.
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Article |
Carbon monoxide gas produced by a giant impact in the inner region of a young system
A carbon monoxide gas ring co-orbiting with dusty debris is observed in the outer terrestrial planet region of the star HD 172555, which indicates that a planetary-scale impact took place.
- Tajana Schneiderman
- , Luca Matrà
- & Mark C. Wyatt
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Article
| Open AccessNon-KREEP origin for Chang’e-5 basalts in the Procellarum KREEP Terrane
Isotopic analysis of basalt clasts returned from the Moon by the Chang’e-5 mission indicates that the rocks were derived from a mantle source that lacked potassium, rare-earth elements and phosphorus.
- Heng-Ci Tian
- , Hao Wang
- & Fu-Yuan Wu
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Article
| Open AccessA dry lunar mantle reservoir for young mare basalts of Chang’e-5
Water abundance and hydrogen isotope compositions of two-billion-year-old basalt samples returned from the Moon by the Chang’e-5 mission suggest that the samples came from a relatively dry mantle source.
- Sen Hu
- , Huicun He
- & Ziyuan Ouyang
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Article
| Open AccessTwo-billion-year-old volcanism on the Moon from Chang’e-5 basalts
Basalt samples returned from the Moon by the Chang’e-5 mission are revealed to be two billion years old by radioisotopic dating, providing insight on the volcanic history of the Moon.
- Qiu-Li Li
- , Qin Zhou
- & Xian-Hua Li
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News |
First mission to Jupiter’s asteroids could reveal Solar System origins
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will loop past the never-before-explored ‘Trojan’ asteroids during a 12-year journey.
- Alexandra Witze
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News & Views |
Venus might never have been habitable
A sophisticated climate model suggests that liquid-water oceans never formed on Venus, and that some planets outside the Solar System that were thought to be habitable might not be.
- James F. Kasting
- & Chester E. Harman
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Article |
Day–night cloud asymmetry prevents early oceans on Venus but not on Earth
Global climate model simulations of early Venus and Earth show that differences in the cloud regimes prevented ocean formation on Venus but not on Earth.
- Martin Turbet
- , Emeline Bolmont
- & Emmanuel Marcq
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Article |
A Jovian analogue orbiting a white dwarf star
The authors show not only that planetary bodies around white dwarfs can survive but also that more than half of white dwarfs might have Jovian planetary companions.
- J. W. Blackman
- , J. P. Beaulieu
- & J. B. Marquette
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Research Highlight |
Floods once lashed the Martian lake where NASA’s rover roams
Now a dusty hole, Jezero Crater hosted a lake billions of years ago.
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News |
China’s Moon trip reveals surprisingly recent volcanic activity
The Chang’e-5 mission returned the first lunar samples since the 1970s, with bits of lava dated at two billion years old.
- Jonathan O'Callaghan
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Article |
Fine-regolith production on asteroids controlled by rock porosity
The absence of fine regolith on the asteroid Bennu is due to the high porosity of its rocks, which compress rather than fragment after impacts and exhibit slow thermal cracking.
- S. Cambioni
- , M. Delbo
- & D. S. Lauretta
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News |
Science agency on trial following deadly White Island volcano eruption
The rare example of a government research agency facing criminal charges after a natural disaster underlines the perils of communicating and managing risk.
- Dyani Lewis
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News |
BepiColombo gets first close-up look at Mercury
The European and Japanese mission performed the first of six slingshot manoeuvres around the planet. It will ultimately insert two probes into orbit in 2025.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Article |
The importance of lake breach floods for valley incision on early Mars
Lake breach flooding rapidly eroded almost a quarter of the volume of incised valleys on early Mars, influencing the topography of the wider Martian landscape.
- Timothy A. Goudge
- , Alexander M. Morgan
- & Caleb I. Fassett
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Where I Work |
Stress testing avocados
Savannah Braden monitors how fruits ripen and rot to reduce food waste.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
Will NASA’s Moon rover find enough of the ice it seeks?
News of VIPER’s future landing site sparks concern about its exploration plan.
- Alexandra Witze
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Correspondence |
Spacefarers, protect our planet from falling debris
- Dipshikha Chakravortty
- , Saptarshi Basu
- & K. S. Nandakumar
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News |
Success! Mars rover finally collects its first rock core
NASA’s Perseverance rover lives up to its name, drilling and storing Martian rock after a misstep in August.
- Alexandra Witze
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Obituary |
Carolyn S. Shoemaker (1929–2021)
Co-discoverer of first comet known to collide with a planet in modern times.
- David H. Levy
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News |
How Nature’s COVID coverage has made a difference
We analysed the impact of Nature’s coronavirus journalism and opinion. Here’s what we found.
- Julian Nowogrodzki
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News |
Home seismometers provide crucial data on Haiti’s quake
A volunteer network helps to monitor aftershocks and illuminate the country’s earthquake hazards.
- Alexandra Witze
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News Round-Up |
Mars rover mishap, Beta variant’s toll and UK open access
The latest science news, in brief.
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News |
Why NASA’s Mars rover failed to collect its first rock core
Intriguing rocks turned out to be too crumbly for Perseverance to drill successfully. It’s moving on to try elsewhere.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Excitement as Mars rover drills first rock core for return to Earth
The sample collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover might be volcanic, helping scientists to understand the red planet's evolution.
- Alexandra Witze
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Nature Podcast |
Eavesdropping on a glacier's seismic whisper
One researcher's unorthodox quest to listen to a Greenland glacier.
- Benjamin Thompson
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal upper-atmospheric heating on Jupiter by the polar aurorae
High-resolution observations confirm that Jupiter’s global upper atmosphere is heated by transport of energy from the polar aurora.
- J. O’Donoghue
- , L. Moore
- & C. Tao
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News & Views |
The fraction of the global population at risk of floods is growing
Satellite imaging combined with population data shows that, globally, the number of people living in flood-prone areas is growing faster than is the number living on higher ground — greatly increasing the potential impact of floods.
- Brenden Jongman
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News & Views |
Earthquakes triggered by underground fluid injection modelled for a tectonically active oil field
An analysis of the Val d’Agri oil field in Italy provides insight into how processes associated with wastewater disposal trigger earthquakes — and how such effects can be reduced to maintain the economic viability of mature oil fields.
- Mirko van der Baan
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Nature Podcast |
Has the world’s oldest known animal been discovered?
Researchers debate whether an ancient fossil is the oldest animal yet discovered, and a new way to eavesdrop on glaciers.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Noah Baker
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