Featured
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World View |
We must protect the global plastics treaty from corporate interference
A United Nations-backed agreement to end plastic pollution is within reach — but only if scientists, civil society and businesses unite against powerful vested interests.
- Martin Wagner
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News |
Smoking bans are coming: what does the evidence say?
Countries are cracking down on tobacco use and vaping — the laws could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars, say scientists.
- Carissa Wong
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News |
Canadian science gets biggest boost to PhD and postdoc pay in 20 years
Government budget includes more money for basic research and notable increases to postgraduate stipends.
- Brian Owens
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Correspondence |
Use game theory for climate models that really help reach net zero goals
- Kathleen B. Aviso
- , Raymond R. Tan
- & Maria Victoria Migo-Sumagang
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Correspondence |
Female academics need more support — in China as elsewhere
- Daxin Wang
- , Yongbing Cao
- & Chuanli Ren
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Editorial |
How India can become a science powerhouse
As the world’s largest election kicks off this week, India has an opportunity to reimagine science funding.
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Career Feature |
Shrouded in secrecy: how science is harmed by the bullying and harassment rumour mill
Academics are calling for greater transparency in harassment cases. But do the benefits outweigh the risks?
- Sarah Wild
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Comment |
Citizenship privilege harms science
Researchers from the global south face often-distressing immigration bureaucracy that most from the global north do not. Six steps can begin to counteract this inequity.
- Mayank Chugh
- & Tiffany Joseph
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News |
Revealed: the ten research papers that policy documents cite most
An exclusive analysis shows that economics and interdisciplinary teams get the attention of policymakers.
- Dalmeet Singh Chawla
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News |
What the India election means for science
With voting about to start in India’s general election, some researchers are concerned that sluggish funding growth and slow decision-making processes could hold the country back.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Correspondence |
How to break big tech’s stranglehold on AI in academia
- Michał Woźniak
- & Paweł Ksieniewicz
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Correspondence |
Brazil’s postgraduate funding model is about rectifying past inequalities
- Lucindo J. Quintans-Júnior
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Correspondence |
Declining postdoc numbers threaten the future of US life science
- Anastasia Gromova
- & Steven F. Grieco
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World View |
AI-fuelled election campaigns are here — where are the rules?
Political candidates are increasingly using AI-generated ‘softfakes’ to boost their campaigns. This raises deep ethical concerns.
- Rumman Chowdhury
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Editorial |
The EU’s ominous emphasis on ‘open strategic autonomy’ in research
A reboot of the flagship Horizon Europe fund risks prioritizing a mindset geared towards security over open, future-facing research collaboration.
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Correspondence |
Cuts to postgraduate funding threaten Brazilian science — again
- Marcus F. Oliveira
- & Adriane R. Todeschini
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Correspondence |
Don’t underestimate the rising threat of groundwater to coastal cities
- Daniel J. Rozell
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World View |
‘Exhausted and insulted’: how harsh visa-application policies are hobbling global research
Institutions and individuals from low- and middle-income countries are wasting time, effort and money trying to get visas for research travel, only to be rejected. A new approach is needed.
- Sandra Owusu-Gyamfi
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Correspondence |
‘Global swimways’ on free-flowing rivers will protect key migratory fish species
- Twan Stoffers
- , Catherine A. Sayer
- & Fengzhi He
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News |
How to stop ‘passing the harasser’: universities urged to join information-sharing scheme
The Misconduct Disclosure Scheme would make it harder for perpetrators to hide their past, advocacy group says.
- Sarah Wild
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Nature Index |
Take these steps to accelerate the path to gender equity in health sciences
Without action, parity is still half a century away. We cannot afford to wait that long.
- Christina Mangurian
- & Claire D. Brindis
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Editorial |
Bring PhD assessment into the twenty-first century
PhD supervisors can learn a lot from innovations at other stages in education.
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Comment |
Why the world cannot afford the rich
Equality is essential for sustainability. The science is clear — people in more-equal societies are more trusting and more likely to protect the environment than are those in unequal, consumer-driven ones.
- Richard G. Wilkinson
- & Kate E. Pickett
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News |
Biden seeks to boost science funding — but his budget faces an ominous future
The US president proposes a 2025 budget even as negotiations continue over federal funding for 2024.
- Jeff Tollefson
- , Max Kozlov
- & Alexandra Witze
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Comment |
The world must rethink plans for ageing oil and gas platforms
Earth’s oceans are awash with ageing energy infrastructure. A change in the law is needed to ensure that these structures are decommissioned in ways that maximize environmental and societal benefits.
- Antony Knights
- , Anaëlle Lemasson
- & Paul Somerfield
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News |
Trump versus Biden: what the rematch could mean for three key science issues
Depending on the winner of November’s election, researchers anticipate two completely different paths ahead for the environment, public health and more.
- Jeff Tollefson
- , Natasha Gilbert
- & Mariana Lenharo
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World View |
Megafires are here to stay — and blaming only climate change won’t help
It’s not just global warming that’s driving the growth in destructive wildfires. Better land management is the first step to mitigating the risks.
- Renata Libonati
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News Feature |
How five crucial elections in 2024 could shape climate action for decades
Some of the world’s biggest carbon emitters are going to the polls this year — the results could determine whether humanity can correct its trajectory of dangerous global warming.
- Smriti Mallapaty
- , Jeff Tollefson
- & Nisha Gaind
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Career Q&A |
I returned my neuroscience grant to devote my career to the climate crisis
US psychologist Adam Aron says it’s time to act to alleviate the devastating consequences of the planet’s current trajectory.
- Christina Szalinski
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News |
This methane-sniffing satellite will leave climate polluters nowhere to hide
Set to launch as early as next week, MethaneSAT will partner with Google to map leaks from the oil and gas industry and beyond.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Correspondence |
Russia’s Arctic Council threat requires lessons from cold war science diplomacy
- Paul Arthur Berkman
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Correspondence |
Europe needs a joined-up approach for monitoring and protecting its forests
- Marco Ferretti
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News |
‘Incomprehensible’: scientists in France decry €900-million cut to research
A €10-billion reduction in public spending in response to a revised economic forecast includes cuts to higher-education and research budgets.
- Barbara Casassus
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Editorial |
Why it would be a dangerous folly to end US–China science pact
With renewal of the two countries’ decades-long science pact still on hold, there is too much talk about the risks of collaboration — and too little about the benefits.
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Career News |
‘This is exclusion’: Florida law restricts hiring of researchers from seven countries
Policy that prohibits partnerships between state universities and ‘countries of concern’, including China, will erode competitiveness, faculty members say.
- Amanda Heidt
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News Feature |
How to find meaning in your science career: six expert tips
Philosophers, social scientists and a Nobel-prizewinning economist on how researchers can get satisfaction from their work — and make a difference to the world.
- Helen Pearson
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Editorial |
Science can drive development and unity in Africa — as it does in the US and Europe
A plan to establish Africa’s first continent-wide science fund should not be delayed any longer.
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World View |
How to boost your research: take a sabbatical in policy
Academic researchers have a unique opportunity to benefit society — and their research — by spending time in government.
- Jordan Dworkin
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News Feature |
Scientists under arrest: the researchers taking action over climate change
Fed up with a lack of political progress in solving the climate problem, some researchers are becoming activists to slow global warming.
- Daniel Grossman
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Nature Index |
R&D budget cut could be the final straw for South Korea’s young scientists
As early-career researchers, we fear that our peers will struggle to stay afloat amid sudden and confusing budget constraints.
- Bongjae Kim
- & Ara Go
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Editorial |
It’s time for countries to honour their million-dollar biodiversity pledges
Promises to safeguard biodiversity need to be translated into money in the bank.
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World View |
Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret
First-of-its-kind US bill would address the environmental costs of the technology, but there’s a long way to go.
- Kate Crawford
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Book Review |
Greener cities: a necessity or a luxury?
Are urban trees and parks essential to improving the environment and human health — or just a sop to middle-class ideals of gentrification? Two books debate these opposing views.
- Timon McPhearson
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News |
Largest post-pandemic survey finds trust in scientists is high
Study of more than 70,000 people suggests that trust levels vary among countries and are linked to political orientation.
- Carissa Wong
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Correspondence |
Build global collaborations to protect marine migration routes
- Jianguo Du
- , Bin Chen
- & Wenjia Hu
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Correspondence |
Deep-sea mining opponents: there’s no free lunch when it comes to clean energy
- Saleem H. Ali
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Correspondence |
Replace Norway as co-chair of High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy
- Diva J. Amon
- , Douglas J. McCauley
- & Henrik Österblom
UN plastics treaty: don’t let lobbyists drown out researchers