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Past, present and future stars that can see Earth as a transiting exoplanet
The Gaia database is used to identify stars from which astronomers on orbiting planets could see Earth transiting the Sun in the past, present and future.
- L. Kaltenegger
- & J. K. Faherty
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Books & Arts |
Q&A: Collision creator
Julius von Bismarck is the first artist in residence at the particle-physics laboratory CERN, near Geneva in Switzerland. As he prepares to give the final lecture of his residency, he talks about whipping mountains, hacking photographs and digging into the history of invention.
- Jascha Hoffman
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Books & Arts |
Q&A: Superpower sleuth
The US television series Alphas features an unusual breed of superhero: ordinary people with extreme abilities. In the run-up to the second season, head writer Bruce Miller explains how he sifts through the latest scientific findings to craft an array of superpowers.
- Marc Weidenbaum
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Books & Arts |
Physics: Morals and madness
Philip Ball finds little contemporary relevance in a play from the cold-war era that probes scientific responsibility.
- Philip Ball
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Books & Arts |
Q&A: Video maestro
Bill Viola creates immersive video installations that focus on extreme emotions and primal human experiences such as birth and death. On the eve of the Sacred Geometry and Secular Science exhibition at the Loyola University Museum of Art in Chicago, Illinois, the artist talks about meditative video gaming, Renaissance “punks” and the power of mystery.
- Jascha Hoffman
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Books & Arts |
Fiction: Ray Bradbury, an appreciation
Astronomer and author David Brin celebrates the legacy of a literary titan whose life-long pursuit of new horizons changed the face of science fiction.
- David Brin
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Column |
Piled too high
A passion for science is admirable, but can have unwanted outcomes, argues Mariano A. Loza-Coll.
- Mariano A. Loza-Coll
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Books & Arts |
Theatre: Darkness made visible
Daniel Cressey reflects on a play that uses astronomy and medicine to probe what it means to see.
- Daniel Cressey
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Books & Arts |
Q&A: Transgene curator
Next month in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, artist Richard Pell opens the Center for PostNatural History — a museum of bioengineered organisms. He talks about the joys and pitfalls involved in collecting genetically modified maize, mosquitoes and zebrafish.
- Jascha Hoffman
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Books & Arts |
Film: Science gets real at Sundance
This year's crop of research-related films moves away from 'mad genius' mode, finds Jascha Hoffman.
- Jascha Hoffman
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Books & Arts |
Antarctica: Scientists to the end
Colin Martin celebrates a London exhibition revealing the research legacy of Robert Scott's final journey.
- Colin Martin
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Books & Arts |
Cosmology: A life in space-time
George Ellis appreciates a Stephen Hawking biography that highlights the epochs of an illustrious career — and the personality behind them.
- George Ellis
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News Q&A |
Crows, children and choreography
A leading dancer and a Cambridge scientist discuss their collaboration.
- Daniel Cressey
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News |
Year's best wildlife photos on display in London
Check out the Nature news team's favourite entries from the 2011 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
- Daniel Cressey
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Books & Arts |
Books in brief
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News |
Learning by experiment is all in a day's play
Rudiments of the scientific method seen in four-year-old children.
- Chloe McIvor
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News Q&A |
Google research guru pushes 'big data'
Peter Norvig, director of research at Google, discusses the future of Internet search tools, social networking and science.
- Eric Hand
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Books & Arts |
Q&A: The sci-fi adviser
Richard Berendzen is director of NASA's Space Grant Consortium in Washington DC, and advised on the science-fiction film Another Earth, winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize for science at this year's Sundance Film Festival. On the film's North American release, he talks to Nature about parallel worlds and the future of human space exploration.
- Jascha Hoffman
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News Feature |
Computer security: Is this the start of cyberwarfare?
Last year's Stuxnet virus attack represented a new kind of threat to critical infrastructure.
- Sharon Weinberger
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Books & Arts |
Books in brief
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Books & Arts |
Communication: Popcorn and Petri dishes
Cinemas are today's scientific lecture halls, finds Kevin Hand in a book probing how research enriches film.
- Kevin Hand
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Books & Arts |
Q&A: Animal distractions
Isabella Rossellini, star of films including Blue Velvet (1986) and Big Night (1996), has made a series of short films on the mating rituals of insects and sea creatures. As her latest humorous biopic debuts in the United States, Rossellini explains why she is fascinated by animals.
- Isabella Rossellini
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News |
Martin Rees takes Templeton Prize
Controversial 'spirituality' award goes to a scientist for fourth year in a row.
- Daniel Cressey
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Books & Arts |
Biotechnology: Making people
Today's wariness of reproductive technologies stems from myths, legends and Hollywood, finds Chris Mason.
- Chris Mason
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Muse |
A metaphor too far
Philip Ball asks whether scientists are addicted to using imagery at the cost of misleading the public and themselves.
- Philip Ball
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Books & Arts |
Astronomy: Answers from the Atacama
A Chilean film juxtaposes astronomy with the search for those killed under Augusto Pinochet, finds Alison Abbott.
- Alison Abbott
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Books & Arts |
Sculpture: The brain in a nutshell
Martin Kemp explains the resonances of Pascale Pollier's autopsy-inspired sculpture.
- Martin Kemp
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News |
Egyptians rally to defend cultural heritage
As petrol bombs fly near the Egyptian Museum, citizens and army mobilize against looters.
- Declan Butler
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World View |
Of course scientists can communicate
Tim Radford takes aim at the popular myth that researchers are hopeless at explaining their work to a general audience.
- Tim Radford
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Books & Arts |
Film: Science shines at Sundance
Relationships and behaviour are highlighted in this year's clutch of science films at the agenda-setting festival, notes Jascha Hoffman.
- Jascha Hoffman
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Books & Arts |
Dance: Rhythm and reason
Nicola Jones witnesses a meeting of dance and ecology.
- Nicola Jones
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World View |
Save university arts from the bean counters
Scientists must reach across the divide and speak up for campus colleagues in arts and humanities departments, says Gregory Petsko.
- Gregory Petsko
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Books & Arts |
Culture: Metallic music
Sculptor Conrad Shawcross captures the fundamentals of physics and music, finds Martin Kemp.
- Martin Kemp
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News |
Racehorses came from European stock
Most founding mothers of a prized horse breed were British and Irish — not Arabian.
- Janelle Weaver
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Books & Arts |
Communication: A better class of heckle
Helen Pilcher on the rise of science comedy.
- Helen Pilcher
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News Feature |
Science and society: A Pacific divide
A global survey of the scientifically literate public reveals significant differences on key issues in science.
- David Cyranoski
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News |
Advertising link causes blogger strike
Scientists abandon high-profile blog platform after 'Pepsi incident'.
- Daniel Cressey
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Column |
Why music is good for you
A survey of the cognitive benefits of music makes a valid case for its educational importance. But that's not the best reason to teach all children music, says Philip Ball.
- Philip Ball
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Column |
World view: Entertaining science
Efforts by the US National Academy of Sciences to popularize science through movies will sanitize it as well, says Daniel Sarewitz.
- Daniel Sarewitz
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News |
Axe hovers over UK museum jobs
Natural History Museum pre-empts government cuts with attempt at big savings.
- Daniel Cressey
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Regions |
Diverse opportunities
Denmark aims to attract international talent through new initiatives and university reforms. Marta Paterlini outlines the strategy.
- Marta Paterlini
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News |
Brewing up identity with Billy Bragg
The singer-songwriter discusses why who we are is more than genetics.
- Jennifer Rohn
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News |
Italian molecular cookery 'ban' condemned
Decree to rein in additives could put more processed foods on restaurant tables.
- Emiliano Feresin
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Muse |
Morals don't come from God
The finding that religion scarcely influences moral intuition undermines the idea that a godless society will be immoral, says Philip Ball. Whether it 'explains' religion is another matter.
- Philip Ball
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Column |
Does a minor key give everyone the blues?
Can a link between speech patterns and downbeat music prove that minor keys are intrinsically sad, asks Philip Ball?
- Philip Ball