Featured
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News |
The decimal point is 150 years older than historians thought
Origin of the powerful calculation tool traced back to a mathematician from the Italian Renaissance.
- Jo Marchant
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Book Review |
The mysteries of seaweeds and stars, and other reads: Books in brief
Andrew Robinson reviews five of the best science picks.
- Andrew Robinson
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Nature Careers Podcast |
Building robots to get kids hooked on STEM subjects
Robotics are a key part of the Fundi Bots education program and its aim to excite children about science and technology.
- Dom Byrne
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News Explainer |
What the EU’s tough AI law means for research and ChatGPT
The EU AI Act is the world’s first major legislation on artificial intelligence and strictly regulates general-purpose models.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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Research Highlight |
Great ‘Stone Age’ wall discovered in Baltic Sea
Megastructure stretching nearly 1 kilometre long is probably one of the oldest known hunting aids on Earth.
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Futures |
Welcome aboard the Silva family historic spaceside attraction tour
A trip of a lifetime.
- Carol Scheina
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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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Article
| Open AccessOnline images amplify gender bias
We find that gender bias is more prevalent in images than text, that the underrepresentation of women online is substantially worse in images and that googling for images amplifies gender bias in a person’s beliefs.
- Douglas Guilbeault
- , Solène Delecourt
- & Ethan Nadler
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News & Views |
Gender bias is more exaggerated in online images than in text
A big-data analysis shows that men are starkly over-represented in online images, and that gender bias is stronger in images compared with text. Such images could influence enduring gender biases in our offline lives.
- Bas Hofstra
- & Anne Maaike Mulders
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Perspective |
Optimally generate policy-based evidence before scaling
To reduce voltage drops—the depreciation of the cost–benefit profile when scaling up solutions to social problems—sufficient policy-based evidence must be generated before policymakers scale up the project.
- John A. List
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News & Views |
From the archive: river pollution, and a minister for science
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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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
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News |
Indonesian election promises boost to research funding — no matter who wins
Scientists regard campaign promises with scepticism, however, and criticize the country’s science super-agency.
- Ardila Syakriah
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News Feature |
Culture wars are raging on US campuses. Will they affect research?
Scientists and other academics worry that political pressure on universities is growing and could limit research and teaching.
- Emma Marris
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Career News |
Postdocs celebrate 24% pay boost in one of the world’s most expensive cities
Starting salaries at New York’s Icahn School of Medicine rise to $72,500 as part of a deal led by unionized researchers.
- Laurie Udesky
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Career Q&A |
I took my case to Nepal’s highest court to improve conservation
After seeing an endangered-animal pelt displayed on television, Kumar Paudel embarked on a five-year legal battle, advocating for equitable enforcement of wildlife laws.
- Saugat Bolakhe
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News Explainer |
How journals are fighting back against a wave of questionable images
Publishers are deploying AI-based tools to detect suspicious images, but generative AI threatens their efforts.
- Nicola Jones
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News |
Climatologist Michael Mann wins defamation case: what it means for scientists
Jury awards Mann more than US$1 million — raising hopes for scientists who are attacked politically because of their work.
- Jeff Tollefson
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News |
US and China likely to delay renewal of key science pact again
Relations have changed between the two nations, so negotiators are hashing out new terms in the 45-year-old agreement.
- Natasha Gilbert
- & Smriti Mallapaty
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Editorial |
Cyberattacks on knowledge institutions are increasing: what can be done?
For months, ransomware attacks have debilitated research at the British Library in London and Berlin’s natural history museum. They show how vulnerable scientific and educational institutions are to this kind of crime.
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News |
Fake research papers flagged by analysing authorship trends
A new approach to detecting fraudulent paper-mill studies focuses on patterns of co-authors rather than manuscript text.
- Dalmeet Singh Chawla
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Correspondence |
Best practice for LGBTQ+ data collection by STEM organizations
- Alexander L. Bond
- & Tyler L. Kelly
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News & Views |
From the archive: lonely cells, and Thomas Henry Huxley backs evolution
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Editorial |
Open science — embrace it before it’s too late
A UNESCO report laments the lack of progress in making science more collaborative. Greater awareness could aid efforts to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
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World View |
Why the mental cost of a STEM career can be too high for women and people of colour
Under-represented groups face chronic barriers, creating psychological — and physical — effects. The scientific community must ease this burden.
- Jean King
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Comment |
No ‘easy’ weight loss: don’t overlook the social cost of anti-obesity drugs
Ideas of diet and exercise as the ‘best’ way to lose weight could stigmatize people taking Ozempic, WeGovy and other blockbuster drugs that affect appetite. Lessons from weight-loss surgery reveal ways to help.
- Alexandra Brewis
- & Sarah Trainer
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Career News |
Economists count the cost of ‘risky’ science
A survey seeks to define risk in research and how academics approach it in their work.
- Chris Woolston
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Career Column |
‘Obviously ChatGPT’ — how reviewers accused me of scientific fraud
A journal reviewer accused Lizzie Wolkovich of using ChatGPT to write a manuscript. She hadn’t — but her paper was rejected anyway.
- E. M. Wolkovich
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Book Review |
It’s time to admit that genes are not the blueprint for life
The view of biology often presented to the public is oversimplified and out of date. Scientists must set the record straight, argues a new book.
- Denis Noble
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Book Review |
Science and government: can the power struggle ever end?
Similar goals but different strategies underlie tensions between science and the state, an in-depth analysis explains.
- Rhona Mijumbi
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News |
First passages of rolled-up Herculaneum scroll revealed
Researchers used artificial intelligence to decipher the text of 2,000-year-old charred papyrus scripts, unveiling musings on music and capers.
- Jo Marchant
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Book Review |
A forgotten Aztec scholar and more: Books in brief
Andrew Robinson reviews five of the best science picks.
- Andrew Robinson
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News |
Israel is flooding Gaza’s tunnel network: scientists assess the risks
The plan to target Hamas involves filling parts of a 500-kilometre-long network of underground tunnels. Researchers warn this could affect Gaza’s water supplies.
- Josie Glausiusz
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News |
Crackdown on skin-colour bias by fingertip oxygen sensors is coming, hints FDA
Devices can overestimate blood oxygen levels in people with dark skin, affecting medical care.
- Max Kozlov
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News |
Building used by Marie Curie will be dismantled to erect cancer centre
The disused and formerly radioactive Pavillon des Sources in Paris will be rebuilt nearby, after an agreement between scientists and the French culture ministry.
- Nisha Gaind
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Career Q&A |
Passion, curiosity and perseverance: my mission to capture women in science on camera
Genetics researcher Elisabetta Citterio explains why she felt compelled to photograph 57 women who work in STEM fields.
- Josie Glausiusz
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News & Views |
Stone tools in northern Europe made by Homo sapiens 45,000 years ago
DNA analyses of skeletal fragments from a site in Germany provide evidence that humans, rather than Neanderthals, were responsible for a particular stone-tool industry called the Lincombian–Ranisian–Jerzmanowician.
- William E. Banks
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News |
Deepfakes, trolls and cybertroopers: how social media could sway elections in 2024
Faced with data restrictions and harassment, researchers are mapping out fresh approaches to studying social media’s political reach.
- Heidi Ledford
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Nature Podcast |
Ancient DNA solves the mystery of who made a set of stone tools
Analysis of stone tools and DNA reveals when modern humans reached northern Europe, and why human brain cells grow so slowly.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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News |
Brazil’s deforestation ‘police’ on strike — threatening climate goals
Environmental workers in the government have stopped field operations, and might halt work altogether.
- Meghie Rodrigues
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Perspective |
Designing a circular carbon and plastics economy for a sustainable future
Four future greenhouse gas emission scenarios for the global plastics system are investigated, with the lead scenario achieving net-zero emissions, and a series of technical, legal and economic interventions recommended.
- Fernando Vidal
- , Eva R. van der Marel
- & Charlotte K. Williams
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News & Views |
From the archive: Mendelian inheritance, and an enigmatic echo
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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News |
Indian forest act faces challenge in Supreme Court
Ecologists, bureaucrats and conservationists say India’s amended Forest Conservation Act will reduce biodiversity and harm livelihoods.
- Gayathri Vaidyanathan
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News |
Trump’s presidential push renews fears for US science
If he wins a second term, the former US president has promised to limit the authority of federal agencies and employees, including scientists.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Book Review |
Gripped by dinosaurs, and a unified theory of behaviour: Books in Brief
Andrew Robinson reviews five of the best science picks.
- Andrew Robinson