News & Views |
Featured
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News |
Sun-bombing spacecraft uncovers secrets of the solar wind
Surprise magnetic reversals and an unexpectedly fast rotating wind mark the first findings from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article |
Probing the energetic particle environment near the Sun
The Parker Solar Probe mission has reached the inner heliosphere of the Sun and made measurements of energetic particle events in the near-Sun radiation environment.
- D. J. McComas
- , E. R. Christian
- & A. P. Rouillard
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Article |
Near-Sun observations of an F-corona decrease and K-corona fine structure
Observations of the solar corona by the Parker Solar Probe reveal evidence for the predicted dust-free zone and confirm that streamers comprise smaller substreamers that channel continuous multiscale density fluctuations.
- R. A. Howard
- , A. Vourlidas
- & N. M. Viall
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Article |
Highly structured slow solar wind emerging from an equatorial coronal hole
Measurements from the Parker Solar Probe show that slow solar wind near the Sun’s equator originates in coronal holes.
- S. D. Bale
- , S. T. Badman
- & J. R. Wygant
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News Round-Up |
Hong Kong violence, deadly bushfires and an asteroid farewell
The latest science news, in brief.
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Book Review |
How we probe and pollute the cosmos
An astronaut and an archaeologist explore the triumphs and disasters of space hardware. Meg Urry reviews.
- Meg Urry
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast Extra: Detecting gravitational waves
As part of Nature's 150th anniversary celebrations, we look back at an important moment in the history of science.
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Career Feature |
From design to lift-off: blasting experiments into outer space
If you want an astronaut to run your experiment alongside their many other responsibilities, keeping it simple is the key.
- Brian Owens
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Books & Arts |
Doris Lessing at 100: roving time and space
On the centenary of the Nobel laureate’s birth, Patrick French explores her science-infused series Canopus in Argos.
- Patrick French
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News |
Rare warming over Antarctica reveals power of stratospheric models
Improved understanding of conditions in the stratosphere are helping to produce more-accurate short-term climate forecasts.
- Dyani Lewis
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Books & Arts |
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: 40 years of parody and predictions
Douglas Adams’s satirical science-fiction classic still seems prescient, writes Shamini Bundell.
- Shamini Bundell
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast: Mysteries of the ancient mantle, and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Listen to the latest from the world of science, with Noah Baker and Benjamin Thompson.
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News |
Gigantic Chinese telescope opens to astronomers worldwide
FAST has superior sensitivity to detect cosmic phenomena, including fast radio bursts and pulsars.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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Books & Arts |
India’s journey to the red planet
Subhra Priyadarshini lauds a film on the country’s first interplanetary craft, the Mars Orbiter Mission.
- Subhra Priyadarshini
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News |
India loses contact with its Moon lander minutes before touchdown
The Chandrayaan-2 mission would have been the first to land near the lunar south pole.
- T.V. Padma
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News |
First-ever picture of a black hole scoops US$3-million prize
The Event Horizon Telescope team wins a Breakthrough Prize — one of six awards covering physics, the life sciences and mathematics.
- Zeeya Merali
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Books & Arts |
Deciphering dark matter: the remarkable life of Fritz Zwicky
Jaco de Swart enjoys a biography of the scientist who pioneered findings on dark matter and supernovae.
- Jaco de Swart
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News |
‘The most terrifying moments’: India counts down to risky Moon landing
If touchdown is successful, Chandrayaan-2 will be the first lunar mission to explore the south pole.
- T.V. Padma
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Books & Arts |
Aniara: an angst-fuelled journey through the void
Elizabeth Gibney explores a remarkable Swedish science-fiction film featuring a spaceship fleeing a burning Earth.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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News |
The Philippines creates its first space agency
The agency will co-ordinate the country’s activities in space and develop technologies.
- Andrew Silver
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Books & Arts |
Living commodities, fraud in the lab, and a history of nautical navigation: Books in brief
Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week’s best science picks.
- Barbara Kiser
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News Feature |
The quest to unlock the secrets of the baby Universe
Radioastronomers look to hydrogen for insights into the Universe’s first billion years.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported wartime advances in underwater microphones in 1919, and predictions of overcrowding in geostationary orbits in 1969.
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News |
Astronomy impasse: What's next for the Thirty Meter Telescope?
Protestors in Hawaii have prevented construction for more than three weeks, and there is no sign of a resolution in sight.
- Alexandra Witze
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World View |
Opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope fight the process, not science
Painting Native Hawaiian culture as against modern science is a false dichotomy, explains Rosie Alegado.
- Rosie Alegado
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Research Highlight |
A space ‘ruler’ measures distance with picometre precision
Lasers take ultra-accurate measurements of the gap between twin satellites more than 200 kilometres apart.
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported early findings from Apollo 11, and Irish attempts to farm New Zealand flax in 1919.
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News |
Hawaii telescope protest shuts down 13 observatories on Mauna Kea
Construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope was supposed to start on 15 July.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Space-station cameras reveal how thunderstorms trigger gamma-ray bursts
Mysterious electrical flashes above storm clouds have long puzzled scientists.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Controversial mega-telescope set to begin construction in Hawaii
The Thirty Meter Telescope project has faced years of legal challenges over planned Mauna Kea site.
- Alexandra Witze
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Nature Video |
Three generations of space experts react to the Moon landings
Rewatching the Apollo 11 mission footage 50 years on.
- Adam Levy
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Editorial |
Cancer, climate, plastics: why ‘earthshots’ are harder than moonshots
Apollo was a triumph, but 50 years on, moonshots to solve more-complex global challenges face a different set of hurdles.
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Books & Arts |
Propulsive reading: books on the Moon
Alexandra Witze savours seven books commemorating the 50th anniversary of the lunar landings.
- Alexandra Witze
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Books & Arts |
America’s first rocket man, the rise of cryptocurrencies, and artificial intelligence reconsidered: Books in brief
Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week’s best science picks.
- Barbara Kiser
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Books & Arts |
The infrared Universe
Michael Rowan-Robinson finds an account of NASA’s Spitzer mission gripping but narrowly focused.
- Michael Rowan-Robinson
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported plans for Mars missions in 1969, and the need for surgery near the battlefield during the First World War.
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported plans to send a monkey into space in 1969, and a milestone in aviation in 1919.
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported Apollo 10 in 1969, and the permanent establishment of the US National Research Council in 1919.
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Letter |
A massive white-dwarf merger product before final collapse
The merger of two white dwarfs created a massive, hot, luminous, rotating and magnetized star with a lifetime of several thousand years, which will collapse into a type Ic supernova.
- Vasilii V. Gvaramadze
- , Götz Gräfener
- & Olga I. Spiridonova
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Nature Video |
How scientists reacted to the first-ever image of a black hole
We asked researchers what the breakthrough means for them and for science.
- Shamini Bundell
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast Extra: The first image of a black hole
Benjamin Thompson talks to Davide Castelvecchi in a special edition of the News Chat
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Nature Video |
The first image of a black hole: A three minute guide
See how astronomers took the first ever image of a black hole, at the heart of the galaxy M87.
- Noah Baker
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News |
Black hole pictured for first time — in spectacular detail
The Event Horizon Telescope’s global network of radio dishes has produced the first-ever direct image of a black hole and its event horizon.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Comment |
Four steps to global management of space traffic
Jamie Morin sets out the elements required to track satellites and avoid crashes.
- Jamie Morin
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported preparations for the Moon landing in 1969, and a rare archaeological find in 1919.
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News |
First private Moon lander heralds new lunar space race
An Israeli firm has sent a privately built craft called Beresheet to the Moon — and is leading a fresh era of exploration.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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News |
Gravitational-wave observatory LIGO set to double its detecting power
A planned US$35-million upgrade could enable LIGO to spot one black-hole merger per hour by the mid-2020s.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Books & Arts |
Stewpots and string: how scientists make do
Derek Lowe draws lessons for today from a history of scientists’ experimental hacks.
- Derek Lowe
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News |
Turkey creates its first space agency
A decree by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has established a national space agency, but many details are still to come.
- Çağrı Mert Bakırcı-Taylor