Artificial IntelligenceMay 4, 2022
How Language-Generation AIs Could Transform Science
An expert in emerging technologies warns that software designed to summarize, translate and write like humans might exacerbate distrust in science
Stories by Richard Van Noorden
Richard Van Noorden works for Nature magazine.
PolicyAugust 5, 2016
Scholarly Olympics: How the Games Have Shaped Research
A graphical guide to the impact of the Olympics on science
PolicyJuly 25, 2016
Brexit Watch: U.K. Researchers Scramble to Save Science
Uncertainty reigns as the U.K. struggles with how to sever its relationship with the E.U.
HealthJanuary 15, 2016
Ebola Reemerges in Sierra Leone
Case announced hours after the World Health Organization declares spread of virus stopped in west Africa
The SciencesJanuary 5, 2015
With 1 Million Papers, Preprint Site Is Changing the Way Science Is Shared
Researchers upload papers to arXiv before peer review for faster feedback
The SciencesNovember 10, 2014
Google Scholar Pioneer Reflects on the Academic Search Engine's Future
As Google Scholar approaches its 10th anniversary, Nature spoke to its co-creator Anurag Acharya
HealthSeptember 2, 2014
"Immortal" Cells from Henrietta Lacks Lead to Updated Rules on Genomic Data Sharing
Changes clarify procedures for telling participants in NIH-funded studies how their data might be used.
TechnologyAugust 18, 2014
Scientists Finally Catch On to Social Media
A survey explores why large academic social networks have taken off to a degree that no one expected a few years ago
The SciencesJuly 31, 2014
Transparency Promised for Science's Most Misused and Most Vilified Metric
Thomson Reuters vows to be clearer in the future about the "impact factor," an annual ranking of more than 10,000 scientific journals
The SciencesJuly 6, 2014
Major Scientific Journal Joins Push to Screen Statistics in Papers It Publishes
Science's new policy follows efforts by other journals to bolster standards of data analysis
Space & PhysicsJune 10, 2014
World's Largest Radio Telescope Abandoned by Germany
The Square Kilometer Array's loss of Germany's support would be "disappointing, but not catastrophic"
April 30, 2014
Clean Coal to Be Put to Test at 2 Plants This Year
Carbon capture and storage has progressed slowly, reflecting a lack of enthusiasm for financing large projects despite higher costs of forgoing it
PharmaceuticalsApril 12, 2014
Flu Drug Stockpiling Reported to Be a Waste of Money
A medical panel now suggests that bulk purchasing of the influenza drug Tamiflu, on which the U.S. has spent $1.5B, was a waste of money
CommunicationsFebruary 25, 2014
Publishers Withdraw More than 120 Gibberish Science and Engineering Papers
Conference proceedings were removed from subscription databases after a scientist revealed they were computer-generated
February 5, 2014
Scientists Reading Fewer Papers for First Time in 35 Years
Scholarly articles in digital forms overtook printed ones, but academics spent less time on each.
The SciencesJanuary 8, 2014
New Initiative Seeks to Make All Particle-Physics Papers Freely Available
A major journal is balking at the plan, preventing over 3,000 high-energy physics papers from becoming open-access and sparking a minor stand-off with CERN
The SciencesNovember 6, 2013
Who Is the Best Scientist of All Time?
An online ranking that compares the performance of academics across all fields found that Karl Marx is the most influential scholar and Edward Witten is the most influential scientist
The SciencesSeptember 20, 2013
Vitamin E and Other Antioxidants Dispel Static Electricity
An inexpensive coat of antioxidants helps an electric charge to dissipate from plastics and rubber
The SciencesSeptember 17, 2013
European Research Council Funds ArXiv Online Pre-Print Physics and Math Papers Repository
The ERC's support provides a taste of what may be to come for the arXiv, including more financial support for the web site by other research funders and publishers
June 6, 2013
Giant, Heavy and Hollow: Physicists Create Extreme Atoms
Atoms are being stretched, stripped and contorted to new and bizarre limits
EnvironmentApril 29, 2013
Europe Restricts 3 Commonly Used Pesticides in Effort to Protect Honeybees
The UK's chief scientific advisor warns that the moratorium could harm the continent's crop production, but environmental groups pronounced the two-year ban a victory
April 25, 2013
Diamond Shows Promise for Quantum Internet
A future quantum version of the Internet might be built from diamond crystals used to contact distant quantum networks
January 22, 2013
Mathematicians Aim to Launch a Series of Open-Access E-Journals
The Episciences Project will launch a series of community-run, peer-reviewed, open-access journals that will overlay the arXiv preprint server already widely used by physicists
The SciencesJanuary 3, 2013
Safety Survey Reveals Lab Risks
Questionnaire suggests researchers not as safe as they feel