More versatile genome editors are supplanting the CRISPR-Cas9 editing system (artist’s impression) for experimental treatments.Credit: Biolution GmbH/Science Photo Library Less than a month after the world’s first approval of a CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing therapy, researchers are hoping that the therapy will win its second authorization this week — this time from the United States, with its…

More versatile genome editors are supplanting the CRISPR-Cas9 editing system (artist’s impression) for experimental treatments.Credit: Biolution GmbH/Science Photo Library Less than a month after the world’s first approval of a CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing therapy, researchers are hoping that the therapy will win its second authorization this week — this time from the United States, with its…

Hundreds of early-career researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have voted overwhelmingly to form a union, nearly completing the official process required to do so. They plan to call on the agency — the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research — to improve pay and working conditions, and to bolster its…

Hundreds of early-career researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have voted overwhelmingly to form a union, nearly completing the official process required to do so. They plan to call on the agency — the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research — to improve pay and working conditions, and to bolster its…

Quantum entanglement (illustration) is one of the effects that underpins quantum-computing technology.Credit: Peter Jurik/Alamy Physicists have taken the first step towards building quantum computers out of individual molecules trapped with laser devices called optical tweezers. Two teams report their results in Science on 7 December1,2, in both cases making pairs of calcium monofluoride molecules interact…

Abstract Understanding material surfaces and interfaces is vital in applications such as catalysis or electronics. By combining energies from electronic structure with statistical mechanics, ab initio simulations can, in principle, predict the structure of material surfaces as a function of thermodynamic variables. However, accurate energy simulations are prohibitive when coupled to the vast phase space…

Images: UNFCCC Flickr Kiara Worth, Christophe Viseux, Andrea DiCenzo, Mahmoud Khaled Buildings and Transport are two of the main contributing sectors in terms of global emissions. Wednesday 6 December marked the day in the COP calendar that nations would focus on breakthrough agendas aimed at dramatically curbing emissions from these sectors. While key commitments on…

The new Cities’ Science-Based Targets for Nature programme was unveiled during Buildings Day at COP28 (6 December). It aims to create science-based indicators and frameworks that allow cities to set targets to cover nature and climate. “This initiative comes as a crucial addition to ongoing efforts in understanding the intricate relationship between cities, climate goals,…

Climate change has placed the world in danger of breaching numerous planetary “tipping points”, according to a scientific assessment compiled by more than 200 scientists. Crossing those points could lead to irreversible effects on natural systems that are crucial to human livelihoods, write the authors, who add that it’s time to confront these dangers head-on…

Economic and social experiments will assess the processes for receiving, reviewing and funding research and innovation.Credit: sanjeri/Getty The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced plans to explore creative ways of funding research, emphasizing the need to make decisions more quickly and to support more proposals that are innovative. The agency has partnered with the…