What is the duty of the nature writer? It’s a question nature writers love to ask themselves. The more optimistic might say that their task is to mend humanity’s broken relationship with the natural world; pessimists that their role is merely to “bear witness” to life on a dying planet. As the nature-writing genre continues to…

NASA via AP / file photoThe “Sounds of Earth” record is mounted on the Voyager 2 spacecraft in the Safe-1 Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., in August 1977. AP 13:04 JST, October 9, 2024 NEW YORK (AP) — To save power, NASA has switched off another scientific instrument on its long-running Voyager 2 spacecraft.…

Artificial intelligence is rapidly being integrated into Earth science, but how Earth science may benefit artificial intelligence has been overlooked. We call for mutual balancing between the two disciplines and improving cross-disciplinary collaboration. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access options Access through your institution Change institution Buy or subscribe…

Fat cells (artificially coloured). Restrictive diets cause fat loss and lengthen life, but the two effects are not necessarily linked.Credit: Steve Gschmeissner/SPL Cutting calorie intake can lead to a leaner body — and a longer life, an effect often chalked up to the weight loss and metabolic changes caused by consuming less food. Now, one…

Several researchers share tales around the development of their widely used methods. Download PDF Credit: MohammadHosein Reyhani / Getty Images Every paper is a win. Each one comes together when experiment and analysis, usually doused in sweat and setbacks, culminates in work that researchers are proud to show others beyond their collaborators. Sometimes a described…

An analysis of the academic job market finds that women are more successful at turning job interviews into offers than are men.Credit: Getty An investigation into academic hiring outcomes for biological-science roles has suggested a surprising trend: women who applied for assistant professor positions in North America were more likely to get job offers than…

Phelotrupes auratus By Michael George / The Japan News 12:23 JST, October 8, 2024 Summer has ended and taken the bugs with it, but people in Tokyo are still swarming to see them. Displays are seen in an area of the “Konchu Maniac” exhibition in Tokyo. The National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno Park,…

The annual Lindau conferences (pictured) introduce early-career scientists to Nobel prizewinners.Credit: Christian Flemming/Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings It’s Nobel Prize week, and history indicates that the scientists in with the best chance of winning are men from Europe or North America. If you were born anywhere else in the world, your best chance of getting an…

The winners were announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.Credit: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Two researchers who developed tools for understanding the neural networks that underpin today’s boom in artificial intelligence (AI) have won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics. John Hopfield at Princeton University in New Jersey, and Geoffrey Hinton at…

US voters will head to polling stations on 5 November to cast their ballots for the next president.Credit: Mark Felix/AFP via Getty The United States will hold an election for its next president in just under one month’s time. The winner will face massive challenges, some relating to science, technology, health and the environment. Nature…