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If you want something done right, do it yourself: the scientists who build their own tools
Industry doesn’t always make the intricate tools that research demands, pushing some scientists to take DIY to the extreme.Credit: NPL In science, as any researcher knows, the right tools can be the crucial difference between making a discovery and wasting time. But what happens when the right tools simply don’t exist? Against a backdrop of…
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How high-impact papers from Indian researchers are shaping science
The haze that causes widespread health problems in Delhi is the focus of highly cited studies by researchers in India.Credit: Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times/Shutterstock India was the world’s third-most-prolific publisher of research papers in 2022, but it was ranked only 153rd for the number of citations it received per paper. Indeed, in 2020, about 30% of…
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ChatGPT and science: the AI system was a force in 2023 — for good and bad
Credit: Olga Yastremska/Alamy, Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty This story is part of Nature’s 10, an annual list compiled by Nature’s editors exploring key developments in science and the individuals who contributed to them. It co-wrote scientific papers — sometimes surreptitiously. It drafted outlines for presentations, grant proposals and classes, churned out computer code, and served…
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45 Simple and Fun Preschool Science Experiments and Activities
Every day is a new opportunity for toddlers to ask “Why?” over and over. Tap into that curiosity with these fun and engaging science activities for preschoolers. These simple experiments incorporate many preschool favorites like playing with bubbles or water, making arts and crafts, and, of course, making a mess! To make things even easier,…
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Fungi and flatworms: Scientists want more diverse nature emojis
Too many cats, not enough crustaceans: The current emoji catalog doesn’t accurately represent the breadth of biodiversity seen in nature — and that hurts conservation efforts, according to scientists. An analysis published Monday in the journal iScience found that while animals are well represented by the current emoji catalog, plants, fungi, and microorganisms get short…
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What the Ottomans did for science — and science did for the Ottomans
The open court of the mosque of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, seen in 1880.Credit: Alamy The Ottoman Scientific Heritage Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu (trans. Maryam Patton) Al-Furqān (2023) Empires have long used science and engineering to power their expansion and survival. Advances in medicine have helped to keep armies in a state of battle readiness. Innovations in…
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COP28: the science is clear — fossil fuels must go
Arguments over phasing out fossil fuels dominated COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Credit: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters Sultan Al Jaber, the host and president of COP28, this year’s United Nations climate conference, sparked an outcry before the meeting kicked off in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At an online event on 21 November, he said that there is…
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Robot chemist sparks row with claim it created new materials
An autonomous laboratory assistant that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to cook up new materials has come under fire from researchers who dispute its discoveries. When scientists unveiled the A-Lab in Nature on 29 November1, they reported that it had produced 41 new materials in 17 days, promising to speed up the discovery of…
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‘Head-scratcher’: first look at asteroid dust brought to Earth offers surprises
Researchers handle OSIRIS-REx’s sample canister inside a glovebox at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.Credit: NASA/Kimberly Allums San Francisco, California In the two and a half months since NASA’s first asteroid sample-return mission landed safely on Earth, technicians have carefully plucked more than 70 grams of asteroid dust and pebbles from the outside of…
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How to make data open? Stop overlooking librarians
The ‘Year of Open Science’, as declared by the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), is now wrapping up. This followed an August 2022 memo from OSTP acting director Alondra Nelson, which mandated that data and peer-reviewed publications from federally funded research should be made freely accessible by the end of 2025. Federal…