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The astonishing scientists who starved to protect plants during the Second World War
The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice Simon Parkin Scribner (2024) After Simon Parkin’s account of the siege of Leningrad and the fate of the world’s first proper seed bank, after his postscript, afterword and acknowledgements, there are nine pages that — for people who know the story — are…
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How to sustain scientific collaboration amid worsening US–China relations
Scientific partnership between the United States and China is at risk — and it cannot be allowed to deteriorate.Credit: Dilok Klaisataporn/Getty As the political relationship between the United States and China has frayed, the scientific ties between them have become thinner and more fragile. This is a dangerous trend. Working together, scientific communities in the…
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The scientific reason to cook with simmering rather than vigorously boiling water
Research Staff Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, MGH, Harvard Medical School Charlestown, MA United States Instructor, Assistant Professor, A… Charlestown, Massachusetts (US) Massachusetts General Hospital/Martinos Center
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Harsh criticism and unreasonable expectations worsen PhD students’ mental health
The teaching aspects of graduate-student roles can be particularly stressful for many people.Credit: Maya/Getty Graduate students with anxiety and depression say that their symptoms are exacerbated by the pressures of research and teaching, fuelled by overly harsh criticism and being held to unreasonable expectations, a survey finds. Those who self-identified as having severe anxiety or…
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How science recruiters and job applicants can get on the same page
Careers fairs are formal recruitment channels, but some recruiters prefer to hire from their professional networks.Credit: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg/Getty Every year, tens of thousands of people around the world apply for research jobs armed with postgraduate qualifications and specialized knowledge, only for their carefully crafted applications to seemingly vanish into a digital void. At the…
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‘Nicotine Nazis’: the brickbats hurled at scientists researching tobacco’s harms
A tobacconist kiosk in Krakow, Poland, where researchers and anti-smoking campaigners were labelled ‘militant extremists’.Credit: Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Getty Scientists who study harms caused by tobacco, alcohol and ultra-processed foods can face cyberattacks, lawsuits, surveillance and physical violence, a study finds. Many are labelled extremists, fascists, zealots and prohibitionists, it adds. The study is a review of…
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Daily briefing: The science behind the deadly Los Angeles firestorm
Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here. Staphylococcus bacteria are responsible for many infectious diseases.Credit: Steve Gschmeissner/SPL Ten bacteria hog scientists’ attention Scientists have identified more than 45,000 bacterial species — but just a handful of these have been deeply studied. Paul Jensen,…
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These are the 20 most-studied bacteria — the majority have been ignored
Staphylococcus bacteria are responsible for many infectious diseases.Credit: Steve Gschmeissner/SPL Paul Jensen, a microbial-systems biologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, wanted to see whether artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as large language models, could synthesize research on different microorganisms. So he located all the relevant papers on a bacterial species that his…
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Governance of Indigenous data in open earth systems science
Abstract In the age of big data and open science, what processes are needed to follow open science protocols while upholding Indigenous Peoples’ rights? The Earth Data Relations Working Group (EDRWG), convened to address this question and envision a research landscape that acknowledges the legacy of extractive practices and embraces new norms across Earth science…
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Revealed: the fatty cells that are the ‘bubble wrap’ of the body
A green dye marks lipocartilage cells from the ear of a rat.Credit: Plikus lab, Univ. California, Irvine The ear and the nose are squishy and stretchy thanks in part to ‘bubble wrap’ cells that provide extra cushioning and structural support to various body parts, a wide-ranging study1 shows. These ‘lipocartilage’ cells — which are found…