The devastation of hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis or tornadoes is often conveyed by how many people have been injured or killed. And based on this, we assess “how bad was it really?” For example, the recent hurricane season in the Atlantic has cost nearly 300 lives in the US and the Caribbean, with Helene killing at…

EU research commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva held positions in the Bulgarian government.Credit: Thierry Monasse/Getty The European Union has a new research head, tasked with reshaping the world’s biggest collaborative research programme to help stop the bloc’s economic and technological downward slide. Ekaterina Zaharieva, a lawyer who has held multiple positions in the Bulgarian government — albeit…

Abstract Recent studies have indicated potential health risks associated with microplastics (MPs) exposure, including alterations in blood coagulation homeostasis. This cross-sectional study aimed to quantitatively examine MPs in human blood and assess their association with coagulation markers. We recruited 36 healthy adults, collected whole blood samples, and analyzed MPs using Fourier-transform infrared (µ-FTIR) spectroscopy. Lifestyle…

Abstract The development of GaN-based Micro-LED arrays achieving brightnesses exceeding 107 nits and high-density micro-displays with up to 1080×780 pixels marks a true breakthrough in the field. This breakthrough is a result of mastering a combination of long-standing challenges comprising wafer-scale high-quality epitaxial growth, sidewall passivation, efficient photon extraction, and elegant bonding technologies, and promises…

Cores recovered from below the seafloor provide clues to open questions in Earth science. A looming gap in international ocean drilling requires renewed support and urgent action. Beneath the seafloor lie sediments, sometimes kilometres thick, draped over the oceanic crust. Recording as much as two hundred million years of Earth history, these sediments provide insights…

Abstract Computational analysis of a large number of genomes requires a data structure that can represent the dataset compactly while also enabling efficient operations on variants and samples. However, encoding genetic data in existing tabular data structures and file formats has become costly and unsustainable. Here we introduce the genotype representation graph (GRG), a fully…

Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here. Communication between neurons (illustration) in two separate brain regions is patchy in mice that are susceptible to severe stress. Credit: Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library Stress-induced brain signature dampens joy Joylessness induced by stress leaves a distinct…

The virtual lab set-up used several LLMs to design antibody fragments that could bind to SARS-CoV-2.Credit: KTSDESIGN/Science Photo Library via Getty In an effort to automate scientific discovery using artificial intelligence (AI), researchers have created a virtual laboratory that combines several ‘AI scientists’ — large language models with defined scientific roles — that can collaborate…

Illustration: Barbara Gibson. Images: Getty/Alamy Killer viruses. Artificial intelligence. Extreme weather. Microplastics. Mental health. These are just a few of the pressing issues on which governments need science to inform their policies. But the systems that connect scientists with politicians are not working well, according to a Nature survey of around 400 science-policy specialists around…

Illustration: Tiago Galo Nature’s 2024 hiring in science survey This article is the fourth in a short series discussing the results of Nature’s 2024 global survey of hiring managers in science. The survey, created in partnership with Thinks Insights & Strategy, a research consultancy in London, launched in June and was advertised on nature.com, in…