Typhoon Hagibis approaches Japan in 2019. The storm was one of the events used to study the accuracy of an AI-based forecasting system.Credit: NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)/AP/Alamy Google DeepMind has developed the first artificial intelligence (AI) model of its kind to predict the weather more accurately than the best…

Institutions including the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, UK, are offering courses in science and evidence in public policy.Credit: Hufton+Crow/View Pictures/Universal Images Group/Getty Earlier this year, Nature asked science-policy specialists which country is particularly good at ensuring science is factored into government decisions. The question mystified many respondents. “Not aware of…

Scientists at an unnamed corporate laboratory were randomly assigned a machine-learning tool.Credit: Eugenio Marongiu/Getty Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming ubiquitous in applied research, but can it actually invent useful materials faster than humans can? It is still too early to tell, but a massive study suggests that it might. Researchers built an ‘AI Scientist’ —…

LinkedIn is becoming the social-media platform of choice for many researchers.Credit: Gioele Piccinini/Shutterstock For most of my career, I avoided Linkedin. I preferred online networking on Twitter (now X), where I joined other academics in sharing publications, debating research findings and, most of all, posting memes. But that all changed in 2022, when I decided…

With every year bringing record-breaking flooding, cyclones, hurricanes and heatwaves, one might think that Homo sapiens needs an escape hatch from an overheating Earth. Some futurists believe we should be making giant leaps towards colonising the red planet – even if the prospect of Emperor Elon is enough to put anyone off a trip to Mars.…

Scientific questions are universal but the scientific workforce remains skewed, with women and gender minorities still underrepresented. Initiatives such as the Women in Autophagy network promote the careers of these underrepresented groups with a range of free, year-round scientific, mentoring and networking activities for all scientists. This is a preview of subscription content, access via…

ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence system that learns from large amounts of human-produced data.Credit: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty In the two years since ChatGPT was released to the public, researchers have been using it to polish their academic writing, review the scientific literature and write code to analyse data. Although some think that the…

Credit: Nicolas Lambert/BELGA/AFP via Getty Scientists in Boston, Massachusetts have made reprogrammed stem cells from the blood of centenarians. They plan to share the cells with other researchers to better understand the factors that contribute to a long and healthy life. Early experiments are already providing insights on brain ageing. Enjoying our latest content? Login…

(Left to right) Miloš Tišma, Milica Jeličić, Jovana Kaljević, and Boris Stojilković, who all met at university, set up an online journal club to stay in touch and discuss research.Credit: Jovana Kaljevic Chasing the best scientific career opportunities often means leaving behind homes, universities and friends. This happened to the four of us when we…

Illustrations: Richard L. Tillotson Art and science have a long and intertwined history. During his five-year research trip on HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin drew his own finches; and Marianne North, his contemporary, was both a prolific painter and a botanist who set up a dedicated gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London. Their…