China’s cities are playing a key role in the development of specialist technologies such as solar energy.Credit: Yaorusheng/Getty Many of the patterns evident in the data for this year’s Nature Index Science Cities supplement will be familiar to watchers of global science trends over the past decade. China’s research output in the journals tracked by…

In the biological sciences, the United States has the leading Nature Index science cities. But although New York and Boston continue to dominate the top spots, 2023 has brought a significant shift in other parts of the rankings. Beijing’s impressive growth in the subject, shown by an 18.8% year-on-year increase in adjusted Share, alongside a…

Illustration: David Parkins The problem Dear Nature, I am a chemical engineer with a PhD, working in the food industry. I’m at a point in my career where I need to decide whether I want a managerial career path or should stick with technical, problem-solving work in research and development. My biggest worry is that,…

As Chinese research goes from strength to strength, it is natural that the country’s biggest and most economically developed urban areas, such as Beijing and Shanghai, would become superstar science cities; as China gets richer, more educated and more technologically sophisticated, the megacities drive further progress. What might be more surprising is that some of…

Credit: MirageC/Getty When I first arrived in the United States as an international student from India, I was immediately struck by the steep learning curve involved in communicating effectively in English. I’m a former research fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in New Delhi, and a Bengali speaker, as well as being fluent…

In a discovery that blurs the line between biology and technology, scientists have found that heart-shaped clams use fiber optic–like structures to channel sunlight through their shells in much the same way that telecommunications company use fiber optics to deliver high-speed internet connectivity into homes. This innovation, a first known example of bundled fiber optics…

Relying on natural carbon sinks such as forests and oceans to offset continued fossil fuel emissions will not stop global heating, the scientists who developed net zero have warned. Each year, the planet’s oceans, forests, soils and other natural carbon sinks absorb abouthalf of all human emissions, forming part of government plans to limit global…

Science and Politics Ian Boyd Polity (2024) Say what you really think, Sir Ian. Politics attracts people who are comfortable with “lying” and “manufacturing social truth” and who “do not distinguish between fantasy and reality”, Ian Boyd notes in his book Science and Politics. Moreover, many scientists are falling “for the wisdom of crowds”, “following…

Abstract Public trust in scientists is critical to our ability to face societal threats. Here, across five pre-registered studies (N = 2,034), we assessed whether perceptions of scientists’ intellectual humility affect perceived trustworthiness of scientists and their research. In study 1, we found that seeing scientists as higher in intellectual humility was associated with greater perceived trustworthiness…