Unless more equitable ways of funding UK universities are found, students could end up with fewer places to choose from.Credit: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty “Shock delay to net-zero pledges turns UK from climate leader to laggard.” This unflattering headline from a 2023 Nature editorial gives a flavour of the disconnect between the UK government and scientific community…

Academics hope to publish their research in journals (shown), but their initial submissions are often rejected.Credit: Getty Like actors and writers, researchers experience their fair share of rejection. Scientists submit their work to journals, hoping that it will be accepted, but many manuscripts are rejected from their authors’ top-choice publication and eventually get accepted by…

Bringing together artists from different disciplines as they turn their focus to the natural world, the National Archives of Australia presents the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize exhibition. Acting Director-General Brooke Anderson says National Archives is proud to once again partner with the South Australian Museum to exhibit a range of thought-provoking works. “We are…

Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is a rare brain disorder caused by misfolded proteins, which can be suppressed by a new editing system.Credit: Zephyr/Science Photo Library A molecular-editing tool that’s small enough to be delivered to the brain shuts down the production of proteins that cause prion diseases, a rare but deadly group of neurodegenerative disorders. The system…

The drug liraglutide, sold under the brand names Victoza and Saxenda, binds to molecules in a certain brain region to trigger a feeling of fullness.Credit: Kristoffer Tripplaar/Sipa USA/Alamy People taking Wegovy and similar weight-loss drugs often feel full, even when they sit down to a meal and haven’t taken a single bite. Now, scientists have…

Just like that, it’s almost July. With the students gone, Corvallis is settling into its sleepy summer season, and that means a slowdown in events around town. Luckily, our local nonprofits step up this time of year, to fill in some of the gap left as the university goes quiet. This week, volunteers are needed…

 Image: Mark Thomas When salaries don’t keep pace with inflation, a passion for science doesn’t pay the bills On Thursday 20 June, the science journal Nature published its 8,017th issue. Like its 8,016 predecessors, this latest issue contained cutting-edge papers from across the disciplines of science. But last Thursday was historic for the journal not because of…

The Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK, is a world leader in basic biology research. The lab’s list of breakthroughs is enviable, from the structure of DNA and proteins to genetic sequencing. Since its origins in the late 1940s, the institute — currently with around 700 staff members — has…

Success as an academic doesn’t have to come at the expense of family.Credit: Getty How do you become successful in academia? At numerous international conferences, I’ve heard eminent scholars emphasize the necessity of prioritizing work above everything else, including family and children. One memorable instance occurred in 2018, at a large international conference in my…

Nobel laureate Morten Meldal (with blue lanyard) has learnt from the young scientists at the 2023 Lindau meeting.Credit: Julia Nimke/Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Each year, more than two dozen Nobel laureates attend a meeting in Lindau, Germany, at which hundreds of early-career researchers from all over the world can network with them and each other.…