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Can peer-reviewed podcasts fast-track science?
Podcasts offer a quick way to publish research results.Credit: grinvalds/iStock via Getty Kate Murray, a communications specialist in Melbourne, Australia, wants to see peer-reviewed research published as podcasts. It’s a “fairly fledgling concept”, says Murray, who helps to produce Walking the city with…, a podcast series that follows scholars as they visit locations that are…
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The Future of Nature | Forests
♪ UMA THURMAN: Life… The closer you look, the more mysterious it seems. We can’t see the invisible forces at work. But what if we could? It’s time to look at our home… ..in a whole new way. Imagine carbon cycling through nature. It’s one of the building blocks of life. And it’s stored in…
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Microbial warfare brought us CRISPR. What big breakthroughs could be next?
All around the world — in the oceans, the soil, your body — an invisible battle is raging. Earth’s vast population of roughly 1030 bacteria faces an unending onslaught from an even larger army of viruses, known as bacteriophages. The bacteria have a variety of defences at their disposal: they chop up viral components, deny…
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Will AI improve your life? Here’s what 4,000 researchers think
Credit: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Researchers working at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) are much more optimistic than members of the public about the future of AI, reveals a survey of 4,260 scientists in the field: 54% think that the technology will bring more benefits than risks, compared with 13% of the UK public…
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What makes us human? Milestone ape genomes promise clues
Conservation of critically endangered Bornean orangutans could be aided by the sequencing of the creature’s genome.Credit: Fiona Rogers/Nature Picture Library After more than two decades of work, researchers have achieved a genetics milestone: they have successfully sequenced the complete genomes of six ape species, a feat that seemed impossible just a few years ago1. The…
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Between Science and Poetry, the “Tree of 40 Fruit” Is Taking Roots in Philadelphia
In the heart of Philadelphia, Temple University has become home to a unique living artwork: the Tree of 40 Fruits. Created by Sam Van Aken, a contemporary artist known for blending horticulture with art, this grafted tree produces an astonishing array of 40 different types of stone fruits, such as apricots, cherries, peaches, plums, and…
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An animal source of mpox emerges — and it’s a squirrel
One of the great mysteries of the monkeypox virus has been pinpointing its ‘reservoir’ hosts — the animals that carry and spread the virus without becoming sick from it. Now, an international team of scientists suggests that it has an answer: the fire-footed rope squirrel (Funisciurus pyrropus), a forest-dwelling rodent found in West and Central…
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Science’s big problem is a loss of influence, not a loss of trust
People who have high trust in their health-care system are more likely to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.Credit: Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times via Getty Science has a trust problem — at least, that is the common perception. If only, the argument goes, we could get people to ‘trust’ or ‘follow’ the science, we, as a society,…
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NSF slashes prestigious PhD fellowship awards by half
Young researchers in the United States can benefit from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which awards students a stipend and pays for their tuition.Credit: Rob Felt, Georgia Tech Each April, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) offers around 2,000 promising young researchers prestigious fellowships to support their careers in science. Yesterday, the…
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‘Now is not the time for despair’ — how scientists can take a stand against political interference
Resistance is rising against the assault on science, the environment and marginalized communities by the administration of US President Donald Trump. Battles are starting to play out in courts, but these cannot be the only sites of resistance. A broader, more inclusive defence of science is needed. I have felt the impacts of political assaults.…