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…

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…

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…

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…