Our yearly tradition of highlighting our favorite author-suggested covers that were not chosen as Nature Computational Science covers continues! Here are our favorite images from 2024.

Cover submitted for the paper by Feihu Xu and colleagues.
Credit: Feihu Xu

The first image was submitted by Feihu Xu and colleagues for their Article that describes a computational algorithm and technique to see around corners — meaning, to realize non-line-of-sight (NLOS) imaging — in real time¹. The cover image playfully depicts a robot that can — using the proposed technique — take videos of a hidden cat-and-mouse game. The proposed NLOS imaging technique enables visualization of dynamic scenes obscured from direct view, which has potential applications in multiple fields, such as robotics and autonomous driving.

Cover submitted for the paper by Hang Zhang and colleagues.
Credit: Shiyu Wang

Another cover runner-up was submitted by Hang Zhang and colleagues, related to their Article on the interplay of motives in altruistic decision-making². The center of the artwork illustrates a prominent figure — rendered in bold blue tones — that appears to be in contemplation, while two additional figures — depicted in red and green — are positioned more subtly in the background. These three figures represent different social moral decision-makers observing and evaluating an unfair scenario, symbolized by distinctly tilted scales scattered throughout the composition. Above them, thought bubbles showcase the intricate mental process of weighing multiple factors, with the blue bubble given particular emphasis to represent the dominant motive in the ‘cocktail’ of seven socioeconomic considerations identified in the research. This visual metaphor captures the paper’s core finding: altruistic behaviors are guided not by a single motive but by a complex interplay of up to seven motives that distinct individuals weigh differently across various situations.

Cover submitted for the paper by Guoqi Li and colleagues.
Credit: Guoqi Li

Another favorite cover suggestion was submitted by Guoqi Li and colleagues for their Article on a brain-inspired network model³. The cover art visually represents the central theme of the study: the relationship between external complexity and internal complexity in achieving efficient artificial intelligent systems. In the bottom-left corner, a blue neural sub-network illustrates external complexity: the background depicts a neural network with complex connections, indicating a network with external complexity. In contrast, the top-right corner highlights internal complexity within individual neurons: a red neuron features three dendritic branches, symbolizing the internal complexity of a single neuron, with the background depicting a neural network with simple connections, thus indicating a network with less external complexity but more internal complexity. The diagonal alignment and visual balance between the two regions suggest an equivalence between external and internal complexity. Together, these regions reflect the main conclusion of the study: internal complexity at the neuronal level offers an alternative path to achieve the performance of larger, simpler neural networks.

Cover submitted for the paper by Zachary Friedenberger and Richard Naud.
Credit: Thomas Berthommier

Finally, another cover image that we would like to highlight was sent by Zachary Friedenberger and Richard Naud for their Brief Communication that introduces an analytical framework for computing the input–output function of neurons with active dendrites⁴. The prompt for the image was dendritic computation: the dendrite is represented by the morphology of a neuron, with zeros and ones being depicted as the shadow of the morphology in order to represent the computation aspect.

We are looking forward to seeing the creative cover suggestions that our authors will submit in 2025!