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Materials Chemistry Group

 

A new vision for how evolution works is long overdue

Nature Updates - Mon, 13/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 13 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00054-x

The idea that evolution is driven by an organism’s development — not just the natural selection of its genes — challenges a dearly held orthodoxy among evolutionary biologists.

‘Expansion microscopy’ turns ten: how a tissue-swelling method brought super-resolution imaging to the masses

Nature Updates - Mon, 13/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 13 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00059-6

A decade in, expansion microscopy is unlocking insights across biology and medicine.

‘Nicotine Nazis’: the brickbats hurled at scientists researching tobacco’s harms

Nature Updates - Mon, 13/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 13 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-04241-0

A study highlights how public-health researchers are targeted for focusing on tobacco, alcohol and ultra-processed foods.

Pictograms, comics and other illustrations: Books in brief

Nature Updates - Mon, 13/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 13 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00056-9

Andrew Robinson reviews five of the best science picks.

Why a silly-sounding name suits the serious mission of our biotech spin-off

Nature Updates - Mon, 13/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 13 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03941-x

How do you choose what to call your company? Wobble Genomics’s chief executive, Richard Kuo, explains.

Daily briefing: The science behind the deadly Los Angeles firestorm

Nature Updates - Fri, 10/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 10 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00120-4

Just ten bacterial species account for half of all publications, leaving the majority ignored. Plus, the complex reasons driving the deadly Los Angeles wildfires.

Daily briefing: Earth breaches 1.5 °C climate limit for the first time

Nature Updates - Fri, 10/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 10 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00116-0

A grim milestone of climate heating, the public-health legacy of former US president Jimmy Carter and a possible problem with tennis balls.

Voter turnout drives margins of victory ― if elections are fair

Nature Updates - Fri, 10/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 10 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00023-4

Model that predicts the spread of winning margins could be used to detect electoral interference.

How the brain cleans itself during deep sleep

Nature Updates - Fri, 10/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 10 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00007-4

Blood vessels in the brain rhythmically constrict and dilate to drive waves of cleansing fluid through the organ.

These are the 20 most-studied bacteria — the majority have been ignored

Nature Updates - Fri, 10/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 10 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00038-x

Model microbes such as Escherichia coli hog scientists’ attention, leaving most known bacteria with few publications devoted to them.

Facebook to ditch fact-checking: what do researchers think?

Nature Updates - Fri, 10/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 10 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00027-0

Meta’s planned shift away from third party fact-checking in favour of a crowdsourced approach has perplexed those who study the spread of misinformation.

Earth breaches 1.5 °C climate limit for the first time: what does it mean?

Nature Updates - Fri, 10/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 10 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00010-9

The threshold has been exceeded for only one year so far, but humanity is nearing the end of what many thought was a ‘safe zone’ as climate change worsens.

Rising stars in AI use robotics and automation to accelerate their work

Nature Updates - Fri, 10/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 10 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-04233-0

These three scientists are pushing boundaries in their fields.

Mind matters: investigating academia’s ‘mental health crisis’

Nature Updates - Fri, 10/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 10 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-04240-1

Adam Levy discusses some of the systemic changes needed to make the academic workplace both a happier and healthier place.

Jimmy Carter obituary: former US president who dedicated his life after office to peace, human rights and global health

Nature Updates - Fri, 10/01/2025 - 00:00

Nature, Published online: 10 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00067-6

The Nobel prizewinner worked tirelessly with wife Rosalynn Carter to eradicate Guinea-worm disease.