Research Briefing |
Featured
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Article
| Open AccessA full-featured 2D flash chip enabled by system integration
A full-featured 2D NOR flash memory chip realized by an atomic device to chip technology combines a superior 2D electronic device as a memory core and a powerful CMOS platform to support complex instruction control.
- Chunsen Liu
- , Yongbo Jiang
- & Peng Zhou
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Nature Video |
These laser-cut discs turn into super precise parachutes
The kirigami-inspired design could be mass produced to deliver humanitarian aid.
- Dan Fox
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News & Views |
Parachutes inspired by the Japanese art of kirigami
Cutting a pattern into a flat disc can transform it into a parachute capable of carrying small payloads, which might be used to deliver humanitarian aid
- Pierre-Thomas Brun
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Article |
Kirigami-inspired parachutes with programmable reconfiguration
A thin planar disc designed with appropriately patterned cuts transforms itself, due to air flow effects, into an effective parachute exhibiting good positional stability, regardless of its initial orientation.
- Danick Lamoureux
- , Jérémi Fillion
- & David Melancon
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Nature Podcast |
How a dangerous tick-borne virus sneaks into the brain
Protein on the surface of brain cells appears to play a key role in disease progression — plus, a bot explores what might have happened to research if the Trump’s teams funding cuts had happened 10 years ago.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Career Feature |
No lectures, exams, essays: inside a twenty-first-century university
Some innovative higher-education institutions are reimagining pedagogy by prioritizing local needs over research and international student recruitment. Anna McKie visits one of them.
- Anna McKie
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Article |
Proximal cooperative aerial manipulation with vertically stacked drones
A cooperative aerial manipulation system, called FlyingToolbox, can work stably with sub-centimetre-level docking accuracy under vertical-stack flight conditions.
- Huazi Cao
- , Jiahao Shen
- & Shiyu Zhao
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Article
| Open AccessIndustry-compatible silicon spin-qubit unit cells exceeding 99% fidelity
Two-qubit operations exceeding 99% fidelity have been demonstrated by silicon devices made with standard semiconductor tooling in a 300-mm foundry environment.
- Paul Steinacker
- , Nard Dumoulin Stuyck
- & Andrew S. Dzurak
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Where I Work |
I deeply scan timber to reduce wasting this precious resource
Johannes Huber builds an understanding of logs using medical-imaging technology, to improve future wood-harvesting methods.
- Stav Dimitropoulos
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Research Highlight |
Soft robot steers itself down the human airway
Device can place an emergency breathing tube in the trachea faster than medical personnel can, even those with extensive training.
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Research Briefing |
A photonic chip enables ultrabroadband wireless communication
Future wireless networks should exploit the full range of telecommunications frequencies. A photonic chip that can reconfigure a broad range of frequencies enables dynamic, full-spectrum management of next-generation communications systems.
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Research Briefing |
Bespoke 3D printing adapted to features mapped using computer vision
Conventional 3D printers do not extract information from their environment. A ‘context-aware’ volumetric printer uses light-sheet imaging and visual processing to map objects or living cells embedded in printable materials. This enables rapid, automated fabrication of designs adapted to mapped elements, such as vasculature precisely reaching the bioprinted cells.
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News & Views |
Bioelectronic implants built from rolled-up stretchy circuits
Soft devices made by rolling up rubber-like sheets patterned with 2D electronics can monitor, stimulate and navigate deep tissue in animal models.
- Hyunjin Lee
- & Dae-Hyeong Kim
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Perspective |
Addressing the safety of next-generation batteries
Next-generation batteries will present different risks to conventional lithium-ion cells, emphasizing the need for efforts towards characterizing the abuse tolerance and hazards associated with next-generation battery materials over their life cycle and providing the data in the context of supporting affected professionals.
- Chuanbo Yang
- , Avtar Singh
- & Donal P. Finegan
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Article |
A movable long-term implantable soft microfibre for dynamic bioelectronics
A soft, stretchable and freely movable fibre sensor called NeuroWorm, inspired by earthworms and that can be magnetically steered through soft tissue, is described as a new platform for dynamic bioelectrical and biomechanical monitoring.
- Ruijie Xie
- , Fei Han
- & Zhiyuan Liu
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Article |
High-density soft bioelectronic fibres for multimodal sensing and stimulation
High-density multimodal soft bioelectronic fibres provide a platform for minimally invasive implantable electronics, where diverse sensing and stimulation functionalities can be effectively integrated.
- Muhammad Khatib
- , Eric Tianjiao Zhao
- & Zhenan Bao
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Article
| Open AccessDeepSeek-R1 incentivizes reasoning in LLMs through reinforcement learning
A new artificial intelligence model, DeepSeek-R1, is introduced, demonstrating that the reasoning abilities of large language models can be incentivized through pure reinforcement learning, removing the need for human-annotated demonstrations.
- Daya Guo
- , Dejian Yang
- & Zhen Zhang
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Editorial |
Make trains great again — for the sake of people and the planet
As railways enter their third century of service, research must support their renaissance for more-sustainable travel that supports human development.
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Career Column |
Why we launched Denmark’s second Young Academy (and what’s different about it)
YATSI aims to represent scientists based in academia and in industry, and to build bridges between the two sectors.
- Jonathan Quinson
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Research Briefing |
Designing an alloy microstructure atom by atom to withstand extreme cold
Atoms are the fundamental building blocks of metallic materials, and their arrangement and distribution determine the material’s properties. Rearranging atoms from a random, disordered state into a carefully ordered dual-scale pattern enhances the mechanical performance of alloys under extremely cold conditions.
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Nature Video |
The surprising ways bridges resist collapse
Researchers have uncovered six mechanisms that could be reinforced to prevent steel truss bridges collapsing.
- Nick Petrić Howe
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Nature Video |
Tiny flier could soar through the mesosphere powered only by light
A quirk of physics lets light power flight in low pressure environments.
- Dan Fox
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News & Views |
Damaged bridges flex and twist to prevent collapse
Bridges made from connected steel frameworks can sometimes survive unexpected damage by activating hidden structural responses.
- Katherine A. Cashell
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Article
| Open AccessLatent resistance mechanisms of steel truss bridges after critical failures
Experimental tests and computational simulations of a scaled-down specimen of a real steel truss bridge identify and characterize the latent resistance mechanisms following critical failures, demonstrating how loads supported by failed components can be redistributed and enable structure resilience.
- Juan C. Reyes-Suárez
- , Manuel Buitrago
- & Jose M. Adam
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Article
| Open AccessAdaptive and context-aware volumetric printing
A new approach combining 3D imaging, computer vision and parametric modelling, named GRACE, is introduced, enabling adaptive and context-aware 3D printing of structures around features ranging from cellular to macroscopic scales with minimal user intervention.
- Sammy Florczak
- , Gabriel Größbacher
- & Riccardo Levato
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Comment |
Air taxis will soon be in our skies — if batteries can be made safer
Small electric aeroplanes flying at low altitude will need energy sources that can withstand crashes and deliver power reliably. Standards need to be decided now.
- Liqiang Mai
- , Xiaocong Tian
- & Yunlong Zhao
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Editorial |
Hazardous science that helps to save and improve lives needs more support
Research into the growing environmental problem of urban gullies highlights the challenging conditions under which many socially important studies are done.
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Career Guide |
Why Texas is the hottest place for space right now
Companies and students are flocking to the state, drawn by growth and employment opportunities in the aerospace sector.
- Jonathan O’Callaghan
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Article
| Open AccessUltrabroadband on-chip photonics for full-spectrum wireless communications
Adaptive wireless communication over an unprecedented frequency range spanning over 100 GHz can be achieved by a thin-film lithium niobate photonic wireless system, which can process a large flux of information at high speed.
- Zihan Tao
- , Haoyu Wang
- & Xingjun Wang
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Article
| Open AccessDual-scale chemical ordering for cryogenic properties in CoNiV-based alloys
Dual-scale chemical ordering in CoNiV-based alloys improves the synergy of strength and ductility at cryogenic temperatures, providing an approach for obtaining high-performance metallic materials for cryogenic applications.
- Tiwen Lu
- , Binhan Sun
- & Shan-Tung Tu
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Article
| Open AccessOptical generative models
Optical generative models are demonstrated for the rapid and power-efficient creation of never-seen-before images of handwritten digits, fashion products, butterflies, human faces and Van Gogh-style artworks.
- Shiqi Chen
- , Yuhang Li
- & Aydogan Ozcan
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Article |
Atomic dynamics of gas-dependent oxide reducibility
Environmental transmission electron microscopy reveals distinct atomistic pathways for the reduction of NiO to metallic nickel by CO and H2, with H2 more effective in transforming the entire bulk material.
- Xiaobo Chen
- , Jianyu Wang
- & Guangwen Zhou
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Article
| Open AccessFlat-panel laser displays through large-scale photonic integrated circuits
Photonic integrated circuits allow laser displays to be flattened into a compact form factor while improving efficiency and colour performance.
- Zhujun Shi
- , Risheng Cheng
- & Giuseppe Calafiore
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Book Review |
Why amphibious, wet environments hold the key to climate adaptation
As the planet braces for climate-change-induced fluctuations, the wisdom of communities living at the intersection of land and water could offer valuable lessons.
- Ananya
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News |
A mind-reading brain implant that comes with password protection
A brain–computer interface decodes in near-real time the imagined speech of people who have difficulty enunciating words.
- Gemma Conroy
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News & Views |
Levitating platform could ride sunlight into the ‘ignorosphere’
A nano-engineered structure that levitates when a laser of a similar intensity to sunlight is shone on it could help scientists to study a hard-to-reach region of the atmosphere.
- Igor Bargatin
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News |
Watch rappelling robots dive into a lava tube — for science
Test run shows how a team of three autonomous robots could search for extraterrestrial environments suitable for sheltering humans.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Article |
Photophoretic flight of perforated structures in near-space conditions
A photophoretic aircraft that can levitate via thermal transpiration is achieved under near-space conditions, providing a potential platform for climate sensing, communications and Martian exploration.
- Benjamin C. Schafer
- , Jong-hyoung Kim
- & David W. Keith
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News & Views |
How Paris dealt with lightning in the Age of Enlightenment
A retrospective look at ‘para-tonnerres’ in eighteenth-century Paris, and Paul Nurse’s debut Nature paper, in our weekly dip into the journal’s archive.
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Article
| Open AccessIn situ light-field imaging of octopus locomotion reveals simplified control
Using an advanced imaging system called EyeRIS, locomotion in deep-sea octopuses could be studied, revealing simplified crawling patterns that could inspire the design of robots.
- Kakani Katija
- , Christine L. Huffard
- & Alana D. Sherman
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News & Views |
Baboons defend themselves by throwing stones
Fieldworkers dodge monkeys’ rocky missiles, and abandoned plans to make cork mattresses, in our weekly dip into Nature’s archive.
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Where I Work |
How I’m electrifying transportation in Tanzania
Technician Erasto Job assembles and fixes electric three-wheelers for TRí, a sustainable transportation company in Dar es Salaam.
- Nikki Forrester
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Article
| Open AccessReal-time in situ magnetization reprogramming for soft robotics
A real-time in situ magnetization reprogramming method for magnetic soft robots enables dynamic shape control, cooperative multi-tool manipulation and expanded actuation abilities.
- Xianqiang Bao
- , Fan Wang
- & Metin Sitti
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Career Q&A |
Hard paths: how courage differs from bravery in science
‘If it’s easy, someone else will do it.’ Leah Ellis, chief executive of Sublime Systems, explains the challenge and appeal of slashing carbon emissions from cement production.
- Emma Ulker
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Article
| Open AccessMechanical underwater adhesive devices for soft substrates
A remora-inspired mechanical underwater adhesive device adheres securely to a range of soft substrates and maintains performance under extreme pH and moisture conditions, with potential applications in biosensing and drug delivery.
- Ziliang Kang
- , Johanna A. Gomez
- & Giovanni Traverso
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Outlook |
Robots demonstrate principles of collective intelligence
Lessons from developmental biology can be used to guide the behaviour of robot swarms.
- Sedeer el-Showk
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Article |
Biphasic liquids with shape-shifting and bistable microdomains
A liquid-crystal-in-oil emulsion system exhibits bistable opacity or transparency, with rapid switching between the two, faster than, for example, electrochromics that can be found in smart windows.
- Sangchul Roh
- , Youlim Ha
- & Nicholas L. Abbott
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News |
OpenAI’s o3 tops new AI league table for answering scientific questions
SciArena uses votes by researchers to evaluate large language models’ responses on technical topics.
- Rachel Fieldhouse
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Research Briefing |
Integrated cryogenic chip controls spin qubits
Building a quantum computer out of silicon allows the computer’s qubits to be integrated seamlessly with their control electronics, but the control circuits can degrade qubit performance. A cryogenic control chip counters this risk and holds promise for scaling up the number of qubits.