The functioning of the brain is often compared to that of a computer. Some researchers are testing this analogy to its limits, attempting to build computers containing lab-grown cultures of brain cells. In doing so, they hope to circumvent the physical limitations of the silicon-based computing hardware used for artificial intelligence today.1,2. The promise is
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Force of nature: understanding the deepest logic of evolution and putting it into practice Owen D. Jones W. W. Norton (2026) From antimicrobial resistance and vaccines to drug design and even policymaking, evolution is fundamental to many aspects of our lives. However, Darwinian thinking is too often neglected. In Force of natureBiologist and jurist Owen
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Credit: David Goddard/Getty Can commercial funding fill a £42 million (US$56 million) a year hole in the finances of some of the UK’s most iconic laboratories and science facilities? That is the challenge facing sites run by the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which funds the Diamond Light Source (the national synchrotron facility
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You have full access to this article through your institution. Hello Nature Readers, would you like to receive this report in your inbox for free every day? Register here. Developing sperm (blue; artificially colored) fill the center of the seminiferous tubules (orange), which form the human testicle.Credit: Susumu Nishinaga/Scientific Photo Library A man’s ability to
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You have full access to this article through your institution. Hello Nature Readers, would you like to receive this report in your inbox for free every day? Register here. The researchers compared bones from a tyrannosaurus rex breeding birds and other dinosaurs to estimate that it would have been the size of a small domestic
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“You didn’t run this morning, did you?” My colleagues know when I don’t exercise: I’m quite irritable. The post-workout endorphins make me focused and efficient in the lab, and more fun. Beyond this direct link, many more skills I have learned during training in high-performance endurance sports are applicable to my work as a scientist.
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