The day-to-day tasks of scientific research are rarely glamorous. As Trevor Rife worked towards his PhD in genetics, he had to extract DNA from freeze-dried tissue by grinding it in a 96-well plate. The process wasn’t difficult — it involved placing a ceramic bead into each well by hand, then capping the plate and shaking
Daniel Ferris says that the best exoskeletons are the ones you forget about. When the biomechanical engineer has one on, he notices little more than a slight tugging. But after removing the device, it can seem as if he is suddenly trudging uphill. How a revolutionary technique got people with spinal-cord injuries back on their
Oil producers in the Middle East have been experiencing disruptions to maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. But this could present a strategic opportunity to rethink how energy infrastructure can be deployed in an increasingly uncertain world. The global transition towards low-carbon energy sources is often framed as a challenge for fossil-fuel-producing nations. Yet
Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here. Satellite data shows a browning trend across the planet since around the turn of the century. Credit: ezypix/Getty Around 56 million years ago, a sharp rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere led to severe global
Physicians test new narcolepsy treatments by checking whether the drugs help people to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night.Credit: Lucia Graphus/Alamy Earlier this month, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug designed to treat the root cause of narcolepsy, a condition that affects millions of people by causing extreme sleepiness
Astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish discovered pulsar stars using a radio telescope constructed near Cambridge, UK.Credit: Hencoup Enterprises/Science Photo Library The Engine of Scientific Discovery: How New Methods and Tools Spark Major Breakthroughs Alexander Krauss Oxford Univ. Press (2026) Popular accounts of notable scientific breakthroughs (including artificial intelligence) often portray them as the