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Researchers report in Nature that a single brain implant can simultaneously read a paralyzed person's attempts to speak and make gestures, converting both into text and the movements of a digital avatar. The system relies on artificial intelligence models to interpret neural signals and translate them into speech and body language.
Nature staff report on a network of organizations posing as legitimate academic societies that has been expanding its membership through deceptive recruitment practices. Some prominent researchers have reportedly been drawn in without fully understanding the nature of these groups.
Two research groups, led by Toscani De Col and by Huang, have published the first demonstrations of a working nuclear clock in Nature. Unlike atomic clocks, which track electron transitions, these devices measure energy transitions within atomic nuclei, offering a potentially more precise timekeeping method. The Toscani De Col team also showed their clock could be used to search for a candidate form of dark matter.
Writing in Nature, Steele and colleagues describe a semiconductor material whose electronic bandgap exceeds 7 electronvolts, the largest reported for any semiconductor. This value places the material in a range of electronic properties previously associated only with insulators.
Researchers from the University of Exeter and University of Essex, publishing in Nature, found that butterflies' wing patterns combine with their flight to produce visual illusions that distort predators' perception of speed and direction. The team says this helps explain why few predators specialise in catching butterflies mid-flight, unlike moths, which are preyed on by many aerial hunters.
Researchers at Singapore's Centre for Quantum Technologies, led by Murray Barrett, report building a lutetium-based atomic clock that outperforms previous record-holding clocks made with ytterbium, strontium and aluminum. The findings were published in Nature on September 23. The clock works by locking a laser to lutetium's atomic transition frequency, which then serves as an ultra-precise timekeeping reference.
Chinese authorities have imposed disciplinary measures on several prominent academics after investigations into research-integrity violations flagged by an online research sleuth known as 'Student Geng.' The sanctions form part of a broader crackdown covering 31 research teams accused of misconduct.
Scientists led by Asor and colleagues developed a technique to directly observe individual virus-like particles as their protein shells form, publishing the results in Nature. The method allowed them to measure the speed and energy changes of shell assembly, something previously very difficult to track experimentally.
Researchers analyzed genetic data from more than a million people and identified roughly 1,200 common genetic variants associated with the Big Five personality traits: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. Published in Nature and led in part by Michel Nivard at the University of Bristol, the work is the largest genetic analysis of personality to date, though each variant explains only a small share of trait variation.
A new study published in Nature reveals that the interior beneath Mars' southern hemisphere is roughly 400 to 750 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the interior beneath its northern hemisphere. Researchers led by University of Arizona scientist Alexander Berne used gravity data to uncover this asymmetry, which contrasts with the long-held assumption that planetary interiors are generally uniform in temperature.
A Nature opinion piece argues that scientific publishing's peer-review system is strained by rising submissions, more complex manuscripts and a shortage of willing, timely reviewers. While most journals currently prohibit reviewers from using AI tools over confidentiality and accountability concerns, the author contends these blanket bans are difficult to enforce and only partially solve the underlying problems.