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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.
Mathematician Heisuke Hironaka has died, according to an obituary published in Nature. He was renowned for proving the resolution of singularities in algebraic geometry, a landmark result that addressed how to mathematically smooth out irregular points such as peaks, edges and self-crossings within geometric shapes.
A Nature briefing discusses how singer Dolly Parton has become an unlikely fixture in scientific culture, with researchers naming newly discovered species and phenomena after her. The piece highlights the crossover between pop culture and taxonomy, noting several examples where scientists have honored Parton in their published work.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research found that water droplets sliding down smooth surfaces such as glass, leaves, and Teflon-coated copper accumulate an electric charge. When these charged droplets reached copper plates coated with Teflon, they burrowed through the coating and pitted the metal beneath, an effect not seen when water simply dripped straight onto the plates without first sliding across another surface. The findings, published in Nature, also help explain why water moves more slowly than expected across seemingly frictionless smooth surfaces.
New research indicates that partnerships between animals and microbes are far older than previously thought, potentially originating alongside the first complex animal life forms. Scientists examined evidence suggesting these symbiotic relationships were already established at the dawn of animal evolution rather than emerging later.
Researchers have proposed an explanation for why solar and atmospheric neutrino detectors have historically measured fewer neutrinos than theoretical models predicted. The finding addresses a decades-old puzzle in particle physics tied to how neutrinos change type, or 'flavor,' as they travel.
A Nature.com page titled 'The best-managed industrial waste in history' was published, but the site returned only a browser-compatibility notice instead of the actual article content. No substantive details about the waste management case being discussed were available for review.
Nature.com published a compilation summarizing five notable developments in nuclear-power research, though the underlying content was inaccessible due to browser compatibility restrictions. The page redirected visitors to a stripped-down, styleless version of the site rather than displaying the actual research summaries.
Researchers and policymakers are advancing new approaches to nuclear waste disposal, including deep geological repositories and advanced reprocessing techniques, as governments seek durable solutions for spent fuel that has accumulated for decades. The effort comes amid renewed global interest in nuclear power as a low-carbon energy source.
Nature Futures ran a science-fiction interview piece imagining Sam Morten, a war veteran, and Eli, a distinct personality sharing his body, as they navigate a court case seeking legal recognition for Eli as a separate entity. The narrative unfolds over coffee and ice cream, contrasting Sam's guarded demeanor with Eli's childlike openness, while touching on the strain the situation placed on Sam's marriage.
Researchers led by Luo and colleagues, writing in Nature, developed a technique that prevents degradation of a key compound during thermal evaporation of perovskite thin films. This breakthrough allows high-performance perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells to be fabricated at significantly lower temperatures and at commercial-scale sizes than previous methods permitted.
A Nature commentary raises concerns that growing political enthusiasm for nuclear power, driven by climate and energy-security goals, could pressure regulators to loosen safety standards or speed approvals without adequate scrutiny. The piece argues that as governments embrace nuclear expansion, safeguards meant to prevent accidents risk being weakened in the name of faster deployment.