'Disruptive' Science Has Declined - and No One Knows Why
The proportion of publications that send a field in a new direction has plummeted over the last half-century.
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Escaping Darwin's Shadow: How Alfred Russel Wallace Inspires Indigenous Researchers
Escaping Darwin's Shadow: How Alfred Russel Wallace Inspires Indigenous Researchers
Wallace, who independently discovered the theory of evolution, relied on local knowledge to craft his seminal work on species ranges in the Amazon. Now, the region's Indigenous scientists have taken charge of their research using this and other cross-cultural tools.
Eleven Science Stories Likely to Make Big News in 2023
Making COVID-19 manageable and covering financial losses from climate change could make headlines
The Best Science, Innovation and Health Stories of 2022
2022 was great for science, from historic space missions to archeological discoveries and plenty to learn in medicine.
The 10 Biggest Science Stories of 2022 – Chosen by Scientists
From moon missions to fast-charging batteries and AI-sourced antibiotics, in no particular order, the year's significant scientific developments.
Food Systems Transformation Requires Science-Policy-Society Interfaces That Integrate Existing Global Networks and New Knowledge Hubs - Nature Food
When Science Makes Politics and Vice Versa
Evidence-based policymaking: fantasy, marketing slogan or reality? Its strict embodiment may not be found anywhere, but its variations are absolutely everywhere.
From Anti-Government to Anti-Science: Why Conservatives Have Turned Against Science
From Anti-Government to Anti-Science: Why Conservatives Have Turned Against Science
Empirical data do not support the conclusion of a crisis of public trust in science. They do support the conclusion of a crisis of conservative trust in science: polls show that American attitudes toward science are highly polarized along political lines. In this essay, we argue that conservative hostility toward science is rooted in conservative hostility toward government regulation of the marketplace, which has morphed in recent decades into conservative hostility to government, tout court. This distrust was cultivated by conservative business leaders for nearly a century, but took strong hold during the Reagan administration, largely in response to scientific evidence of environmental crises that invited governmental response. Thus, science-particularly environmental and public health science-became the target of conservative anti-regulatory attitudes. We argue that contemporary distrust of science is mostly collateral damage, a spillover from carefully orchestrated conservative distrust of government.
'Huge Relief' in Brazilian Scientific Community After Lula's Win
The sentiment is widely shared in Brazil’s scientific community, where many feared a second term for Bolsonaro might be catastrophic for issues they care about, including support for science, climate policy, and deforestation.
I Was a Presidential Science Adviser - Here Are the Many Challenges Arati Prabhakar Faces As She Takes over President Biden's Science Policy Office
I Was a Presidential Science Adviser - Here Are the Many Challenges Arati Prabhakar Faces As She Takes over President Biden's Science Policy Office
The director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy plays a critical role in achieving the president's science goals. Facilitating cooperation among the dozens of research agencies is key.
Assessing Social Aid: the Scale-up Process Needs Evidence, Too
Assessing Social Aid: the Scale-up Process Needs Evidence, Too
When programmes expand, new complexities and indirect consequences must be studied.
The New Superstition
Every era has its myths and rituals, doomed to seem absurd to future generations. Today, we believe in psychology.
'I Feel Lost': Chilean Researchers Saddened by Vote to Reject New Constitution
Nearly 62% of Chileans voted against the proposed charter, which would have boosted science.
In Defence of the Objective World
Postmodern ideas have gained the status of absolute truths. Relativism, selectively appropriated into the language of both left and right politics, has metamorphosed into dogma. As oversimplification distorts communication, public trust in scientific fact has eroded. Could renewed ideas of objectivity be a way out?
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