My favourite is “one-eyed pinhead” but I’m not entirely sure I ever believed the explanation behind this one…

If ever there was a proof that scientists are human… 👇🏻 wait… could this have been an April fools’ joke? 🤔 @natmethods.nature.com

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www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Moon fly-by live coverage: Artemis crew see intriguing colours on lunar surface Astronauts are flying by the Moon’s far side and setting records. Nature is in Houston with the mission’s scientists.

Moon fly-by live coverage: Artemis crew see intriguing colours on lunar surface. Our correspondent, @alexwitze.bsky.social is reporting from Houston

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www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.

NASA has just shared the first high-resolution images of the Earth taken by the Artemis II crew, meanwhile, massive budget cuts are once again proposed for US science, including for NASA

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www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The carcinogenicity of e-cigarettes: a qualitative risk assessment Considering carcinogenic risk for vapers in comparison with never-users, findings 2017–25 from all types of investigation record increasing concern and tak

Nicotine-based e-cigarettes are likely to be carcinogenic to humans who use them causing an indeterminate burden of oral & lung cancer

Conclusion based on results of studies in mice 👇🏻
🧪 #MedSky

Carcinogenicity of e-cigarettes: a qualitative risk assessment url: academic.oup.com/carcin/artic...

Lift off! Artemis II mission sends humans to the Moon — opening a new era of exploration The astronauts will fly by the far side of the Moon in the coming days, taking in views never seen by the human eye.

Lift off! Artemis II mission is taking humans farther from Earth than any human has before. A new era of exploration begins…
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www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Reproducibility and robustness of economics and political science research - Nature Robustness checks and reproduction of analyses with existing and updated data based on 110 articles in economics and political science journals with data and code-sharing requirements found high level...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Investigating the reproducibility of the social and behavioural sciences - Nature A study of reproducibility in a stratified random sample of 600 papers published from 2009 to 2018 in 62 journals spanning the social and behavioural sciences finds higher reproducibility among more&n...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Investigating the analytical robustness of the social and behavioural sciences - Nature When 100 social and behavioural science claims were examined, 34% of reanalyses closely matched the original results, with 74% reaching the same conclusion, revealing limited robustness of single...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Investigating the replicability of the social and behavioural sciences - Nature A large-scale study on the replicability of claims from social and behavioural science journals reports that about half of the results replicate in the same patterns as the original study.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cover of this week’s Nature featuring papers on reproducibility issues in social and behavioural sciences

More self-reflection in research can lead to better science - as shown by a package of social & behavioural sciences papers that shows how collaborating can further the cause of reproducible, replicable & robust findings
@nature.com 🧪 #SCORE
@briannosek.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

My quote of the day

There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. To be successful, you need to be a person who makes things happen.

Jim Lovell

Humanity is heading back to the Moon — why aren’t more scientists thrilled? Some researchers remain underwhelmed by NASA’s upcoming lunar fly-by.

Artemis II mission will send humans back to the Moon for the first time since 1972. The first time around, in 1969 it was a global event that had almost everyone glued to the TV screens.
Turns out many scientists are not that excited by what’s scheduled for April 1st 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Artemis II mission is about to fly humans to the Moon — here’s the science they’ll do Set to lift off this week, the NASA flight will take astronauts around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

Artemis II mission is about to fly humans to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years — here’s the science they’ll do

Read our great intro and explainer by @alexwitze.bsky.social
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www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Book cover of a Polish edition of Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

Having just finished reading Lem’s Solaris, yesterday I saw the 1972 film directed by Tarkovsky.
The science may be a little out of date but the core message is as timely today as it was then - in the age of space exploration or AI what humans most need is other humans…
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A graph showing that China is ahead of the US, followed by S Korea in terms of the number of top AI researchers

China is winning the AI talent race

“In 2025, for the first time, more studies presented at the world’s top AI conference had lead authors based in China than in either America or Europe”

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economist.com/interactive/...
from The Economist

First atlas of brain organization shows development over a lifetime Scans of more than 3,500 people allow scientists to draw up a guide to the brain areas that work together from birth to 100 years old.

First atlas of brain organization shows development over a lifetime - from birth to 100 years!

The tour-de-force paper is here www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧪 @nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Africa after aid is more resilient than you might think Africa attracts record foreign investment as economies show resilience despite aid cuts and rising commodity costs from Middle East conflict.

This 👇🏻

Africa after aid is more resilient than you might think
economist.com/leaders/2026...
from The Economist

Static electricity is a big mystery — a jolt of fresh research could help to solve it The familiar phenomenon has puzzled researchers for centuries, but experiments are finally making sense of its unruly behaviours.

Hard to believe that static electricity is still a big mystery — Is it the electrons, ions or bits of material that transfer the charge? Why do some materials charge positively & others negatively? What happens when 2 samples of the same material come into contact? 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

AI is programmed to hijack human empathy — we must resist that As artificial intelligence begins to mimic consciousness with uncanny skill, we need design norms and laws that prevent it from being mistaken for sentient beings.

“AI agents should have no more rights or freedoms than my laptop”
“If society surrenders to the illusion of sentient AI, it risks entering a digital hall of mirrors from which it might never fully emerge” writes @mustafasuleymanai.bsky.social in our WorldView column
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www.nature.com/articles/d41...

How the classic computer game Doom became a tool for science The 1990s game has been run on bacteria and a satellite and played by neurons in a dish.

‘Can it run Doom?’ In the latest, scientists reported that they had taught neurons grown on a silicon chip to play the game
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www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Marriage of adolescent girls in Nigeria reduced by 80% by ‘big push’ intervention A locally tailored, big-push intervention to educate unmarried adolescent girls in 18 communities in northern Nigeria reduced rates of marriage from 86% to just 21%. Interventions that address complex...

This is important!

A locally tailored, big-push intervention to educate unmarried adolescent girls in 18 communities in northern Nigeria reduced rates of marriage from 86% to just 21%

🧪 #policy #education

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Top brass in China reaffirm goal to be world leaders in tech, AI The new five-year plan calls for more original scientific research to facilitate the country's bid for self-reliance.

China has just announced its new 5-year plan. In it, it is pledging to use ‘extraordinary measures’, including 10% science budget rise, to support its bid to become a global leader in AI, quantum technology & other cutting-edge technologies. Impressive!
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www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Intestinal interoceptive dysfunction drives age-associated cognitive decline - Nature Age-related microbiome changes increase medium-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria, driving GPR84-mediated myeloid inflammation, impaired vagal signalling and hippocampal dysfunction; targeting this g...

Cognitive decline in aging mice has been linked to accumulation of gut bacteria that produce medium-chain fatty acids which interferes with signalling along sensory nerves & triggers inflammation.

A new therapy target if confirmed in humans?
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www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Statistics reach a 'crisis point': nations struggle with a critical lack of data Some researchers are sounding the alarm over the official data sets that track crucial aspects of life in the United States, Argentina, the United Kingdom and India.

“There is a new type of politics that is undermining the credibility of official statistics” according to UNICEF chief statistician.

Statistics reach a 'crisis point': nations struggle with a critical lack of data
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www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘Black rain’ in Tehran — what are the health effects? Toxic smoke from burning oil depots has blanketed Iran’s capital following missile strikes.

‘Black rain’ in Tehran. Damage to Iran’s oil facilities had released toxic hydrocarbons, sulfur oxides and nitrogen compounds into the air; there are dire health effects

🧪 #MedSky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

China pledges billion-dollar spending boost for science Funding for national laboratories and important research projects would increase under the government’s plans.

China increases science funding again (by at least 7-% over the next 5 years) as it pledges billion-dollar spending boost for science

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www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Stop the use of AI in war until laws can be agreed Researchers working on the most advanced AI models want rules to be drawn up to minimize the harm the technologies could cause. Their warnings need to be heard.

AI is being used in warfare despite there being no agreed rules for this application.

Researchers working on the most advanced AI models want rules to be drawn up to minimize the harm the technologies could cause.

We agree; read our Nature editorial 🧪 @nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Forget SkinTok: the real science of skincare and why it matters for your health Skip the complicated regimens and expensive products seen on social media. The science of skin is deep but the recommendations are simple.

What does science really tell us about skincare? Skin is sometimes described as the largest organ in the human body. Turns out advice on how to look after it is rarely based on real science. Nor does it emphasize the link with overall health

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www.nature.com/articles/d41...

A really cool piece of research on this week’s cover - what happens when a soft material slides against a rigid body… like sneakers on a basket ball court?

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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@nature.com