- December 18, 2024
Vapour-deposited thin films raise the possibility of portable nuclear clocks
RESEARCH BRIEFINGS 18 December 2024 A rare isotope, thorium-229, exhibits a unique low-energy nuclear transition that could form the basis of a precise nuclear clock.
First sighting of ‘neutrino fog’ sparks excitement – but is it bad news for dark matter?
Most neutrinos that stream through Earth are produced by fusion reactions in the Sun.Credit: NASA/Goddard/SDO Physicists in Italy and China have for the first time
How a biochemistry department used redacted job applications to achieve gender parity
Concealing some of the information on job applications led to more women being hired.Credit: Christopher Ames/Getty In 2017, when Sherri Christian returned to her institution
The revolutionary economist who became the unlikely leader of Bangladesh
After weeks of deadly demonstrations that toppled Bangladesh’s autocratic government in August, the students who led the revolution had one demand: invite Nobel Peace prizewinning
Wuhan lab samples hold no close relatives to virus behind COVID
Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli has presented evidence that her lab has not worked with close relatives of SARS-CoV-2.Credit: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty After years of
How close is AI to human-level intelligence?
OpenAI’s latest artificial intelligence (AI) system dropped in September with a bold promise. The company behind the chatbot ChatGPT showcased o1 — its latest suite
Long orbit
By the time you receive this I will be dead. Hopefully not dead dead, but close enough. And for a long time. Most of the
Let the data talk: embrace exploratory research
Attending a psychology conference this month, I was struck by an unsettling trend in social-science research. The abstract book revealed that nearly all of the
How I’m creating career opportunities for researchers back home in Mexico
David Posner (at lectern) introduces his plan to bring students from Mexico’s Vasco de Quiroga University to Cambridge, UK, for a research stay.Credit: Pedro Andres
AI could pose pandemic-scale biosecurity risks. Here’s how to make it safer
Artificial-intelligence models are able to translate an experimental method into code that runs a liquid-handling robot.Credit: Getty Since July, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory
