Featured
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News Explainer |
Plastic pollution: three numbers that support a crackdown
As negotiators haggle over a global treaty to curb plastics pollution, a flood of data outlines how a treaty could make a difference.
- Nicola Jones
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News |
EU allows use of controversial weedkiller glyphosate for 10 more years
In the wake of a stalemate among member states, the European Commission has decided to approve the herbicide’s continued use.
- Barbara Casassus
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News Explainer |
Aspartame is a possible carcinogen: the science behind the decision
More research is needed to investigate a potential link between the common sweetener and cancer.
- Miryam Naddaf
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Research Highlight |
What happens when you microwave that plastic bowl?
Tests show that certain types of plasticware give off high levels of microscopic plastic particles when heated in an microwave oven.
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Correspondence |
Europe: hold industry accountable for forever chemicals
- Muhammad Usman
- & Khalil Hanna
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Outlook |
Is nicotine bad for long-term health? Scientists aren’t sure yet
As e-cigarettes grow in popularity, the lack of knowledge about whether nicotine contributes to the damaging health effects of smoking is becoming more worrying.
- Anthony King
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Research Highlight |
That new car smell has a whiff of health hazards
Surface temperature drives emissions of chemicals that give a newly manufactured vehicle its signature aroma.
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News Round-Up |
Memory boost, forever chemicals and dark-matter signal
The latest science news, in brief.
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Nature Podcast |
How to make water that’s full of holes
Embedded ‘nanocages’ help water dissolve large amounts of gas, and potential evidence that hominins walked on two legs seven million years ago.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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News |
How to destroy ‘forever chemicals’: cheap method breaks down PFAS
Disposing of these persistent substances often requires high pressures and temperatures.
- Giorgia Guglielmi
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Outlook |
The fluoride wars rage on
There is little question that supplemental fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces decay. But at what cost?
- Lauren Gravitz
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long-read: How harmful are microplastics?
Scientists are trying to figure out whether these pervasive plastic specks are dangerous.
- XiaoZhi Lim
- & Benjamin Thompson
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News Feature |
Microplastics are everywhere — but are they harmful?
Scientists are rushing to study the tiny plastic specks that are in marine animals — and in us.
- XiaoZhi Lim
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported ambitions to modernize the Indian sugar industry in 1920 and a successful treatment for rattlesnake bites in 1870.
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News & Views |
Toxin discovery reveals fresh ammunition for bacterial warfare
A previously unknown bacterial toxin has now been characterized. The protein is secreted into neighbouring cells, depleting them of essential energy-carrying molecules and so leading to the cells’ demise.
- Brent W. Anderson
- & Jue D. Wang
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported a ban on artificial sweeteners in 1969, and the growing awareness of vitamins in 1919.
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Outlook |
Research round-up
Highlights from laboratory studies and clinical trials on opioids.
- Neil Savage
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Outlook |
Unravelling the mystery of opioid addiction
To help solve the opioid epidemic, researchers must understand what makes dependence on these drugs so deadly.
- Lauren Gravitz
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Outlook |
Weighing the dangers of cannabis
As interest builds in the potential health benefits from the plant, accumulating evidence confirms that taking the drug also carries risks.
- Emily Sohn
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported a toxicological study of alcohol in 1919, and the potential benefits of computer graphics for medical geography in 1969.
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported the first occurrence of paralytic shellfish poisoning in Britain in 1969, and a discussion in 1919 of how human nervous systems contain features of much older nervous systems.
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Research Highlight |
What a bottled-water habit means for intake of ‘microplastics’
People in the United States could be taking in more than 100,000 plastic particles a year in food, drink and air.
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News |
US environment agency cuts funding for kids’ health studies
The Environmental Protection Agency's decision leaves fate of more than a dozen decades-long projects in doubt.
- Sara Reardon
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News |
US adopts science-based guidance for chemical-attack response
Comprehensive guidelines recommend wiping down with dry, absorbent materials.
- Declan Butler
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News Feature |
Tainted water: the scientists tracing thousands of fluorinated chemicals in our environment
Researchers are struggling to assess the dangers of nondegradable compounds used in clothes, foams and food wrappings.
- XiaoZhi Lim
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News |
Raging wildfires send scientists scrambling to study health effects
Blazes have created natural experiments in Montana and California towns and a monkey-breeding colony.
- Sara Reardon
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News |
Industry trumps peer-reviewed science at US environment agency
Critics outraged over changes to chemical-safety review guidelines.
- Jeff Tollefson
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News |
Software beats animal tests at predicting toxicity of chemicals
Machine learning on mountain of safety data improves automated assessments.
- Richard Van Noorden
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Research Highlight |
How to tell how much wasp stings will hurt
Short stinging organs tend to carry more-toxic venom — but inflict less pain — than long ones.
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Research Highlight |
World’s longest animal boasts a potent poison
The bootlace worm’s mucus is loaded with a powerful nerve toxin.
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News Feature |
When antibiotics turn toxic
Commonly prescribed drugs called fluoroquinolones cause rare, disabling side effects. Researchers are struggling to work out why.
- Jo Marchant
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Outlook |
Cleaning up pollutants to protect future health
Although the benefits of reducing exposure to toxic chemicals are becoming clearer, the path from evidence to action is not straightforward.
- Karl Gruber
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News |
EU expected to vote on pesticide ban after major scientific review
Survey of more than 1,500 studies concludes that neonicotinoids harm bees.
- Declan Butler
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Comment |
Chemists can help to solve the air-pollution health crisis
Learning more about how pollutants enter and damage the body would reduce disease and deaths, say Jos Lelieveld and Ulrich Pöschl.
- Jos Lelieveld
- & Ulrich Pöschl
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Editorial |
Closure of US coal study marks an alarming precedent
The Trump administration has stepped up its assault on environmental protections by halting a US$1-million study on the health risks of coal mining — casting a pall on academic freedom.
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News |
China cracks down on fake data in drug trials
Researchers and manufacturers face possible jail time — or execution — for fraudulent submissions to nation's drug agency.
- David Cyranoski
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World View |
China's soil plan needs strong support
The government must accompany its action plan on soil quality with effective laws and remediation measures, says Hong Yang.
- Hong Yang
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Research Highlights |
Pesticide link to wild-bee declines
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Research Highlights |
Insecticides hurt male bees too
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Books & Arts |
Books in brief
Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week's best science picks.
- Barbara Kiser
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News |
Cattle drug threatens thousands of vultures
Modelling study paints bleak picture for Europe’s bird populations.
- Rachel Becker
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Research Highlights |
Toxin clouds sea-lion memory
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Research Highlights |
Complex effects of pesticides on bees
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News |
Deepwater Horizon oil spill linked to Gulf of Mexico dolphin deaths
Animals suffered from adrenal and lung problems that are consistent with exposure to petroleum.
- Allie Wilkinson
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News |
Chemical "soup" clouds connection between toxins and poor health
Toxicologist Linda Birnbaum has tried to put sound science at the center of debates over chemical regulation.
- Brendan Borrell