If you want an astronaut to run your experiment alongside their many other responsibilities, keeping it simple is the key. On 25 July, an experiment that Charles Cockell had spent years planning blasted into space. A SpaceX rocket blasted off from Florida, heading to the International Space Station (ISS). It carried 18 bioreactors, each the […]
Nature
The professionalization of cannabis growing
As the wave of legalization advances, a budding industry is adopting the high standards of consumer-product makers to meet regulatory requirements. For years, the popular image of cannabis growers has been scruffy hippies getting high on their own supply in a disorganized underground economy, rather than shiny white industrial agriculture facilities. Even larger-scale operations involved […]
How one Canadian scientist is tapping into the knowledge of Indigenous communities
Jean Polfus found her research was strengthened by bringing more voices to the table. Jean Polfus, a postdoctoral fellow at Trent University in Peterborough, Canada, studies the distribution and spatial organization of caribou (or reindeer; Rangifer tarandus) populations in the Sahtú region of the Northwest Territories. She explains how she collaborates with members of the Dene […]
Why are Canada’s scientists getting political?
Erratic funding for basic research, coupled with concerns that science has fallen down the priority list for politicians, has contributed to a shift in researchers’ attitudes to lobbying. Just a few days into her job as Canada’s new science minister, Kirsty Duncan found herself receiving a hero’s welcome when she took to the stage at […]
Canada budget overlooks basic research
Small spending bumps for genomics and physics stand in stark contrast to the funding windfall across basic research in last year’s budget. What a difference a year makes. Canada’s 2019 budget, released on 19 March, includes modest increases for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government priorities including neuroscience and genomics research ― nothing like the historic five-year, […]
Biomedical research is becoming more open about its funding and data
More journal articles are now including statements about conflicts of interest and data sharing. Biomedical research is shifting to become more open and transparent by providing increasing amounts of information about funding, conflicts of interest and data sharing in its publications, according to a survey of recent papers. Read more in Nature.
Replication failures in psychology not due to differences in study populations
Half of 28 attempted replications failed even under near-ideal conditions. A large-scale effort to replicate results in psychology research has rebuffed claims that failures to reproduce social-science findings might be down to different study populations being used. The drive recruited labs around the world to try to replicate the results of 28 classic and contemporary […]
Europe’s Nobel laureates step up warnings about Brexit’s effect on science
Leading scientists and mathematicians urge UK and European Union leaders to strike a deal on research amid stalling negotiations. Nobel-prizewinning scientists from across Europe have called on UK and European Union leaders to maintain the “closest possible cooperation” on science after Brexit, and warn that any barriers to research collaboration in the EU will be […]
Outlook: STEM Education
A strong background in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is crucial not only for students who go on to become scientists. The jobs of the future, in a variety of sectors, will increasingly require skills in STEM subjects. This Outlook looks at the ways in which science education is being modernized and updated to […]
Political expatriate
US ‘national drama’ drives theoretical chemist to move to Canada. Theoretical chemist Alán Aspuru-Guzik was among many US citizens who talked of moving to Canada after the November 2016 election of Donald Trump as US president. Now, Aspuru-Guzik has made good on his declaration, and will begin a new post in July. He explains how […]