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COVID-19 has provided an opportunity to rethink the scientific conference. If online meetings become the norm, how can researchers make the most of them?

Nature's 2017 PhD survey reveals that, despite many problems with doctoral programmes, PhD students are as committed as ever to pursuing research careers.

Biennial survey looks at goals and challenges of today’s junior researchers.

The Global Flourishing Study provides a comprehensive view of the distribution and determinants of well-being by assessing domains such as health, happiness, meaning, character, relationships and financial security. Initial findings reveal significant variations in flourishing across countries and demographic groups, with factors such as age, marital status and religious service attendance showing strong associations with well-being.

Most scientists love what they do, but job satisfaction levels hit a new low, Nature’s survey finds.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

This Registered Report presents evidence from 87 countries and regions showing that brief emotion-regulation interventions consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Do molecules have beauty? Is it possible to fall in love with one? Based on what Harry Kroto and others have written about buckminsterfullerene, Chris Toumey thinks that the answer to both these questions is yes.

With the world at their feet, these prolific young researchers are making their mark.

Nature’s survey of more than 6,000 graduate students reveals the turbulent nature of doctoral research.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

Chris Sherwell on Professor Geoffrey Allen

Results from the inaugural study will reveal crucial information about the deepest worries, hopes and triumphs of postdocs around the world.

Our understanding of concepts can differ depending on the modality — such as vision, text or speech — through which we learn this concept. A recent study uses computational modelling to demonstrate how conceptual understanding aligns across modalities.

You want a career in marine biology but your maths is weak. Relax, the basic skills can be mastered.

Whether multimorbidity accelerates brain Aβ deposition in humans remains largely unknown. Here, the authors demonstrate that higher self-reported multimorbidity burden predicts increased brain Aβ accumulation rates in the ADNI cohort.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

Nature’s first-ever survey of this key segment of the scientific workforce uncovers anxiety and doubt about their professional pathway.

How to step out from the shadow of your principal investigator.

Scientists in a glamour field offer tips — and reality checks — for the next generation of marine biologists.

Ten years after their profession got its name, research software engineers seek to swell their ranks.

Chris Toumey considers the reflections on nanoscience of the chemist James Gimzewski.

Unconventional economic approaches with transformative potential for sustainability are too dispersed to gain sufficient traction in policy. With qualitative content analysis, this study brings coherence to many documents discussing such approaches to support efforts towards mainstreaming them.

The course of true love.

AI-enabled diagnostic applications in healthcare can be powerful, but study design is very important to avoid subtle issues of bias in the dataset and evaluation. Coppock et al. demonstrate how an AI-based classifier for diagnosing SARS-Cov-2 infection from audio recordings can seem to make predictions with high accuracy but shows much lower performance after taking into account confounders, providing insights in study design and replicability in AI-based audio analysis.

Nature’s survey offers a snapshot of salaries and career paths in the scientific sector.

Teenagers derive great value from a stint in a lab, yet not all lab heads agree with the practice.

The cost-of-living crisis is causing widespread financial distress among those in master’s and PhD programmes worldwide.

Nanoscale objects cannot be seen in the traditional sense, but that should not stop us from thinking about how we visualize the nanoworld, as Chris Toumey reports.

Large genome-wide meta-analysis of clinically diagnosed late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) from 94,437 individuals identifies new LOAD risk loci and implicates Aβ formation, tau protein binding, immune response and lipid metabolism.

The roles of Asgard archaea in soil ecosystems are unclear. In this study, the authors report complete genomes and metatranscriptomic data of Asgard archaea that indicate a role in production and consumption of carbon compounds known to serve as substrates for methane production in wetland soils.

Through an overview of James Watson’s recounting of the discovery of the structure of DNA, Chris Toumey illustrates the value to be found in the stories of the interaction among scientists behind great scientific discoveries.

There are many different ways to introduce the public to nanotechnology, writes Chris Toumey. Just don't mention human hairs or the space elevator.

Nanotechnology researchers have recently been targeted by armed eco-terrorists. Chris Toumey examines the motivation of these attackers.

The second article in a series on Nature’s inaugural survey of postdocs in academia worldwide uncovers a sense of instability among the research precariat.

Researchers worldwide have turned to analysing data, planning experiments and writing and reviewing more papers as their lab time has been disrupted, a global survey finds.

Anne-Marie Imafidon launched an outreach business to encourage young women to pursue careers in technology and science.

Gonadal fate in mammals is determined during embryogenesis and is actively maintained in adulthood. This study shows that E3-SUMO ligase activity of TRIM28 is required for ovarian identity maintenance and testicular-specific gene repression in mouse adult ovary; in its absence, ovarian granulosa cells transdifferentiate to Sertoli cells.

Solid organ transplant recipients are at increased risk of infectious disease and have unique molecular pathophysiology. Here the authors use host-microbe profiling to assess SARS-CoV-2 infection and immunity in solid organ transplant recipients, showing enhanced viral abundance, impaired clearance, and increased expression of innate immunity genes.

A genome-wide association study of critically ill patients with COVID-19 identifies genetic signals that relate to important host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage that may be targeted by repurposing drug treatments.

DNA from ancient wolves spanning 100,000 years sheds light on wolves’ evolutionary history and the genomic origin of dogs.

A feeling that good performance is not adequately rewarded is pervading the research world.

A “high-ambition coalition” makes a final push, Fabius’s unusual responsibility, and a campaign to save ugly food.

From concrete to plastics, the megatonnes of stuff in the built environment are mostly manufactured and used with little thought for waste and pollution. Radical moves are afoot to refashion the urban fabric.