The cover image shows a view of the Milky Way captured at Nambung National Park in Western Australia. To understand how the Galaxy formed requires precision age dating of the stars that it contains.

Inscriptions provide an invaluable insight into the ancient world. But over the centuries, many inscriptions have been damaged and exist in fragmented or semi-legible forms, making the job of reading ...

The cover shows human bronchial cells infected with SARS-CoV-2, captured using a scanning electron microscope. In this week’s issue, a collection of six papers reveals key information about the ...

Many potential applications for artificial intelligence require making real-time decisions. Car racing, in which drivers must undertake complex tactical manoeuvres while controlling their vehicle at ...

The gap between average life expectancy and the number of years people are healthy and on the job is widening, with potentially grave consequences for pensioners.

The US National Cancer Act of 1971 has fostered tremendous progress in our understanding of the biology that underlies cancer. However, scientific and social challenges remain. A new action plan to ...

Pure mathematics involves the discovery of patterns between mathematical objects and using these connections to formulate conjectures. Mathematicians have deployed computers since the 1960s to help ...

Tunicates, such as sea squirts, are the closest relatives to vertebrates. Most of these marine organisms become sessile — unable to move themselves – when their free-swimming larvae turn into ...

The cover shows a coal field and open-cast mining near Ordos. With the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference set to begin in Glasgow, UK, on 31 October, all eyes are focused on whether nations can agree ...

The drastic shake-up of the country’s science system is intended to boost innovation, but there are concerns about political interference in the new centralized agency. Universities hold the majority ...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common forms of liver cancer — and is also aggressive and very hard to treat. Patients who have advanced HCC are currently given a targeted therapy ...

Indispensable in fields such as structural biology and chemistry, X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) generate intense, coherent beams of radiation at frequencies that are inaccessible to standard table ...