Helen Pearson

Exactly, I also thought about off label use; approval for a rare condition gives it a gloss of legitimacy more broadly

Fantastic. I have it on my shelf!

‘Virtual cell’ captures most-basic process of life: bacterial division Researchers simulated nearly every molecule in a bacterial cell — and then watched the cell grow and reproduce.

More cool cell biology. Researchers simulated nearly every molecule in a bacterial cell. (Although"some details were fudged")

Simulating a 105 minute cell division, however, took 6 days on a supercomputer - because, well, biology. From @nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Stop the use of AI in war until laws can be agreed Researchers working on the most advanced AI models want rules to be drawn up to minimize the harm the technologies could cause. Their warnings need to be heard.

AI is being used in warfare despite there being no agreed rules for this application.

Researchers working on the most advanced AI models want rules to be drawn up to minimize the harm the technologies could cause.

We agree; read our Nature editorial 🧪 @nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Beyond Belief The remarkable story of the global movement championing the idea that evidence, not opinions, should guide our decisions

📢 My book, Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works, is out 28th April. 🚨🚨

“an incredibly engaging popular science book that illustrates why we should care about good quality evidence.”

Preorders *really* help! 🙏
@princetonupress.bsky.social
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Fantastic!

World’s longest running birth cohort study marks 80 years The world’s longest continuously running birth cohort study, which follows thousands of participants born in the first week of March 1946 and is hosted by UCL, is celebrating its 80th birthday.

A heart-warming science news story for difficult times.

The world’s longest continuously running birth cohort study turns 80 this week - a milestone. tinyurl.com/3wy8n4ah

It was a privilege writing about it in my book The Life Project.

Happy birthday NSHD! @clscohorts.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk

Hey ChatGPT, write me a fictional paper: these LLMs are willing to commit academic fraud Mainstream chatbots presented varying levels of resistance to deliberate requests for fabrication, study finds.

This was a very quick test (and also using AI!) but it demonstrates just how easy it still is to get models to help you to do bad things -- in this case, to clog up the scientific literature.

While many LLMs refused requests at first, they were often worn down 🤖🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

A great opportunity here to join Nature's news team on a paid internship >>

Totally agree. When my kids call me out and ask for evidence to support what I'm saying, it's uncomfortable but I also think 'yup - job done'

The science influencers going viral on TikTok to fight misinformation Scientists and medical experts are countering climate denialism, vaccine scepticism and wellness pseudoscience on social media.

“We can’t be shrinking away from this space,” say the scientists combating misinformation by taking strategies from the influencer playbook.

Good feature on what's involved in getting very online by @catrionaclarke.bsky.social @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Great to see you too Phil - and yay for @jomarchant.bsky.social and her excellent book!

Open-source AI tool beats giant LLMs in literature reviews — and gets citations right Researchers can deploy the cheap and transparent model on their own computer system.

The race to develop AI tools that can review the scientific literature continues, and @lizziegibney.bsky.social @nature.com reports on the open source AI tool OpenScholar.

Big limitations: it may not retrieve the most relevant papers & cannot access paywalled ones
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Are health influencers making us sick? Social media can help to raise awareness of health conditions — but the wealth of dubious information online might do more harm than good.

It was a pleasure to review Deborah Cohen's excellent book 'Bad Influence' for @nature.com. She lays bare how influencers, algorithms, wellness apps (and hidden commercial interests) are transforming our health for better or, often, for worse. Essential reading!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

We're advertising for a temporary history of science teaching post in @stsucl.bsky.social. Please share among history peeps www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

How DeepMind's genome AI could help solve rare disease mysteries Hackathons using AlphaGenome and other AI models are hunting down the genetic causes of devastating conditions that have evaded diagnosis.

Hackathons using AlphaGenome and other AI models are hunting down the genetic causes of devastating conditions that have evaded diagnosis

go.nature.com/3OeX5oM

NIH ends support for some human fetal-tissue research – dismaying scientists The US biomedical funding agency also hints at future restrictions on research involving human embryonic stem cells.

NIH will no longer support studies that use human fetal tissue derived from elective abortions, citing advances in alternate methods.

“It’s clearly a political decision, not a scientific one,” says Lawrence Goldstein, a neuroscientist at UCSD.

By @heidiledford.bsky.social and Edward Chen

US science after a year of Trump: what has been lost and what remains A series of graphics reveals how the Trump administration has sought historic cuts to science and the research workforce.

Trump has been in office for one year. We at @nature.com did a deep dive looking at the administration's disruption of science in numbers.

Take a look—the numbers are staggering. By me, @dangaristo.bsky.social, Jeff Tollefson, @kimay.bsky.social, & help from @noamross.net @scott-delaney.bsky.social

A ‘time capsule for cells’ stores the secret experiences of their past Scientists have transformed enigmatic cell structures, called vaults, into storage units for messenger-RNA molecules made in the past.

Cool cell biology: “the TimeVaults captured a small fraction of all of the mRNA molecules produced by a human cell line over a 24-hour window, and stored them for at least a week”
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Science Populism, Medicine Style - Absolutely Maybe I hadn’t been aware of the term science populism until a video about it did the rounds recently. It was a light-bulb…

This was a light-bulb moment for me! My new post @plos.org comes from learning about the concept of science populists:

absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/12/19/s...
....

Trump team plans to break up ‘global mothership’ of climate science Much of the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s non-climate portfolio will be dispersed, the White House says.

Here's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social.

The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🧪 #AGU25 #climate

“The influenza season has begun roughly four weeks earlier than in previous seasons. At least 27 of the 38 countries in the WHO European Region reporting data are now seeing high or very high influenza activity.”
@whoeurope.bsky.social warning of an intense, early flu season
#IDsky 🧪

I hope your optimism proves true re AI. I do think it's increasing the general level of skepticism for content discovered online - perhaps a good thing.

Listen in as @richard-lehman.bsky.social and @raj-mehta.bsky.social explore why it took so long for fair tests of treatments to develop, and the transition from anecdotal and authority-based decisions to empirical methodologies in the 18th and 19th centuries.
www.jameslindlibrary.org/blogs/the-fi...

Huge genetic study reveals hidden links between psychiatric conditions Analysis of more than one million people shows that mental-health disorders fall into five clusters, each of them linked to a specific set of genetic variants.

Fascinating study covered by @maxkozlov.bsky.social that analyses the shared genetic roots of many neurodevelopmental (ADHD, autism) and mental health conditions

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

For the overly prepared among you: You can already buy a ticket to the 2027 World Conference of Science Journalists! It will be in London, so I am definitely there. #scicomm

A fired public-health official, a mosquito breeder and a baby with a smile seen around the world. These are just a few of the remarkable people chosen for Nature’s 10 2025

Check out the full list: go.nature.com/4rIQH8H

Behold: a genuinely useful flowchart #AcademicChatter

With huge thanks to the people with ADHD, scientists, clinicians and ADHD groups who spoke to me about this complex and important area - including @chadd-adhd.bsky.social

ADHD diagnoses are growing. What’s going on? More children and adults are being diagnosed with ADHD in some countries. Science is helping to understand why — and how best to provide support.

ADHD diagnoses are climbing in some countries. What’s going on?

My @nature.com story looks at what specialists and people with ADHD are learning about the rise in diagnoses and how best to provide support www.nature.com/articles/d41...