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Talent schemes helped to propel China to the forefront of global science. But the system places undue emphasis on prestigious titles as a means to secure career prospects, putting pressure on young researchers.

Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 12 August 2026 ...

By engineering the statistics of light at the micrometre scale using phase-only spatial light modulators, both the state and degree of polarization become spatially programmable, enabling direct encoding of information in a high-dimensional space.

Shocks in the eastern outskirts of the Helix Nebula, detected in H emission with the MOTHRA telescope, provide evidence for the recycling of fragmented stellar ejecta into the surrounding gas.

Out of place.

Jaw-dropping patient videos and miraculous testimonials ignited a frenzy in China over a technique that aims to improve drainage from the brain. Now it is entering trials worldwide.

If reviewers can't reliably tell the difference between top grant proposals, why should they pretend they can? A new wave of funders is turning to lotteries to break the tie.

Snippets from Nature's past.

A framework comprising four dimensions--autonomy, efficacy, goal complexity and generality--is proposed for characterizing AI agents, supporting the construction of agentic profiles for the effective governance of different AI agents.

The Amazon rainforest might be closer to a tipping point than scientists thought. Some fear that droughts and fire could nudge it into irreversible decline.