Nicola Jones

As of 11 Feb, the popular arXiv preprint server asks that all papers be in English, or be accompanied by a full English translation. They say automated translations are fine, so long as they are faithful to the work. So: are AI translators up for this task? Find out in my story in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00229-0 

The popular arXiv preprint server, which holds nearly 3 million manuscripts, mainly in computing science, physics, and math, has put up a new hurdle for first-time submitters, in an attempt to cut down on 'AI slop'. Until now, someone wanting to submit to arXiv for the first time only needed an email address affiliated with a reputable academic or research institution, such as a university. But a rule instituted on 21 January now requires first-time posters to be endorsed by an established arXiv author in their own field. People who have previously posted in the same disciplinary section of arXiv do not need an endorsement. The move is an attempt to clamp down on a rising tide of fraudulent submissions, says University of Amsterdam astronomer Ralph Wijers, chair of the arXiv editorial council. A large fraction, he says, are generated with artificial intelligence (AI). The new rule is “mostly to try and discourage very junior, unskilled people from trying to get...

I have just started as editor of Nature Briefing: AI & Robotics , taking over with thanks from Josh Axelrod. Want short, fun bits of AI news in your inbox every other week? Sign up !  (You may need a Nature account)

Trump's speech is much longer than Carney's. He mentions his "enemies", does a lot of bragging about the US economy, tells some lies about green energy (and does some literal tilting at windmills, hilariously), says the usual BS about how the US "gave Greenland back" and now Denmark is soooo ungrateful, and some other oddities. But here's my favourite excerpt. Remember... he is in Davos. Which is in Switzerland. And Switzerland's president, by the way, is  Guy Bernard Parmelin. Here we go... Brace yourself. Trump: "we put a 30 per cent tariff on Switzerland and all hell broke loose. They were calling, I mean like you wouldn’t believe. And I know so many people from Switzerland. Incredible place, incredible brilliant place. But I then realized that they’re only good because of us. ... And the I guess prime minister — I don’t think president — I think prime minister called. A woman. And she was very repetitive. She said, ‘no, no, no, you cannot do...

If your child has ADHD or you're curious about its treatments, check out my piece for Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00095-w All brains are different. ADHD isn't a "problem", it's a variant in brain wiring. We can harness its advantages, or alter our environment to reduce the disadvantages. Along the way, we can also treat the symptoms that are making life hard. This feature is about that.  Main messages: - Stimulants like Ritilin and Adderall work really, really well: they are some of the most efficacious drugs on the market for ANY condition. - These drugs improve all kinds of measures, not just the core symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, but also self esteem, reduced car crashes, less criminal behaviour, etc. But they don't magically make your kid smarter (they don't necessarily do better on tests) and they might wear off after a few years of use. - stimulants come with issues for some people (addictive qualit...

This is quite a speech... copying it here for the record.  Everyone (including me) is applauding Canadian PM Mark Carney for being forthright and saying some things that needed to be said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. But I do wish he would use fewer words like "hegemon", and name some names (like Trump). Since some of this speech is in academic-ese, I have taken the liberty of providing some rough 'translations' in bold... Below is the full transcript of the English parts of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s remarks. It seems that every day we’re reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry — that the rules-based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must. [translation] The big boys (Trump, Putin et al) are fighting. The rest of us are gonna suffer.   And this aphorism of Thucydides is presented as inevitable, as the natural logic of international relations reasserting itself. And ...

U.S. President Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his declaration that the United States will now “run” Venezuela are deeply concerning on a number of levels: political, legal and moral. But we should not forget, either, about the environmental cost of Trump’s plan to ramp up production of Venezuelan oil. Nor should we ignore what Trump’s growing hunger for other countries’ natural resources might mean for Canada in the coming years. Read my opinion piece in the Tyee:  https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026/01/20/Dirty-Math-Trump-Thirst-Oil/  

More than you ever wanted to know about which bits of masculinity might be toxic, how many men exhibit these traits, and what it all means... for Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00144-4  

Star fish have been dying in droves since 2013. But pinpointing the killer has proven tricky. Is it a virus? Or the latest suspect, bacteria? Or is it heat that's ultimately to blame? Read my story for Yale:  https://e360.yale.edu/features/sea-star-wasting-disease  

I had the great fortune of chatting with Jimmy Wales before Christmas about the early days and evolution of Wikipedia, his recent book on trust, and how AI might help (or hinder) the spread of truth. Check it out in Nature today https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00083-0  PS, I remember when my Nature colleague Jim Giles first did an investigation of the veracity of Wikipedia, pitting it against Britannica with expert human reviewers ( https://www.nature.com/articles/438900a ). That was a big deal at the time, and earned Jim his own page in Wikipedia (yes, I'm jealous). That study is referenced in Wales' book, and is still one of the foundational proofs that the concept (of getting random people to pen and edit encyclopedia articles) is sound!  

The world all seems a bit crazy right now with Trump trying to take over Venezuela... as an anecdote to global politics, here's a story about poison arrows :)  Paleolithic people were smart.  https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00051-8

    I'm a science journalist, living and working from my home in Pemberton, BC, Canada. My academic background is in chemistry and oceanography, but I write across all the physical sciences, from AI to quantum, with climate change and the environment in between. I write for Nature , Yale E360 , Hakai magazine , the Pique newspaper , SAPIENS , the New York Times and more.   I work (or have worked) as a reporter and editor for several major publications, including the science journal Nature , winning some awards along the way (here's my full CV ). I have also taught science journalism at UBC, and given many public-facing talks about science communication or specific science subjects, including AI . In 2019 I was invited to give a  TED talk  about noise pollution in the ocean. My first book , a non-fiction story about Spotted Owls, was published in 2023. I post everything I write, and some of what I edit, on this blog. Enjoy! (Our whole family also enjoys art, an...