Nicola Jones

Early weather forecasts were made by looking for patterns in past weather behaviour to predict the future. Then in the early 1900s researchers audaciously suggested we should instead use mathematical equations of fluid flow and thermodynamics to track out the motion of the atmosphere and the likely weather. With the invention of super-computing that idea took off, and powered the excellent weather forecasting we have today. But now... AI is taking weather forecasting back to its roots, once again looking for patterns in data to track out the future. And it works. AI forecasts are cheaper, easier, quicker -- and better. My feature for Yale. https://e360.yale.edu/features/artificial-intelligence-weather-forecasting

The world of cultivated meat (grown in the lab from a handful of cells, without slaughter) is improving...  Read my story for Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01227-4

Since Donald Trump called on agencies to cancel grants relating to 'diversity equity and inclusion' and more (including climate injustice), hundreds of NIH grants have been terminated. Here's who is fighting what in the courts. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01192-y 

The epic annual 'state of the industry' report on artificial intelligence from the Institute for Human Centered AI at Stanford University is out today. It shows that the top companies are converging, rather than any one pulling ahead: and China is catching up with the US. My story for Nature:  https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01033-y

I feel like I've seen news headlines screaming "water found on Mars!" ever since I first started doing science journalism back in 2000, and likely long before that, too. Of all the evergreen stories, this is perhaps the longest-running of them all! My update for Knowable magazine: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/physical-world/2025/ghost-rivers-hidden-lakes-history-of-search-water-on-mars

One scientist trying hard to save environmental justice data and tools from erasure during the Trump administration: my story for Yale https://e360.yale.edu/features/eric-nost-interview

A survey of hundreds of AI researchers by the AAAI finds that most don't think 'scaling up' nor neural nets alone will be sufficient to get us to human-level artificial intelligence. The report, released at the annual meeting of the Association, calls for a broader focus of research on all kinds of AI, including 'symbolic AI', sometimes called 'good old fashioned AI'. My story for Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00649-4