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Theories of scientific and technological change view discovery and invention as endogenous processes1,2, wherein previous accumulated knowledge enables future progress by allowing researchers to, in Newton’s words, ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’3–7. Recent decades have witnessed exponential growth in the volume of new scientific and technological knowledge, thereby creating conditions that should be ripe for major advances8,9. Yet contrary to this view, studies suggest that progress is slowing in several major fields10,11. Here, we analyse these claims at scale across six decades, using data on 45 million papers and 3.9 million patents from six large-scale datasets, together with a new quantitative metric—the CD index12—that characterizes how papers and patents change networks of citations in science and technology. We find that papers and patents are increasingly less likely to break with the past in ways that push science and technology in new directions. This pattern holds universally across fields and is robust across multiple different citation- and text-based metrics1,13–17. Subsequently, we link this decline in disruptiveness to a narrowing in the use of previous knowledge, allowing us to reconcile the patterns we observe with the ‘shoulders of giants’ view. We find that the observed declines are unlikely to be driven by changes in the quality of published science, citation practices or field-specific factors. Overall, our results suggest that slowing rates of disruption may reflect a fundamental shift in the nature of science and technology.A decline in disruptive science and technology over time is reported, representing a substantive shift in science and technology, which is attributed in part to the reliance on a narrower set of existing knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper-folding mechanism has been widely adopted in building of reconfigurable macroscale systems because of its unique capabilities and advantages in programming variable shapes and stiffness into a structure 1-5 . However, it has barely been exploited in the construction of molecular-level systems owing to the lack of a suitable design principle, even though various dynamic structures based on DNA self-assembly 6-9 have been developed 10-23 . Here we propose a method to harness the paper-folding mechanism to create reconfigurable DNA origami structures. The main idea is to build a reference, planar wireframe structure 24 whose edges follow a crease pattern in paper folding so that it can be folded into various target shapes. We realized several paper-like folding and unfolding patterns using DNA strand displacement 25 with high yield. Orthogonal folding, repeatable folding and unfolding, folding-based microRNA detection and fluorescence signal control were demonstrated. Stimuli-responsive folding and unfolding triggered by pH or light-source change were also possible. Moreover, by employing hierarchical assembly 26 we could expand the design space and complexity of the paper-folding mechanism in a highly programmable manner. Because of its high programmability and scalability, we expect that the proposed paper-folding-based reconfiguration method will advance the development of complex molecular systems., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Experiments reveal that human skin is most reliably cut by specific thicknesses of paper, including the kind used to print certain high-profile journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elisabeth Bik quit her job to spot errors in research papers -- and has become the public face of image sleuthing. Elisabeth Bik quit her job to spot errors in research papers -- and has become the public face of image sleuthing., Author(s): Helen Shen Author Affiliations: Credit: Gabriela Hasbun for Nature [see PDF for image] Elisabeth Bik poses for a portrait taken through glass reflecting a garden showing her sitting at [...]

Make science more reliable by placing the burden of replicability on the community, not on individual laboratories. Make science more reliable by placing the burden of replicability on the community, not on individual laboratories., Author(s): Olavo B. Amaral, Kleber Neves Author Affiliations: Reproducibility: expect less of the scientific paper Credit: David Parkins Illo of a person squashed by pile of papers. In 2018, we [...]

To thwart publishing rackets that undermine scholars and scholarly publishing, legitimate journals should show their workings. To thwart publishing rackets that undermine scholars and scholarly publishing, legitimate journals should show their workings., Author(s): Kyle Siler, Vincent Larivière, Philippe Vincent-Lamarre, Cassidy R. Sugimoto Author Affiliations: Illustration by David Parkins Cartoon of four researchers attacking a many headed hydra with swords Predatory publishers' latest [...]

Some researchers have their manuscripts screened for errors before they go to journals. Some researchers have their manuscripts screened for errors before they go to journals., Author(s): Alison Abbott Author Affiliations: Illustration by Ana Kova The science institutions hiring integrity inspectors to vet their papers On 15 June 2017, scientists at a respected biological institute in [...]

Productivity coaches, boot camps and online meet-ups teach researchers to avoid distractions and negative thoughts to get their writing projects done. Productivity coaches, boot camps and online meet-ups teach researchers to avoid distractions and negative thoughts to get their writing projects done., Author(s): Roberta Kwok Author Affiliations: You can get that paper, thesis or grant written -- with a little help Credit: Kristin Lee/Getty [see PDF for image] Pencil on open notebook [...]

Highlights from News & Views published this year. Highlights from News & Views published this year., Author Affiliations: Robots, hominins and superconductors: 10 remarkable papers from 2019 Credit: Sylvain Cherkaoui/Reuters [see PDF for image] A porter carries fish from a fishing boat to the beach at [...]

Awareness of when a paper can’t be trusted is often too low — but adopting some easy-to-use technological solutions can help researchers, publishers and referees to clean things up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A giant data store quietly being built in India could free vast swathes of science for computer analysis -- but is it legal? A giant data store quietly being built in India could free vast swathes of science for computer analysis --but is it legal?, Author(s): Priyanka Pulla Author Affiliations: Carl Malamud in front of the data store of 73 million articles that he plans to let scientists text mine. [see PDF for image] Credit: [...]