Bluesky

Facebook

You have full access to this article via your institution.

Download the Nature Podcast 20 May 2026

In this episode:

00:46 Meet the AI scientists designed to accelerate research

Research article: Ghareeb et al.

Research article: Gottweis et al.

Nature: Teams of AI agents boost speed of research

Editorial: Why AI cannot do good science without humans

Nature: Do you hate or love AI? Take Nature’s poll

13:25 Research Highlights

Nature: Dried to survive: desiccated tardigrades tolerate high heat

Nature: Pristine Antarctic ice records the Solar System’s travels

15:35 Using LiDAR to look around corners

Research article: Somasundaram et al.

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the Nature Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music or your favourite podcast app. An RSS feed for the Nature Podcast is available too.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01627-0

‘AI models are capable of novel research’: OpenAI’s chief scientist on what to expect

Human scientists trounce the best AI agents on complex tasks

AI ‘scientists’ joined these research teams: here’s what happened

Subjects

Machine learning

Optics and photonics

Technology

Latest on:

Machine learning

Optics and photonics

Technology

A deep-learning framework reveals whole-body perturbations at cell level

Article 20 MAY 26

AI might jeopardize the uncertainty required in science

Correspondence 19 MAY 26

‘It is incredible’: How AI is transforming mathematics

News Feature 19 MAY 26

Imaging hidden objects with consumer LiDAR via motion-induced sampling

Article 20 MAY 26

Quantum light source boosts attosecond science

News & Views 20 MAY 26

Gaussian boson sampling with 1,024 squeezed states in 8,176 modes

Article 13 MAY 26

On the right track in the design of an early typewriter

News & Views 19 MAY 26

Could this synthetic egg bring back extinct birds? Researchers urge caution

News 19 MAY 26

Do you hate or love AI? Take Nature’s poll

News 18 MAY 26

Jobs

Rowland Fellowship

The Rowland Institute at Harvard seeks outstanding early-career experimentalists in all fields of science and engineering.

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Rowland Institute at Harvard

Chief Editor, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology

Job Title: Chief Editor, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology Location: Shanghai, Beijing or Milan, Hybrid Working Model Application Deadline...

Shanghai, Beijing or Milan, Hybrid Working Model

Springer Nature Ltd

Global Recruitment for Faculty, Postdocs, and Specialists at Hangzhou Institute of Medicine, CAS

Seeking exceptional Senior/Junior PIs, Postdocs, and Core Specialists globally year-round

Hangzhou, China

Hangzhou Institute of Medicine Chinese Academy of Sciences (HIMCAS)

Multiple Positions Open in The Stomatology Hospital，Zhejiang University School of Medicine

Hangzhou, Zhejiang (CN)

The Stomatology Hospital, School of Stomatology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine(ZJUSS)

Chief Architect - High Performance Computing and Data Science

Leads DSU’s High Performance Computing and Data Science, enabling scalable AI, big data, and scientific computing across all CoE.

Bangalore (Locality), Karnataka (IN)

Dayananda Sagar University Bengaluru

AI ‘scientists’ promise to accelerate research — how do they work?