As a result of the pandemic, workers around the world have become accustomed to meeting colleagues online. To find out if this switch from face-to-face meetings came at a cost to creativity, a team compared the number of ideas generated by workers collaborating either online, or in-person. They showed that people meeting virtually produced fewer creative ideas than those working face-to-face, and suggest that when it comes to idea generation maybe it’s time to turn the camera off.
Research article: Brucks & Levav
News and Views: Virtual collaboration hinders idea generation
Video: Why video calls are bad for brainstorming
Fragments from an ancient pyramid suggest earliest known use of a Maya calendar, and how sweet snacks could damage rare iguanas’ metabolism.
Research Highlight: Deer symbol hints at early adoption of Maya calendar
Research Highlight: Tourists’ sweet treats threaten rare iguanas’ health
Researchers looking at the skin cells of zebrafish have discovered a new type of cell division, which doesn’t require DNA replication. DNA is usually essential for healthy cells, but the researchers think this puzzling finding may be a temporary measure to help the fish produce skin more rapidly during growth spurts.
Research article: Chan et al.
News and Views: Stretched skin cells divide without DNA replication
Video: A new kind of cell division
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, how laser-equipped submarines could help analyse gelatinous animals’ anatomy, and a push for a flagship mission to Uranus.
The New Yorker: Shedding Light on Untouchable Sea Creatures
Nature: Next stop, Uranus? Icy planet tops priority list for next big NASA mission
Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The mysterious extinction of the dire wolf
Audio long-read: Controlling COVID with science - Iceland's story
Our podcast highlights of 2020
Coronapod: The big COVID research papers of 2020
Could you prevent a pandemic? A very 2020 video game
Don’t think too deeply about the origin of life – it may have started in puddles
Norway's prime minister reveals plans to protect the world's oceans
Cellular ageing: turning back the clock restores vision in mice
Neutrinos give insights into the workings of the Sun’s core
Coronapod: What could falling COVID death rates mean for the pandemic?
The troubling rise of facial recognition technology
Audio long-read: The enigmatic organisms of the Ediacaran Period
Revealed: the impact of noise and light pollution on birds
A powerful radio burst from a magnetic star
Talking politics, talking science
Politics of the life scientific
A brief history of politics and science
Lab–grown brains and the debate over consciousness
The science behind an 'uncrushable' beetle’s exoskeleton
Superconductivity gets heated
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free