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Kelvin wave offers glimpse of the future

A huge surge of water known as a Kelvin wave is showing what sea-level rise, driven by climate change, could do to the West Coast of North America. This type of underwater wave, named after polymath Lord Kelvin (of absolute-temperature-scale fame), originated at the Equator as a normal part of the El Niño weather event — and it’s not the first, and won’t be the last, this year. But, combined with high tides and record-breaking warm water, this wave could cause sea levels up to 60 centimetres (2 feet) higher than normal in California, says climate scientist Daniel Swain. “What we’ll see at the worst this winter will be something that is closer to the norm later this century in terms of sea level,” says Swain.

Scientific American | 7 min read

Detector spots AI-generated ideas

A new tool called IdeaLens can help to judge whether concepts — rather than just writing — in documents have been generated by artificial intelligence, the team behind it says. The detector works by distilling a text into an outline, stripping it of style. Then it looks for patterns that are characteristic of either AI or human-generated ideas, such as in arguments and flow. In tests, the detector was able to spot AI-derived ideas 91% of the time, but researchers warn that the tool is fallible and shouldn’t be used to judge individual cases.

Nature | 4 min read

Reference: arXiv preprint (not peer reviewed)

Economics Nobel for zoomed-in view

The 2026 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to economists Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford for their research on how to stabilize an economy to avoid socially and economically damaging fluctuations in inflation, growth and employment. Hall and Woodford’s work builds on the macroeconomic picture drawn by influential economist John Maynard Keynes. Their work dives deep into the microeconomic perspective, which considers how decisions made by individual businesses and households affect prices, earnings and spending.

Nature | 5 min read

Features & opinion

What makes scientists happy

Most researchers are satisfied with their work, and meaningful work, flexibility and job security all matter more than salaries do, according to Nature’s 2026 science-job satisfaction survey, which had around 3,900 self-selecting respondents across 133 countries. That being said, those who have well-paid, senior and permanent positions are more satisfied than are other researchers. The country with the happiest scientists, of those with more than 100 respondents, was Canada. The least satisfied cohort was in China, although they are the most likely to say that their career prospects are better than those of previous generations.

Nature | 20 min read

Keep medical doctors in academia

The number of medical doctors who also do research is dwindling, risking the future of valuable health care studies and translational medicine, argues a group of physician–scientists. A coordinated effort across governments, funders, health systems and universities is required to maintain the pipeline of talent into this profession. The endeavour should include protections for research time, reassessment of pay structures and changes to targets so that physician–scientists aren’t expected to meet the same benchmarks as clinical-only staff, the group writes.

Nature | 9 min read

Who’s watching the AI doctor?

Plenty of people are getting health advice from chatbots, but any downsides of this practice are largely invisible, note four researchers who study the social impact of AI tools. “When AI guidance causes harm, no record exists outside the platform, no channel allows users to report it and no independent researcher can measure the consequences,” the authors write. They recommend ways that medical advice from chatbots can be given safeguards similar to those that already exist for conventional health care systems.

Nature Health | 32 min read

Today I’m rolling to see who goes first, secure in the knowledge that I will never experience a tie. It’s all thanks to mathematician Eric Harshbarger and software engineer Paul Meyer, who have invented a set of 60-sided dice that, when rolled by up to five players, always finds a winner fairly on the first roll. The hard part, says Harshbarger, was winnowing the solution down to a die you could actually work with. “I knew there was a solution with something crazy like 1,440 sides for each die,” he says. “That's not makeable.”

While I set up my favourite board game, I’d love to hear about yours — plus any feedback on this newsletter — at briefing@nature.com.

Thanks for reading,

Flora Graham, chief editor, Nature Briefing

With contributions by Jacob Smith

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