News and Views (Modified from Nature’s guide for Authors) These articles inform non-specialist readers about new scientific advances, as reported either in recently published papers (in Nature and elsewhere) or at scientific meetings. Many examples can be found in Nature.
Titles should contain no punctuation marks or abbreviations. News and Views articles also carry a ‘strapline’ of one or two words to define the general subject area of the article, and a sentence to summarize the message of the article in simple language.
The ‘news’ should be mentioned in a succinct opening paragraph to attract the attention of those who are not experts in the field. This paragraph should explicitly refer to the paper under discussion and touch on the significance of the new work.
More detail, background and explanation should follow, including the author’s own ‘views’. The text must be rounded off with comment on the implications of the new work and on future research directions
Articles should not read like textbooks: most readers will have a general scientific background but specialized terminology should be avoided.
Diagrams should be used to explain the new points made, or the background science to the new result. References should be kept to a minimum, approximately ten (including your selected article). They should be given superscript numbers and cited sequentially in the text, as Nature style. References should be listed at the end of the article in the usual Nature style but without the titles of citations (see: http://www.nature.com/nature/authors/gta/index.html#a5.4).