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This artist's concept illustrates Kepler-47, the first known transiting circumbinary system (multiple planets orbiting two suns).NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle

The three-body problem, which has stumped scientists since the 1600s, now has a solution — of sorts. Astrophysicist Nicholas Stone explains how he got to his relatively simple statistical solution by giving up on the detailed orbits and getting right to the punchline of how the system ultimately and inevitably disintegrates. Plus: festive songs with science lyrics!

Nature | 32 min listen

Reference: Nature paper

Nature Index explores the hunt for new, commercially viable materials with highly sought-after properties, and the intriguing new field of energy harvesting.

• From OLEDs to nanomaterials, newly discovered materials can be big business, but there’s no easy way to get them to market.

• Where in the world are the fastest rising institutions in materials science? This infographic reveals the biggest players.

• Devices that can harvest incidental energy to wirelessly charge your phone are tantalisingly close.

Nature Index | Read the whole collection

Scientists in Belgium, Japan and the United States are the most likely to work during their national holidays. Researchers looked at the day and time of submission for more than 100,000 manuscripts and peer reviews sent to the BMJ and BMJ Open. Scientists in China led the world in working on weekends and late at night. Most likely to submit during the week and daylight hours? Scandinavian countries.

The New York Times | 4 min read

Reference: BMJ paper

Features & opinion

The 2010s have seen breakthroughs in frontiers from gene editing to gravitational waves. The coming one must focus on climate change, argues a Nature editorial.

Nature | 8 min read

Got a minute (or 12)? Meet the trickster microbes shaking up the tree of life, discover why sickle-cell disease is gene therapy’s biggest challenge yet and learn how the earliest mammals thrived alongside dinosaurs. These are our picks of the most compelling Nature feature stories this year.

Nature | Ten stories well worth your time

Molecular biologist Oded Rechavi’s free ‘Woodstock of Biology’ conference aims to bring the supportive scientific community he’s found on Twitter into the real world. “I’m hoping to reproduce that informal, fun, real-time involvement with peers and non-specialists that you find on Twitter and make it work in a conference format,” says Rechavi.

Nature | 5 min read

Infographic of the week