Open Discussion: what is nature?

This meeting will be a live discussion of the title topic. This sort of discussion can't be settled in any particular way, but remains relevant for beginners and initiates to philosophy.

Here are some questions and comments that may help guide the conversation (feel free to bring questions of your own, as well):

When we talk about understanding nature, are we talking about anything different from understanding the world or reality? Perhaps these are all distinct notions.

Is the nature that we know understood in nature's own terms, or in terms of our own? Even further, can nature be said to exist at all beyond the categories we frame it by?

What have the different approaches to the understanding of nature (i.e., φύσις) been? What sorts of concepts have alternately oriented us at what we call nature, and are these compatible with each other, or not? For example, do biological concepts concern nature? How do these conform to concepts in physics, chemistry, or metaphysics? Do some of these "reduce" to others, or do each of them stand on their own somehow?

What means do we have for investigating nature? Has the existence of certain tools (e.g., computers) fundamentally changed our possibilities for investigating nature (and perhaps changes "nature" with it), or have they only assisted us?

"All men naturally [φύσει] desire knowledge. An indication of this is our esteem for the senses; for apart from their use we esteem them for their own sake, and most of all the sense of sight. Not only with a view to action, but even when no action is contemplated, we prefer sight, generally speaking, to all the other senses. The reason of this is that of all the senses sight best helps us to know things, and reveals many distinctions." - Aristotle, Physics, Book I