 11th June 2015 | ||
| Our pick of today's science stories Sex and the law. Africa can be a hostile place if you're gay. Same-sex relationships are punishable by death in several nations, and illegal in many others. But African academics are challenging these homophobic laws, using scientific evidence to demolish the arguments they're based on. (Nature news story) Ceres close up. New images of dwarf planet Ceres show its bright spots more clearly than ever before. They're still just as mysterious. (BBC; NASA) Ancient genomes. Researchers are starting to sequence the DNA of long-dead humans in their dozens – answering long-standing questions about the past. "In another five years, we'll be talking about tens of thousands of ancient genomes." (Nature news story; Nature paper) Lost in space. The Hubble Telescope has captured an image of a lonely galaxy. Galaxy NGC 6503 is at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the 'Local Void'. (Space.com). Prion protection. A genetic mutation appears to prevent prion disease spreading in the brain. The mutation may have helped protect some people in Papua New Guinea from a devastating outbreak of kuru in the 1950s. (Nature news story; Nature paper) Oil sands moratorium. More than 100 researchers are calling on Canadian officials to stop new mining of the nation's oil sands (The Guardian). But the ongoing drama over oil pipelines obscures a larger problem — a broken policy process (Nature comment piece, 2014). Conflict of interest. Solar physicist and climate sceptic Willie Soon is facing further investigations over claims he didn't disclose financial ties with fossil fuel companies to journals that published his work (Science). The latest investigations, from several journals, are in addition to an inquiry launched by Soon's institution, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in February (Nature news story). Banking on it. Mouse biobanks are essential in ensuring that the tens of thousands of genetically engineered mice bred to probe human biology and disease really are what they claim to be. (Nature comment piece) Don't cry. Nobel-prize winning biochemist Tim Hunt has resigned from his honourary position at University College London after causing outrage by advocating gender-segregated labs, and comments that having 'girls' in the lab caused problems because "you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry" (BBC; UCL statement). Female scientists have taken to Twitter to mock Hunt's comments, using the #DistractinglySexy hashtag. Today's good read When we meet aliens, it won't be a friendly encounter nor a conquest: it will be a gold rush. Can we make sure it's ethical? Read more: Alien rights in Aeon. For more daily science news, check in at www.nature.com/news; @NatureNews on Twitter; or on our Facebook page. This newsletter is new and evolving — tell us what you think! Please send feedback to daily@nature.com. | ||
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