Wind-Mapping Satellite Takes Flight
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SEVEN DAYS The news in brief POLICY Japan gene editing A government panel in Japan has recommended that the country does not S. CORVAJA/ESA impose regulations on gene-edited organisms. The recommendation, if implemented, would mean that plants or animals that have had their genomes edited at specific locations using tools such as CRISPR would not be subject to the same regulations as genetically modified (GM) organisms. GM organisms, into which foreign DNA has been introduced, cannot be produced without government approval. Although permission would not be required for gene- edited organisms, researchers would have to register them with the government, with the Wind-mapping satellite takes flight exception of microorganisms that remain in the laboratory. The European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Aeolus the atmosphere’s lowermost 30 kilometres. The recommendation is in line satellite soared into space on 22 August for a ESA approved the Aeolus mission in 1999, but with US policy, but contrasts three-year mission to monitor wind around the development of the satellite’s instruments took with a July decision by the globe. Aeolus is the world’s first wind-mapping much longer than expected. The complexity European Union’s highest court satellite and launched atop a Vega rocket from of building a powerful ultraviolet laser that that gene-edited organisms Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. could operate in a vacuum was the main issue. should not be exempted from Mission controllers will spend the next several Once Aeolus starts its scientific observations, existing regulations. Japan’s months calibrating the spacecraft’s instruments, data from the mission will be incorporated government intends to convene including an ultraviolet laser system that will into numerical weather predictions to improve another panel to review the measure the speed and direction of winds in forecasts from national weather agencies. decision. Currently, no GM crops are grown commercially in Japan. at the scale of individual that the United Kingdom will projects that extend beyond power plants. If finalized and be relegated to “third country” Brexit, if scientists secured the Power-plant rules implemented, the proposal will status in the European grant before exit day. On 21 August, the US replace the Clean Power Plan, Commission’s €80-billion Environmental Protection which was introduced in 2015 (US$93-billion) main research- RESEARCH Agency (EPA) revealed its but blocked by the Supreme funding programme, Horizon long-promised plan to relax Court in 2016 pending a legal 2020, if no agreement is Conductor claims federal limits on greenhouse- review. The EPA will accept reached. This will restrict the Two teams of physicists gas emissions from power public comments on the types of funding researchers in have reported hints of plants. The proposal targets draft rules for 60 days before the United Kingdom can bid superconductivity — the former president Barack finalizing them. See go.nature. for. The United Kingdom will ability of a material to carry a Obama’s flagship climate com/2mj42pa for more. leave the EU on 29 March 2019, current without resistance — at regulation, the Clean Power and scientists could lose access record-high temperatures. One Plan, which sought to reduce ‘No-deal’ Brexit plan to grants from the European team, led by Mikhail Eremets carbon dioxide emissions The UK government has Research Council, which at the Max Planck Institute for from the power sector to 32% released guidance about what funds basic research, and some Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, below 2005 levels by 2030. will happen to research funded parts of Marie Skłodowska- posted a preprint on the arXiv The EPA proposal would by the European Commission Curie Actions, which server on 22 August that allow states to set their own should Britain leave the facilitate researcher mobility. reported a drop in electrical emissions-reduction goals European Union without The guidance reiterates the resistance in a lanthanum- and emphasizes the use of making a deal. The document, government’s 2016 pledge to hydrogen compound cooled to energy-efficiency technologies published on 23 August, warns underwrite the cost of any below –58 ° C (A. P. Drozdov 532 | NATURE | VOL 560 | 30 AUGUST 2018 ©2018 Spri nger Nature Li mited. All ri ghts reserved. ©2018 Spri nger Nature Li mited. All ri ghts reserved. SEVEN DAYS THIS WEEK et al. Preprint at https:// sex abuse and harassment, groups say she has been a JAXA arxiv.org/abs/1808.07039; according to the New York strong supporter of science and 2018). If confirmed, it would City police department. The research. Her appointment also beat the previous record of charges came after a 55-year- puts the position back in the –70 °C, which the same team old woman filed a report government’s inner executive obtained in 2015. Then, on with police on 7 July accusing circle, after it was removed in 24 August, Russell Hemley Frieden of groping her buttocks December 2017. of the George Washington in October 2017. On 24 August, University in Washington DC a judge ordered Frieden to FUNDING and his colleagues reported avoid contact with the alleged preliminary evidence of even victim and released Frieden NIH investigation more astounding transition risks for one probe, called on his own recognizance. “The The US National Institutes of temperatures, –13 °C and MASCOT, mission scientists allegation does not reflect Health (NIH) is investigating +7 °C, in a similar material ran simulations of the surface Dr. Frieden’s public or private about half a dozen institutions (M. Somayazulu et al. to produce ten options, and behavior or his values over a with agency-funded Preprint at https://arxiv.org/ picked one spot (pictured, in lifetime of service to improve researchers who might have abs/1808.07695; 2018). Both blue) on the asteroid’s southern health around the world,” a failed to disclose monetary methods required squeezing hemisphere. The choice spokesperson for Frieden said support from foreign the samples between diamond reflected various criteria, in a statement. governments. NIH director tips under extreme pressures. including average temperatures Francis Collins spoke about The teams are now working to on the ground. Hayabusa2 Science minister the investigation during a confirm that the materials are will temporarily descend The Australian government 23 August hearing before a superconductors. to an altitude of 60 metres appointed Karen Andrews US Senate committee. Earlier to drop MASCOT, and will as the minister for industry, that week, the agency sent a SPACE make its first touchdown in science and technology on letter warning NIH-funded late October, at a site north of 26 August. Andrews was institutions about attempts Asteroid sites Ryugu’s equator. The first of selected by the new prime by foreign governments to On 23 August, the Japan three MINERVA-II probes minister, Scott Morrison, influence US research, or to Aerospace Exploration is scheduled to land in late who took up the position steal intellectual property Agency revealed the sites on September. See go.nature. two days earlier, following and other confidential the asteroid Ryugu at which com/2wkslms for more. a leadership challenge from information. The NIH has its Hayabusa2 spacecraft will another minister that ousted also set up an advisory panel touch down to collect a sample PEOPLE former prime minister that will establish methods to bring back to Earth — and Malcolm Turnbull. Turnbull for accurately reporting all where it will drop the first Frieden arrest lost the support of his party sources of research funding two of its four landing probes. Tom Frieden, who directed over an energy policy that and mitigating security risks to Hayabusa2 left Earth in 2014 the US Centers for Disease sought to reduce the cost of intellectual property. Collins and reached Ryugu in June. Control and Prevention from electricity and cut emissions. further encouraged institutions Mission planners faced tough 2009 to 2017, was arrested and Andrews, a former engineer, to meet with the US Federal choices for landing sites arraigned in New York City was assistant science minister Bureau of Investigation about because the body is strewn on 24 August. Frieden was from September 2015 to these issues as they pertain to with boulders. To minimize charged with forcible touching, July 2016. Science-advocacy biomedical research. TREND WATCH ENDANGEED PLANS Hundreds of plants and animals are protected under the US Endangered Species Act. The drafting of recovery plans has always The number of endangered work out how many species lacked lagged behind new listings, but the gap has widened since 2009. species for which the US such safeguards and how that has 1,800 government has no recovery changed since 1978. They found plans has grown steadily over that of 1,548 eligible species, Cumulative total HTTP://DOI.ORG/CS9R (2018). Species with recovery plans 1,500 the past decade, according to an 24.5% were without a plan. Species lacking recovery plans analysis this month (J. W. Malcom The analysis also showed that & Y.-W. Li Conserv. Biol. http:// the number of plans has always 1,200 CONSERV. BIOL. CONSERV. doi.org/cs9r; 2018). The plans, lagged behind the number of which are mandated under the species listed, but that the gap has Endangered Species Act, detail the widened since 2009, when the rate 900 threats against a species as well as of listings increased.“There isn’t the ‘nuts and bolts’ strategies that enough funding for the services 600 will help the species to recover. to close that gap,” says lead author Number of listed species listed of Number Researchers used publicly Jacob Malcom, a conservation available data from the US biologist at Defenders of Wildlife 300 SOURCE: J. W. MALCOM & Y.-W. LI & Y.-W.