be included.be 2 December, On to parliamentevidence would activities such as giving expert after scientists protested that But were they put on hold were unveiled inFebruary. lobbying defined activities from for beingused broadly money government prevent on academics. Proposals to amounted to a‘gagging clause’ critics said would have government funding that abandoned restrictions on The UKgovernment has Gag clausedropped by 2020. efficiency energy tobloc a 20%improvement in directive that commits the updates abinding 2012EU manufacturing. The package construction, transport and investment energy-efficient in in public and private €177 billion (US$188 billion) incentives mobilize will up to proposedthe policies and commissionThe that hopes labelling of consumer goods. building friendly and energy standardsnew for energy- Europeans package includes forThe Energy Clean All Union by 30%by 2030. European inthe efficiency to improve overall energy a sweeping of set measures on 30November proposed EuropeanThe Commission EU cleanenergy 174 | NATURE | VOL 540 | 8 DECEMBER 2016 NATURE174 | VOL | DECEMBER 540|8 embryos that contain three of birth the children from tocountry explicitly permit closer to becoming first the The United Kingdom is UK fertilitystep news. the welcomed advocatesScience have would not be restricted. publicizing research results that advice scientific and grant standards and confirmed governmentthe its finalized SEVEN DAYS ENERGY POLICY advising UK Human the people’s DNA. Scientists could occur earlycould next occur year. on a patient-by-patient basis, first procedures, approved it on meets 15 December, the If it gives go-ahead the when before allowing clinical trials. research more for asked in 2015,but HFEA had the Britain such legalized therapy for limited clinical testing. mitochondria — is ready cellular structures called by DNA the found in transmitted diseases erase therapy —which aims to mitochondrial-replacement on 30 November that Authority (HFEA)said Fertilisation and Embryology sciences prizes,sciences for revealing centrality the of biologist Noller Harry won one of five life- life and sciences mathematics. USmolecular honour achievements in fundamental physics, The annual prizes, together worth $25 million, Prizes, most the lucrative awards inscience. right) — one of US$3-million the Breakthrough Polchinski and Cumrun Vafa (pictured, to left string theorists — Andrew Strominger, Joseph black-hole paradox firewall has three bagged ofThe discovery aphysics puzzle known as the prize Black-hole puzzlenets$3-million ©

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A l com/2gxims3 for more. California, on 4 December. go.nature. See Ames Research Center inMountain View, A glitzy awards ceremony took place at NASA’s made first detection the of gravitational waves. working on LIGO the project, which last year prize was awardedspecial to 1,015 people the and on differential solving partial equations. A ofon multidimensional geometry the spaces award went Jean to US-based Bourgain for work RNAribosomal to protein synthesis. The maths l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d . detections of the phenomenon phenomenon of the detections The upgrades should make distantbetween black holes. waves, from acollision direct detection of gravitational 2015, LIGO made first the more sensitive. In September upgrades to system make the onrun 30 November after starting its second science search for gravitational waves, has resumed its Observatory Gravitational-wave LIGO, Interferometer Laser the LIGO goesagain to site’s the search functions. suggested such a few tweaks, as forcalled no major changes but EVENTS

KELLY SULLIVAN/GETTY FOR BREAKTHROUGH PRIZE SEVEN DAYS THIS WEEK

prize, and biologist Susan Forsburg at the University of Southern California, Los COMING UP

XINHUA/EYEVINE Angeles, received the prize for mid-career achievement. 12–16 DECEMBER Each receives US$10,000. The The American awards honour outstanding Geophysical Union’s scientific mentors in a different Fall Meeting, the largest country or region each year. See Earth and space-science page 305 for more. meeting in the world, takes place in San PEOPLE Francisco, California. fallmeeting.agu.org Prize cash donated A Kenya-based malaria 16 DECEMBER more frequent. LIGO has of US president-elect Donald researcher who won a SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket twin detectors in Hanford, Trump. They urge the US$1‑million development returns to flight after Washington, and Livingston, administration to create a prize will donate the money to a failure in September, Louisiana (pictured). strong culture of science and African science. Kevin Marsh to launch satellites recognize that diversity makes at the University of Oxford, for communications New element names science stronger; to ensure that UK, won the inaugural Kuwait- company Iridium from Four new element names environmental laws retain a sponsored Al-Sumait Prize for California. — nihonium (element 113), strong scientific foundation; individuals or institutions who go.nature.com/2gl2tey moscovium (115), tennessine and to provide adequate advance economic, social and (117) and oganesson (118) resources for scientists to human-resources development — were confirmed by the do their jobs. The scientific in Africa on 22 November. secured the €436 million International Union of Pure community stands ready “to He is a senior adviser to the (US$464 million) it needs for and Applied Chemistry hold accountable any who African Academy of Sciences the mission at a meeting in (IUPAC) on 28 November. might seek to undermine” the and led the renowned Kenya Switzerland on 2 December. The names, outlined in June by role of science in policymaking, Medical Research Institute in European government IUPAC, were proposed by the says the letter. Nairobi from 1989 to 2014. ministers agreed to provide the labs credited with discovering Marsh will donate $400,000 to cash despite rising costs and the elements — in Russia, the AWARDS the academy to create a fund the failure of the agency’s Mars United States and Japan. Yuri to support young scientists, lander Schiaparelli in October. Oganessian becomes only the Mentoring prize and the remaining $600,000 ExoMars 2020 will be a joint second living person to have an This year’s Nature Awards for to Oxford’s African science mission with Russia. See page element named after them. Mentoring in Science have programmes. 177 for more. been given to two mentors Dear Mr Trump from the US west coast. Julie FUNDING EU defence fund More than 2,300 scientists, Overbaugh, an HIV researcher The European Commission including 22 Nobel laureates, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Europe to Mars plans to launch a fund from all 50 US states published Research Center in Seattle, Europe is set to land its first dedicated to defence research, an open letter on 30 November Washington, was awarded rover on Mars in 2021, after it announced on 30 November. to the incoming government the lifetime-achievement the European Space Agency The research programme will cover technologies such as electronics, encrypted software and robotics and will be run TREND WATCH LATE HIV DIAGNOSES PEVALENT IN EUOPE under a broader European Nearly half (47%) of HIV-positive people in the European Union Defence Fund. It will have an and European Economic Area are diagnosed late. The infection Nearly 1 in 7 people with HIV in rate in 2015 was 6.3 per 100,000, similar to recent years. expected budget of €90 million Europe do not know they have (US$97 million) over three Early-stage diagnosis Late-stage diagnosis it, estimates a report from the years from 2017 and will be Mode of European Centre for Disease transmission: separate from the European

SOURCE: EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR SOURCE: EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR Prevention and Control. Delayed Union’s Horizon 2020 research Sex between men

DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL diagnoses mean that some may programme. Classified calls not benefit from treatment and will be open only to European may spread the virus. The data Heterosexual sex Union member states and suggest that people contracting Norway. If the scheme is HIV through injecting drugs or successful, the Commission heterosexual sex are likely to be Injecting drugs hopes to increase the diagnosed later than those who programme’s budget to around acquire it through sex between €500 million a year from 2021. men (see chart). The average 0 25 50 75 100 Proportion of diagnoses (%) time from infection to diagnosis Late stage indicated by CD4 cell count of <350 cells mm–3; early stage, ≥350. NATURE.COM is almost four years. For daily news updates see: www.nature.com/news

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