Nature

Many communities in Iran depend on wells for water, and are threatened by the rapid fall in the nation’s groundwater table. Credit: Mohsen Maghrebi Water resources 16 June 2021 Iran is draining its aquifers dry Wells are proliferating, but data from across the country show that groundwater extraction is falling. Share on Twitter Share on

The Earth has finally achieved famous recognition for its fifth ocean, with a decision by the National Geographic Society to include the Southern Ocean around Antarctica to the four it already acknowledges: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic oceans. (Photo : Getty Images) Identifying the Southern Ocean as the Fifth Ocean  Although the designation of

Centre for Human Genetics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda Leon Mutesa, Yvan Butera, Jacob Souopgui, Annette Uwineza & Robert Rutayisire Rwanda Joint Task Force COVID-19, Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Ministry of Health, Kigali, Rwanda Leon Mutesa, Pacifique Ndishimye, Yvan Butera, Jacob Souopgui, Annette Uwineza, Robert Rutayisire, Ella Larissa Ndoricimpaye, Emile Musoni, Nadine Rujeni, Thierry Nyatanyi, Edouard Ntagwabira, Muhammed Semakula, Clarisse Musanabaganwa, Daniel Nyamwasa, Maurice Ndashimye, Ivan Emile Mwikarago, Claude Mambo Muvunyi, Jean

Download PDF In February 2020, as early COVID outbreaks were expanding in many countries, Nevan Krogan was grappling with a different kind of surge — in the size of his research collaboration. Krogan, a systems biologist, had been focused on tackling pressing issues in biology and health by forming interdisciplinary collaborations through the Quantitative Bioscience

Arizona, Nevada, California, and Utah experience extreme heat, worsening drought, and increased risk of wildfires. (Photo : Getty Images) Temperatures Across the US South-west   Dangerously hot temperatures across the US south-west will keep increasing this week, getting to higher than 49C (120F) in some regions, aggravating the area’s already-dire drought conditions and boosting the risk

The mangrove killifish is a quicker study after spending bouts of time in air, experiments show. Credit: Pally/Alamy Physiology 15 June 2021 Amphibious fish get smart — by working out on land Fish navigate mazes more quickly and efficiently after a regimen of jumping about on a solid surface. Share on Twitter Share on Twitter

Some kind of skin disease associated with white spots and lesions is mysteriously appearing in Malaysia’s whitetip reef sharks, and several reports suggest it was caused by rising sea temperatures in the region. Whitetip reef sharks are generally slender and short, with broad head. They are known as common tourist and diving attraction. With the

CORRESPONDENCE 15 June 2021 Don’t abandon 14-day limit on embryo research, it makes sense Ronald M. Green  ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2844-6007 0 , Michael D. West  ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4842-5468 1 & Leonard Hayflick  ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1831-844X 2 Ronald M. Green Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google

CORRESPONDENCE 15 June 2021 Concern over use of the term Z-DNA Alan Herbert  ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0093-1572 0 , Andrew H.-J. Wang  ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0016-5337 1 , Thomas M. Jovin  ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7293-5081 2 , Edward S. Mocarski  ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8362-9490 3 , Manolis Pasparakis  ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9870-0966 4 & Karen M. Vasquez  ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6958-5073 5 Alan Herbert InsideOutBio, Charlestown, Massachusetts,

Good news arrived from Colorado as Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) made an announcement that two wolves, Jane F1084 and John M2101, had been seen with many pups. (Photo : Steve) The Gray Wolves and Their Young   The gray wolves and their young were first spotted by a wildlife biologist and CPW district wildlife manager.

Download PDF It takes collaboration to get the full picture of a forest. Here, I’m teaming up with Sammy, a local senior-school student, to count and identify ants in a dense fragment of lowland rainforest. It’s November 2019, when I was a research technician with the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre in Madang, and we’re

Paleontologists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently discovered two new species of ancient animals that had lived in now northeastern China from 120 million years ago. The two species were said to be distantly related and has evolved their ‘digging traits’ independently. They were both

NEWS 14 June 2021 Journal closure leads to dip in papers’ citations Findings hint at the importance of journal prestige for researchers referencing others’ work. Holly Else Holly Else View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar Share on Twitter Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Facebook

BOOK REVIEW 14 June 2021 Katherine Johnson’s memoir charts her bold trajectory to NASA and beyond Mathematician overcame the gravitational pulls of gender and racial discrimination to play a key part in the space race. Ainissa Ramirez 0 Ainissa Ramirez Ainissa Ramirez (www.ainissaramirez.com) is a materials scientist and author of The Alchemy of Us. She

The Godzilla Saharan Dust storm is making its way from Africa’s coast to the Gulf of Mexico. According to forecasts, the dust will be heaviest over the Florida peninsula on Wednesday, but it will last until at least Saturday next week. (Photo : Getty Images) Nearing America This dust is presently traveling over the Atlantic and

After being sued twice for failing to protect humpback whale pods, the US government has officially declared over a 100,000 square nautical miles of the Pacific as a legally defined critical habitat for the endangered species. This is one of the most outstanding victories for American marine conservationists in recent times. The declaration will cover

Plastic detritus from snacks and meals floats in the Red Sea. Marine sampling shows that food waste accounts for nearly 90% of plastic pollution at some locales. Credit: Andrey Nekrasov/Barcroft Media/Getty Ocean sciences 10 June 2021 Humanity’s fast-food habit is filling the ocean with plastic Food bags, drink bottles and similar items account for the

A U.K. woman developed a serious eye infection thanks to an uncommon virus – cowpox, a cousin of smallpox, which she got from her pet cat. The infection, in her right eye, threatened to leave her blind. (Photo : Tomas Andreopoul) Symptoms of Cowpox Infection The 28-year-old woman went to the emergency room after she

NEWS 11 June 2021 Massive science-funding bill passes US Senate — but China focus worries researchers Scientists praise the budget boost slated for the National Science Foundation, but worry the legislation could dampen international collaborations. Ariana Remmel Ariana Remmel View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar Share on

Around 75,000 years ago, one of the Earth’s largest known explosive eruptions occurred at the site of present-day Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. The eruption was so large it held an event that caused a global volcanic winter and formed a crater visible in space. When the volcanic ash and gases of the Toba Supervolcano

CAREER COLUMN 11 June 2021 Six mentoring tips as we enter year two of COVID As the world recovers, students still need help to get back on track, say Ruth Gotian and Christine Pfund. Ruth Gotian 0 Ruth Gotian Ruth Gotian is the chief learning officer and assistant professor of education in anaesthesiology at Weill

NEWS 11 June 2021 Flurry of photos capture China’s Zhurong rover on surface of Mars Aerial images boast a level of detail that could help the rover navigate to features of scientific interest. Smriti Mallapaty Smriti Mallapaty View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar Share on Twitter Share

Britain now classifies raccoon dogs as major non-native pest that will likely to destroy wildlife. Their cute little furry faces might not look like the destructive type, but a study found they can be pretty invasive mammals in the UK. Raccoon dogs are among the new found species which have arrived in Great Britain for

NATURE PODCAST 11 June 2021 Coronapod: counting the cost of long COVID How measuring case numbers and deaths overlooks the cost of disability caused by COVID Noah Baker & Sara Abdulla Noah Baker View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar Sara Abdulla View author publications You can also

How do the blackest fish in the sea suddenly disappear? Many have tried to pictures of these ultra-black fishes, and only ended up taking a picture of the creature’s silhouette. In the darkness of the ocean, even surrounded by light, they literally disappear. This certain “ultra-black” creature is known as the Pacific blackdragon, and its ”ultra-blackness”

A portal can be rendered invisible with the help of an artificial material. Credit: Getty Optics and photonics 11 June 2021 Not just sorcery: scientists build an invisible portal ‘Superscattering’ material is used to construct a mini-doorway that is invisible in the microwave portion of the spectrum. Share on Twitter Share on Twitter Share on

Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, could sustain serious damage in a relatively small earthquake. Credit: Aerial Archives/Alamy Seismology 11 June 2021 A small earthquake could pose a big risk to a US city The structure of faults beneath Salt Lake City, Utah, shows how the ground could liquefy during a shaking. Share on Twitter Share

 A police force said hundreds of white and purple jellyfish washed up on beaches have stung “too many people.” (Photo : Getty Images) White/Purple Jellyfish Spotted in Shoeburyness  The creatures have been found in Leigh-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea, and Thorpe Bay in Essex. Community group Southend Beach Care encouraged people not to go close to them or

NEWS 10 June 2021 Mysterious fast radio bursts come in two distinct flavours A trove of new detections suggests that the bursts could be the result of at least two separate astrophysical phenomena. Davide Castelvecchi Davide Castelvecchi View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar Share on Twitter Share

Scientists believe that the asteroid break-ups and rain of meteorites to Earth recorded from 500 million years ago unravels insights of how to protect Earth from future asteroid impacts, and the kind of material that it is likely made of. According to Birger Schmitz, geologist of Lund University in Sweden, the ‘meteorite flux’ over the

CAREER COLUMN 10 June 2021 A year after lockdowns began, has research got any kinder? Gemma Derrick revisits calls for a better research culture. Gemma Derrick 0 Gemma Derrick Gemma Derrick is a senior lecturer in higher education at Lancaster University, UK. View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google

NEWS 10 June 2021 Does vaccinating adults stop kids from spreading COVID too? Mass vaccination drives in several countries are providing new data on the extent to which adult vaccination protects children — but the conclusions are mixed. Dyani Lewis Dyani Lewis View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google

The aviation color code and volcanic warning level of Mount Gareloi stratovolcano, the westernmost volcano in the United States, have been elevated by the USGS and its Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). AVO elevated the aviation color code to YELLOW and the Volcano Alert Level to advisory yesterday due to increased seismic activity at the volcano

1. Ning, Z. et al. Quantum-dot-in-perovskite solids. Nature 523, 324–328 (2015). ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar  2. Deng, Y.-H. Perovskite decomposition and missing crystal planes in HRTEM. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03423-4 (2021). 3. Chen, S. et al. Atomic scale insights into structure instability and decomposition pathway of methylammonium lead iodide perovskite. Nat. Commun. 9, 4807 (2018). ADS 

It is officially cicadas season in the eastern US. Although people already looked forward to the emergence of insects in the area, a disturbing radar image showed a patch of green just northwest of Washington, DC. At first glance it looked like a drizzle, but meteorologists are certain it was anything but rain. NBC meteorologist

1. Ning, Z. et al. Quantum-dot-in-perovskite solids. Nature 523, 324–328 (2015). ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar  2. Zhu, Y. et al. Direct atomic scale characterization of the surface structure and planar defects in the organic-inorganic hybrid CH3NH3PbI3 by cryo-TEM. Nano Energy 73, 104820 (2020). CAS  Article  Google Scholar  3. Pham, H. T. et al. Insights

BOOK REVIEW 09 June 2021 Managing the ‘dataome’, medical misogyny, and the problem with palm oil: Books in brief Andrew Robinson and Sara Abdulla review five of the week’s best science picks. Andrew Robinson 0 & Sara Abdulla Andrew Robinson Andrew Robinson’s many books include Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World’s Undeciphered Scripts and

Sister hit crocodile in the head after it attacked in a lagoon where they had been swimming.A British woman is in a serious coma in Mexico after she was mauled by a crocodile in a lagoon where she and her twin sister was swimming in the company of a tour guide. (Photo : Getty Images)

NEWS AND VIEWS 08 June 2021 From the archive Nature’s pages feature a book about mammals in 1971, and discuss obtaining scientific publications from abroad in 1921. Share on Twitter Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Facebook Share via E-Mail Share via E-Mail 50 Years Ago Life of Mammals by L. Harrison Matthews

A 15-member herd of wandering elephants in Beijing, China garnered international attention over the media. A drone footage had captured a group of elephants which appeared to be resting outside a village in Xiyang township went viral on social media, Monday night. The herd began moving again on Tuesday morning. The herd of wild Asian elephants

CORRESPONDENCE 08 June 2021 Indigenous lands: make Brazil stop mining to secure US deal Glenn Shepard 0 Glenn Shepard Emílio Goeldi Museum, Belém do Para, Brazil. View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar Share on Twitter Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Facebook Share via E-Mail

CORRESPONDENCE 08 June 2021 Chilean polymath Humberto Maturana remembered Francisco J. Parada 0 , Alejandra Rossi 1 & Daniel Rojas-Líbano 2 Francisco J. Parada Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile. View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar Alejandra Rossi Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile. View author publications You can

A “HIGH-speed” solar storm could hit our planet tomorrow, which could eventually lead to complications with the power grid and satellite technology issues. (Photo : Getty Images) Solar Flare  Scientists monitoring the surface activity of the Sun have detected a sunspot that released coronal mass ejection (CME) or a solar flare. While this flare was

CAREER NEWS 07 June 2021 Feedback needed: take our salary and job-satisfaction survey Nature’s in-depth study of scientists’ troubles and triumphs will help us to identify and address barriers to research careers. Chris Woolston 0 Chris Woolston Chris Woolston is a freelance journalist in Billings, Montana. View author publications You can also search for this

Last year, news broke out about the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) awarding a gold medal to a new species for distinguished service. Since then the world has learned about Magawa, the heroic mine-detecting rat from Cambodia. That is why it is only fitting that this year will also be the year of Magawa’s

Download PDF I have been training astronauts at the European Space Agency (ESA) since 1992, when I was a computer engineer teaching them about information technology. I gradually took on more types of training, and have helped to design prospective human missions to Mars as well as missions to explore lunar caves. This picture was

The sharp stylus of an atomic-force microscope (boxy structure) can be used to adjust the strength of an atomic bond. Credit: Jörg Kröger Condensed-matter physics 07 June 2021 A light touch changes the strength of a single atomic bond A technique that uses an electric field to tighten the bond between two atoms can allow

A US Geological Survey geophysicist told CNN that over 600 minor earthquakes were reported this weekend in a rural area near the Salton Sea in Southern California. The highest has a magnitude of 5.3. (Photo : Pixabay) From Saturday through shortly before daybreak Sunday, there were 603 temblors of a magnitude of at least one,