How to land a scientific position even in a struggling economy

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View this email in your browser Tuesday 19 December 2023

Hello Nature readers, Today, we take a peek at the events set to shape research next year, discover that cats play fetch and find out how to land a scientific job.

In 2024, NASA's Clipper spacecraft will set off for Jupiter's moon Europa to determine whether its underground ocean could harbour life. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Johns Hopkins, APL/Ed Whitman)

The science events to watch for in 2024 A boost to ChatGPT, mass-produced disease-fighting mosquitoes and a crewed Moon mission are among the developments set to shape research next year. US artificial-intelligence company OpenAI will release an upgraded version of the artificial-intelligence model behind ChatGPT. Google will also continue to roll out a competitor: Gemini. A World Mosquito Program factory in Brazil will start producing mosquitoes infected by a bacterial strain that prevents them from transmitting pathogenic viruses such as dengue and zika. NASA plans to launch the first crewed lunar mission — a ten-day flyby — since the 1970s, and China aims to be the first to collect material from the far side of the Moon. The International Court of Justice could give an opinion on nations' legal obligations to combat climate change. And negotiations for the UN plastics treaty, which seeks to establish a binding international agreement to eliminate plastic pollution, will wrap up. Nature | 7 min read

Flu has long-term illness risk — like COVID People who have been very ill with flu could develop a long-haul illness similar to long COVID. The medical records of more than 81,000 people who were hospitalized with COVID-19 and almost 11,000 with flu show that both infections carried a risk of health problems in the following 18 months. 'Long flu' symptoms were more likely to be respiratory — shortness of breath or cough. We need to "stop trivialising viral infections and understand that they are major drivers of chronic diseases", says clinical epidemiologist and study co-author Ziyad Al-Aly. The Guardian | 4 min read Reference: The Lancet Infectious Diseases paper

Cats play fetch, but on their own terms Cats seem to enjoy retrieving, but they tend to initiate and end fetching sessions more often than their owners do. A survey of more than 900 people who own fetch-playing cats suggests that the animals have a preference for only fetching specific items, or playing in certain places or with certain people. Although retrieving behaviour in dogs is thought to be the result of selective breeding, it's unclear why cats would play fetch. "We had an overwhelming number of people say their cat was not trained to do this behaviour," says psychologist and study co-author Jemma Forman. Scientific American | 6 min read Reference: Scientific Reports paper

Features & opinion

How to land a scientific position It's a tough time for finding a job, so here are some tips from career experts on how you can stand out from the crowd. Identify and eliminate negative views that might be holding you back. Manage your expectations: the average job search currently takes around three to six months. Use the STAR (situation, task, action, result) method to start identifying your unique traits. Apply for jobs even if you don't meet all the criteria listed in the ad. Build and bolster your network. Nature | 9 min read

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What generations can learn from each other "One of the biggest shifts I see between generations is younger workers' stance on maintaining a good work–life balance," says astrophysicist and Shaw prizewinner Victoria Kaspi. Younger scientists also tend to be better at communicating their work, she suggests — although some complex ideas benefit from longer, more-nuanced explanations that older researchers are more accustomed to. Kaspi's advice to early-career researchers: "It takes perseverance and tenacity. Don't let a few challenges deter you." Nature | 6 min read

'Mutton' reveals history of wool dogs DNA from Mutton, a fluffy white dog whose pelt had spent more than 160 years in a museum, has started to reveal the history of 'woolly dogs'. Oral histories suggest that ancestral Coast Salish societies in the US Pacific Northwest had been breeding dogs for their wool for at least 1,800 years. The wool was woven into blankets until the breed's population declined in the 19th century and was eventually lost. Mutton was probably a wool dog although he was born after colonists had started bringing their own dogs to the area. "There's so much about our history that is so sad and Mutton's resurgence allows us to tell how we thrived as a people," says master weaver Snumith'ye (Violet Elliott). Hakai Magazine | 7 min read Reference: Science paper

Where I work

Conservation biologist Cecilia Cerrilla has rescued some 36,000 of South Africa's endangered Clanwilliam sandfish (Labeo seeberi) from invasive bass. "When the river starts to dry up, we scoop out young sandfish and put them into buckets of water, then move them by truck to one of six pre-prepared nurseries donated by local people," she explains. Once the sandfish have grown, they are returned to the river — 3,000 have been released over the last three years. (Nature | 3 min read) (Barry Christianson for Nature)

Quote of the day "As a professor, we have that much influence. And yet, we are not powerful enough to be able to see into the future and see that someone is not cut out to be x, y or z." Astronomer Aomawa Shields recalls how she internalized her professor's comment, who suggested that a scientific career wasn't right for her. After first turning her back on science, Shields is now thriving as a researcher. (Nature podcast | 35 min listen)

Leif Penguinson was finishing up the holiday shopping yesterday and didn't quite make it into the Briefing — sorry! On Friday, our flightless friend was plunging into the Sesriem Canyon in the Namib Desert in Namibia. Did you find Leif Penguinson? When you're ready, here's the answer. Plus, you have until midnight tonight (UK time) to enter the Nature Briefing prize draw. For a chance to win a 3D printer, enter here (new and current Briefing readers are welcome to enter). Thanks for reading, Katrina Krämer, associate editor, Nature Briefing With contributions by Flora Graham

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