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| The tiny nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans is under certain conditions attracted to urine samples from people with cancer. (Sinclair Stammers/Science Photo Library) | |||||
Scientists question nematode cancer testsDoctors have raised concerns that a commercial cancer test produces higher levels of false negatives and false positives than published figures suggest. The N-NOSE test, sold by Japanese start-up Hirotsu Bio Science, detects the presence of cancer on the basis of whether microscopic nematode worms move towards a urine sample. Hirotsu Bio Science chief technology officer Eric di Luccio suggests that the criticisms are "100% bullshit". The company has highlighted that the doctors' figures have not been subject to peer review. Two Japanese medical societies have launched an investigation, with results expected early next year. Nature | 6 min read | |||||
Extreme forest fires fuel emissionsThe annual carbon dioxide emissions generated by forest fires are now higher than those from burning fossil fuels in Japan, the world's sixth-largest CO2 emitter. In particular, emissions from boreal-forest blazes, such as those in Canada this year, "showed a rapidly growing trend", says landscape ecologist and report co-author Xu Wenru. The report calls for countries to include forest fires in their climate plans — their emissions "cannot be ignored", Xu says. Nature | 3 min readReference: Chinese Academy of Sciences report | |||||
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| The emissions from this year's record-breaking conflagration that ripped through Canada surpassed those from all forest fires in the country over the previous 22 years combined. (Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences) | |||||
Sperm swimming-speed analysis for beesA new way to measure how fast honey bee sperm moves could help researchers to track the insects' reproductive health and prevent populations from declining or collapsing. When analysing the sperm motility of humans and other species, the sperm head serves as a reference point. "With honey bee sperm, you can barely distinguish between the head and the tail because the sperm is so narrow and small," explains bioscientist and study co-author Janice Murray. Her team used a fluorescent dye to stain only the head, so the bee sperm could be tracked by combining standard sperm-motility analysis with fluorescent microscopy. Nature Africa | 4 min readReference: Journal of Apicultural Research paper | |||||
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Is the Universe preordained?Determinism suggests that if someone knew the positions and momenta of all particles, they could use the basic laws of physics to deduce all facts about the Universe, past and future. This idea seems to fail in the face of quantum physics, which introduces an inherent uncertainty into the picture. But from a certain perspective, the quantum Universe is more deterministic than a classical one, argues philosopher Eddy Keming Chen. It could even be the key to strong determinism, which implies that there is only one path that the Universe can take. "That has consequences for humans, too, because that makes it harder to appeal to quantum theory to defend free will," Chen says. Nature | 11 min read | |||||
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Why some scientists aren't using ChatGPT"Why am I even a researcher if I don't write my own research?" asks psychologist Ada Kaluzna. She is one of those who have shunned using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for scientific writing, because she feels it could disrupt her ability to learn and think creatively. Others are concerned about the tendency of chatbots to make up facts and citations when answering niche questions. Some scientists think that the most cutting-edge AI tools could be useful — especially when writing in a language other than your mother tongue — but are stuck on the waiting list for ChatGPT-4. Nature | 5 min read | |||||
The postdoc needs reimaginingA working group of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a report with six recommendations to improve the situation for postdocs, who have long felt undervalued and overworked. Working-group member and postdoc Ubadah Sabbagh argues that the NIH should spearhead a broader change. "The postdoc crisis is not a stand-alone problem," he says. "The scientific system that has served us well since the Second World War is no longer viable, and failing to meaningfully change it threatens not just postdocs, but research as a whole". Nature | 5 min read | |||||
We need to overcome our GDP addiction"The misuse of GDP [gross domestic product] as a policy goal is driving societies towards an unsustainable future," says ecological economist Robert Costanza. Hundreds of indicators of societal well-being are already in use, and now broad consensus is needed on what should be included, he argues. Even more crucial are 'beyond growth' policies that can be adopted by actual governments, Constanza adds. Nature | 8 min read | |||||
Quote of the day"Rather than splitting points between strength, dexterity, intelligence and wisdom — as you would in some games — you need to choose how to divide your time and energy between the different areas of academia."Immunologist John Tregoning explains how role-playing video games helped him to make sense of his professorship. (Nature | 7 min read) | |||||
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What matters in science | View this email in your browser Monday 11 December 2023 Hello Nature readers, Today, we gaze at what might be the largest known protein, learn about the first global deal on limiting emissions from food production and discover how publishing pressures create unusually prolific authors. A structure prediction for a massive protein discovered by computational biologist Jacob West-Roberts and his colleagues. (West-Roberts, J. et al./bioRxiv ) Not...
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