Hello Nature readers,
Today we explore the effort to understand wildfires, discover how scientists are testing Ebola drugs in a war zone and hear of a heartbreaking fire at Brazil’s National Museum.
Firefighters battle a conflagration near Redding, California, in July.Credit: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty
Wildfires spark scramble to improve fire models
Two research projects in California aim to understand the freakish wildfires that are getting bigger and less predictable. One, slated to wrap up in the next few months, looks at how specific environmental factors, such as extreme winds, affect fires. The other, officially launched on 30 August, focuses on how wildfires will change in the coming decades as the climate warms. “Something is definitely different, and it raises questions about how much we really know,” says fire scientist Max Moritz.
Nature | 4 min read
NASA’s last chance to wake Mars rover
A Martian dust storm that has kept the Opportunity rover from charging its solar batteries since 10 June is about to clear, raising hopes that the rover will soon awaken. NASA will send signals from the global Deep Space Network to try to rouse Opportunity. Or, if it gets enough sunlight, the rover could wake itself. “It’s a sad situation but not really unexpected,” says planetary scientist Raymond Arvidson: ‘Oppy’ was designed to last only 13 weeks, but it has been hard at work on Mars for 14 years.
Nature | 2 min read
Experimental Ebola drugs face tough test
Researchers are devising a clinical-trial protocol to test two experimental medicines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak. For ethical reasons, the trial scientists say they do not intend to give any study participants a placebo. Instead, they hope to compare the drugs to ZMapp, another treatment that showed promise in limited tests three years ago during another outbreak. The trial faces remarkable challenges because it will take place in a conflict zone where more than 100 militias roam unchecked.
Nature | 5 min read
Judge limits scope of suit against Salk Institute
A California court has thrown out a retaliation claim in a gender-discrimination lawsuit against the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Molecular biologist Beverly Emerson alleged that systemic bias at the institute limited her pay and professional advancement and blocked her from resources such as research funding. Salk’s lawyers argued that most of the individual events were too old to be included in the suit.
Nature | 2 min read
“Unbearable catastrophe” at Brazil museum
A fire at Rio de Janeiro’s 200-year-old National Museum is believed to have damaged much of its collection of 20 million artefacts. The destruction of the biggest natural-history museum in Latin America is being compared to the burning of the library of Alexandria in 48 BC. Luiz Duarte, one of the museum’s vice-directors, blamed government austerity cuts for leaving the museum vulnerable and in disrepair. “For many years we fought with different governments to get adequate resources to preserve what is now completely destroyed,” he said. “My feeling is of total dismay and immense anger.”
The Guardian | 6 min read
FEATURES & OPINION
He chased Darwin’s dream: a tree of humankind
Palaeoanthropologist John Hawks explores in detail the pioneering work of human geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, who died this week aged 96. Cavalli-Sforza called his project “so ambitious it seemed almost crazy: the reconstruction of where human populations originated and the paths by which they spread throughout the world”.
John Hawks personal blog | 14 min read
Slow-cooked BBQ and the science of ‘the stall’
Labour Day pitmasters attempting to slow-cook the perfect pulled pork or beef brisket may have experienced a hiccup in the cooking process when the meat temperature stops rising — referred to as ‘the stall’. Product-engineering scientist and barbecue expert Greg Blonder used a lump of pure beef fat, a soaked sponge and a thermostatically controlled smoker to get to the root of the problem — and come up with an “absolutely foolproof” solution.
Ars Technica | 6 min read
