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A Denisovan jawbone was discovered on Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of more than 3,000 metres.Credit: Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou University
Biggest Denisovan fossil yet found in China
A jawbone found on the Tibetan Plateau is the most complete specimen yet from a mysterious ancient-hominin group called the Denisovans. The fossil is also the first ever that didn’t come from the Siberian cave where the species was discovered a decade ago. The latest discovery suggests that these ancient humans were widespread across the world — and lived at a surprisingly high altitude of more than 3,000 metres.
Nature | 5 min read Reference: Nature paper
Male researchers’ ‘vague’ language more likely to win grants
Grant reviewers award lower scores to proposals from women than to those from men, even when they don’t know the gender of the applicant. That’s because male scientists tend to use broader, less specific words — which reviewers seem to prefer, according to an analysis of thousands of submissions to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. When women did secure funding, their projects generally outperformed men’s on outcomes such as number of publications and future grants.
Nature | 4 min read Reference: The National Bureau of Economic Research paper
UK Parliament declares climate emergency
Yesterday, the British Parliament passed an unopposed motion declaring “an environmental and climate emergency”. The opposition Labour party, which introduced the proposal, said that it has made the United Kingdom the first sovereign state to make such a declaration — although it does not legally compel the government to act. The declaration of an emergency was one of the key demands made by climate protesters who filled London last month. Today, a government advisory-committee report urged the United Kingdom to cut greenhouse-gas emissions to nearly zero by 2050.
FEATURES & OPINION
The bumpy ride to carbon zero
Transitioning to a low-carbon world will create new rivalries, winners and losers, argue policy researcher Andreas Goldthau, energy analyst Kirsten Westphal and colleagues. They present four geopolitical scenarios, from global cooperation leading to a win–win for climate and security — to a warming world fraught with conflict over basic resources. They argue that researchers and decision-makers need to shift their gaze from targets to plotting a smooth pathway to a just, peaceful and effective energy transition.
Source: A. G. et al.
Scientists in Pakistan and Sri Lanka bet their futures on China
China’s Belt and Road Initiative — worth US$1 trillion at least — is contributing to a worldwide building boom that includes a brand new port city next to Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo. Pakistan is the single-largest recipient of these big-infrastructure loans and grants — thought to total around $40 billion. In the second of our features exploring how Belt and Road is remaking the world, explore how science in South Asia is increasingly turning towards China. “My generation of scientists did our PhDs mostly in the UK and the USA and that is where many of us still have collaborations,” says geologist Qasim Jan, president of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences. “The next generation will be different. After we are gone, most of their links will be with China.”
How to do science on a shoestring
A decent computer, reliable power and dependable Internet are among the basics for most research — but they’re sometimes in short supply. Scientists from Latin America and Africa tell Nature how they make it work, with useful lessons for anyone facing dodgy Wi-Fi or an insufficient budget.
