Daily briefing: The loudest bird known sings right in a potential mate’s face

Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here.

Super-precise new CRISPR tool

A gene-editing tool called prime editing gives researchers more control over DNA changes than ever before, clearing a path to potentially treating a plethora of genetic diseases. Prime editing is more accurate and flexible than the wildly popular CRISPR–Cas9 method, which is prone to errors and unintended effects. Both methods work by cutting DNA at a specific point in the genome. But whereas CRISPR-Cas9 relies on the cell’s own repair system to patch the damage and make the edits, prime editing allows researchers to neatly write new genetic information into a section of DNA.

Nature | 5 min read

Reference: Nature paper

Ebola outbreak in Africa finally slows

More than a year after it began, the Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is waning. The number of people diagnosed with the virus dropped to 50 between 25 September and 15 October, says the World Health Organization. During the peak in April, roughly 300 new infections were reported in 3 weeks. More than 2,150 people have died in the outbreak. But most specialists agree that the event would have been much worse without an experimental Ebola vaccine produced by Merck, which was given to 240,000 people considered at risk from the deadly virus.

Nature | 3 min read

The loudest bird in the world

Male white bellbirds (Procnias albus) have the loudest song ever measured, with a bellow that sounds more like an angle grinder than a tweet. But there’s a trade-off — the birds have particularly thick abdominal walls (so their guts don’t blow out) and keep the song’s duration very short. Still a mystery: why males shout right in the faces of potential mates, and why females stick around for “potentially damaging” noise levels. “They just really seem to be socially awkward,” says bioacoustics researcher Jeffrey Podos.

The New York Times | 4 min read

Reference: Current Biology paper

FEATURES & OPINION

The promise and peril of social genomics

Geneticist Abdel Abdellaoui has never been to the villages that once served as the heart of the United Kingdom’s coal-mining industry. But when he looked at the genomes of people living there, he found genetic signatures associated with the symptoms of the area’s economic and social decline — such as spending fewer years at school compared with people outside those areas. Abdellaoui’s work is a high-profile example of an emerging trend: using huge amounts of data and computing power to uncover genetic contributions to complex social traits. But critics warn about the risks of acting on such information and worry about people misinterpreting the genetic links to behaviour.

Nature | 11 min read

Can marketplace science be trusted?

One hundred and fifty years ago, the US National Academy of Sciences debated whether consulting for a private company could be considered misconduct. Today, entrepreneurial scientists are partnering with venture capitalists to sell their research in spin-offs encouraged by university leaders. In between, corporate labs invented world-changing, Nobel-winning materials, tech, drugs and more. Historian Paul Lucier traces the evolution of relations between science and industry through 150 years of growth, consolidation, outsourcing and fragmentation.

Nature | 18 min read

This is the fifth of a series of essays on the roots of today’s research system. Read why, on Nature’s 150th anniversary, we’re looking back to learn how to navigate the present.

Vaccines built on messenger RNA

The dramatic potential of vaccines built on messenger RNA (mRNA) is all too obvious to Brad Kremer, a patient with melanoma who received an experimental drug called BNT122. As coin-sized lesions on his skin became tiny discolourations, “I was actually witnessing the cancer cells shrinking before my eyes,” he says. Researchers are discovering that mRNA is getting more attractive for creating powerful personalized treatments at high speed and low cost compared to the alternatives.

Nature | 11 min read

This article is part of Nature Outlook: RNA therapies, an editorially independent supplement produced with financial support from Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

Reference: Nature Human Behaviour paper

IMAGE OF THE WEEK