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Mummified felines, thought to be lion cubs, have been discovered alongside statues and other animal mummies.Credit: Ministry of Antiquities
Lion-cub mummies discovered in Egypt
Two lion cubs are the latest find to set Egyptologists buzzing after a swathe of exciting discoveries. The lions were found along with other feline mummies and animal statues at a necropolis south of Cairo. Last month, it was announced that 30 sealed coffins and their mummified human contents had been discovered near Luxor.
Researchers outside Egypt will not yet be allowed to work on the finds. A Nature editorial urges the government to issue a call for proposals when the time is right.
Modified mosquitoes dampen dengue
Cases of dengue fever plummeted in areas of Indonesia, Vietnam and Brazil in the months after researchers released mosquitoes that were modified to be resistant to the virus. The modified mosquitoes carry dengue-blocking Wolbachia bacteria, which then spread through local mosquito populations. The heartening result means researchers will embark on a larger, better-controlled study to confirm the effect.
Violence hampering efforts to contain Ebola
Ebola cases are likely to rise in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) because a surge in violence is hampering efforts to contain the virus. The World Health Organization has temporarily evacuated one-third of its 120 staff from the city of Beni. Over the past three weeks, an armed group called the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) has terrorized residents of Beni and nearby areas with machetes and knives — at least 77 people have been killed. The current Ebola outbreak has killed nearly 2,200 people in the eastern DRC since August 2018.
Leaked China files reveal arrests by algorithm
Leaked Chinese government documents shed light on the country’s process for detaining more than one million people, mostly Muslim Uyghurs, in Xinjiang. Some confirm how the government is using unprecedented mass surveillance to feed an algorithm that identifies people for investigation on the basis of criteria as innocuous as travelling abroad, installing certain messaging apps or frequently using the back door of their home. One leaked intelligence briefing notes that, in just one week in 2017, security officials rounded up more than 15,000 Xinjiang residents flagged by the algorithm and placed them in internment camps.
In a statement to The Guardian, the Chinese embassy in the United Kingdom called the leaked documents “pure fabrication”.
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists | 18 min read
Features & opinion
Some coral reefs off the Phoenix Islands in Kiribati seem to be resilient to warming seas.Credit: National Geographic Image Collection/Alamy
Hardy corals spark fresh hope
Coral scientists are facing one of our greatest conservation challenges with innovative solutions that focus on the half of Earth’s reefs that remain. They are working to identify and protect naturally resilient reefs, replanting hand-reared coral on damaged reefs and even raising coral larvae in protected pools before spreading the young organisms around. All the while, scientists recognize that they can’t do it alone: “Unless we curb carbon emissions, none of this is going to make any difference whatsoever,” says molecular ecologist Iliana Baums.
Africa should set its own health-research agenda
For more than 20 years, Francisca Mutapi led a programme in Zimbabwe on human schistosomiasis. The experience gave her first-hand knowledge of how inequitable partnerships that task African scientists as data gatherers for Western research agendas are unlikely to make a difference to the African health problems that really matter. Local experts — not rich donors — must design and control studies, argues Mutapi.
Journals issue joint statement to EPA
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must desist from a course that could harm both human and planetary health, argues a joint statement from six of the world’s leading science journals. H. Holden Thorp from Science, Magdalena Skipper from Nature, Veronique Kiermer from PLoS, May Berenbaum from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Deborah Sweet from Cell Press and Richard Horton from The Lancet call on the EPA to drop its proposed ‘transparency’ rules to ensure that the scientific data used in decision-making are the best available.
Read more: E.P.A. to Limit Science Used to Write Public Health Rules (The New York Times)
Where I work
Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, president of the European Research Council in Brussels.Credit: Mashid Mohadjerin for Nature
The only painting in the office of Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, president of the European Research Council in Brussels, is a piece of Chinese calligraphy by the late mathematician Shiing-Shen Chern that says “Mathematics is fun”. Chern was an inspiration and mentor who “approached science as a collaborative, creative endeavour”, says Bourguignon, who aims to help others to reap the benefits of international cooperation.
