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Image of a star with two exoplanets, captured by the SPHERE instrument on The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.ESO/Bohn et al.
First photo of Sun-like star and planets
This is the first star like our Sun to be directly imaged with multiple planets orbiting it. Astronomers have directly observed two systems with multiple planets before, but both have stars that are very different from our Sun. This star, TYC 8998-760-1, is just 17 million years old — much earlier in its life cycle than the Sun. The exoplanets are huge: the inner planet is 14 times as massive as Jupiter and the outer one is 6 times as massive. And both planets orbit many times farther away from their star than Pluto does from the Sun.
Reference: The Astrophysical Journal Letters paper
Active Antarctic methane leak discovered
Researchers have discovered the first known active leak of methane from the Antarctic seabed, offering the promise of a new understanding of our planet’s methane cycle. Antarctica is estimated to contain as much as a quarter of Earth’s marine methane. Ocean scientists spotted the leak by the tell-tale clue of large white mats of microbes feeding on the hydrocarbon. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and the release of it from frozen underwater stores or permafrost regions is a key tipping point that could lead to abrupt and irreversible climate changes.
Reference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B paper
EU funds recovery, slims science spending
After marathon negotiations, European Union countries have agreed on a pared-back €80.9 billion (US$93.8 billion) for the bloc’s flagship Horizon Europe research programme. The EU’s health programme, Health4EU, also saw big cuts. Its budget dropped from €9.4 billion to €1.7 billion — despite its timely goals of addressing drug shortages, stockpiles and health systems resilience. The total budget — an unprecedented €1.82-trillion package — includes €750 billion for pandemic recovery. The final figure must be hammered out after the summer break in three-way discussions between parliamentary committees, the European Commission and national governments.
Nature | 3 min read & Science Business | 5 min read
COVID-19 coronavirus update
The University of Oxford’s candidate vaccine against COVID-19 is being tested in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Brazil.Credit: Siphiwe Sibeko/AFP via Getty
Inside the four vaccine front-runners
A flood of data from the first human coronavirus-vaccine trials have revealed four promising candidates. All work by exposing the immune system to the virus’s spike protein, in hopes of provoking a reaction against a real infection in the future.
• A ‘viral vector’ vaccine from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom. It harnesses a genetically modified adenovirus that causes colds in chimpanzees that expresses the coronavirus spike protein.
• A similar approach from CanSino Biologics in China, which uses a modified human adenovirus instead.
• An RNA-based vaccine from Pfizer and German company BioNTech. It relies on messenger RNA that synthesizes a crucial part of the coronavirus called the receptor-binding domain.
• Another RNA vaccine from US company Moderna in collaboration with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.
All four vaccine-makers said that their vaccines elicited some kind of immune response in people, broadly similar to that seen in recovered patients, without serious side effects. Scientists caution against picking a favourite, yet. “The data are so early and so preliminary, one thing to avoid is saying one is better at this stage because we just don’t know,” says immunologist Rafi Ahmed. Next: the completion of phase III trials. These will reveal whether a vaccine triggers an immune response that protects against COVID-19 — a process that is not yet well understood.
Countries that beat Ebola face COVID-19
Health officials in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, using tools developed to combat Ebola, initially kept the coronavirus at bay. Despite efforts to test people, isolate those who test positive and quarantine their contacts, case numbers are now on the rise. The coronavirus, with all of its asymptomatic cases, has proven to be a formidable foe for these understaffed and poorly resourced health systems. Part of the problem is that the coronavirus doesn’t scare people into following advice from health officials. “With COVID, people are dying, but it’s not nearly as horrific as Ebola,” says physician Baimba Idriss.
Features & opinion
Illustration by David Parkins
Argue about replication before you do it
Brian Nosek and Timothy Errington of the US Center for Open Science managed 50 attempts to replicate experiments from high-impact cancer papers — and saw first-hand how confusion and disagreement reigned (particularly when replications seem to contradict the findings). They argue that original authors and independent replicators should make a ‘precommitment’ to a replication experiment that both think will be meaningful, whatever the results — and document their agreement using preregistration or a Registered Report.
A trans-inclusive approach to author names
When Theresa Jean Tanenbaum, who studies human–computer interactions, changed her name last July, she faced 20 years of professional accomplishments that were labelled with her old name. She outlines the many reasons why publishers should take on the challenge of allowing researchers to change their names on past publications, and the harm that incorrect names can cause. She also introduces a pioneering policy voted in by the Association of Computing Machinery Digital Library as an example of how it can be done.
