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Rescuers recover bodies near the landslide area in the jade mining site in Hpakant in Kachin state on July 2, 2020.

Hundreds of people were buried by a landslide when the wall of the Wai Khar open mine collapsed on 2 July 2020.Credit: Zaw Moe Htet/AFP via Getty

What caused deadly Myanmar mine disaster

The first study to rigorously document a mining accident in Myanmar suggests that mismanagement and poor design contributed to the tragedy — not simply monsoon rains, as was initially assumed. An international team of researchers analysed satellite and remote-sensing data of the Wai Khar jade mine, where a landslide last July killed more than 170 people. The authors hope that — in addition to shedding light on the causes of the disaster, which have not yet been fully resolved — the findings will aid documentation of mine collapses and improve site planning, both in Myanmar and in other countries that see frequent mining accidents.

Nature | 7 min read

Reference: ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing paper

Black scientist network celebrates successes

In the wake of global protests against anti-Black racism last year, a movement — now known collectively as Black in X — emerged to celebrate Black scientists and fight systemic oppression in academia. Black In X leaders tell Nature that they are proud of how their collective efforts have helped to amplify the voices of Black scientists, but there is still much work to be done to dismantle oppression in science — which will require direct action by institutions. “The onus is not on us to fix racism in the academy,” says materials chemist Samantha Theresa Mensah. Leaders and participants will discuss these issues and more at a virtual conference organized this week by a network of more than 80 groups.

Nature | 7 min read

Heatwave scorches Pacific Northwest

A heatwave in western Canada and the northwestern United States has shattered temperature records — and it’s not even the hottest time of year in the region. The record for the highest temperature ever in Canada was broken two days in a row this week in the town of Lytton. The peak — 47.9 ℃ — is unheard of in a region where the typical June average high temperature is 24 ℃. “The opening act has arrived of a climate catastrophe,” said Washington governor Jay Inslee.

CNN | 7 min read & CBC | 6 min read

COVID-19 coronavirus update

How COVID changed clinical trials

Pandemic disruption caused some clinical trials to pause and enrolments to plummet. It also revealed the potential for trials to be faster and more flexible. “A lot of things that we knew we were doing before, that should change, finally changed because we were in a state of emergency,” says nephrologist Katherine Tuttle. “We’re not going back to doing it the old way.”

Nature | 7 min read

Pandemic pressure hits medic mothers

The stress of balancing work and home life during the COVID-19 pandemic has left many medical scientists with children questioning their future careers. Almost 1,000 medical faculty members responded to a survey at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The study concluded that women in early and mid-career roles are hardest hit. In April, a survey of around 5,000 members of staff at the University of Utah’s academic health-care system found similar results. “We know that working parents, and women especially, have been hit hard by the pandemic regardless of their profession and regardless of their institution,” says cardiologist and UT Southwestern dean Susan Matulevicius. “Medicine in particular as a discipline feels this stress acutely.”

Nature | 5 min read

Reference: JAMA Network Open paper 1 & JAMA Network Open paper 2

Features & opinion

Why become an academic administrator

“We all have heard the common wisdom at universities: administration is the realm of failed academics,” writes geneticist Juergen Reichardt. Less is written about how to have a happy career in research administration and leadership — and why you might want one. Reichardt outlines the rewards of an administrative leadership stint for academics who wish to serve others, better their own institutions, engage with society across borders and further the impact of research.

Nature | 6 min read

Take our salary and job-satisfaction survey

Please contribute to Nature’s sixth salary and job-satisfaction survey — available in English, Chinese, French, Portuguese and Spanish. “This year is a crucial time in the lives and careers of many researchers,” says Karen Kaplan, senior editor of Nature Careers. “With so much uncertainty in the wake of the pandemic and other issues, we want to learn how our readers are faring.” Survey results will be made available in an online database later this year, and Nature will cover them in a series of stories starting in September. Find out more and take the survey here.

Where I work

Kate Quigley is bathed in red light as she and people behind shine red torches into water tanks filled with coral specimens

Kate Quigley is a research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science outside Townsville, Queensland.Credit: Juergen Freund

Every October or November, over a few specific nights, corals in the Great Barrier Reef release many millions of eggs and sperm into the waters off Queensland, Australia, during a mass spawning event. “My research brings this action indoors to Australia’s national sea simulator,” writes integrative molecular ecologist Kate Quigley. “In this photo, taken in November 2019, I am eagerly peering into the tank because the big dance is about to happen.” Quigley and her colleagues aim to determine whether selectively breeding corals in land-based nurseries can help to boost the creatures’ ability to survive global warming. “Selective breeding can buy us time to get the reef’s problem under control, but it is no silver bullet,” notes Quigley. “Heat tolerance from natural genetic variation will run out if the temperature continues to spiral upward.”(Nature | 3 min read)