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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The month’s best science images
NASA’s Curiosity rover used its navigation cameras to capture this panoramic view of Mars’s surface at different times of day. Engineers combined photos from the morning and afternoon on Mars. They then added colours in an artistic re-creation that includes images from the morning scene in blue, the afternoon scene in orange and a combination of both in green.
See more of the month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.
n-dimensional image tool powers up Python
A free, open-source and extensible image viewer for arbitrarily complex (‘n-dimensional’) data fills a gap in the Python scientific ecosystem. napari — whose name refers to a Pacific island village midway between the developers’ bases in San Francisco and Melbourne — features a simple graphical interface with a built-in Python console. Early adopters are using it to streamline everything from visualizing atmospheric jet streams to identifying cells in tissue.
Features & opinion
Build solar-energy systems to last
Solar energy is being adopted the world over — but the technologies being installed today might not last, warn four solar-energy scientists and engineers. Today’s sophisticated systems have little room for error, and they face increasingly extreme weather whipped up by climate change. The authors lay out a plan — including quality control, standards and testing — that could save billions of dollars and assure decades of affordable clean electricity to come.
DNA sleuths send Pearl Harbor boys home
The remains of hundreds of sailors who died at Pearl Harbor 80 years ago have been returned to their communities thanks to a groundbreaking scientific effort. The unidentified bodies of almost 400 men who perished inside the USS Oklahoma had been interred in mass graves in Hawaii. Identifying them was fiendishly difficult: most were about the same age and height, and many came from similar genetic backgrounds, often sharing mitochondrial DNA from distant maternal ancestors. There were also six sets of siblings and a set of twins. Yet scientists were able to identify over 90% of the men — in one case, returning the remains of three brothers to their only surviving brother.
Infographic of the week
Sources: Intakes, Ref. 4; Costs, Ref. 12
As the world population continues to rise, researchers are grappling with the question of what we should eat to stay healthy and save the planet. A 2019 report from a consortium of nutritionists, ecologists and other experts recommended that people adopt a ‘flexitarian’ diet by eating plants on most days and occasionally a small amount of meat or fish. The commission estimates that this diet would save the lives of about 11 million people every year, but others question whether it is practical, affordable and nutritious enough. Scientists are now trying to test environmentally sustainable diets in local contexts, without compromising nutrition or damaging livelihoods. (Nature | 11 min read)
See more of the week’s key infographics, selected by Nature’s news and art teams.
