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A lung cancer cell. Identifying mutational signatures associated with specific cancers could eventually lead to more tailored treatments.Credit: Anne Weston, EM STP, The Francis Crick Institute/Science Photo Library
Cancer clues in trove of tumour genomes
By sifting through hundreds of millions of mutations lurking in the genomes of more than 12,000 tumours, researchers have identified patterns of DNA changes that could offer clues to the genetic and environmental causes of cancer. The study is the largest of its kind. It adds dozens of entries to the growing catalogue of ‘mutational signatures’ that accompany cancer, and could, in some cases, help clinicians to select the best treatments for individuals.
Highest resolution image shows Sun’s glory
The highest resolution image of the Sun’s disc and corona offers 83 megapixels of our star’s majesty. The image is a combination of 25 exposures, each 10 minutes long, by the camera onboard the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft. You can’t look directly at the Sun, but you can download the 56-megabyte image yourself and try to spot the teeny tiny Earth added to the corner for scale.
Forbes | 1 min readReference: European Space Agency image download
Features & opinion
Act now before millions face malnutrition
There are already more than 800 million undernourished people in the world. The war against Ukraine is only making things worse, and malnutrition will have knock-on effects that last generations. United Nations assistant secretary-general Gerda Verburg and global nutrition leaders urge governments, donors and the UN to help to prevent a tidal wave of malnutrition, especially for women and children.
They call for five actions, urgently needed now:
• End trade restrictions that affect access to nutrition, and prevent food hoarding.
• Strengthen social programmes that address malnutrition in the most vulnerable people — such as food packages, vouchers and cash transfers.
• Protect the provision of proven nutrition interventions, such as breastfeeding support, free school meals and nutrient fortification.
• Deliver on commitments to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which include ending hunger, achieving food security and reducing all forms of malnutrition by 2030.
• Mobilize more resources for humanitarian assistance in Ukraine and beyond.
Futures: science fiction from Nature
In this week’s helping of short stories for Nature’s Futures series:
• A parent and child fleeing disaster on Earth take refuge in a campsite, of sorts, in ‘Goodnight, Moon’.
• Food bridges the divide between a tech-savvy woman and her mother in ‘The right cornbread’.
• Technology causes the stages of grief to stutter in ‘Hello, this is Automatic Antigrief: what problem can I solve for you today?’
Five best science books this week
Andrew Robinson’s pick of the top five science books to read this week includes an authoritative, coruscating analysis of artificial intelligence, a genetic history of inequality and an exploration of the use of electricity in medicine.
Podcast: Climate commitments can do it
This week on the Nature Podcast, the team discusses stories from the Briefing, including how ecologists are using leeches to survey wildlife, a potential interstellar meteorite and an analysis that says countries’ pledges can limit global warming to below 2˚C — if we stick to them.
Nature Podcast | 18 min listen
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