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A hippo swims in Colombia’s Magdalena River, near where Pablo Escobar’s compound was located.Credit: Fernando Vergara/AP/Shutterstock
‘Cocaine hippos’ spark conservation row
A population of invasive hippos is dividing the community in Colombia and alarming conservationists. Four hippos illegally imported by drug-cartel leader Pablo Escobar has grown into a population of 150 individuals. Comments by the nation’s environment minister in late January have sparked new fears that the government will protect the animals rather than reduce their number. Several studies indicate that the growing population will devastate waterways and the communities that rely on them, and fuel an illegal trade in baby hippos. “The more time that passes, the more hippos will either have to be culled, castrated or captured,” says conservation biologist Nataly Castelblanco Martínez.
Genome editing beyond CRISPR babies
The Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing kicks off in London on Monday. The last summit, in 2018, convened on the day after biophysicist He Jiankui announced that he had edited the genomes of three embryos, resulting in the birth of the ‘CRISPR babies’ — and ultimately landing him in prison for three years. Researchers aren’t expecting similar revelations to shake this year’s proceedings, as there is broad consensus in the field that the technology is not ready for use in human embryos. Other ethical quandaries, such as how genome-editing therapies — the first of which could be approved later this year — could be made broadly accessible, will be up for discussion.
Papua New Guinea kidnapping concerns
Fieldwork and international research collaboration in Papua New Guinea have been put at risk by the kidnapping of four members of an archaeological expedition last month. The four individuals — three people from Papua New Guinea and a New Zealand citizen based in Australia — were taken hostage by armed bandits while doing fieldwork in a region known for violence and civil unrest. The hostages were later released, but the incident could increase the cost of security and risk assessments, and universities might be less willing to send staff to potentially dangerous locations in future.
Features & opinion
Recycling the treasure in old solar panels
Today, roughly 90% of old solar panels in the United States and European Union end up in landfill, despite containing valuable silver, copper, crystalline silicon and aluminium. As the solar industry booms, some companies are trying to refurbish and recycle the panels that have reached the end of their 25-30-year lifespan. Solar recyclers face significant economic, technological and regulatory challenges. What might eventually make it work is pure scale: by 2050, the value of raw materials recoverable from solar panels could exceed US$15 billion.
YaleEnvironment360 | 8 min read
Futures: We are nowhere near there yet
A student pilot tries to navigate the wilds of hyperspace in the latest short story for Nature’s Futures series.
Podcast: The anxious heart
Our heart races because we’re anxious — or is it the other way around? For mice at least, an anxious heart makes for an anxious brain. Bioengineer Karl Deisseroth tells the Nature Podcast how his team outfitted mice with little vests holding non-invasive, optical pacemakers. Increasing the animals’ heart rate suddenly made them more nervous about staying in exposed environments. “What we can take away from this is that to understand internal states, you have to consider the brain and the body together,” Deisseroth says.
Nature Podcast | 19 min listen
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