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Borromean rings depicted in a church in Florence, Italy. If any one of the three rings is removed, the other two are no longer joined.Credit: Raphael Salzedo/Alamy

Exotic particles in a quantum computer

An interlocked ring pattern of virtual exotic particles called non-Abelian anyons — or nonabelions for short — has been created in a quantum computer for the first time. The particles’ paths form Borromean rings, three interlocking rings that can’t be pulled apart but don’t contain any linked pairs. The rings exist only as information inside a quantum computer. They could make the machines more robust to perturbations that create errors in their calculations.

Nature | 6 min read

Reference: arXiv preprint (not peer reviewed)

Russia won’t abandon Space Station

Russia has backed off its threat to stop supporting the International Space Station (ISS). Roscosmos says it will continue working in space with 14 countries — all of which have condemned its invasion of Ukraine — until at least 2028. The news comes as a relief to space researchers: the Russian and US orbital segments of the ISS depend on each other, and the station is partly resupplied by Russian Soyuz rockets.

Nature | 4 min read

Field trial to vaccinate wild koalas

Researchers have started an ambitious field trial to vaccinate wild koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) against chlamydia.The disease causes debilitating blindness and infertility, further harming a species diminished by habitat loss, wildfires and road collisions. Vaccinating wildlife is extremely rare — it’s expensive and difficult — so scientists want to discover exactly how much effort is required to make an impact. “We want to evaluate what percentage of the koalas we need to vaccinate to meaningfully reduce infection and disease,” says microbiologist Samuel Phillips.

Associated Press | 5 min read — including a delightful GIF of a happily vaccinated koala being released back into its tree

Scientists say Turkish council needs to go

Turkey’s researchers are calling for the abolition of the government-run Council of Higher Education. Known as YÖK, the council was established in 1981 after a military coup. Scientists say that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has used YÖK to tighten its grip on universities — for example, by ordering thousands of staff to resign and appointing controversial rectors. “The job of YÖK is simply to do a coordinating job, but they do much more than that, they use it as a punishing stick,” says industrial engineer Taner Bilgiç, who co-authored a report by academics from 13 Turkish universities.

Nature | 4 min read

Read more: Why the fate of Turkish higher education hinges on the country’s general election (by Taner Bilgiç in Nature | 5 min read)

Reference: Turkey Higher Education Restructuring Workshop report (in Turkish)

Features & opinion

How to use WhatsApp for research

WhatsApp can help researchers to reach collaborators and study participants in areas where Internet connectivity is poor or mobile data is expensive. Some use WhatsApp communities to broadcast updates; others treat groups as a collaborative workspace. Audio, text and video options allow researchers to work with people with different communication preferences and schedules. Profiles are retained across phone numbers, devices and countries, which helps scientists to stay in touch with people on the move, such as refugees. However, the way WhatsApp handles data privacy remains opaque, and it’s not universal: the platform is banned in China, taxed in Uganda and simply unpopular in other countries.

Nature | 9 min read

What happens when the ocean gets hotter

The new global ocean record temperature of 21.1 ℃ might be only the first in a string of marine heatwaves: El Niño is expected to bring warmer weather to the eastern Pacific later this year. Hotter ocean temperatures can devastate wildlife and fisheries: whales that come closer to shore in search for food collide with ships and get entangled in fishing gear; harmful algal blooms close crab and mussel fisheries; corals bleach, and many of them die. Marine heatwaves can also trigger extreme weather, such as cyclones.

Nature | 5 min read

A Parkinson’s researcher faces the disease

“The irony is obvious,” says neuroscientist and physician Tim Greenamyre about his diagnosis: he has Parkinson’s disease, the illness he has spent 30 years studying. In 2000, Greenamyre and his team developed a widely used animal model of Parkinson’s by giving rats the pesticide rotenone. Today, Greenamyre wonders whether decades of working with this and similar chemicals might be a factor in his illness. His diagnosis comes at a time when Parkinson’s researchers think they might, at last, be closing in on treatments: more than 50 clinical trials are in progress. Greenamyre can manage his symptoms with medication for now, but he worries that his diagnosis will distract his 200 or so patients with Parkinson’s. “I want their visits to be focused on them, not on me.”

Science | 22 min read

Quote of the day

“Humans live in a culture in which it seems as if everything must go right the first time we try it, but that is not how successful products are developed, nor how science unfolds.”

Recent space-exploration hiccups — such as the loss of an international Moon mission and the untimely end of the SpaceX Starship rocket test — show that failures are painful but essential part of the work, argues a Nature editorial. (4 min read)