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The facility is located 50 kilometres from central Beijing.Credit: Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
China joins next-gen synchrotron club
By the end of the year, some of the brightest synchrotron X-rays in the world will be beaming around the new High Energy Photon Source (HEPS). HEPS will be the first of its kind in Asia, placing China among only a handful of countries in the world that have fourth-generation synchrotron light sources. HEPS’s hard X-rays will be powerful enough to analyse even the most minuscule samples in detail. The synchrotron will also allow researchers to rapidly execute experiments that would take days to complete at older facilities, says physicist Pedro Fernandes Tavares. “It’s a real game-changer.”
Is the Internet bad for you? Maybe not
A survey of people in 168 countries finds that Internet use might boost measures of well-being, such as life satisfaction and sense of purpose. Researchers examined a slice of data gathered by the Gallup World Poll, looking at the years 2006 to 2021 from people aged 15 and above. On average, people who had access to the Internet scored 8% higher on measures of life satisfaction, positive experiences and contentment with their social life — even when controlling for confounding factors such as income and education. The positive effect is similar to the well-being benefit associated with taking a walk in nature, says psychologist and study co-author Andrew Przybylski.
Reference: Technology, Mind and Behaviour paper
Highlights from the research
Scientists have identified three genes that helped the modern cauliflower to evolve from its broccoli progenitors.Credit: Getty
How the cauliflower got its whorls
Scientists have identified a raft of genetic changes that helped the modern cauliflower to evolve from its broccoli progenitors. The researchers pinpointed three genes that were probably important for Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis’s evolution, particularly in the formation of the tight whorls, called curds, on cauliflower heads. They also found nine regions of the genome linked to other cauliflower traits, and a protein that governs stem height.
Reference: Nature Genetics paper or read the Nature Research Highlight (1 min read, Nature paywall)
Features & opinion
Inequality compounds neglected disease
Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) is a stark example of how gender affects people’s vulnerability to neglected tropical diseases. In areas where FGS is prevalent, women are usually the ones fetching water from lakes and rivers, which puts them at risk of infections by parasitic Schistosoma haematobium worms. Although FGS is treatable, the debilitating condition is often misdiagnosed, ignored or stigmatized. A few projects, such as Zipime Weka Schista! (Do self-testing, sister!), are starting to transform FGS diagnosis by addressing the realities of living in some of the poorest, most marginalized communities. “If we can do that, it’s a win–win for gender equity, rights and social justice,” says health systems researcher Sally Theobald.
This article is part of Nature Outlook: Neglected tropical diseases, an editorially independent supplement funded by a grant from Merck Sharp & Dohme and with financial support from Moderna.
‘The global ambassador for soil biodiversity’
Environmental scientist Diana Wall spent more than 25 years investigating the dry, cold soils of Antarctica, showing how one nematode species, Scottnema lindsayae, was crucial for the carbon cycle there. Her work evolved into a globe-encompassing effort to inform policy, education and the public about the importance of what goes on beneath the surface. “Biodiversity in soil is often overlooked — a case of out of sight, out of mind — but Wall understood its importance for a sustainable future,” writes ecologist and colleague Richard Bardgett. Wall has died, aged 80.
The Neanderthal we want to see
A reconstruction of a Neanderthal woman’s face sports an enigmatic smile reminiscent of the Mona Lisa. It says more about how our views about her species are changing than it does about what she really looked like, argues Fay Bound Alberti. “As a historian of emotion and the human face, I can tell you there is more art than science at work here,” Alberti writes. “By representing this 75,000-year-old woman as a contemplative and kindly soul who we can relate to, rather than a snarling, angry (or blank featured) cypher, we are saying more about our need to rethink the past than any concrete fact about the emotional lives of Neanderthals.”
Where I work
Iroro Tanshi is co-founder of the Small Mammal Conservation Organization in Calabar, Nigeria.Credit: Etinosa Yvonne for Nature
“Bats provide ecosystem services that many people don’t know about. For example, they eat the insects that destroy crops,” explains conservationist Iroro Tanshi, the co-founder of the Small Mammal Conservation Organization in Calabar, Nigeria. Bat populations in Nigeria are threatened by wildfire, deforestation, logging and agriculture. “An important part of what I do is to educate the public about the ecological roles that bats have and to dispel myths about them,” she explains. (Nature | 3 min read)
