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Hello Nature readers,
Today
we read about a swine-flu strain with human pandemic potential found in
pigs, ponder whether cosmic rays explain the handedness of life, and
learn that quantum computers work better when no one’s around.
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Habitat destruction is one of the main drivers of species loss.
(Robin Moore/National Geographic)
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Earlier this month, Elizabeth
Maruma Mrema was appointed executive secretary of the United Nations
Convention on Biological Diversity. She is the first woman from Africa
to lead the intergovernmental body, and will oversee the creation of a
global biodiversity agreement for the next decade. Mrema spoke to
Nature about how the coronavirus pandemic has influenced negotiations, and the challenges ahead.
“One could say that I have been appointed at a bad time for
biodiversity, considering that the whole world is just emerging from, or
still in, lockdown,” she says. “But at the same time, I see it as a
major opportunity, as biodiversity is being discussed more than ever
before.” |
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Scientists carrying out
routine monitoring of influenza strains in China have found that pigs
are widely infected with a virus with the potential to trigger a
pandemic. The strain, called G4, is a genetic blend of three lineages.
These include the H1N1 virus that caused the 2009 pandemic, suggesting
that it might be able to adapt for human-to-human transmission.
Antibody tests showed that more than 4% of humans surveyed had been
exposed to G4. In its current form, the virus is not considered
dangerous, but scientists warn that, given the unpredictability of
influenza viruses, a vaccine should be developed. “We need to be
vigilant about other infectious disease threats even as COVID is going
on because viruses have no interest in whether we’re already having
another pandemic,” says evolutionary biologist Martha Nelson. |
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Quanta | 6 min read
Reference:
Astrophysical Journal Letters paper
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COVID-19 coronavirus update
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(Cergios/Shutterstock)
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The race to develop a vaccine has been going on for almost six months. Who’s in the lead?
Chemistry World offers a plain-language update
on the vaccine pipeline. Its pick for leader is US biotech company
Moderna’s messenger RNA-based vaccine. But it would be the first RNA
vaccine for any disease to ever make it to market.
Chemistry World | 8 min read
Organizations including the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are debating the thorny problem of who should be the focus of the first waves of vaccinations for COVID-19.
Young and healthy people — who are least at risk themselves, but might
tolerate a vaccine better than older people, creating a ring of
protection? Or maybe pregnant women, in whom the risk to mother and baby
must be carefully weighed? Or perhaps priority should be given to
people from specific ethnic groups, who are dying at a disproportionate
rate? “These are tough decisions, because everybody can make a case for
why somebody should be ahead of somebody else in line,” says vaccine
specialist Bruce Gellin. “Nobody’s going to debate health care workers
and first responders — people who are putting themselves at risk for
others and keeping things moving. After that is when it gets
complicated.”
Science | 6 min read
Two studies have revealed the progress of
multisystem inflammation syndrome, a dangerous side effect of COVID-19
that occurs in children and looks similar to a condition called
Kawasaki’s disease. Of the nearly 300 children in the studies, 6 died.
On the whole, children seem to be less susceptible to COVID-19 than are
adults, and to experience milder symptoms if they do fall ill. But the researchers recommend that carers look out for fevers and rashes in children who have recently had COVID-19, or who live in areas with a lot of infections.
STAT | 5 min read
Reference:
The New England Journal of Medicine paper 1 & paper 2
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Notable quotable
“Oh my goodness, this is one of us.”
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Organizing a virtual conference changed how sustainability researchers Christina Bidmon, Cristyn Meath and René Bohnsack think about academic exchange.
“When COVID-19 hit, we optimistically thought, ‘We will take our
conference virtual’,” they write. “In the process, we’ve found that,
instead of thinking of online conferences as replacements-by-necessity
for physical conferences that should resemble the ‘real thing’, we
should try to accept them as an entirely different model of academic
exchange.” They share their tips for using a conference platform,
helping participants mingle and maintaining the fun factor. |
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Christopher Monroe and his team
spent three years setting up their quantum computer to be operated
remotely. When the COVID–19 pandemic struck, those efforts paid off in
an unexpected way: quantum computers work best without humans walking around the lab
and producing vibrations or temperature fluctuations. Their machine
“has kept running — all day, every day”, Monroe writes. “And the data
have been excellent because the campus has been a ghost town.” The
bigger lesson is that a remote mode of operation could hasten the
development of these potentially revolutionary machines, Monroe says. |
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From electric vehicles to
smart grids, the path to a greener future is paved with lithium-ion
batteries — lots of them. That means we need better ways to keep them
cool. But the task has been hindered by a lack of a standard way to
judge their thermal performance. Five engineers propose the cell cooling coefficient, a measure for the rate of heat removal from battery packs that gives manufacturers a simple way to compare products. (Nature | 8 min read)
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