A ‘data apocalypse’ at US public-health agencies

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Photographer Jānis Paļulis got the best of both worlds as he captured the aurora and the Milky Way in the skies over Bauska, Latvia. The shot was one of 25 highlighted entries in the Northern Lights Photographer of the Year competition.

See more of the month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.

Nature | Leisurely scroll

Any parent can tell you that texture is a key factor in whether food is deemed ‘good’ or ‘gross’. But it is a little-explored aspect of how we assess a meal’s deliciousness. Now researchers have discovered that certain neurons in the brains of maggots can sense both taste and texture — a rare case of a ‘multimodal’ neuron, which suggests animal senses might be more complex than we think.

Nature | 3 min read

Reference: PLoS Biology paper

A genetic analysis of the mosquito variety Culex pipiens molestus suggests that the species originated thousands of years ago in the Middle East. These mozzies made a name for themselves by biting people sheltering from German air raids in the tunnels of the London Underground during the Second World War, and scientists once thought the species evolved in the subway. The new results hint that they first adapted to human environments above ground in what is now Egypt, over the course of more than 1,000 years, potentially in conjunction with the rise of agricultural civilizations.

Nature | 4 min read

Reference: bioRxiv preprint

On Friday, several US government public-health datasets — including from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — became unavailable online as agencies moved to comply with wide-ranging executive orders issued by President Donald Trump, which ban work related to topics including diversity, equity and inclusion. “It’s like a data apocalypse,” virologist Angela Rasmussen told Science. Some material is back online, but there is much uncertainty.

Meanwhile, leading scientists who spoke to STAT urged the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and their high-profile membership to defend US science and healthcare from attacks, especially given the risk of retaliation faced by early-career researchers in the current heightened political climate. “We want to work in a positive way with the people who are coming into power, but I for one am not going to stand by silently,” said Nobel-prizewinning scientist Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health. “There are higher values at stake.”

KFF | 5 min read, Science | 6 min read & STAT | 8 min read (paywall)

Features & opinion

Quantum physics works wonderfully, writes physicist and author Sean Carroll — but physicists don’t know why. “Or at least, if some of us think we know why, most others don’t agree.” On the centenary of quantum theory, Carroll delves into the counter-intuitive reality in which the act of observation influences what is observed — and few can agree on what that means.

Nature | 12 min read

Colin Renfrew, who helped to transform archaeology as a scientific discipline, died last November, aged 87. In the 1960s, researchers discovered that tree rings from bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) — which are among the oldest living things on Earth — could be used to redate artefacts in Europe. Prompted by these developments, Renfrew helped develop a fresh understanding of how European and Near Eastern civilizations developed, alongside new models for how societies change. “Renfrew’s ideas were decades ahead of available computational modelling power,” writes his colleague, archaeologist Cyprian Broodbank.

Nature | 5 min read

Jason Steffen’s Hidden in the Heavens offers “a fabulous insight into the myriad components that went into NASA’s first dedicated planet-finding mission”, writes astrophysicist Elizabeth Tasker in her review. The book tells the story of the Kepler Space Telescope, which was designed to find exoplanets — planets outside our solar system. From its conception in the 1970s, before a single exoplanet had been discovered, to its deactivation in 2018, “the Kepler mission has changed what we know about planets and about our place in the Universe”, Tasker writes.

Nature | 7 min read

Where I work

Conservation biologist Jose María Gil-Sánchez studies wildlife in the Sahara desert to track the impact of climate change on their populations. “It is difficult to work in such an isolated area. We must take a lot of care to avoid landmines left from regional conflict, for example,” he says. “We leave camera traps for up to a year: this photo shows me installing one on an Acacia tree in 2019. The Sahara is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. It’s an urgent conservation priority to document this.” (Nature | 3 min read)

On Friday, Leif Penguinson was enjoying a waterfall on the Chauveroche stream in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of France. Did you find the penguin? When you’re ready, here’s the answer.

Thanks for reading,

Flora Graham, senior editor, Nature Briefing

With contributions by Jacob Smith

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