Scientists at the US agency offer advice about remote working, social isolation and quarantine. Scott Bolton knows a thing or two about distance. He is the principal investigator of NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter, and at the best of times his experiment is more than 500 million kilometres away, orbiting a gas giant in the […]
Nature
How plants and insects inherit immunity from their parents
Passing on short-term immunity to offspring is common in vertebrates, but plants and invertebrates take transgenerational immunity much further. An organism’s immune response to attack is usually considered to be a personal battle. A pathogen or parasite attacks, the organism mounts a defence, and one of them wins. But sometimes, the target’s relatives get involved. […]
Canadian scientists relieved as Trudeau ekes out election win
Progressive parties’ showing bodes well for action on climate policies and science funding, researchers say. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a second term on 21 October, but his Liberal party lost their majority in parliament. The Liberals and the Conservative party were locked in a dead heat leading up to election night, and the […]
Canadian election leaves scientists hanging — no matter who wins
Leading political parties pay scant attention to research in run-up to general election. Canada’s two main political parties are running neck and neck in the lead-up to the country’s general election on 21 October. It’s unclear which party will come out on top, and that uncertainty extends to how science will fare in the next […]
From design to lift-off: blasting experiments into outer space
If you want an astronaut to run your experiment alongside their many other responsibilities, keeping it simple is the key. On 25 July, an experiment that Charles Cockell had spent years planning blasted into space. A SpaceX rocket blasted off from Florida, heading to the International Space Station (ISS). It carried 18 bioreactors, each the […]
The professionalization of cannabis growing
As the wave of legalization advances, a budding industry is adopting the high standards of consumer-product makers to meet regulatory requirements. For years, the popular image of cannabis growers has been scruffy hippies getting high on their own supply in a disorganized underground economy, rather than shiny white industrial agriculture facilities. Even larger-scale operations involved […]
How one Canadian scientist is tapping into the knowledge of Indigenous communities
Jean Polfus found her research was strengthened by bringing more voices to the table. Jean Polfus, a postdoctoral fellow at Trent University in Peterborough, Canada, studies the distribution and spatial organization of caribou (or reindeer; Rangifer tarandus) populations in the Sahtú region of the Northwest Territories. She explains how she collaborates with members of the Dene […]
Why are Canada’s scientists getting political?
Erratic funding for basic research, coupled with concerns that science has fallen down the priority list for politicians, has contributed to a shift in researchers’ attitudes to lobbying. Just a few days into her job as Canada’s new science minister, Kirsty Duncan found herself receiving a hero’s welcome when she took to the stage at […]
Canada budget overlooks basic research
Small spending bumps for genomics and physics stand in stark contrast to the funding windfall across basic research in last year’s budget. What a difference a year makes. Canada’s 2019 budget, released on 19 March, includes modest increases for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government priorities including neuroscience and genomics research ― nothing like the historic five-year, […]
Biomedical research is becoming more open about its funding and data
More journal articles are now including statements about conflicts of interest and data sharing. Biomedical research is shifting to become more open and transparent by providing increasing amounts of information about funding, conflicts of interest and data sharing in its publications, according to a survey of recent papers. Read more in Nature.