Seven days: 30 November  6 December 2012NASA/JHUAPL/Carnegie Inst. Washington/NAIC, Arecibo Observ.Water ice on Mercury Craters on Mercury may hold as much as one trillion tonnes of water ice, according to results from NASA s MESSENGER probe, published on 29 November in Science. Although  the surface of the planet reaches temperatures of 400  °C, the depths of many polar craters never see the Sun and are thought to remain below  ˆ™170  °C. The suspected ice (pictured in red) may have been deposited by comet or asteroid impacts. See go.nature.com/mhxel5 for more.GM study rebutted A final review by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), published on 28  November, has rejected the findings of a controversial paper published in September (see go.nature.com/3slkys) claiming that rats fed genetically modified maize (corn) showed adverse health effects, including higher incidence of tumours and earlier mortality than controls. The review s conclusion that the study was  "inadequately designed, analysed and reported   and  "does not meet acceptable scientific standards   is in line with both the EFSA s initial review published in October (see go.nature.com/rypoy5) and assessments by six European Union member states.Mental-health guide The upcoming revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has passed the final hurdle before it heads to the presses. On 1  December, the American Psychiatric Association s board of trustees approved the revised text, which includes controversial changes to the definitions of autism and major depression (see Nature 482, 14 -15; 2012). The manual is slated to be published by May 2013.Mess in Texas The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) announced the freezing of an US$11-million commercialization grant to Peloton Therapeutics in Dallas on 29 November, after an audit revealed that the 2010 award was made without commercial or scientific review (see go.nature.com/ctjei4). The finding comes on the heels of months of controversy about an $18-million unreviewed CPRIT grant to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston (see Nature 486, 169 -171; 2012).  Two strikes  rule The US National Institutes of Health has said that it will continue an unpopular policy that prevents grant applicants from resubmitting rejected proposals more than once. Before January 2009, when the policy was introduced, applicants were allowed to resubmit unsuccessful grants twice. See page 7 and go.nature.com/pkskun for more.Gene-patent justice The US Supreme Court said on 30  November that it would re-examine the question of whether human genes are patentable. The move is the latest in a three-year legal battle between Myriad Genetics, a diagnostics company in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a coalition of medical associations and physicians that has challenged the validity of the company s patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene variants  ” linked to inherited breast and ovarian cancer. See go.nature.com/jbqdxl for more.Stem-cell ruling In a landmark decision, the German Federal Court of Justice ruled on 27  November that patents may be granted on human embryonic stem cells if claims are restricted to the use of cells that are obtained without destroying a viable embryo. A European Court of Justice ruling had said last year that research patents depending even indirectly on human embryonic stem cells should be outlawed on moral grounds. The European court also equated human embryonic stem-cell lines with embryos, but the German court explicitly stated that they are not equivalent.Source: HSCICMMR vaccination The immunization of children in England against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) by 24  months of age has now reached more than 90%, its highest level since 1997 -98 (see graph). Vaccinations dipped to as low as 79% after authors led by Andrew Wakefield published a now-retracted paper in The Lancet suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The World Health Organization s recommended target is 95%.Tree felling drops The rate at which trees are being cut down in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen by 27% in the past year, to a record low. Preliminary work by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), published on 27  November, suggests that 4,656  square kilometres of forest were clear-cut between August 2011 and July 2012, compared with 6,418 €°km2 in the previous 12  months. See go.nature.com/ttnvqa for more.Funder concessions The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Britain s biggest public funder of physics, mathematics and engineering, has agreed to remove controversial wording that asked grant applicants to outline the national importance of their work  "over a 10 -50 year time-frame  . In an article in Times Higher Educationon 29  November, EPSRC chairman Paul Golby wrote that the research council would commission independent reviews to examine its peer-review processes and how it seeks strategic advice. The announcement follows protests by scientists in May (see Nature 488, 20 -22; 2012).Science down under The Australian government published its National Research Investment Plan on 28  November. The plan identifies eight   key challenges  for the country, including the production of energy and food, that will guide public spending on research during 2013 -16. It also highlights areas in need of further action by the government and research funders, such as developing better links between universities and industry and more support for international collaboration.Fraud verdict A culture of  "flawed science   in social psychology owing to weak peer review allowed Diederik Stapel, formerly based at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, to commit extensive research fraud that spanned more than a decade, says a 28  November report issued by the committees investigating him (see Nature 479, 15; 2011). The committees identified 55  publications in which fraud was certain, 11  papers with indications of fraud, and 10  tainted doctoral dissertations.Confucius prize Agricultural scientist Yuan Longping is to share US$1.5  million in prize money with former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, it emerged last week. The pair were awarded the Confucius Peace Prize in early November but the amount of the prize, which varies each year, had not been confirmed. The Chinese prize was set up in 2010 after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to dissident Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo. Last year s winner was Russian president Vladimir Putin.Committee head Republican Congressman Lamar Smith was selected as the next chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on 28  November. In 2009, Smith criticized parts of the US media for coverage that was  "slanted in favour of global warming alarmists  . He replaces Ralph Hall, who is stepping down at the end of this year. See page  17 and go.nature.com/6z6u1a for more.Neurologist leaves Sidney Gilman, a neurologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor implicated in insider trading, has retired, a university spokesman confirmed on 28  November. Gilman tipped off CR Intrinsic Investors, a hedge fund in Stamford, Connecticut, about safety data from clinical trials of a drug for Alzheimer s disease before the results were made public. See go.nature.com/n8tnbi for more.Source: Policy CuresGlobal funding for work on neglected diseases totalled US$3.32 billion in 2011, essentially stable in real terms compared with 2010, according to the G-FINDER investment survey by Policy Cures, a health-policy analysis firm based in London and Sydney, Australia. Over the past three years, public and philanthropic funding has declined as some government aid budgets have been cut, whereas industry funding has grown (mostly owing to investments in trials for dengue vaccines).7 December
Climate negotiators end a fortnight of debate at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Doha.go.nature.com/wnhovv12 December
British scientists start 100  hours of drilling to reach Antarctica s subglacial Lake  Ellsworth, buried under more than 3  kilometres of ice (see Nature 491, 506 -507; 2012).www.ellsworth.org.uk