Transgenic salmon nears approvalin the remote highlands of Panama, in tanks protected by netting, barbed wire and guard dogs, swim the world s most expensive
but it will be close. nature. com/gmcropsfor the firm that developed the fish, Aquabounty Technologies of Maynard, Massachusetts,
Ian Boyd, talked to Nature about why he thinks the cull is scientifically sound, what else will be needed to control this disease and
because we will have increasing TB in our cattle, increasing TB in our wildlife, and that will cause spillover of TB to other livestock, to potentially domestic animals and potentially to humans.
That includes cattle movement controls, increasing biosecurity, development of vaccines and control of the wildlife reservoir.
And in our case the wildlife reservoir is badgers. Defraian Boydthe problem is tuberculosis not badgers.
Clearly reducing wildlife populations and killing cattle is not going to actually produce the elimination that we re really striving for.
it includes other people who care about the countryside and about wildlife
How the chicken lost its penisthe case of the missing bird penis is a longstanding mystery in evolutionary biology.
"This paper would be in Nature or Science if it were about people, says Richard Prum, an evolutionary ornithologist at Yale university in New haven, Connecticut."
the agency told Nature. David Whytetar drip drops After 69 years of waiting, scientists in Ireland captured the first video footage of a tar-pitch droplet s plop earlier this month.
demonstrates the fluid nature of tar, or asphalt, which appears to be solid at room temperature.
See go. nature. com/wbngvw for more. China tremors Two earthquakes rocked an area near the city of Dingxi in Gansu province, northwest China, on 21 Â July.
with some exceptions for work promising"major therapeutic progress for serious diseases (see Nature 469,277;
to reduce costs for consumers (see go. nature. com/9afdee). The move is expected to lower the price of carbon from about US$23 a tonne to around $6 a tonne beginning in July 2014,
See go. nature. com/f7nt6k for more. EPA delay ends The US Senate voted on 18 Â July, after a 133-day delay,
The wait is faced the longest by any chief in the EPA s 43-year history (see Nature 497,418-419;
See go. nature. com/usayrh for more. EU pesticide ban The European union (EU) is set to ban the insecticide fipronil from use in agricultural fields,
who in 1952 was convicted of gross indecency under anti-homosexuality legislation (see Nature 482,441; 2012).
and go. nature. com/vkaxty for more. Source: UK Home Officethe number of research procedures involving animals in the United kingdom has continued to rise,
See go. nature. com/t9z6uk for more. 28 july-1 august Scientists discuss conflicts between humans and wildlife at the 50th annual conference of the Animal Behavior Society in Boulder,
Colorado. go. nature. com/qjdgeh29 July-6 August The American Physical Society will discuss plans for high-energy physics at a meeting in Minneapolis,
Minnesota (see page  391). go. nature. com/7yiv5p29 July-2 August The meteor that exploded over Russia in February is on the agenda at the Meteoritical Society s annual meeting in Edmonton,
Canada. go. nature. com/gtbpqv
Deadly pig virus slips through US bordersthe pathogen, a type of coronavirus called porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV),
was identified first in the United kingdom in 1971, and it caused mass epidemics in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s.
home on its eastern end to the 24,000-hectare Shanghai Chongming Dongtan National Nature Reserve declared a region of international ecological importance by the Ramsar Convention, a global wetland-conservation treaty.
and authorities in Shanghai feared that herbicides would damage native plants, wildlife and local fisheries.
because officials did not want to compromise the city s image with a building project inside a nature reserve.
after scientists warned that production of some biofuels drives land clearance that can lead to greater greenhouse-gas emissions than from fossil fuel (see Nature 499,13-14;
despite public opposition following the Fukushima nuclear accident (see Nature http://doi. org/ckcr86; 2011).
See go. nature. com/qkxiar for more. Myriad back in court One month after the US Supreme court invalidated gene patents held by Myriad Genetics of Salt lake city, Utah,
Texas. Both firms had announced that they would provide BRCA testing in the wake of the Supreme court ruling (see Nature 498,281-282;
See go. nature. com/pyze44 for more. Red rover NASA s next Mars explorer will be a leaner
See go. nature. com/au5ewk for more. Research restart Research on the rinderpest virus is set to resume after being off limits since 2011,
and Chemistry of the Earth s Interior. go. nature. com/9cbgun  21-25 july Current research in viral ecology,
Germany. go. nature. com/h7nzes
Hunt for mystery GM wheat hots upit has been nearly three months since an Oregon farmer discovered unapproved transgenic wheat in a commercial wheat field,
In its heyday, the disease the only one other than smallpox to be eradicated from nature killed hundreds of millions of cattle, mainly in Europe, Asia and Africa
In the latest study, published in Nature, Johnston s team related the RXFP2 genes of 1, 750 sheep to three factors:
Nature http://dx. doi. org/10.1038/nature12489; 2013). ) Males with one or two copies of the Ho+allele had the biggest horns.
See go. nature. com/jqccur and page 253 for more. Space fence down Citing the US federal budget cuts known as sequestration,
NASA launched the US$855-million Landsat  8 probe in February (see Nature 494,13-14;
Ambry replied that Myriad s patent claims were invalid in light of a June ruling by the US Supreme court that human genes cannot be patented (see Nature 498,281-282;
In May, atmospheric concentrations of the gas surpassed 400 Â parts per million at NOAA s Mauna loa Observatory in Hawaii (see Nature 497,13-14;
go. nature. com/zrthim22 August US federal agencies reach the deadline to file their proposals for increasing public access to federally funded research,
set by the Office of Science and Technology Policy in WASHINGTON DC (see Nature 494,414-415;
A computer calendar glitch probably caused the craft to fail (see go. nature. com/yupxju.
which is designed to show the feasibility of nuclear fusion as a power source (see Nature http://doi. org/nwq;
See go. nature. com/jnkee3 for more. Election results Angela Merkel triumphed in Germany s parliamentary elections on 22 Â September to secure a third term as the country s chancellor.
See page  461 and Nature 501,289-290 (2013) for more. Climate closures Australia s new government is shutting the Climate Commission,
See go. nature. com/c2m4tn for more. Russian vote On 18 september, Russia s lower house of parliament approved controversial reforms to the Russian Academy of Sciences.
See go. nature. com/8zqqme for more. Ira Wyman/Sygma/Corbisnobel laureate dies David Hubel, a Nobel-prizewinning neuroscientist who mapped the brain s visual system,
Tang tested the health benefits of Golden Rice genetically modified to produce a Vitamin a precursor on children in China s Hunan province (see Nature http://doi. org/nv9;
Tufts also said that the participants were informed not adequately about the genetically modified nature of the rice.
See go. nature. com/ic77ff for more. US research boost The US government has allocated US$53 million to create 14 Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science in the next year,
Among the selected projects is a $33-million trial to test preventive treatments in at-risk adults (see Nature 489
See go. nature. com/htxqji for more. Source: UN Interagency Group for Child Mortality Estimation 2013in 2012, some 6. 6 million children died before reaching their fifth birthday.
But nature s plants are not blameless: agricultural land is responsible for about 14%of the world s greenhouse-gas emissions, slightly more than the global contribution from planes, trains and automobiles.
but also provide an incentive to protect wildlife habitat: the more forest grew on and near a coffee farm,
"Based on this study, we know that native wildlife can provide you with a pretty significant benefit,
many of the avian exterminators were living in small scraps of unprotected woodland, rather than in big nature reserves.
Nature has learned about some of the options in the running, out of the dozens of proposals expected.
and in July 2012 one failed followed by another in May (see go. nature. com/4w1ufr).
"The whole culture in wildlife biology and conservation circles has been that you can t approximate Mother Nature,
Her team's study is published today in Nature Climate Change6. Chris Thomas, a biologist at the University of York, UK, notes that the overall rate of movement is quite similar to that found in a meta-analysis he led on the movement of wild species1."
"But we should be more careful in the way we use them in nature
Gallery: Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013essence of elephants'by Greg du Toit depicts the animals at night.
No one could say that Greg du Toit did not earn his images of the birds
Michael Nichols, National geographic/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013'The President's crown'by Michael Nichols displays a giant sequoia tree (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in all its glory.
Sergey Gorshkov/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013to take'The cauldron, 'Sergey Gorshkov had to approach an erupting volcano by helicopter.
Garth Lenz/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013in'Oil spoils'by Garth Lenz, an aerial view shows the devastation caused by tar-sands mining in Alberta, Canada.
Toshiji Fukuda/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013'Tiger untrapped'by Toshiji Fukuda shows an endangered Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica.
Luis Javier Sandoval/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013'Dive buddy'by Luis Javier Sandoval depicts an endangered green turtle (Chelonia mydas.
Brent Stirton/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013in'Ivory trash'by Brent Stirton, a Kenyan ranger inspects elephants killed by poachers.
Mike Veitch/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013'The fish trap'by Mike Veitch shows a whale shark (Rhincodon typus) actively sucking on a fishing net in Indonesian waters.
These pictures and more are on display at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 exhibition at the Natural history Museum in London, from 18 october
and in the past few years Peru has mapped the carbon in its part of the Amazon (see Nature 461,1048-1052;
Nature interviewed behavioural ecologist Peter Wrege of the The Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New york,
which is funded largely by the US Fish and Wildlife Service programme Wildlife Without Borders. For a species that uses acoustic communication
but researchers told Nature that it is likely to be a near-record year. Across the world
that monitors trade in wildlife. And figures for ivory hauls in media reports collected each month by conservation group Save the Elephants,
add up to a similar number (see go. nature. com/4xyeln). Both numbers, however, should be regarded with caution
chair of the elephant specialist group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
when the international ban on ivory trading was introduced has this year set up a task force to combat the illegal wildlife trade.
See go. nature. com/apxlsn for more. Asian unicorn A rare antelope-like animal called the saola has been caught on film for the first time in 15 years.
See Nature 484,424-425 (2012) and go. nature. com/yerkoh for more. Philippe MASCLET/Masterfilms/Airbusgiant ash cloud tests sensor for aircraft Sensors to detect volcanic ash have moved closer to widespread use on commercial airlines following flight tests involving the world s
biggest artificial ash cloud (pictured. The Airborne Volcanic Object Imaging Detector (AVOID), developed by Nicarnica Aviation in Kjeller, Norway,
The test cloud was created on 30 Â October by spraying particles collected from Iceland s Eyjafjallajã kull volcano into the air off the west coast of France (see Nature 502,422-423;
once there, it will carry out a one-year nominal mission (see Nature 503,178; 2013). ) Japan emissions Japan has scaled back its commitment to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, according to news reports on 15 Â November.
See Nature 503,174-175 (2013) and page 311 for more. Brain implant Patients with epilepsy who fail to respond to medications could benefit from a newly approved brain implant.
and death a target that seems unlikely to be met (see Nature 502, 271-272; 2013).
See Nature 494,410-411 (2013) and go. nature. com/zxikwx for more. Biofuel rules The US Environmental protection agency proposed reducing requirements for the use of biofuels on 15 Â November
citing technical difficulties in meeting the current standards. The proposal would require that biofuels make up 9. 2%of the US transportation fuel supply in 2014, down from 9. 74%in 2013.
See go. nature. com/geeup9 for more. Science educator Microbiologist Ann Reid will be the new head of the US National Center for Science Education (NCSE) in Oakland, California.
who has led the organization for 27 years (see Nature 497,287-288; 2013). ) Broad investment American philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad announced on 14 november a US$100-million investment to continue funding biomedical research at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
and have contributed already a further $500 Â million (see Nature 455,149; 2008). ) Breakthrough drug The US Food
See go. nature. com/w5xfjo for more. Source: C.  Southan et  al. PLOS ONE 8, e77142 (2013) The number of potential drug leads disclosed in patents each year has plummeted over the past seven years.
a constellation of satellites that will study Earth s magnetic field for four years. go. nature. com/rxaaur24-27 november Science for global sustainable development is the theme of the sixth World Science Forum,
water security and bioenergy. go. nature. com/cxmbqf
Departing head of biotech institute defends GM field trialsmaurice Moloney has led Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, UK,
Moloney spoke to Nature about his time in the United kingdom. I was over in Canada and
I would defend very strongly the idea that we should invest in research that is motivated entirely by curiosity around nature.
Hawaii (see Nature 497,13-14; 2013). ) Biology preprints Life scientists have a new website for sharing research papers before journal publication.
See go. nature. com/u5kntz for more. Fat ban On 7 november the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed eliminating most artificial trans-fats forms of fat associated with increased heart risk from processed foods.
and Wildlife Service will destroy its stockpile of contraband elephant ivory on 14 Â November, officials announced last week.
was released for public comment last week (see go. nature. com/3rqcn4). Major research funders and institutions, coordinated by the London-based group Understanding Animal Research, say that they want to be more open about how animals are used in research.
nuclear physicists told Nature. Separately, a forensic analysis of exhumed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, released on 8 Â November,
See go. nature. com/mpdrjd and go. nature. com/5jqggr for more. Climate politics Republican Kenneth Cuccinelli lost his bid on 5 Â November to become the next governor of Virginia,
in an election that highlighted scientific issues. As the state s attorney-general, in 2010 Cuccinelli launched an investigation of climate scientist Michael Mann.
013 (see Nature 498,15-16; 2013) and an asteroid-hunting telescope called Arkyd that raised $1. 5 Â million.
California (see go. nature. com/3fembu). 18 november NASA s MAVEN mission to Mars is scheduled to launch.
the International Energy Agency holds its biennial meeting to set new strategic priorities. go. nature. com/qrjmcg
which the planet warmed, says research published today in Nature Geoscience1. Francisco Estrada, an ecological economist at the Free University in Amsterdam,
The wild Asian banana Musa acuminata malaccensis the genome of which was published last year (A. Â D Hont Nature 488,213-217;
in line with moves in India and Brazil in recent years (see Nature 500, 266; 2013.
See go. nature. com/wmeet2 for more. Massive ivory burn Hong kong is set to incinerate a huge stockpile of about 30 tonnes of seized ivory, following a unanimous decision by the Endangered Species Advisory Committee on 23 Â January.
See go. nature. com/ib2fpa and Nature http://doi. org/q8g (2014) for more. Rabbit rescue China s moon rover has run into major trouble, according to a report on 25 january from state-run news agency Xinhua.
since landing on the Moon last month (see Nature 504, 336; 2013. Scientists are working to resolve the problem,
Last spring, the United states reported its first case (see Nature 499,388; 2013), and the virus has
Nature Commun. 5 3089; 2014. The researchers hope that by isolating the antiatoms from the strong magnetic fields used to create
grant applications, patents and other activities (see Nature 485,564; 2012). ) Biotech blues Biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) has lost its chief executive, Gary Rabin,
See Nature http://doi. org/q8f (2014) for more. Google thinks deep Google has purchased the London-based artificial-intelligence company Deepmind,
and computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton (see Nature 505,146-148; 2014). ) The company may use artificial intelligence to improve picture tagging, voice recognition and search engines.
and go. nature. com/4ts2qb). The group will advise the agency on sustainable development, including issues of food and water security,
prevalence and mortality. go. nature. com/x39hvk
Plant killers protect rainforest diversityvoracious pests may be foes of individual plants, but they can benefit forests.
But the US Fish and Wildlife Service is expected now to lift the legal safeguards, after a government advisory panel of wildlife officials endorsed delisting the bear last month.
For Christopher Servheen, a biologist who oversees grizzly-bear recovery efforts at the Fish and Wildlife Service in Missoula, Montana, that is not surprising."
But those criticisms are rejected by Frank van Manen, a wildlife biologist with the US Geological Survey in Bozeman, Montana, who led the diet study.
At that point, the Fish and Wildlife Service would open a 60-day public-comment period to seek reaction.
which harnesses the phenomenon of gravitational lensing (see Nature 497,554-556; 2013). ) The tremendous gravity of large foreground clusters in this case,
a class of pesticide linked to declines in bee populations (see Nature 496,408; 2013). ) At Louisiana State university in Baton rouge, researchers will assess the long-term risks to bees from chemicals used in large-scale mosquito-abatement programmes.
and analysis (see go. nature. com/hdfzbi for more). Novartis s Japan unit has acknowledged the complaint on its website.
the computer that famously won against human competitors in a quiz show in 2011 (see go. nature. com/u783dz).
and medical care in countries affected by AIDS (see Nature 457,254-256; 2009), received a five-year reauthorization in December 2013.
when previous head Marcia Mcnutt resigned (see go. nature. com/eyn4uu). Kimball has worked also as an assistant professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville,
less than four months after Wayne Clough announced plans to retire as the institution s leader (see Nature 501,467;
See page 269 for more. go. nature. com/ivxmmo22 January The European union is set to unveil a package of long-term climate and energy goals and proposals
showing the country s intention to thwart a worrying rise in elephant poaching (see Nature 503,452;
See go. nature. com/ib2fpa for more. Seeds of change The US Department of agriculture (USDA) on 3 Â January proposed removing restrictions on the use of maize (corn)
and go. nature. com/9lgbd6 for more. Gun controls The US Department of health and human services proposed on 3 Â January that patient-privacy exemptions should be created
But some researchers who study firearms violence have called for better safeguards against gun ownership by those who are mentally ill (see Nature 496,412-415;
Colorado is one of only two US states to have approved nonmedicinal use of marijuana by adults (see go. nature. com/rtr3ou.
and his concept of a universal Turing machine, a programmable system that stores and processes information, is considered a cornerstone of computer science (see Nature 482,441;
and cancer progression. go. nature. com/rs9oyb15-17 january The 8th Human Amyloid Imaging meeting in Miami,
as well as other biomarkers linked to Alzheimer s disease. go. nature. com/oi5wkp
Many eyes on Earthimagine using Google earth or other online mapping tools to zoom in on high-resolution satellite images of the planet taken just hours or days ago.
Navigating backwards and forwards in time, one could track changes in everything from crops, forests and wildlife movement to urban sprawl and natural disasters, all with unrivalled temporal precision.
Potential scientific applications of space video include observing volcanic eruptions, forest fires, hurricanes and the movement of wildlife,
4-ethyloctanal, a chemical not previously found in nature and that has an orangy, floral odour.
See go. nature. com/pmauru for more. Synchrotron to shut A light source at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will close on 7 Â March
The NSF cut support in 2011 because of budget constraints (see Nature 471,278; 2011). ) The centre was unable to raise alternative funding to save itself from closure;
he campaigned for better use of science in policy-making (see Nature 489,493-494; 2012). ) Holt did not give a reason for his decision,
See go. nature. com/ufeafl for more. Military psychology Many mental-health programmes designed for the military
See go. nature. com/qcetra for more. Tracking forests A tool enabling the public to track deforestation around the globe was launched on 19 Â February by the World Resources Institute (WRI),
and patient care. go. nature. com/dqzhpa
Vietnam on high alert over flu riskthe H7n9 avian-influenza virus that has killed more than 100 people in China in the past year has for the first time been detected in a province bordering Vietnam,
Photoshotpoliticians vow to get tough on poaching A major political meeting in London has agreed to ramp up the fight against illegal wildlife trafficking
See go. nature. com/qjupqc for more. GM maize Europe may allow farmers to grow a genetically modified (GM) variety of maize (corn) after a proposal to approve the crop did not receive enough opposition to be quashed at a meeting of European union member states on 11 february.
See go. nature. com/hez8v5 for more. Open access The publisher of Science is to launch its first open-access journal in early 2015.
See go. nature. com/mtlcdd for more. EU-Swiss row European union-Swiss research is under strain after a Swiss vote in favour of immigration quotas led the European commission to suspend talks on the nation s participation in Europe s  80-billion (US$110-billion
The report, published on 12 february (see go. nature. com/annqmt), assessed technologies that could most benefit food production in the global south.
and bioethics violations in 2009 (see Nature 505,468-471; 2014). ) The USPTO told Nature that it was aware of Hwang s fraudulent past
and that the terms of the patent state that his stem-cell lines must be made available on request.
See go. nature. com/hwcnwu for more. 19 february NASA announces findings from its high-energy X-ray mission, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (Nustar.
The observations will reveal information about supernovae. go. nature. com/ocxk3r22 February A spacecraft weighing just 3 Â kilograms will hitch a ride to the International Space station.
The Kicksat mission was funded by the crowdsourcing website Kickstarter. go. nature. com/gzd6ni
Study revives bird origin for 1918 flu pandemicthe virus that caused the 1918 influenza pandemic probably sprang from North american domestic and wild birds, not from the mixing of human and swine viruses.
Nations pledge to make poaching a'serious crime'In a renewed effort to stop the dramatic rise in poaching that is devastating African wildlife,
and an estimated global illegal trade in wildlife products of US$20 billion a year a figure that does not include timber
pledged to strengthen their legislation to ensure that the trade of wildlife is regarded as a serious crime a technical definition under United nations rules that should ensure tougher penalties for those convicted of dealing in elephant ivory, rhino horn and other animal products.
More resources are needed still to fight wildlife trafficking, says Travers, but the attention now focused on the issue is a huge advance."
because we believe illegal wildlife trafficking is completely out of control. The surge in elephant and rhino poaching in the past few years is believed widely to have been driven by the growing economies in the far east, especially China,
Many speakers said that the problem also stems in part from the lenient sentences given to convicted wildlife traffickers,
"Even when caught, the penalties these people suffer are much lower than those for other crimes, Davyth Stewart, who works on wildlife crime for Interpol in Lyon,
Stewart also warned that the rising price of illegal wildlife products is driving poachers to become increasingly ruthless."
and to target people higher up the poaching chains through tax and money laundering laws as well as through wildlife crime laws.
Amid harrowing tales of slaughtered wildlife, there was a sense at the meeting that the attention now being given to the subject might bring changes that will make a difference to animals currently under threat."
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