Nature’s latest briefing highlights the earliest known evidence of a lizard intentionally shedding its tail, a US investigation into foreign researchers at universities, a long-term grant programme for young Chinese scientists and growing pressure on US climate researchers. It also covers Japan’s planned mission to return samples from Phobos, a small trial of LSD microdoses, potential medical uses for orexin agonists, the debate over whether artificial intelligence systems could be conscious and efforts to remove carbon dioxide from the ocean.
Researchers initially thought that the objects inside the amber were fragments of ancient insects. Closer inspection revealed telltale lizard scales. The scale bar indicates 2.5 millimetres. (Dolev Fabrikant et al./Palaeontologia Electronica, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
A lizard’s ancient escape strategy
A fossilized lizard tail preserved in amber for 99 million years provides the earliest known evidence that an organism could intentionally detach an appendage. Many modern lizards evade predators by dropping or leaving behind their tails as a distraction, a behaviour called caudal autonomy.
A 3D reconstruction of the fossil reveals a rosette-like wedge of muscle surrounding a cleanly severed bone. The feature resembles the structures involved when modern lizards shed their tails. Researchers have long suspected that this behaviour has ancient origins, but known fossils have provided little evidence.
Reference: Palaeontologia Electronica paper
Investigation into foreign researchers
The US government has launched an investigation into the employment of foreign researchers at nine universities. Vice Chancellor J.D. Vance said the study aims to reduce “visa fraud” and claimed that the universities are overusing J-1 visas, the main type used by foreign postdoctoral researchers in the United States.
Critics say the rationale for the study is flawed. They argue that foreign postdocs play a vital role in US laboratories and that the announcement has deepened concerns among international scientists.
Nature | 6 min read
China offers young scientists long-term funding
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) has selected 44 young researchers as the first group to receive funding for up to 15 years through one of the world’s longest-running research grant programmes.
Each researcher will receive initial funding for five years and then be considered for another five-year period, continuing in this way. NSFC Chairman Dou Xiankang said the grant has no short-term goals: “The only thing we evaluate is whether or not you’re in the lab.”
Nature | 5 minute read
Climate scientists face records requests
US climate scientists are facing a surge in public-records requests related to research linking fossil-fuel emissions to environmental damage. “Climate attribution is under attack,” says climate scientist Christopher Callaghan.
The requests are legal, but some researchers say the field is being targeted because of its growing role in lawsuits against major industrial emitters. They argue that the flood of requests appears intended to discourage climate-attribution research, waste researchers’ time and public funds, and potentially stifle healthy scientific debate.
Nature | 9 min read
JAXA prepares a low-gravity rover mission
Japan’s space agency, JAXA, is preparing a pioneering mission to collect and return samples from Phobos, one of Mars’s moons. The Mars Moon Explorer (MMX) mission will deploy Idefix, a probe developed by the French space agency CNES and named after the small dog in the comic book Asterix. English-speaking audiences might know the character as Dogmatix.
Idefix weighs 25 kilograms on Earth, but when it lands on Phobos in August 2027, its weight will be equivalent to just 12 grams on Earth—about the weight of one pencil.
Aerospace America | 6 min read
This week’s infographic
Source: Iva Totmanova et al.
Small doses of the psychedelic drug LSD might improve some cognitive functions, but the apparent benefits were observed only in women in a small trial. Women who took 15 micrograms of LSD maintained their focus for longer and responded faster to stimuli than women who received a placebo.
The trial alone cannot establish that LSD caused the improvements. However, the results “justify further investigation”, says psychopharmacologist Mikkel Heilund.
Reference: European Society of Neuropsychopharmacology Conference Abstracts
Features and analysis
Orexin drugs could have uses beyond narcolepsy
In August, US regulators approved a class of drugs called orexin agonists to treat narcolepsy. Researchers hope this will be the first of many uses for the drugs. Several pharmaceutical companies are investigating whether orexin agonists could treat conditions beyond sleep disorders, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
“Diabetes was the tip of the iceberg for GLP-1, and we’re confident the same will play out for orexin,” says Andrew Plump, head of research and development at pharmaceutical company Takeda.
Nature | 8 min read
Why language models are not conscious
Large language models can imitate thoughts and emotions with remarkable skill, but they are not conscious, argue neuroscientists Anil Seth and Giulio Tononi and philosopher Ned Block. They say that treating these systems as conscious could hinder efforts to regulate them.
The authors argue that language models deceive people by imitating human language. They note that other powerful systems, such as AlphaFold, a protein-structure prediction tool, are not generally considered conscious. According to leading theories of consciousness, the mind is more than a carbon-based computer, and living human brain tissue is essential. The authors write that silicon-based computers are highly unlikely to be sufficient for consciousness because they do not possess certain important properties of a conscious brain.
Nature | 13 min read
The challenge of storing carbon in the ocean
Researchers and startups are exploring ways to increase the ocean’s natural capacity to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Proposed approaches include adding alkaline slurry to a growing kelp forest.
One of the biggest challenges in marine carbon dioxide removal is measuring how much CO2 has been taken up. Reliable measurements are needed to obtain carbon credits that could help finance large-scale projects.
Scientific American | 16 minute read
More to watch
The US Bureau of Land Management’s celebration of flying mammals begins on October 24. The agency will ask people to vote on its social channels for the most handsome bat. The event includes bat puns.
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Source: www.nature.com