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Using smartphones to optimise and scale-up the assessment of model-based planning
Abstract Model-based planning is thought to protect against over-reliance on habits. It is reduced in individuals high in compulsivity, but effect sizes are small and may depend on subtle features of the tasks used to assess it. We developed a diamond-shooting smartphone game that measures model-based planning in an at-home setting, and varied the game’s…
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Sequence optimized diagnostic assay for Ebola virus detection
Abstract Rapid pathogen identification is a critical first step in patient isolation, treatment, and controlling an outbreak. Real-time PCR is a highly sensitive and specific approach commonly used for infectious disease diagnostics. However, mismatches in the primer or probe sequence and the target organism can cause decreased sensitivity, assay failure, and false negative results. Limited…
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Carbon-to-nitrogen single-atom transmutation of azaarenes
Abstract When searching for the ideal molecule to fill a particular functional role (for example, a medicine), the difference between success and failure can often come down to a single atom1. Replacing an aromatic carbon atom with a nitrogen atom would be enabling in the discovery of potential medicines2, but only indirect means exist to make…
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Pioneering climate scientist Saleemul Huq, who argued for helping poor nations adapt to warming, dies at 71
Saleemul Huq, a pioneering climate scientist from Bangladesh who pushed to get the world to understand, pay for and adapt to worsening warming impacts on poorer nations, died of cardiac arrest Saturday. He was 71. “Saleem always focused on the poor and marginalized, making sure that climate change was about people, their lives, health and…
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Did Nature Have a Hand in the Formation of the Great Sphinx?
Historians and archaeologists have, over centuries, explored the mysteries behind the Great Sphinx of Giza: What did it originally look like? What was it designed to represent? What was its original name? But less attention has been paid to a foundational, and controversial, question: What was the terrain the Ancient Egyptians came across when they…
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‘The perfect place to do science’
I have always been passionate about nature and its perfect synchrony and balance. When I was 6 years old, I received a mini microscope, as a Christmas gift; that changed my view of the world and defined my professional path. Seeing particles that were invisible to human eyes led me to an interesting observation: Every…
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Sudan’s disastrous war — and the science it is imperilling
One April morning, medical student Asjad Yousif Abdalrahman Bushra awoke to the sound of bombs exploding in Khartoum. He was planning to attend a funeral that day and then start preparations for celebrating Eid. But war had erupted between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force called the Rapid Support Forces. As of 22 September,…
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mRNA vaccine encoding Gn provides protection against severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus in mice
Abstract We developed a promising mRNA vaccine against severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), an infectious disease caused by the SFTS virus that is primarily transmitted through tick bites. Administration of lipid nanoparticle-encapsulated mRNA-Gn successfully induced neutralizing antibodies and T-cell responses in mice. The vaccinated mice were protected against a lethal SFTS virus challenge, suggesting…
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Why the UK-led global AI summit is missing the point
Bletchley Park, home to the United Kingdom’s wartime code-breaking team, is hosting this week’s AI safety summit. Delegates need to work towards regulatory transparency in the technology’s underlying data and models.Credit: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty How to maximize the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) while minimizing its harms is a worldwide preoccupation. This week, the spotlight is…
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Daily briefing: Deep-diving seals led scientists to an undiscovered underwater canyon
Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here. Credit: Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library Dinosaurs might have met a dusty end Dust might have been responsible for the deadly dinosaur-killing global winter that came after an asteroid slammed into Earth 66 million years ago. Climate…