Name: Daily briefing: The case for parasite conservation
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Daily briefing: The case for parasite conservation

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Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtainthe best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode inInternet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without stylesand JavaScript.AdvertisementYou have full access to this article via your institution.Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Forty metres off the Italian coast, herbs, vegetables and flowers grow in six vinyl biospheres below the sea surface. ‘’ is an underwater farm started in 2012 to explore the possibility of growing terrestrial plants 6 metres under the sea. This shot, taken by photographer Giacomo d’Orlando, came third in the environment category in this year’s Sony World Photography Awards.See , selected by Nature’s photo teamA long-anticipated accelerator in the United States is ready to go, five months early and on budget. The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) will chart unexplored regions of the landscape of exotic atomic nuclei and shed light on . The system will smash atoms to create isotopes of all kinds — including the rarest ones, whose production rates might be as low as one nucleus a week. “This project has been the realization of a dream of the whole community in nuclear physics,” says experimental nuclear physicist Ani Aprahamian.Emerging artificial-intelligence (AI) technologies that generate fluent language from vast amounts of text could change how science is done — , a specialist in the governance of emerging technologies. Large language models (LLMs) can churn out astonishingly convincing prose, translate between languages, answer questions and even produce code. “It's easy for scientists to assert that they are smart and realize that LLMs are useful but incomplete tools,” says Parthasarathy. “But the algorithmic summaries could make errors, include outdated information or remove nuance and uncertainty, without users appreciating this.”Biochemist Jennifer Doudna — who, alongside Emmanuelle Charpentier, was part of the first all-female team to win a Nobel Prize — is among the , such as breaking into ‘old boy networks’ of senior scientists, and ensuring their work is properly credited. Problems can be especially acute for female scientists of colour. Surveys suggest that they have fewer collaboration opportunities and are more likely than white women to report having had their ideas stolen or not getting credit.Parasites make up around half of all animal species, but almost everything we know about them today comes from studying how to kill the few parasites, such as tapeworms, pinworms and hookworms, that are harmful to people. That is starting to change with an influx of early-career researchers into disease and parasite ecology. As the field grows, — from pest control to linking food webs — and that many are in trouble owing to climate change, pollution, habitat destruction and other threats. “Every species you can think of that’s endangered has parasites that rely on it,” says parasite ecologist Skylar Hopkins. “If those species go extinct, then their parasites can also go extinct.”Molecular ecologist Kristine Bohmann has invented a sampler that collects genetic information from the air. When it was tested at Copenhagen Zoo, . “Airborne DNA is all around us,” says Bohmann. “Birds release skin cells when they flap their wings. Saliva from all sorts of animals can become airborne. Animals release DNA when they defecate.” The system could one day be used to detect rare animals and get a better understanding of diversity without disturbing an environment.()Reference: See more shots from this story on the . (Christian Bendix for Nature)Reproductive-health researcher Diana Greene Foster, who led a study into the long-term effects of abortion, was one of hundreds of scientists who weighed in on a high-stakes US Supreme Court case. A draft ruling that removes protections for abortion rights seems to have been leaked to the press. ( &amp; )Reference:Read more: by Diana Greene Foster (Nature | 5 min read, from 2021)doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01241-wOn Friday, our avian explorer was dipping a flipper into the rockpools of Llandanwg beach in Wales. ? When you're ready, Apologies for leaving you on tenterhooks by saying that Leif’s hiding place would be revealed yesterday. Monday was a UK holiday, when we spend the day dancing round the maypole and .Thanks for reading,With contributions by Smriti MallapatyYou have full access to this article via your institution.An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday.Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtainthe best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode inInternet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without stylesand JavaScript.AdvertisementYou have full access to this article via your institution.Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Forty metres off the Italian coast, herbs, vegetables and flowers grow in six vinyl biospheres below the sea...

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Daily briefing: The case for parasite conservation

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