In copertina di Nature c’è un bellissimo – ok, de gustibus – axolotl, ma il sequenziamento del suo gigantesco genoma era già stato anticipato on-line. Sotto la copertina, c’è anche un genoma più modesto, quello della planaria Schmidtea mediterranea, un vermiciattolo piatto che ondula nell’acqua semi-dolce lungo le coste del Mediterraneo, un eroe della ricerca in molti laboratori.
we show that temperatures reconstructed from sub-fossil pollen from 642 sites across North America and Europe closely match simulations, and that long-term warming, not cooling, defined the Holocene until around 2,000 years ago. The reconstructions indicate that evidence of long-term cooling was limited to North Atlantic records.
I modelli climatici sono piuttosto affidabili. Sorpresi?
Un editoriale celebra John Mercer che cinquant’anni fa aveva ricostruito le fusioni passate e previsto quella in corso nella Penisola occidentale antartica; un altro spiega perché da questo mese gli autori di articoli, rassegne, opinioni ecc. su riviste del gruppo Nature devono dichiarare anche i conflitti d’interesse non finanziario, le fonti di “bias” di cui sono consapevoli insomma.
A proposito di bias, Giorgia Guglielmi scrive di una ricerca prepubblicata su bioRXiv,
Women lose out when reviewers are asked to assess the researcher, rather than the research, on a grant application, according to a study on gender bias. Training reviewers to recognize unconscious biases seems to correct this imbalance, despite previous work suggesting that it increased bias instead.
Il paper del giorno è ovviamente quello anticipato on line del test che identifica nel sangue frammenti di beta-amiloide e la proteina che ne deriva, prima che si manifestino i sintomi dell’Alzheimer. Commento di Alison Abbott.
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Resistenza agli antibiotici, cont.
Complimenti ai colleghi indiani del Bureau of Investigative Journalism per aver rintracciato la provenienza della colistina, un antibiotico “di ultimo ricorso”, in “A game of chicken: how Indian poultry farming is creating global superbugs”
thousands of tonnes of veterinary colistin was shipped to countries including Vietnam, India, South Korea and Russia in 2016, the Bureau can reveal. In India at least five animal pharmaceutical companies are openly advertising products containing colistin as growth promoters.
One of these companies, Venky’s, is also a major poultry producer. […] The Bureau bought 200g of Venky’s-branded colistin – Colis V – over the counter from a poultry feed and medicines shop in Bangalore without a prescription. In Europe colistin is only available to farmers if prescribed by a vet for the treatment of sick animals. Venky’s is not breaking any laws in India by selling colistin and it said it will comply with any future regulatory changes…
Cambiamenti chiesti dall’OMS per circa quarant’anni.
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Su un tema affine, il Guardian riprende i risultati di un sondaggio usciti su PLoS One,
Mosquito nets are often distributed for free and anecdotal evidence of their use for other purposes has been controversial. Examples of nets being used to protect crops, to make chicken coops and even as wedding veils have led to concern among medical professionals that public confidence in a life-saving programme could be undermined.
The researchers found mosquito net fishing is seen across the globe. East Africa had the greatest concentration, but the practice was also seen from Bangladesh to the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. It was reported in both freshwater, as seen in Africa’s great lakes and in Nepal, and in the sea, in west Africa…
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Per chi interessa, spiego la dieta contro il vampirismo su Oggi Scienza.
errata corrige: Giulia Guglielmi -> Giorgia Guglielmi
Grazie Mauro, corretto