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Anthony Fauci has been targeted with pandemic-related disinformation online.Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/Getty
Debunked posts about scientists endure
Despite efforts from social-media platforms to clean up their acts, false and abusive posts about prominent scientists lingers on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Telegram. A study by international campaign group Avaaz looked at disinformation posted about three high-profile scientists: Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; German virologist Christian Drosten; and Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst. Although all of the posts had been debunked by fact-checkers, online platforms had taken no action to address half of them. “Two years into the pandemic, even though they have made important policy changes, the platforms, and Facebook in particular, are still failing to take significant action,” says Luca Nicotra, a campaign director for Avaaz.
Respiratory societies tighten author ban
Researchers at companies owned by the tobacco industry have been banned from publishing in a slew of journals, including those published by the American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society. The move comes in response to the acquisition of pharmaceutical firm Vectura — which makes inhalers — by tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI). “The issue is that ‘Big Tobacco’ could use, and will use, this technology not only to potentially enhance delivery of tobacco-containing substances and nicotine devices, but to addict more people,” says pulmonologist Gregory Downey — a claim that PMI denies.
Does the world need an Omicron vaccine?
Last week, COVID-19 vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna both announced clinical trials for Omicron-based vaccines. But whether rolling out these jabs is necessary, or even practical, is unclear, say public-health authorities and infectious-disease specialists. Some think it might not be worthwhile because Omicron cases could plummet before manufacturers can finalize the vaccines. Others question how useful the shot might be against future variants. How the current vaccines are performing against Omicron is a key factor in the decision. So far, real-world data suggest that a third dose of a messenger-RNA-based vaccine, such as those made by Pfizer and Moderna, protects most people infected with Omicron against severe illness, at least in the short term.
Missing ear bone helps bats to echolocate
Some bats have an anatomical quirk in their ears that could explain how they evolved to hunt in specialized ways, from sensing small fish to catching insects midflight. In 2015, researchers took 3D images of the inner ear of a bat skull but couldn’t find a feature shared by almost all mammals: a bony tube that connects the ear to the brain and encases nerve cells. A more thorough search revealed many more bat species in which this bony nerve channel was missing or poked with large holes. Researchers suspect the loss of this bony channel gave the bats new hearing capabilities because the nerves are less confined.
Read an expert analysis by biologist M. Brock Fenton in the Nature News & Views (6 min read, Nature paywall)
Features & opinion
A geologist perseveres in Yemen
Geologist Fahd Albarraq is passionate about keeping the Yemen Geological Museum open — although he has worked without pay since 2017. His personal finances have been destroyed and his family’s lives are threatened by intense air raids. But the efforts of Albarraq and his colleagues have seen rising attendance at the museum since the civil war broke out. “Despite the financial difficulties, admission to the museum is still free and will remain so,” he says. “People are looking for escape and distraction in science and art.”
Top tech to look out for
Nature’s pick of tools that look set to shake up science include long-read sequencing technologies that can fill the holes in our knowledge of genetics. Major experimental and computational advances, such as AlphaFold and cryogenic-electron microscopy, have given researchers tools for determining protein structures with unprecedented speed and resolution. And CRISPR-based diagnostics could revolutionize the detection of human viruses.
Coronapod: T cells and COVID-19
As variants like Omicron evolve to evade our antibodies, the role of another part of the immune system, T cells, has been brought into sharper focus. These immune cells work in a different way from antibodies: they attack infected cells rather than the virus itself, which can make their response broader and more robust. In this episode of Coronapod, we ask why T cells are so often overlooked, and what part they might play in protecting us from SARS-CoV-2.
Nature Coronapod Podcast | 26 min listen
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Where I work
Geoff Gurr is a professor of applied ecology at Charles Sturt University in Orange, New South Wales.Matthew Abbott for Nature
Ecologist Geoff Gurr studies sustainable agriculture in vineyards, such as this one at the Angullong estate in New South Wales, Australia, which hosts some of his field trials. “You have to dodge the odd brown snake, but, as offices go, this one — among the grapevines of such a picturesque part of the world — makes my job quite a privilege,” he says. (Nature | 3 min read)
