Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here.
Large sections of the Kakhovka dam have collapsed, unleashing catastrophic floods.Credit: Satellite image (c) 2023 Maxar Technologies via Getty
Ukraine dam: what scientists are watching
The Kakhovka dam in south Ukraine collapsed on the morning of 6 June after a suspected explosion, plunging Ukraine into an unprecedented humanitarian and environmental crisis. The draining of the reservoir is affecting drinking-water supplies, destroying infrastructure, devastating agriculture and putting wildlife and habitats under intense pressure. It is also exposing potentially toxic sediment from the industrial city of Zaporizhzhia upstream. Zaporizhzhia is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which normally relies on water from the reservoir for cooling. “Nothing can be done to minimize the consequences,” says environmentalist Oleksii Vasyliuk. “This is a zone of both an environmental disaster and active hostilities.”
Meanwhile, an agency in Norway that monitors seismic activity to ensure that countries are adhering to a treaty banning nuclear tests has offered the first piece of independent evidence that the dam was blown up. "We see a pulse of energy which is focused, which is typical of an explosion," says seismologist Volker Oye. Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the dam’s destruction. It was also under strain because Russia, which controls the dam, did not open enough sluice gates to manage the pressure of spring rains.
Nature | 6 min read & NPR | 3 min read
Reference: NORSAR report
Why Canadian wildfires are so bad this year
The extremely destructive wildfires raging across Canada have contributed to the unusual and disturbing sight of New York City choked with toxic smoke. It’s probably not related to El Niño, say scientists: the climate pattern is expected to boost high temperatures, but not until later this year. Wildfire researchers say that climate change is a factor driving hot, dry and windy weather, which creates a tinderbox. Then, lightning or human activity lights the spark. “The biggest thing we need to do, especially in the east [where people are less familiar with wildfires], is make people aware of their role in fires,” says forest-management specialist Anthony Taylor.
NIH will scrutinize foreign grant recipients
Foreign recipients of a US National Institutes of Health (NIH) subaward — funds that a recipient can give to a collaborator — will soon face extra scrutiny. Every few months, the collaborator will have to provide copies of laboratory notebooks, data and documentation to the primary recipient. Critics worry that the policy will have a chilling effect on international collaborations and that it will add to researchers’ administrative burden. The NIH’s dealings with foreign researchers have drawn attention as debate rages over whether the COVID-19 pandemic had a natural origin or arose from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which had received a subaward to study bat coronaviruses.
Features & opinion
How scientist parents inspire their children
Children whose parents are scientists can see at first-hand the highs and lows of research, often inspiring them to pursue science careers themselves. “My children got to see how much fun I had making discoveries,” says cell biologist Fred Chang, whose children spent their formative years at the marine biology labs at Woods Hole — a “a summer camp for scientists”. At the same time, a scientist’s own parenthood can influence their work. “It has taught me to be more disciplined in my work, and to dedicate my time and limited resources to projects that really matter the most to me,” says clinician–scientist Valerie Yang Shiwen.
Video: Fixing your own neurotech implant
“Panic, that some days threatened to overtake me,” is how Markus Möllmann-Bohle describes his thoughts when he heard that the manufacturer of his neural implant had shuttered. For six years, the electronic implant had been saving him from the worst of his debilitating cluster headaches. The device needs regular maintenance, and when the remote’s battery malfunctioned, electrical engineer Möllmann-Bohle had to take matters into his own hands. Now he worries that one day the repairs will go beyond his abilities.
This editorially independent video was produced using footage recorded with financial support from FII Institute.
Infographic of the week
Infographic: Mohamed Ashour. Source: Ref. 8
The fight against tobacco smoking has reached different stages around the world. In many high-income countries, smoking rates are now on the way down (phase 2 or 3). Low- and middle-income countries are more likely to be in phase 1, meaning that smoking rates are yet to decline. There are stark differences between men and women: in some countries, smoking is prevalent among men but has not taken hold at all among women (phase 0). (Nature | 4 min read) (This article is part of Nature Outlook: Smoking, an editorially independent supplement produced with financial support from Haleon.)
