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The atmosphere of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c (artist’s illustration) might have been blasted away by its star’s radiation.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Another exoplanet has no atmosphere
The James Webb Space Telescope has not found a thick atmosphere on another exoplanet in the TRAPPIST-1 system, a planetary system that could be hospitable to life. Like its neighbour TRAPPIST-1 b, the planet TRAPPIST-1 c probably never had many ingredients for habitability. Because planets of this type are common around many stars, “that would definitely reduce the amount of planets which might be habitable”, says exoplanet researcher Sebastian Zieba. There is still a chance that some of the five other TRAPPIST-1 planets might have atmospheres containing geologically and biologically interesting compounds.
Nations wrestle with how to share virus data
The ‘pandemic treaty’ — a global agreement that nations are hammering out about how to respond to the next massive outbreak — needs guidelines for fair data sharing, researchers say. During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries whose viral-genome sequences enabled vaccine development were sometimes slow to receive those vaccines, if they got them at all. This situation could one day lead disease-affected countries to withhold crucial data. One solution offered by a group of African nations is to create a global fund where 1% of sales from vaccines and diagnostic equipment would be shared with low- and middle-income nations. Pharmaceutical firms have also offered to allocate a portion of their vaccines to these nations in return for sharing data. The committee drafting the treaty has less than one year to come to a consensus.
Sound put in quantum superposition
Mechanical waves can be put into superposition, the ability of quantum systems to be in multiple states at the same time until they are measured. Superposition has been demonstrated for quantum particles such as electrons and photons. Quantized sound waves called phonons can also live parallel quantum lives when they’re faced with an acoustic beam splitter, a barrier that phonons can either pass through or bounce back from. It's a step towards building quantum computers that can encode and process information in phonons.
Features & opinion
Gene hacking gives proteins new powers
Researchers can overcome nature’s limitations by tweaking the cellular apparatus that builds proteins from a genetic blueprint. Most life on Earth runs on just 20 amino acids — the building blocks of proteins — that are specified in the genetic code. By tinkering with the way words in the genetic code are translated into proteins, researchers can insert hundreds of unnatural amino acids to give proteins new abilities. This could, for example, make protein-based drugs more potent or turn living cells into factories for plastic polymers.
Coming out at work
To be productive, people must be able to express their true selves at work, say the trans scientists who recount their experiences of patchy workplace support, clumsy colleagues and administrative policies that overlook them. Many transgender scientists work and live in places with an increasingly hostile political landscape regarding trans rights. In at least 13 countries, being transgender is criminalized. “There’s this mainstream belief that trans people are constantly brand new, and the issues that affect us are also constantly brand new,” says historian Mar Hicks. “That’s just not true.”
Animal welfare and ‘speciesism’
We are all complicit in a global intensive farming industry that puts profit before animal welfare, suggests Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation Now. For most of this update of Singer’s 1975 book, Animal Liberation, ethical commentary takes a back seat to the dispassionate communication of facts, writes reviewer and philosopher of science Jonathan Birch. A valuable addition is the connections between animal welfare and the fight against climate change. Singer rests his arguments on the rejection of ‘speciesism’: discrimination on grounds of species. “I find this way of framing the issues unhelpful, and the new edition is a missed opportunity to take a different tack,” says Birch.
Where I work
Yuhan Hu is a PhD student researching mechanical engineering at Cornell University, New York.Credit: Jesse Winter for Nature
Mechanical engineer Yuhan Hu is giving robots goosebumps and forehead wrinkles: “Our robots can communicate through alterations to the shape, size and motion of textures on their skin,” she explains. Through touch, Hu hopes to bring robots and humans closer together. Texture-changing steering wheels could convey different traffic situations, and companion robots that rely on touch could better maintain privacy when used in people’s homes. (Nature | 3 min read)
