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Helmeted hornbills (Rhinoplax vigil) eat fruit and so are key to seed dispersal. Over-trading in this species is likely to damage its native ecosystem.Credit: Tim Plowden/Alamy
Map reveals true cost of wildlife trade
A map that identifies hotspots where wildlife trade could cause the most damage might help conservation scientists and policymakers to decide where to focus resources. Species’ evolutionary histories and information about their ecological roles were mapped onto data about illegal and legal trade of birds and mammals. The map shows the potential impact of removing a species from an ecosystem.
Seven generations of a prehistoric family
A Neolithic farming community from 6,500 years ago in modern-day France was mostly one big family. DNA analysis of 94 individuals found at a burial site revealed that two-thirds were members of a single family that spanned seven generations. No half-siblings were uncovered, suggesting that monogamy was standard. And most adult women were not closely related to others in the group, which indicates that male descendants tended to stay put, whereas women moved around.
What Oppenheimer gets right
“All in all, a really good job,” says atomic-bomb historian Richard Rhodes about Oppenheimer. The film is right in portraying US theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer as both remorseful and proud for his involvement in creating the first nuclear weapons, says Rhodes. He suggests that the portrayal of Oppenheimer’s downfall, after he opposed the hydrogen bomb, is an intentional message to scientists today: standing up in the political arena comes with consequences. Overall, Rhodes says, scientists in the film seem to be the “good guys … which is quite an achievement when you think of what they were working on”.
Crucial ocean current could collapse
An important part of Earth's climate system could shut down around the middle of the century, two researchers warn. Collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation could decrease temperatures in northern Europe and increase warming in the tropics. There have been signs that cold water from melting ice sheets has already weakened the current. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that it won’t collapse this century, and other climate scientists say the timing suggested in the new analysis should be taken with a pinch of salt. It’s based on extrapolating data on sea surface temperatures in one region of the Atlantic, which represents “only one part of a highly complex, dynamical system”, says oceanographer Marilena Oltmanns.
The Washington Post | 4 min read
Reference: Nature Communications paper
Features & opinion
How to eliminate urban ‘shade deserts’
Cities must work to provide cooling cover and eliminate the ‘shade deserts’ that disproportionately affect low-income communities, argue three urban-geography and climate researchers. Shade is one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to reduce heat-related health risks outdoors. And it’s simple to create with trees, buildings, canopies, shade sails, awnings and walls — but it is “frequently overlooked in urban planning and climate-change mitigation strategies,” the trio writes.
Research needs to break open AI’s black box
Large language models (LLMs), a type of artificial intelligence (AI), can write poetry, code and pass tough exams. Often, the precise reasons why they behave the way they do are not known — even to their own creators. “Revealing their true nature is urgent and important,” argues a Nature editorial. To really assess LLMs’ abilities and limitations, researchers need to understand how they work and find new ways of testing them. “Similar to the processes that medicines go through to attain approval as treatments and to uncover possible side effects, assessments of AI systems could allow them to be deemed safe for certain applications,” the editorial suggests.
Image of the week
A community-science app led researchers to the Los Angeles thread millipede (Illacme socal), a tiny, blind, translucent arthropod with 486 legs. The newly described species was found in a suburban hiking area near shops and a large road. The discovery is the perfect example of an unexplored frontier, says ecologist Daniel Gluesenkamp. “We need to be investing in local parks, we need to be saving any little patch of wild land, even if it’s surrounded by housing and parking lots.” (Associated Press | 4 min read, Reference: ZooKeys paper)
