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Firefighters in Lake Elsinore, California, battled a wildfire in 2018 that eventually burned more than 9,300 hectares of land.Credit: Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty

Next month, in Utah, a US Forest Service helicopter will set a forest on fire — on purpose. The main goal is to support healthy tree growth, but the event will also give researchers a rare chance to study a large fire from start to finish. They will use drones, radar and other equipment to track how the 900-hectare burn spreads as part of a broader push to gather data from wildfires in western North America as they happen.

Nature | 4 min read

After decades of trying, researchers have grown large numbers of blood-forming stem cells in the lab. The secret ingredient: polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), the main ingredient in PVA glue. PVA replaces albumin, the human blood protein that scientists had tried — and failed — to use as a growth medium for the cells. After being injected into mice, the cells started to produce key components of blood. “This has been my life goal,” says stem-cell biologist Hiromitsu Nakauchi.

Nature | 4 min read

Reference: Nature paper

One of the world’s top genomics centres — the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK — has decided to close a laboratory dedicated to animal research that supplies mouse strains to thousands of genetic researchers worldwide. The institute’s scientific strategy is shifting towards alternative projects, such as the Darwin Tree of Life, which will sequence the genetic codes of 66,000 species of UK plants and animals. Sanger’s decision worries some scientists, who fear the UK centre could fall behind.

Nature | 5 min read

Read more: ‘Why not sequence everything?’ A﻿ plan to decode every complex species on Earth ( from November)

For the first time, the annual Leiden Ranking — which assesses universities’ scientific performance on the basis of bibliometrics — includes a gender-balance metric that calculates the proportion of women authors. Universities in South America and Eastern Europe dominate the top ten. Unhappily, the trend might be because science jobs in these regions pay comparatively low wages, potentially pushing men towards higher-paying positions in other sectors or countries.

Nature | 4 min read

Source: Leiden Ranking

FEATURES & OPINION

The second phase of the 10-year NIH-funded Human Microbiome Project (HMP2) has come to fruition with the publication of key discoveries such as the role of dietary fibre in nourishing people’s gut microbiota. Now is a good moment for reflection, says Lita Proctor, the former coordinator of HMP2. She argues that the dream of microbiome-based medicine requires a fresh approach — an ecological and evolutionary understanding of host–microbe interactions.

Nature | 9 min read

Read more: A collection of commentary and research publications from across Nature journals and related publications from the HMP2

Reference: Nature paper

Chinese scientists who immigrated to the United States face a turbulent reality, says particle physicist Yangyang Cheng. “Where do their hearts and bodies belong?” she asks in a wide-ranging exploration of personal and political history. “In their home country, where an authoritarian government is increasing its hold on society, aided by technology for surveillance and censorship? Or in a country whose president actively rejects them, where they are painted as spies?”

SupChina | 11 min read