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Changes to the genomes of human embryos, such as those shown here, can be passed down to future generations.Credit: Jim Dyson/Getty

A World Health Organization (WHO) panel says that the agency should create a global registry of studies that involve editing the human genome. The group stopped short of calling for a permanent moratorium, as suggested in a recent article by leading ethicists and researchers in Nature.

Adopt a moratorium on heritable genome editing

The WHO panel was formed following the claim made by biophysicist He Jiankui that he had used CRISPR to edit the DNA of two embryos that developed into healthy baby girls. He’s work was controversial because such edits can be passed onto future generations, unlike widely accepted approaches that edit a person’s DNA in a way that can’t be inherited by their children. Both types of gene editing would be included in the WHO panel’s proposed registry.

Nature | 4 min read

Two experiments designed to solve a dark-matter mystery have added to the suspense by turning up opposite results. For more than two decades, a beguiling dark-matter signal has been consistently reported by the DAMA particle detector experiment, located underground at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. One of the two copycat experiments found seasonal fluctuations that support the idea that Earth is moving through a halo of dark-matter particles that surrounds the Milky Way. The other test showed fluctuations, but not with the same seasonal cycle.

Nature | 4 min read

Canada’s 2019 budget includes no new money for the country’s three main research granting agencies, and gives only modest increases for priorities including neuroscience and genomics research. It’s a far cry from last year, when the budget gave a historic five-year, Can $4-billion (US$3-billion) boost to basic science and research. The government also proposed setting up a more accountable and transparent framework to decide where science funding goes.

Nature | 4 min read

The UK government says that it will put up £60 million to keep the Joint European Torus (JET) running. The British nuclear-fusion laboratory currently has only a short-term funding contract with the European Commission, which runs out on 28 March, the day before Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union. A UK government spokesperson said that the money for JET (equivalent to US$80 million) would come from existing funds earmarked for science.

Nature | 3 min read

A nurse who began to smell her husband’s Parkinson’s disease years before he was diagnosed has helped researchers to develop a potential new test for the disease. Neurobiologist Tilo Kunath discovered Joy Milne’s unusual skill in 2016 when she mentioned that people with Parkinson’s shared a distinctive smell. Milne has now collaborated with researchers to identify four compounds present in sebum from the skin of people with Parkinson’s, which seem to be responsible for the odour. Scientists hope that the finding might lead to a non-invasive test that diagnoses the disease long before motor symptoms appear.

The Guardian | 6 min read

Reference: ASC Central Science paper

FEATURES & OPINION

Researchers are hijacking the cell’s protein-disposal system in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease and intractable cancers. Proteolysis-targeting chimaeras, or PROTACs, and other compounds like them destroy rather than inhibit proteins. Importantly, they can bind to target proteins where other drugs can’t. “This is new territory,” says biochemist Alessio Ciulli. “We’re breaking the rules of what we thought would be druggable.”

Nature | 11 min read

Graphic designer Shiz Aoki built BioRender, a browser-based tool for scientific illustration, after being disheartened by seeing exciting findings with figures that “looked like children’s crayon drawings”. The application includes nearly 200 templates for everything from blood vessels to the Krebs cycle. BioRender is free for basic educational use, but a paid subscription is required to publish a figure.

Nature Index | 6 min read

From remote field sites to open laboratory spaces, research careers present unusual challenges for breastfeeding scientists. Six contributors to the 500 Women Scientists blog share stories of how people cope, explore what workplaces can do better and consider how to support ourselves and each other.

Scientific American | 19 min read