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"The second X chromosome helps women stave off cognitive decline."

Views expressed in this science and technology update are those of the reporters and correspondents.  Accessed on 06 March 2025, 2228 UTC.

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Russ Roberts (https://hawaiisciencejournal.blogspot.com).

 

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Hello Nature readers, Today we hear that the US National Institutes of Health are terminating swathes of diversity- and climate-related grants. Plus, we learn that bone tools have been around for much longer than we thought and that the second X chromosome in female cells isn’t so silent after all.

Women usually have two X chromosomes (shown here in an artist’s rendering), and one of them is inactivated early in development. (Cavallini James/BSIP/Alamy)

The second X chromosome does make noise The second X chromosome in female cells — previously thought to be ‘silent’ — might explain why women tend to live longer and be more resilient to cognitive decline than men. In mice, researchers found that ageing activates expression of the ‘silent’ X chromosome in cells in the hippocampus, a brain region crucial to learning and memory. When they boosted the expression of one of these genes in mature mice of both sexes, it improved the mice’s cognition, as measured by how well they explored a maze. Nature | 5 min read Reference: Science Advances paper

Humans and bone tools go way back Bone tools discovered in Tanzania reveal that ancient humans consistently used such tools at least one million years earlier than we thought. The previous estimate put the earliest use of bone tools at around 400,000 years ago. The new findings smash that record, dating the implements to around 1.5 million years ago. The utensils were crafted from elephant, hippopotamus and bovine bones, and were probably used for tasks such as butchering and digging out tubers, says palaeoanthropologist Jackson Njau. Nature | 4 min read Reference: Nature paper

How the brain knows when to give up In mice, the activity of three types of neurons is involved in the decision to persist with a task, explore new options, or give up. Researchers genetically engineered the neurons — which release the neurotransmitters GABA, glutamate and serotonin — so they could be switched on and off with light and placed the mice in a box with 20 unfamiliar objects. If researchers suppressed GABA-releasing neurons, the mice spent more time investigating one object. Turning off glutamate-related neurons made the mice shop around between objects more often, and if serotonin-producing neurons were inhibited, the mice lost interest altogether. Nature | 5 min read Reference: Nature paper

AI can act as star-collision oracle A machine-learning algorithm could alert researchers to the impending collision of two neutron stars, which would allow researchers to observe the crash in real time. The algorithm was trained on simulations of the data that a gravitational-wave observatory collects in the minutes before a rarely observed event called a kilonova — a merger of two neutron stars. The algorithm would enable observatories to tell astronomers that a collision is about to happen at a given time and location in the sky, with 30% more accuracy than existing rapid-response techniques. Nature | 4 min read Reference: Nature paper

85% The percentage of academics who said in a survey that if forced to choose, they would rather cite an article published by a researcher accused of sexual harassment than one accused of scientific fraud. That might not be how things pan out in reality, however: the same study revealed that researchers who are accused of sexual misconduct receive fewer citations after the media covers the allegations, but the citations of scientists publicly accused of scientific fraud remain unchanged. (Nature | 5 min read) Reference: PLoS ONE paper

Trump’s impact on US science

Exclusive: NIH ends diversity-related grants In an unprecedented move, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is terminating grants en masse for active projects that focus on people from sexual and gender minorities (LGBT+), environmental justice, climate change and more. At least 16 termination letters have already been sent — and hundreds more are coming, sources inside the NIH tell Nature. “For all this talk about free speech, this is direct censorship of scientific research,” says cognitive psychologist Lisa Fazio. The move might be illegal, say jurists. A federal judge has already ordered the US government to stop attempting to freeze federal grants, and the NIH is legally obliged to disburse the funds it's been allocated by Congress. Nature | 7 min read Bhattacharya grilled for NIH chief role During his confirmation hearing for director of the NIH, health economist Jay Bhattacharya distanced himself from turmoil caused by mass firings at the agency, and said that he is committed to ensuring that scientists have the funding to do their work — though he was short on details of how that would happen. Bhattacharya repeatedly emphasised the values of “scientific dissent”, saying he was subject to “censorship” under the administration of former president Joe Biden. Bhattacharya advocated a ‘herd immunity’ approach to the COVID pandemic — which former NIH director Francis Collins said would have cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Nature | 6 min read Notable quotable “The only way to win is to act — together, decisively and now. This is not a drill. It is a defining moment.” Neuroendocrinologist Rebecca Calisi Rodríguez calls for higher-education establishments to push back on the US Department of Education’s threats to withdraw federal funding from institutions that continue to run diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, or risk eroding decades of progress. (Nature | 5 min read)

Infographic of the week

Areas of deforestation in Amazonia affect rainfall patterns in both wet and dry seasons. In wet seasons heat from patches of cleared land pushes air upward to create an area of low pressure (top). This draws moisture from neighbouring areas, increasing rainfall over the cleared land and reducing it elsewhere. During a dry season, less moisture enters the atmosphere, which reduces rainfall over a wide region (bottom). (Nature News & Views | 7 min read) Reference: Nature paper

Quote of the day “The fact that we’re living up here in this very unique place gives you an amazing perspective … I don’t want to lose that spark of inspiration.” Astronaut Suni Williams, who has been living on the International Space Station for the last nine months, reflects on what she’ll miss when she returns to Earth this month. Williams’s stint on the station was only meant to last eight days. (BBC | 2 min video)

Today I’m appreciating the unicorn of the seas — the mighty narwhal (Monodon monoceros). A narwhal’s distinctive ‘horn’ (actually a very long, protruding tooth) might look threatening, but they don’t use them to fight. Instead, scientists think they use them to assess potential mates, sense changes in their environment and, as new research has revealed, play. Using a drone, researchers captured the elusive animals chasing fish and using their tusks to nudge them in a particular direction. It isn’t my idea of fun, but I’m sure those narwhals were having a ball. Help us nudge this newsletter in the right direction by sending your feedback to briefing@nature.com. Thanks for reading, Jacob Smith, associate editor, Nature Briefing With contributions by Flora Graham

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