‘Every time one of us is rejected, dismissed or murdered, I question why I’m still in academia’
As marchers in the United States and around the world filled the streets this past week to protest against police brutality and racial injustice, Black scientists grieved openly on social media, calling for action on racism in society and in science. Many stated ways in which institutions and colleagues, from...
Journalist’s notebook: I saw a woman gang-raped, uterus burned with hot metal rod, so no Tigrayan womb can give birth
Lucy Kassa is an Ethiopian journalist whose reporting on the war in Tigray has exposed massacres, sexual violence, man-made starvation, and other grave human rights abuses. She has been attacked and threatened for her work, but has refused to stay silent. Here, she reflects on the emotional toll of covering...
Why damage from natural hazards is severest in societies with low incomes
The year 2020 saw further devastating floods, caused by storms such as Cyclone Amphan in South Asia and a record-breaking hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean. It is now clear that the changing climate is making coastal flooding more frequent, downpours heavier and storms wetter. Less appreciated is that the...
Vaccine made of live malaria parasites shows early success in clinical trial
An experimental malaria vaccine that contains live parasites protected nearly all recipients from infection in a small clinical trial. Participants in the study, published on June 30 in Nature, were given a shot containing live Plasmodium falciparum parasites, along with drugs to kill any parasites that reached the liver or...
