Science - USA (2022-05-27)

science.org SCIENCE

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victory in the country’s 21 May elections.

That target is significantly more ambi-

tious than the 26% to 28% cut envisioned

by the Liberal-National Coalition that had

held power since 2013. Critics had derided

the Liberal-National target as woefully

insufficient. Labor’s energy plan calls for

increasing reliance on renewables, cutting

taxes on electric vehicles, modernizing the

electricity grid, and requiring the public

sector to reach net zero emissions by 2030.

Support for the party grew the most in

parliamentary districts that had suffered

recent bushfires, floods, and droughts,

according to an analysis by the Climate

Council, an environmental organization.

“Climate action is the winner of this elec-

tion,” the council said.

Paleontologist statue unveiled

HISTORY OF SCIENCE | The paleontology

pioneer Mary Anning finally has a

statue honoring her contributions to the

understanding of Earth’s past. On 21 May,

organizers officially unveiled the statue

in Lyme Regis on southern England’s

Jurassic Coast. Anning collected fossils

NEWS

“

I’m horrified. ... It’s a complete and total

distortion in so many ways.

”

Behavioral economist Daniel Benjamin of the University of California, Los Angeles, to STAT, on the

Buffalo, New York shooting suspect’s citation of Benjamin’s genetics research in his racist manifesto.

A new life-size bronze statue of Mary Anning drew

a crowd in Lyme Regis, England.

A

federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order against

a major supplier of beagles for research. The action—directed

at a Cumberland, Virginia, breeding facility run by Envigo—is

in response to an animal welfare complaint filed last week by

the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which has now removed

145 puppies from the operation. Last year, U.S. Department

of Agriculture inspectors found dozens of wounded, sick, and suffer-

ing animals at the facility, and records of hundreds of uninvestigated

puppy deaths, prompting a crackdown by Virginia lawmakers. “[T]he

Government has provided sufficient evidence that Envigo is engaged in

serious and ongoing violations of the Animal Welfare Act,” the judge’s

21 May order states. The operation must “immediately cease breeding,

selling, or otherwise dealing in beagles.” Envigo denies the allegations

and says it is “fully cooperating with DOJ and other involved authorities.”

IN BRIEF

Edited by Kelly Servick

ANIMAL WELFARE

Judge suspends dog facility

Will young kids get mRNA shots?

COVID19 | More data suggest the COVID-
19 vaccines made with messenger RNA
(mRNA) can safely protect young children,
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said in a
press release this week. Three low doses of
their vaccine given to 1678 children who
were at least 6 months old but younger
than 5 years old led to a “strong immune
response” that mirrors what has been
seen in 16- to 25-year-olds who got two
shots with a dose 10 times higher. The
ongoing study only observed 10 illnesses,
leading to a preliminary estimate of 80%
efficacy against disease. Moderna earlier
reported positive immune responses but
a much lower efficacy against disease in
a group of young children who received
two shots of its mRNA vaccine given at
one-fourth the dose used in adults. Both
companies have asked for emergency use
authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, which will convene its
vaccine advisory committee to discuss the
data on 15 June.

‘Good faith’ hackers protected

CYBERSECURITY | Researchers probing a

website’s security flaws in “good faith” will

no longer face the risk of being prosecuted

for hacking under a long-standing U.S.

law, according to a new policy released

last week by the Department of Justice.

Research into the vulnerabilities of cor-

porate or government sites or devices has

long carried the possibility of violating the

1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. But

the 19 May policy revision says violating

the access restrictions in a website’s terms

of service, for example, does not in itself

warrant criminal charges, as long as fed-

eral prosecutors conclude the research was

“designed to avoid any harm to individuals

or the public” and not to extort the owners

of a site or device.

Australia pledges climate action

CLIMATE POLICY | The Australian Labor

Party’s ambitious plan to cut 2005 carbon

emissions 43% by 2030 helped propel it to

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