sciencemag.org SCIENCEPHOTO: LIDA XINGU.K. to test TB vaccine in cows
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT | After years of
controversy, the U.K. government is shift-
ing its approach to bovine tuberculosis
(bTB), a disease that leads to the culling
of more than 30,000 cows per year. The
disease has been hard to eliminate, in
part because badgers can spread it to
cattle; shooting the wild animals has led
to protests. Last week, the Department
for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
outlined a plan to phase out badger
culling and to trap and vaccinate more
badgers. Adopting recommendations
from an independent scientific review
of the government’s 25-year strategy
(Science, 16 November 2018, p. 729), the
agency says it will conduct field trials
for a more sensitive bTB test to catch
outbreaks sooner. It also plans to fund
testing of a cattle vaccine that might be
deployed within 5 years.
MeTooSTEM backs founder
WORKPLACE | The board of MeTooSTEM
last week stood behind the group’s
embattled founder, BethAnn McLaughlin,
despite recent calls for her resignation.
McLaughlin, who launched the nonprofit
in 2018 to support survivors of sexual
harassment in science, has been under
fire from former group members who
allege that she bullies colleagues and
sidelines women of color. In a 2 March
statement, the board said it had asked
McLaughlin “to continue to serve in a
leadership position.” McLaughlin said she
was “heartened by the board’s response.”
The board includes McLaughlin’s brother,
John McLaughlin; Nobel laureate Carol
Greider, a biologist at Johns Hopkins
University; and Vicki Lundblad, who sued
the Salk Institute for Biological Studies
for gender discrimination in 2017. The
lawsuit was settled out of court.Europe aims for zero emissions
CLIMATE CHANGE | The European
Commission last week unveiled legislation
that would make the bloc of 27 nations
climate neutral by 2050, turning into law
promises made last year by every mem-
ber except Poland. The proposed law,
which requires approval by the European
Parliament and its member states, would
reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero
by 2050 across the entire bloc; some nations
could overachieve to offset laggards. The law
doesn’t mention targets for 2030, a more con-
tentious issue. Activists, including Swedish
teenager Greta Thunberg, have urged the
European Union to improve on its current
2030 goal of 40% reductions. The commis-
sion says it intends to put forth a plan by
September to raise that target to at least 50%.SCIENCEMAG.ORG/NEWS
Read more news from Science online.156
kilometers
Proximity to the North Pole of the
MOSAiC expedition’s research
icebreaker Polarstern as of
24 February, when it set a record
for the farthest north a ship
has ventured in Arctic winter.63%
Decline in area of Myanmar
covered by mangroves between
1996 and 2016 as a result
of “catastrophic deforestation”
to expand agriculture.
(Environmental Research Letters)~
Vultures found dead in
Guinea Bissau since February,
possibly because of eating
poisoned animal carcasses meant
to kill feral dogs. Most were
hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes
monachus), a species already
critically endangered. (Vulture
Conservation Foundation)BY THE NUMBERSPALEONTOLOGYAsian amber captures the tiniest dino
T
his tiny head, just 7 millimeters long (about the size of a housefly), is a remnant of one of
the smallest dinosaurs ever found. Entombed in amber for nearly 100 million years, it
belonged to the group of dinosaurs that gave rise to modern birds. It was probably about
the size of the bee hummingbird, the smallest living bird. The fossil, discovered in Myanmar,
is called Oculudentavis khaungraae, or “eye-tooth bird.” It has large eye sockets on the
sides of its head like modern lizards, and its eyes have narrow openings that limit incoming light.
That’s a strong hint that the animal was active during the day. Its upper and lower jaws are full
of sharp teeth—the most found on any ancestral bird—which implies that it was a predator that
likely ate insects and other small invertebrates, researchers report this week in Nature. They
think the species’ tiny size is an example of “island dwarfism,” as it likely inhabited an arc of
islands that existed where Myanmar is today. Without the rest of the body, they can’t tell exactly
how Oculudentavis is related to other birdlike dinosaurs, but the researchers suspect it belongs
to a group of relatively primitive birds, perhaps similar to Archaeopteryx and Jeholornis, species
that lived between 150 million and 120 million years ago.NEWS | IN BRIEF
1174 13 MARCH 2020 • VOL 367 ISSUE 6483
Published by AAAS