Science - USA (2021-11-05)

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ILLUSTRATION: LA BREA TAR PITS

NEWS | IN BRIEF

when picking proposals. Last week, NIH also
released an agencywide notice that encour-
ages applications from underrepresented
groups, but the applications won’t be tagged
as such. Outside scientists voiced disap-
pointment, noting that program officers
won’t know which applications come from
scientists from underrepresented groups.
The now-rescinded policy came after NIH
Director Francis Collins apologized in March
for “structural racism” in science. Data
through 2020 show a long-standing gap
between white and Black investigators’ suc-
cess rates when applying for research grants
had narrowed only slightly.

MIT food computer paper pulled

PUBLISHING|The journal PLOS ONE last
week retracted a controversial 2019 paper

co-authored by scientists at Massachusetts

Institute of Technology’s (MIT’s) Media Lab

about a “food computer” it suggested could

revolutionize agriculture by identifying

optimum growing conditions. The retraction

notice cited “concerns about the reliability

of the article’s results and conclusions” and

said the latter were not supported by experi-

mental data. The retraction followed the

filing in August of a wrongful termination

lawsuit against MIT by Babak Babakinejad,

a scientist who ran the food computer proj-

ect. He says he was fired after he complained

about the paper to MIT officials. MIT’s news

office ended up widely promoting it. This

week the institute declined to comment

on the pending litigation, but wrote in an

emailed statement: “Ensuring an accurate

research record is important to MIT, and we

have updated our MIT News article about

this paper to reflect the retraction.” The

retraction adds to a string of troubles

for the Media Lab, whose former director,

Joi Ito, resigned in 2019.

Gene therapy gets a boost

BIOMEDICINE|A new U.S. public-private

partnership is putting up $75 million

over 5 years to speed the development

of genetic treatments for rare inherited

diseases. The Bespoke Gene Therapy

Consortium, announced on 27 October, will

focus on adeno-associated viruses (AAVs),

a widely used vehicle to introduce new

genes into cells. Researchers will study

the basic biology of AAV gene delivery,

and how to streamline manufacturing

of the viruses and regulatory steps such

as toxicology testing. The consortium

will also launch four to six clinical trials.

Participants include the National Institutes

of Health, which will contribute just over

half the funding; the Food and Drug

Administration; 10 companies; and five

nonprofit groups, including the Foundation

for the National Institutes of Health, which

will manage the project. The United States

has only approved gene therapies for

two inherited diseases—spinal muscular

atrophy and a blindness disorder.

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

Did social bonds help disabled sabertooth survive?

R

endered lame by hip dysplasia, a sabertoothed cat couldn’t have hunted, dooming

it to a premature death—unless it got a helping hand. Last week, a research team

described in Scientific Reports evidence for just that, supporting previous work

indicating these big cats lived in social groups. The team used computed tomo-

graphy imaging to create 3D models of a fossil pelvis and right femur from an adult

sabertoothed tiger that died more than 11,000 years ago and was found in California’s

La Brea tar pits. They discovered the cat’s hip joint had been afflicted by hip dysplasia

from a young age; common in modern pet dogs and cats, the condition can cause

hip dislocations. The researchers suggest other sabertoothed cats must have shared

their kills with their injured companion. Smilodon outnumber herbivores at the La Brea

pits, leading scientists to speculate that they hunted in packs.

Sabertoothed tigers needed

healthy hips to leap on

and take down big prey.

4%

Share of global funding for climate

change research that goes to

topics in Africa, even though the

United Nations deems the continent

the most vulnerable to climate

impacts. African institutions receive

less than one-quarter of the money.

(Climate and Development)

$1.

billion

Funding obtained by 18 private fusion

energy companies, according to the

first annual report about their industry.

Two-thirds of the 23 companies

featured were founded in or after 2010.

(Fusion Industry Association,

U.K. Atomic Energy Authority)

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