science.org SCIENCEPHOTO: IRAMelected to parliament. Social Democrat Olaf
Scholz is expected to become chancellor
next week, after the parties approve the
coalition agreement.House science chair to retire
LEADERSHIP | U.S. Representative Eddie
Bernice Johnson (D–TX), who championed
increased federal support for research
and expanding opportunities in science
for women and people of color during
her 3 decades in Washington, D.C., plans
to retire from Congress at the end of- The first Black woman to chair the
committee, Johnson has teamed with the
panel’s top Republican, Representative
Frank Lucas (OK), to stake out a centrist
position on issues ranging from combating
climate change and stamping out research
misconduct to addressing China’s growing
scientific prowess.
Africa to join black hole viewing
ASTRONOMY | The Event Horizon
Telescope (EHT), a global array of radio
telescopes that in 2019 produced the
first image of a black hole, will sharpen
its vision with the addition in Namibia
of the African Millimetre Telescope, the
first such instrument on the continent.
The project was approved this week after
Radboud University in the Netherlands
agreed to support the project with €
million per year for operations and €1.
million toward its expected €10 million
construction costs. The team is negotiat-
ing with other institutions to secure the
remaining funding. EHT achieves highNEWS
The design of an African telescope will be based on
one on a peak in France.T
he drug company Merck & Co. last week reported its COVID-
antiviral pill works less well than preliminary data suggested. In
a press release, Merck announced that molnupiravir, which is de-
signed to be taken within days of symptom onset, slices the risk
of hospitalization and death by 30%, based on an analysis of the
1433 participants enrolled in its clinical trial. That’s down from
the 50% reduction Merck announced on 1 October based on an interim
analysis of the first 762 participants. The difference between interim
and final results appears largely due to lower risk of hospitalization or
death in the placebo group, with the rate dropping from 14.1% in the
interim analysis to 9.7% in the final one. Among participants getting
the antiviral, the chance of hospitalization or death went from 7.3% to
6.8% when all the volunteers were studied. This week, a U.S. advisory
committee narrowly recommended its use, suggesting restrictions on
who should have access given concerns about side effects.IN BRIEF
Edited by Jeffrey BrainardCOVID Antiviral pill loses some luster
Vaccine network to expand
CORONAVIRUS | The world’s larg-
est COVID-19 vaccine testing network
announced last week it will expand to
support development of vaccines against
other diseases that could cause a global
health crisis. The Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a part-
nership of public and private donors, last
year launched a multicontinent laboratory
network that aimed to hasten COVID-
vaccine development by standardizing the
reagents and protocols used in preclini-
cal and early clinical testing of vaccines.
Thirty developers of COVID-19 vaccines
are using the network to assess whether
their candidate can advance to late-stage
clinical trials. Now, CEPI says the network
will assess vaccines against other diseases
that could cause an epidemic or pandemic,
including Lassa fever, Middle East respira-
tory syndrome, Nipah, chikungunya, and
Rift Valley fever. It will also prepare for
“disease X”—the as-yet unknown patho-
gen that might one day cause the next
pandemic. The expansion aims to draw inlaboratories in regions where the network
currently has no presence, including Africa,
Oceania, and South America.Germany IDs science priorities
LEADERSHIP | Germany’s new coalition
government—which will replace that of
retiring Chancellor Angela Merkel—last
week named a research minister and laid
out policy priorities for science, including
strengthening universities and boosting
research spending to 3.5% of gross domestic
product. In their agreement to form a
government, the coalition—which includes
the Social Democratic Party, the Greens,
and the Free Democratic Party (FDP)—
also outlines plans to protect biodiversity
and reduce Germany’s greenhouse gas
emissions enough to meet a global 1.5°C
warming limit. The pact does not mention
the regulation of genetically modified crops,
a point of disagreement between the Greens
and FDP. The designated research and edu-
cation minister is Bettina Stark-Watzinger,
an FDP member who led a banking and
finance research institute before being“
It’s an unfortunate historic record, but it’s a record.
”
Brown University physician Eli Adashi, in Nature Biotechnology, arguing that
medical information from the babies born from He Jiankui’s human gene-editing experiments
in China should be preserved as a record of his unethical conduct.1176 3 DECEMBER 2021 • VOL 374 ISSUE 6572