Science - USA (2022-02-04)

SCIENCE science.org

IMAGES: (TOP TO BOTTOM I. HEYWOOD/SARAO; CAROLYN A. MCKEONE/SCIENCE SOURCE

A French company

is developing the

larvae of the yellow

mealworm beetle

as a food source.

the yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio

molitor) to turn into powders and oils for

fishmeal and pig feed. In 2021, the com-

pany published the worm’s genome. Now,

it is working to identify strains of this

species and other beetles with desirable

traits, including faster growth and repro-

duction, more efficient food consumption,

and pathogen resistance. Most traits

involve a complicated tangle of genes, but

large-scale screening could speed the selec-

tion, specialists say. Food specialists say

mealworms could help alleviate food

insecurity. They are high in protein,

and raising them emits much

retire later this year, will leave a notable

imprint on the use of science in U.S.

courtrooms. During his 27 years on the

bench, he wrote opinions that helped

clarify how judges should decide what

kinds of expert testimony to allow. In 1999,

he authored a key opinion in Kumho Tire

Co. v. Carmichael, which established that a

judge’s gatekeeping authority applies not

only to testimony from witnesses who are

scientists, but also those who are engineers

or technical specialists. In a 1998 essay in

Science, Breyer argued that judges increas-

ingly needed education about technical

issues. And in a separate, 2000 essay, he

wrote that legal proceedings are not neces-

sarily a “search for scientific precision. ...

But the law must seek decisions that fall

within the boundaries of scientifically

sound knowledge.”

Breeding the ideal, edible worm

GENETICS | A French company last week

announced it is starting the first industrial

breeding program to grow beetle larvae on

a large scale as food for humans and ani-

mals. Ÿnsect already grows and processes

less greenhouse gas than other forms of

animal protein. Last year, the European

Food Safety Authority deemed the yellow

mealworm safe for human consumption.

Awards bypass Asian researchers

DIVERSITY | Asian scientists are mark-

edly underrepresented among recipients

of U.S. biomedical research prizes, an

analysis shows. Only 6.8% of 838 awardees

who received 14 top U.S. prizes, such as

the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research

Award, are of Asian descent, even though

they make up more than 20% of U.S.

biomedical faculty researchers, accord-

ing to a commentary this week in Cell.

For Black scientists, the picture is worse:

They make up 2.6% of biological science

faculty, but were shut out of the prizes.

But there’s some reason for hope: In the

past decade, the percentage of female

recipients of eight long-running prizes

increased substantially, from 10% to almost

30%, a change that may reflect efforts to

promote gender equality. To improve racial

and ethnic diversity, award panels should

encourage self-nominations, among other

ASTRONOMY

Telescope reveals plethora of mysterious Milky Way filaments

O

ne of the most detailed pictures yet of the center of the

Milky Way has revealed nearly 1000 mysterious strands

that slash across the plane of the galaxy, 10 times more

than previously known. The image, released last week by

South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope array, shows a

region 25,000 light-years from Earth. Colors denote the bright

radio emissions from objects such as stellar nurseries and

supernova remnants, the expanding shells of exploded stars.

The brightest spot of all is the home of the Milky Way’s giant

black hole, with a mass of 4 million Suns. But researchers were

also intrigued to find so many radio-emitting filaments, up to

150 light-years long, cutting across the scene. They are thought

to arise from electrons moving close to the speed of light as

they gyrate around magnetic field lines. But researchers don’t

know what accelerates the electrons, why the filaments exist

in regularly spaced clusters, or what creates the magnetic field

lines in the first place. Some suspect outbursts of the black

hole are responsible.

The bright plane of the galactic center is

crosscut by mysterious strands in this image

from a South African radio telescope array.

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