a very or moderately big problem that
hasn’t gotten better. Black Americans
were more likely than all U.S. adults to
say they have heard a lot (49%) or a little
(26%) about the syphilis study, run by
the U.S. Public Health Service from 1932
to 1972. Researchers deliberately with-
held treatment from Black men with the
sexually transmitted disease, leading to a
worsening of symptoms and preventable
deaths among participants. Today, Black
people volunteer to participate in clinical
research at disproportionately low rates,
which scientists attribute to both the
Tuskegee study’s legacy and modern-day
racism among health care professionals.Donated cells shrink blood tumors
CLINICAL RESEARCH | Donated immune
cells, mixed in a dish with a molecule that
helps them home in on blood cancer cells,
caused striking improvement in most of
22 people with lymphoma who received
experimental infusions, researchers said
this week. The new treatment, reported
at the annual meeting of the American
Association for Cancer Research, isSCIENCE science.org 15 APRIL 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6590 225PHOTO: ALDARA ZARRAOA/GETTY IMAGES
purported target of the initiative. In fall
2021, another academic scientist, Anming
Hu, was acquitted of similar charges of
failing to disclose ties to China after the
judge in that case rejected the govern-
ment’s claim that Hu had sought to cheat
NASA. “There is a lot of commonality
between that case and this one, factually,”
Robinson told lawyers before the jury in
Tao’s case reached its verdict. Tao has been
on unpaid leave from the university since
his arrest and faces mounting legal bills.Elusive woodpecker seen again?
ORNITHOLOGY | A team of scientists last
week presented new evidence that the
ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus
principalis), long feared extinct, persists
in swampy forests of Louisiana. Other
researchers have voiced skepticism;
previous claims from other scientists
have not been verified. Project Principalis
has been searching for the species for
10 years, recently using drones and
automated, ground-level cameras. In a
preprint posted to the bioRxiv server,
Steven Latta of the National Aviary andcolleagues describe several photographs
and videos of what they identify as mul-
tiple ivory-billed woodpeckers. “We are
fully confident,” he says. In September
2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
proposed declaring the giant woodpecker
extinct—the last conclusive evidence is
from 1944—and removing it from the
Endangered Species List. But in January,
the service reopened a comment period to
gather further evidence. Meanwhile, the
researchers are continuing their search,
including for traces of DNA.Black people still wary of research
PUBLIC OPINION | Fifty years after
the infamous syphilis experiment in
Tuskegee , Alabama, was exposed, Black
Americans harbor cautious, nuanced
views of medical research, according to a
Pew Research Center survey released last
week. One-third say medical research-
ers do a good job all or most of the time,
and 46%—almost half—say they do
some of the time. But more than half of
the 3546 Black respondents described
misconduct by medical researchers asPolice remove a
protester from
Spain’s parliament as
scientists demanded
quick action on
climate change.POLICYScientists arrested in widespread climate protests
R
esearchers in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles were
arrested last week after chaining themselves to a fence
around the White House and the front doors of a J.P. Morgan
Chase building, respectively, as part of global actions
protesting governments’ failure to stop climate change. The
demonstrations were organized by the coalition Scientist Rebellion
and included a total of about 1000 participants in 25 countries, the
group says. Demonstrators clashed with police in many locations,including in Madrid, where protesters in lab coats threw fake blood
on the steps of the Spanish parliament. The protests were in
response to the release this month of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change’s most recent report, which implored world
leaders to quickly switch to carbon-free energy. “We’re not joking,
we’re not lying, we’re not exaggerating. This is so bad that we’re
willing to take this risk,” NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus
tweeted before being arrested in Los Angeles.