560 6 MAY 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6593 science.org SCIENCEPHOTO: NASA/JIM ROSS5 years; the institute also retains a separate
location in Rockville, Maryland. Many
of JCVI’s scientists already held joint
appointments at UCSD, and JCVI is consid-
ering a follow-up deal to transfer some of
its research programs to the university,
the institute said in a press release. The
sale came after JCVI’s revenue had
dropped by nearly half from 2018 to 2019,
to $23.8 million, according to its federal
tax filing for 2019. Selling the building
“was an opportunity to free up resources to
continue the important research programs
that Craig and JCVI are doing and want to
do,” a spokesperson said. JCVI was created
in 2006 from the merger of the Institute for
Genomic Research, which Venter founded
in 1992, and other Venter-backed research
organizations. Among JCVI’s genetics
accomplishments is creating the first cell
with a completely synthetic genome. Before
that, Venter played a key role in sequencing
the human genome.Fund minority schools, panel says
DIVERSITY | Black colleges need more
money, not just kind words, from the U.S.
Department of Defense (DOD), an expert
panel says. Historically Black colleges and
universities (HBCUs) received just 0.4% of
DOD’s $6.6 billion annual budget for basic
research in 2019, according to a28 April report from the National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and
Medicine. “There is a clear disconnect
between the expressed encouragement by
Congress and DOD to increase participa-
tion of [minority-serving institutions] in
defense-funded research and the resources
allocated,” the report says. It notes that
NASA and the Department of Energy give
HBCUs a much bigger slice—0.9%—of
their research budgets. This year, Congress
appropriated $100 million, double DOD’s
request, for a program that targets
institutions enrolling large numbers of
underrepresented students. The report says
DOD officials should be asking for at least
that amount each year for the program.Diabetes compound cuts weight
BIOMEDICINE | An experimental diabetes
drug used to also treat obesity helped people
lose up to 22.5% of their body weight over
16 months, according to unpublished data
released last week by the drug’s manufac-
turer. In a press release, Eli Lilly & Company
said about 630 people who gave themselves
a weekly, 15-milligram injection of the drug,
tirzepatide, lost 23 kilograms on average.
Others taking lower doses lost less weight,
and those receiving a placebo lost only
2 kilograms. Tirzepatide, developed for
people with type 2 diabetes, mimics two guthormones—glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)
and gastric inhibitory polypeptide—that
curb appetite and slow stomach emptying,
which helps people eat less. Another GLP-1–
mimicking drug, Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide
(Wegovy), approved by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration in June 2021, helped
people lose 15% of their body weight over a
similar period. Some specialists have called
the two drugs important alternatives to
bariatric surgery for obesity. One unknown is
whether health insurers will cover the drugs;
Wegovy’s list price is $1350 a month.New font of exotic nuclei opens
NUCLEAR PHYSICS | The U.S. Department
of Energy this week officially opened the
Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at
Michigan State University. Researchers
hope to use it to improve understanding
of how heavier elements are forged in
stellar explosions, among other topics. The
$730 million linear accelerator can gener-
ate beams of any atomic nucleus from
hydrogen to uranium. Physicists fire the
beam through a graphite target to break
the nuclei into lighter, exotic ones rich in
neutrons. FRIB may produce 1000 kinds
of nuclei never before observed.ASTRONOMYNASA grounds airborne telescope over cost concerns
N
ASA and its partner the German Space Agency said last week they will shut down the Stratospheric
Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA, pictured), a 2.5-meter telescope mounted in a Boeing
747 that flies above infrared-absorbing layers of the atmosphere. Working since 2014 to observe
planets, star-forming regions, and nearby galaxies, SOFIA discovered water on the sunlit surface of
the Moon in 2020. But astronomers said its high operating cost—$85 million annually, close to
that of the Hubble Space Telescope—was not justified by its scientific output. The 2021 decadal
survey in astrophysics, a high-level community report, recommended its termination. Defenders
say it is the only instrument that can observe at far-infrared wavelengths. Congress has
thwarted NASA’s previous attempts to ax SOFIA.SCIENCE.ORG/NEWS
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