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Daily briefing: How to save corals from the El Niño
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Coral reefs in the Philippines are still recovering from the last El Niño, even as another one gains strength.Credit: Alex Mustard/Nature Picture Library
Scientists warn we’re headed for a mass coral bleaching event around the globe, just a few years after the last coral crisis. Researchers working on coral restoration are doing what they can to help reefs survive and recover from record ocean temperatures. Approaches include breeding corals with improved tolerance to heat and acidity; treating corals with microbial cocktails and micronutrients; and luring coral larvae by playing the underwater sounds of a healthy reef. But these small-scale wins can only succeed alongside reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions, overfishing and pollution.
People were cut off by the flames and forced to escape through the windows of the Presidium building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. (Volodymyr Tarasov/Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty )
Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences has called for the global community to continue to shun Russian state scientific and educational institutions after Russia destroyed the society’s building in central Kyiv, killing two people, on Monday. “There can be no ‘science is above politics’ when science is under armed attacks,” the academy said.
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Reference: National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine statement
The OpenAI Foundation — the charity arm of the artificial-intelligence behemoth — is on track to become one of the wealthiest non-profit organizations on the planet. It has so far funded Alzheimer’s disease research, cancer vaccines and a pilot project to repurpose data from bankrupt biotechnology companies. “Part of the reason that we’re starting in the life sciences and health is that we think that’s one of the areas where AI can have the most benefit,” says Jacob Trefethen, who leads life sciences at the foundation.
The fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex might have had an internal body temperature similar to that of modern-day elephants — and not too dissimilar to humans. By examining the arrangement of isotopes in the enamel of fossilized T. rex teeth, researchers estimate that the dinosaur’s internal temperature was approximately 36 °C. Narrowing down the creature’s body temperature can hint at what kind of diet it needed to sustain its homeostasis, and where it was able to roam.