Daily briefing: China eliminates malaria

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Viruses come in all shapes and sizes, such as the giant mimivirus (top right) and the lunar-lander-shaped bacteriophage (centre).Credit: False-colour electron micrographs (not to same

scale). Top row L–R: Smallpox virus; Acidianus bottle-shaped virus; Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus. centre row L–R: Rabies virus; T4 bacteriophage; rotavirus. Bottom row L–R: Ebola virus;

Tobacco rattle virus; HIV-2. SPL; M. Häring et al./J. Virol.; E. Ghigo et al./PLOS Pathog.; Frederick A. Murphy/CDC Global

Scientists estimate that there are about 1031 individual viral particles inhabiting the ocean at any given time — 10 billion times the estimated number of stars in the known Universe. But

we’ve officially named only 9,110 virus species. Now, we are seeing an explosion in viral classification, thanks to changes that allow scientists to judge viruses on the basis of their

genomes, instead of having to culture them and their hosts. The wealth of information is feeding a new wave of discovery about how endless variations of viruses propel evolution by shuttling

genes between hosts.

Nature | 13 min read

The landmark approval of an Alzheimer’s drug has raised the possibility that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be more willing to fast-track treatments for neurodegenerative

diseases. The approval of Biogen’s aducanumab was controversial — one FDA adviser called it “probably the worst drug-approval decision in recent US history”. Nevertheless, some scientists

hope that it will spark renewed investment and innovation from drug developers to tackle conditions such as motor neuron disease, Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Read more: Landmark Alzheimer’s drug approval confounds research community (Nature | 7 min read)

China — a country that had 30 million cases of malaria per year in the 1940s — is officially free of the disease. Among the innovations that helped to achieve the milestone was

pharmaceutical chemist Tu Youyou’s Nobel-winning work on the malaria treatment artemisinin. China is the fortieth country to be certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization, which

requires at least three consecutive years of zero non-imported cases.

Astronomers have observed the rare death spiral of a black hole and a neutron star — twice. On 5 January 2020, researchers at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory in the

United States and the Virgo observatory in Italy spotted the first clear evidence of a collision between the super-dense star and the inescapable cosmic phenomenon. Then, ten days later,

they saw another one. Both times, the signals were gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime caused by the merging of two such incredibly massive objects. Simulations suggest that the

neutron star is so dense — on Earth, a spoonful of it would weigh as much as Mount Everest — that it would be swallowed whole, in one gulp.

Communities continue to build homes in areas destined to burn or flood as climate change worsens, notes policymaker and academic Alice Hill. She recalls one local politician who asked, “I’m

just a part-time mayor in a small town… how can I even know the size of the threats we are facing?” Hill calls for governments to work with academia, non-governmental organizations and the

private sector to develop publicly available models and tools to give decision-makers basic information at the scale they need.

Around 25,000 people die every day from ischaemic heart disease, making it by far the world’s biggest killer. Research is revealing what causes the heart to malfunction — and how to stop

that from happening. This Nature Outlook includes a graphical guide to how heart failure happens, a look at whether the long-held dogma of ‘bad’ cholesterol might be flawed and an overview

of the race to regenerate the heart. It also reveals that coronavirus infections might cause lasting harm to the heart, even in those people who never had COVID-19 symptoms.

This Outlook is editorially independent and produced with financial support from Abbott.

Graduate students around the world are experiencing mental-health issues, such as depression and anxiety, at worrying rates. A report co-produced by the Council of Graduate Schools and the

Jed Foundation, which works to protect the emotional health of teenagers and young adults, identifies some of the reasons: poor mentorship, a lack of access to counselling services and

insufficient training for non-academic careers. Graduate students say that overwork, hostile work environments and living far from home can be factors. All agree that it’s not just up to

students to take steps to safeguard their own mental health. “You have the danger of ‘mopping with the tap open’,” says psychology and law researcher Katia Levecque. “The individual might

build up more resilience, regain motivation, and plan her or his work better, but in essence the health-damaging structural causes are not tackled.”

Reference: Council of Graduate Schools & the Jed Foundation report

Viral immunologist Jamie Sugrue says his fluency in the Irish language has come in surprisingly useful during his PhD programme. (Nature | 5 min read)

Today, I’ve been enjoying the delightful dance of dissolving oil droplets dissolving in soapy water, recorded by materials scientist Caleb Meredith.

I’ll do my own happy dance if I receive your feedback — whether positive or critical — on this newsletter. Please tell us what you think at [email protected].