Daily briefing: what really works to reduce carbon emissions

Hello _Nature_ readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here. EMISSIONS INTERVENTIONS THAT REALLY WORK An analysis of roughly 1,500 climate policies

found 63 that led to significant reductions in emissions, cutting them by 19% on average. Using the right mix of policies is more important than using a lot of policies, says climate

researcher and co-author Annika Stechemesser. For example, the UK’s phasing out of coal-fired power stations worked because it was used in tandem with pricing mechanisms, such as a minimum

carbon price, while in Norway, banning combustion engine cars was most effective when combined with a price incentive that made electric cars cheaper. Nature | 4 min read Reference:

_Science_ paper DEBATE RAGES OVER ALZHEIMER’S DRUG The Alzheimer’s disease drug lecanemab (sold as Leqembi) is one of the first shown to slow cognitive decline in people. But the extent of

its benefits is hotly debated, it has potential side effects and it’s expensive. The drug is approved in the United States, China and elsewhere. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) declined

to licence it, although is now reassessing its decision following an appeal by the drugmaker. And in the United Kingdom, lecanemab is licensed for use but was recently deemed too costly to

be offered for free to patients through the national health service. “Emotions are really high here,” says biochemist Christian Haass, who disagreed with the EMA decision. “It’s the first

disease-modifying drug we have in more than 30 years.” Nature | 6 min read VACCINATIONS FOR POLIO NEEDED IN GAZA The World Health Organization and UNICEF are calling for a humanitarian pause

in the war in the Gaza Strip to enable aid groups to vaccinate 600,000 children against polio. Three children are suspected of already being infected, say the organizations, and the

ministry of health in the West Bank says it has confirmed a case in a 10-month-old baby in Gaza. “We are anticipating and preparing for the worst-case scenario of a polio outbreak in the

coming weeks or month,” says Francis Hughes of the humanitarian organization CARE International. Associated Press | 6 min read FEATURES & OPINION MEET DISABLED ASTRONAUT JOHN MCFALL

Paralympic medallist and orthopaedic surgeon John McFall is the world’s first astronaut with a physical disability. His role on the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut reserve team is to

test how all aspects of space travel — from training to moving in microgravity — would work for someone with a lower-limb prosthesis like him. He also hopes to inspire others. “ESA is boldly

going out and saying: we believe this is possible,” he says. “This is a tremendously powerful way to reduce stigma around disability.” Nature | 5 min read FALL OF THE WILD Even ‘untouched’

natural landscapes bear witness to millennia of human influence, argues a lyrical book by journalist Sophie Yeo. “Weaving into her narrative an understanding of ecological niches, previous

biodiversity crises and the deep environmental legacy of Roman farming, Yeo demonstrates the fallacy of trying to return the environment to any point in the past, whether that be pre-Roman

Great Britain or Pleistocene Europe,” writes palaeobiologist Douglas Erwin in his review. Nature | 6 min read FUTURES: STORY TIME A woman and her robot nanny make the ultimate choices in the

latest short story for _Nature_’s Futures series — to love, and to say goodbye. Nature | 6 min read PODCAST: HOW AI CAN KEEP LEARNING An algorithm that reactivates dormant ‘neurons’ in

deep-learning-based artificial-intelligence (AI) systems could help them overcome their inability to learn new things and make future systems more flexible. AIs based on deep learning

struggle to learn how to tackle new tasks indefinitely, making them less adaptable to new situations. The reasons for this are unclear, but now a team has identified that ‘resetting’ parts

of the neural networks underlying these systems can allow deep learning methods to keep learning continually. Nature Podcast | 20 min listen Subscribe to the _Nature Podcast_ on Apple

Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Music, or use the RSS feed. Reference: _Nature_ paper QUOTE OF THE DAY “I AM A SCIENTIST TOO, AND I UNDERSTAND THAT THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE — ESPECIALLY IN

MEDICINE — LIES IN PEOPLE AGREEING TO BE INVOLVED IN SUCH INVESTIGATIONS.” AI-specialist Janusz Racz is the first person in the United Kingdom to receive a personalized mRNA vaccine aimed at

preventing his lung cancer from returning after conventional treatments. (The Guardian | 4 min read) Read more: How mRNA is powering a personalized vaccine revolution (Nature Medicine | 6

min read, from July, _Nature_ paywall)