Daily briefing: Long-lost branch of the Nile ran by the pyramids
Daily briefing: Long-lost branch of the Nile ran by the pyramids
Remains of an ancient branch of the Nile River hint at why Egyptians chose to build at Giza. Plus, how a 'tactical sacrifice' can save a building from collapse the our pick of the five best science books to read this week.
Sign up for Nature Briefing Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here.A Desulfovibrio bacterium. This group of gut bacteria has been linked to a suppressed immune system, which can allow breast-cancer tumours to flourish.Credit: PNWL/Alamy
A study in mice and people suggests why there is a link between obesity and some cancers: a high-fat diet increases the number of Desulfovibrio bacteria in the gut. These release leucine, an amino acid, which encourages the proliferation of a kind of cell that suppresses the immune system. With a suppressed immune system, breast cancer tumour growth increases. "It's a provocative finding that will open up new avenues that we should be thinking about," says nutritional biologist Stephen Hursting. Nature | 3 min read Reference: PNAS paper
H5N1 avian influenza has climbed "the first step of the pandemic stairs," in the words of virologist Thomas Peacock: it has improved at making copies of its genome in mammals. The virus has been circulating in US cattle since perhaps November. Scientists are eager to monitor the pathogen's evolution and assess its pandemic risk, but the US Department of Agriculture has not released data on infections in a timely manner, they contend. A spokesperson for the USDA says that national laboratories have conducted more than 7,500 tests since the start of the outbreak. Nature | 5 min read
In April, the scientific adviser of 3 Body Problem, a planetary scientist and a nanotechnology expert reviewed the hit Netflix show. An overwhelming majority of readers who replied to our poll agreed that expert advice helps make better science fiction without limiting creative freedom. Grounding the audience in familiar scientific concepts is central to effective sci-fi storytelling and separates it from fantasy, explains Sonny Whitelaw, an author with a background in geography who has worked on several Stargate novels. "Once you do that, you can cart your audience to any destination, no matter how 'mythical'," she says. While readers felt sci-fi was the perfect place for improbable or unrealistic concepts, seeing real science depicted badly — such as using a microscope to look at molecules — rubbed many the wrong way. "Bad science can break me out of the story and once that happens it's really hard to re-engage," says plant biologist Bart Janssen. That only leaves the question of whether, in return, scientists should also have creative advisers.
From the expression of certain heart-tissue genes to the response to cancer treatment, we have only scratched the surface of how human health is affected by the variables of sex and gender, write three scientists. The impact is clear: between 1997 and 2000, for example, eight drugs were pulled from the US market because it turned out they put women at greater risk of side-effects than men; the error cost pharmaceutical companies and taxpayers an estimated US$1.6 billion per drug. Clinical trials, cell lines and mouse studies all need to be more diverse as a matter of routine, argue cancer researcher Sue Haupt, neurologist Cheryl Carcel and global-health researcher Robyn Norton. "Likewise, the culture of medicine must be transformed so that approaches to treatment evolve in response to the data." Nature | 14 min read
Andrew Robinson's pick of the top five science books to read this week includes a call for us to embrace recycled water (in other words, drinking cleaned sewage). Plus, a gloriously illustrated look at John James Audubon's watercolour birds and an optimistic look at our future with robots. Nature | 4 min read
Motherhood can feel at odds with a scientific career, notes evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers. She squared the circle by taking her children into the field — with unexpected benefits for her scientific practice. (The New York Times | 6 min read) doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01485-8 Today we seek Leif Penguinson in the Gobustan Reservation in Azerbaijan. This rocky region is home to the Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO world heritage site with rock engravings and burials that record human habitation from the Upper Paleolithic to the Middle Ages. Can you find the penguin? The answer will be in Monday's e-mail, all thanks to Briefing photo editor and penguin wrangler Tom Houghton. This newsletter is always evolving — tell us what you think! Please send your feedback to [email protected]. Flora Graham, senior editor, Nature BriefingWith contributions by Katrina Krämer, Smriti Mallapaty, Gemma Conroy, Dyani Lewis, Sarah Tomlin and Sara Phillips Want more? Sign up to our other free Nature Briefing newsletters: • Nature Briefing: Microbiology — the most abundant living entities on our planet — microorganisms — and the role they play in health, the environment and food systems. • Nature Briefing: Anthropocene — climate change, biodiversity, sustainability and geoengineering • Nature Briefing: AI & Robotics — 100% written by humans, of course • Nature Briefing: Cancer — a weekly newsletter written with cancer researchers in mind • Nature Briefing: Translational Research — covers biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma
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A Desulfovibrio bacterium. This group of gut bacteria has been linked to a suppressed immune system, which can allow breast-cancer tumours to flourish.Credit: PNWL/Alamy 
Source: Ref. 1 Image source: NASA Visible Earth 
Can you find the penguin? The answer will be in Monday's e-mail, all thanks to Briefing photo editor and penguin wrangler Tom Houghton. This newsletter is always evolving — tell us what you think! Please send your feedback to [email protected]. Flora Graham, senior editor, Nature Briefing With contributions by Katrina Krämer, Smriti Mallapaty, Gemma Conroy, Dyani Lewis, Sarah Tomlin and Sara Phillips Want more? Sign up to our other free Nature Briefing newsletters: • Nature Briefing: Microbiology — the most abundant living entities on our planet — microorganisms — and the role they play in health, the environment and food systems. • Nature Briefing: Anthropocene — climate change, biodiversity, sustainability and geoengineering • Nature Briefing: AI & Robotics — 100% written by humans, of course • Nature Briefing: Cancer — a weekly newsletter written with cancer researchers in mind • Nature Briefing: Translational Research — covers biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma 
