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Rakus, two months after he was observed applying a poultice to an open wound on his cheek. The wound is healed and the scar is barely visible.Credit: Safruddin
For the first time, a wild animal has been documented using a medicinal plant to treat a wound. Rakus, a Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii), sustained a gash in his cheek, probably by fighting other males for status. Two days later, scientists noticed him eating the leaves of a vine known for its medicinal properties. He also applied a poultice of chewed leaves to his injury. Just eight days later, his wound was fully closed. Self-medication of other kinds has been observed in some animals, but this “shows that orangutans and humans share knowledge,” says primatologist Caroline Schuppli, who co-authored a study on the event. “Since they live in the same habitat, I would say that’s quite obvious, but still intriguing to realize.”
Reference: Scientific Reports paper
A trial vaccine for recurring urinary tract infections (UTIs) has kept half its recipients UTI-free for nine years. Recurring UTIs are common but can have debilitating symptoms, especially for women. They are usually treated with antibiotics, which can cause side effects, including an irregular heartbeat. But a urology conference in Paris heard that vaccines, targeted treatment and a non-antibiotic medication are all candidates for preventing recurrent infections. Still, it could take years before improved therapies are widely available. “This won’t be a quick process,” says urologist Bob Yang, who has been working on trials of the oral vaccine, which is called MV140.
The contest to elect the next president of Paris-Saclay University, one of Europe’s biggest research campuses, has collapsed — reflecting wider issues at the giant research centre. A huge merger of four of France’s grandes écoles — elite higher-education institutions — and several other faculties and institutes has led to some teething pains. The two presidential contenders had different visions for the future of the university, but neither was able to reach the bar for election. Now recruitment must start afresh.
Sex and gender in science
Fraught societal debates, particularly surrounding gender identity, are raising questions about how to best take sex and gender into account in research, both in studies of human health and in other contexts. At the same time, scientists are increasingly recognizing that they must move past assumptions that findings from mainly male individuals will apply to everyone.
The articles in this special collection, with contributors who work in fields such as neuroscience, psychology, immunology and cancer explore the value of considering sex and gender in research, as well as the perils and pitfalls. They explain why progress in this long-neglected area of research is crucial — and consider how differences between individuals can be explored responsibly, inclusively and for the benefit of as many people as possible.
• Some scientists are reluctant to investigate questions about sex and gender, particularly given today’s sociopolitical tensions around gender identity. But they should lean in and embrace the complexity, argue health scientist Stacey Ritz and gender and equity specialist Lorraine Greaves. (10 min read)
• Binary sex studies have been denounced as too simplistic — but abandoning them altogether would impede progress in a long-neglected area of biomedicine, argue immunologist Sabra Klein, pharmacologist Margaret McCarthy, pain researcher Jeffrey Mogil and Arthur Arnold, who studies sex differences in physiology and disease. (15 min read)
Features & opinion
A pioneering cosmic-mapping project seems to show that dark energy could be getting weaker, with potential implications for theories of how the Universe has evolved and for what its future might hold. The mysterious force is like reverse gravity, pushing everything apart and causing the Universe to expand faster and faster, getting colder and emptier. Initial results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument in Arizona hint that dark energy is not a constant after all, which means the Universe’s expansion could start to slow down. But researchers say that the evidence for changes in dark energy is still very uncertain.
“I wanted to write a story showing that the messy and problematic parts of humanity are the essential ingredients of connection,” says author Joanna Friedman about her latest short story for Nature’s Futures series.
Andrew Robinson’s pick of the top five science books to read this week includes a deep dive into the debate-inspiring idea of the multiverse, a personal, unshrinking call to action about fatphobia and a fundamentally optimistic book on increasing sustainability.
Male mice given antibiotics targeting gut microbes showed changes to their testes and sperm, which led to their offspring having a higher probability of severe growth issues and premature death. It’s unknown whether a similar effect would be seen in humans, but the finding suggests that factors other than genetics play a role in intergenerational disease susceptibility.
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Today in our penguin-seeking puzzle, Leif Penguinson is hiding somewhere in Tassili N’ajjer national park in Algeria. This huge plateau in the Sahara desert is a UNESCO world heritage site that hosts thousands of drawings and engravings as old as 7,000 years ago. Can you find the penguin?
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Flora Graham, senior editor, Nature Briefing
With contributions by Katrina Krämer, Smriti Mallapaty, Gemma Conroy, Dyani Lewis, Sarah Tomlin and Sara Phillips
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