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Scientists studied more than 5,000 people to understand variation in the ageing of individual body organs.Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty
Prematurely old organs linked to disease
Your major organs can age at different rates — and organs that look old before their time are linked to disease risk. Researchers identified proteins that originated mainly from a single organ and trained a machine-learning algorithm to match the levels of these proteins with age. When a person’s levels differed substantially from other people of the same age, it spelled trouble: for example, an ‘old’ heart was linked to a 250% increased risk of heart failure.
What India wants from COP28
India is pitching itself as the voice of the global south at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), now under way in Dubai. The country is also massively dependent on coal, and is the world’s third biggest carbon producer. India resolves that seeming contradiction by noting that its per-capita emissions last year were less than one-sixth those of the United States and 24 times smaller than the figure for top-ranking Qatar — while its average standard of living is far below that of both. What that amounts to at COP28 is India pushing for commitments that reflect how the dice are loaded in favour of rich countries, which have already benefited from historically high emissions.
Self-copying RNA vaccine wins approval
Japanese regulators have approved a COVID-19 vaccine constructed using a form of RNA that can make copies of itself inside cells. It’s the first ‘self-amplifying’ RNA (saRNA) vaccine platform to be granted full regulatory approval anywhere in the world. Because it could be used at a lower dose, it might have fewer side effects than other messenger RNA (mRNA) treatments have. When used as a booster in clinical testing, the newly authorized vaccine, ARCT-154 — developed by US biotechnology firm Arcturus Therapeutics and Australia-based CSL — triggered higher levels of virus-fighting antibodies that circulated the body for longer than did a standard mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
Credit: Nik Spencer/Nature, adapted from “How COVID unlocked the power of RNA vaccines”
Features & opinion
Journals should embrace ‘frugal innovation’
A recent study showed how fibres from the hardy, drought-resistant sisal plant (Agave sisalana), common in central America and parts of Africa, can be made fluffy and absorbent enough to use in menstrual pads. It’s a perfect example of a low-cost product using locally available, sustainable materials for mass consumption — a process sometimes called ‘frugal innovation’. Such studies are rarely seen in the natural sciences literature — something that has to change, argues a Nature editorial. “The publication of work in peer-reviewed journals is one way to drive home the point that frugal doesn’t have to mean second best,” says the editorial.
Reference: Communications Engineering paper
Clinical trials to watch out for
From HIV and malaria vaccines to the care of infant mental health, leading researchers tell Nature Medicine their most-anticipated clinical trials for 2024.
Evelyn Fox Keller: a fresh view of science
Mathematical biologist, philosopher and historian Evelyn Fox Keller achieved prominence for her studies on gender and science, the role of language in shaping how we see and study the world and her analysis of key concepts in biology, such as the gene. “Her work on how modern science constructed objectivity in a way that devalued traits conventionally considered feminine was groundbreaking,” writes historian of science Marga Vicedo. “It opened up possibilities for developing a better way of doing science.” Keller died in September, aged 87.
