New Orleans still bears the scars of Hurricane Katrina, ten years later. More than 500,000 people fled when the storm hit, and many never returned. Large swathes of the city are sparsely populated, particularly in the poor neighbourhoods that suffered the most severe flood damage.
In a world first, Chinese scientists have reported editing the genomes of human embryos. The results are published in the online journal Protein & Cell and confirm widespread rumours that such experiments had been conducted — rumours that sparked a high-profile debate last month about the ethical implications of such work.
One of the largest big-data experiments in health care has set its first research target. The leaders of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) in Washington DC voted on 29 July to focus the institute’s first clinical trial on the use of aspirin to prevent heart disease. The US$10-million pilot study will be conducted through PCORnet, a network set up by PCORI to collect health-care data such as insurance claims, blood tests and medical histories for as many as 30 million people in the United States.
As US crops wither in drought, researchers are turning to symbiotic fungi to help crops survive extreme conditions without resorting to genetic engineering
Oil giant Shell last week overcame the last major legal obstacle to its plans in the Arctic Ocean this summer. On Wednesday, the US Department of the Interior (DoI) approved the firm's oil spill response plan, effectively granting permission for exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska.
As the seas rise, so will the costs associated with them. The impact of climate change on oceans alone could cost $2 trillion by the end of the century, according to a report by the Stockholm Environment Institute in Sweden.
One of the less-noted consequences of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima is the effect on carbon dioxide emissions. Two of the world's six largest emitters are switching off their nuclear power stations, leaving them needing to source energy from elsewhere.
