Rare immune errors can make usually harmless infections deadly in some people. Plus, the genetics of dogs’ floppy ears and a huge study on reasons for vaccine hesitancy.
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Evolution and breeding have wrought a wide variety of ear lengths in our canine companions.Credit: Getty
DNA variants near a gene called MSRB3 — which is important for hearing in humans — could determine whether a dog’s ears are pendulous like a basset hound’s or stubby like a rottweiler’s. Researchers analysed the genomes of thousands of canines and found that small, single-letter changes to DNA in a region of the genome near MSRB3 could boost the gene’s activity. The boost can increase the rate at which ear cells proliferate, resulting in longer ears.
Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Scientific Reports paper
Around two-thirds of people in the United Kingdom who were initially vaccine-hesitant during the COVID-19 pandemic did go on to get at least one dose. Using data from almost 38,000 people that reported some form of vaccine hesitancy — 65% of whom went on to receive one or more vaccinations — researchers found that reasons for hesitancy could be grouped into eight broad clusters, including concerns about the vaccine’s efficacy and their personal health. The team hope that the results will help with the roll-out of future vaccines, by focusing efforts on people whose hesitancy is rooted in concrete concerns that can be allayed with the right information.
Nature | 5 min read
Reference: The Lancet paper
The first comprehensive oceanographic research mission to study some of the Arctic’s most resilient ice has found it to be more fragile than expected. The narrow fjords of Canada’s Queen Elizabeth Islands (QEI) harbour the thickest and oldest sea ice. It could be the last Arctic ice left in a warming world, making it a refuge for wildlife. But its thickness has also made it impenetrable to icebreakers and so difficult to study. Now a research ship, the Amundsen, has given scientists a first-hand look at the state of play. Viewed in combination with satellite data, the news is not good. “Multiyear ice used to have a haven in QEI,” says remote sensing specialist Mallik Mahmud. “Now, it will come here to die.”
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