Hello Nature Readers, would you like to receive this report in your inbox for free every day? Register here.

Researchers have equipped “cyborg” cockroaches with diving suits that allow them to breathe underwater. These Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) have electrodes connected to their brains and sensory organs that allow researchers to remotely monitor their movements. The new 3D-printed suits connect tubes to the insects’ breathing holes, called spiracles, which connect to a chemical oxygen generator. In underwater tests, the cockroaches were able to explore a variety of underwater terrain and traverse obstacles for up to three hours at speeds similar to those they could move on land.

Popular science | 6 minutes of reading

Reference: Nature Communications paper

Researchers have created a completely synthetic cell that can feed, grow and reproduce. Called ‘SpudCells,’ the tiny specks are not technically alive, but they can carry out some of the chemical reactions seen in living cells. “It’s a cell that was built, not born. It is built, but it does what cells do,” says synthetic biologist Drew Endy. Scientists hope that human-made cells like these can reveal secrets like how many genes a cell needs to survive, or be engineered to produce compounds that natural cells can’t make.

The New York Times | 8 minutes of reading

Reference: Biotic preprint (not peer-reviewed)

Cancer research articles that appear to have been produced by paper mills (companies that produce and sell fraudulent or low-quality manuscripts) get twice as many citations as genuine articles in the field. The problem appears to be self-propagating: In an analysis of tens of thousands of articles, researchers found that articles that were likely produced by paper mills frequently cite, or are cited by, other potentially fraudulent articles. This citation distortion could also inflate the impact metrics of molecular oncology journals, says statistician and study co-author Adrian Barnett.

Nature | 6 minutes of reading

Reference: bioRxiv preprint (not peer-reviewed)

Features and opinion

Scientists must recognize their own political biases to avoid eroding public trust in science, says Mark Henderson, director of corporate affairs at the Wellcome charity. The scientific community cannot assume public support for its positions and must be careful to ensure that science is not equated with membership in a broader liberal or progressive project. “If respect for science is tied to a broader political identity, people with more conservative values ​​might feel pushed to reject science along with politics,” Henderson writes.

Nature | 6 minutes of reading

In the waters of the Port of Miami, Florida, a coral community is thriving, seemingly against all odds. The corals, which grow on hard materials like cinder blocks and abandoned shopping carts, have remained strong in the face of disease, drastic temperature changes and pollution that have caused other Florida coral populations to bleach. The corals in the busy harbor waters are only a few decades old, and scientists believe human activity in the area could be what is giving these species their unusual survival mechanisms. Now researchers are trying to figure out how.

biography | 9 minutes of reading

In The political economy of Rwanda’s riseEconomist Pritish Behuria details Rwanda’s bold attempt to transform its economy after the 1994 genocide. The nation has made impressive progress in health systems, technology and governance, but that has yet to translate into an industrial economy, Behuria writes. The book “is about much more than Rwanda,” science writer Abdullahi Tsanni says in his review. “It offers an important lesson: growth is not the same as transformation, and technological capacity remains extremely difficult for nations to build.”

Nature | 7 minutes of reading

Today my skin crawls while watching ‘superworms’ (Zophobas morio) make quick work of the carcass of a little bittern (Botaurus minutus). Flesh beetle larvae can clean flesh from animal bones in just a few hours, potentially giving museums a new way to prepare animal skeletons for display without damaging them.

Please let us know if we need to clean up any areas of this newsletter at briefing@nature.com.

Thanks for reading,

Jacob Smith, Associate Editor, Nature Briefing

• Nature Briefing: Careers: ideas, advice and award-winning journalism to help you optimize your working life

• 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 and robotics: 100% human-written, of course

• Nature Briefing: Cancer: A weekly newsletter written with cancer researchers in mind.

• Nature Briefing: Translational Research: covers biotechnology, drug discovery and pharmaceuticals.