You have full access to this article through your institution. Hello Nature Readers, would you like to receive this report in your inbox for free every day? Register here. The mountain bongo is found only in the montane forests of Kenya and there are believed to be fewer than 100 animals in the wild. (Mountain
You have full access to this article through your institution.
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The mountain bongo is found only in the montane forests of Kenya and there are believed to be fewer than 100 animals in the wild. (Mountain Bongo Project)
Researchers have detected a small population of critically endangered mountain bongos (Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci) in images taken with camera traps in the Maasai Mau forest of Kenya. Researchers feared the antelope species survived only in the nearby Aberdare Mountains. The new sightings suggest that a breeding herd seen in the forest eight years ago is still going strong. “Maasai Mau bongos are genetically the most important population we have in the world,” says Oscar Dyer, director of operations for the Mountain Bongo Project, a conservation effort. “Finding those bongos was amazing.”
Nature Africa | 5 minutes of reading
A new “humanizing” academic tool aims to personalize the tone of research papers written with an artificial intelligence program, in part by removing apparent signs of AI use from the text. The tool is not yet sophisticated enough to completely evade the Pangram AI detection platform, but some AI-generated language does slip through the software’s net. The humanizer has divided scientists. Some say these tools could be invaluable for researchers who speak English as a second language to polish their writing. Others worry that humanizers will tempt more scientists to use AI to write papers without disclosing them.
Nature | 6 minutes of reading
Iran has rearrested biologist Houman Jokar and conservationist Sepideh Kashani, two members of a wildlife conservation charity whose arrests over espionage allegations in 2018 sparked an outcry from the international community. They were pardoned in April after spending six years in Evin prison. Other members of the group who have dual citizenship have already been released, but the charity’s co-founder, sociologist Kavous Seyed Emami, died in custody.
Mongabay | 4 minutes of reading
Read more: Global science must defend academics imprisoned in Iran (Nature | 6-minute read, from 2022)
The enigmatic round objects that washed up on Australian beaches are likely the discarded remains of a space launch vehicle, the country’s space agency says. “This is a classic example of what are known as ‘space balls,’” says space archaeologist Alice Gorman. These pressure vessels, which contain high-pressure rocket fuel, can withstand the high temperatures of reentry and float enough not to sink. “We’re going to see more of this: more rockets means more space junk,” Gorman says.
ABC News | 7 minutes of reading
Locals spotted the balls in Forrest Beach, Australia, and firefighters were called to make sure they were safe. (Queensland Fire Department)
Features and opinion
A facility in Xiangyuan, China, mines and processes lithium, a strategically important material. Credit: VCG via Getty
“For the most strategically important materials (heavy rare earth elements, gallium, germanium, silicon, lithium and graphite), the choke point of the supply chain is no longer in the mine, or even in the refinery,” write economists Rabah Arezki and Grégoire Rota-Graziosi. “It is intellectual property that governs how raw materials are transformed into something useful.” They argue that a patent pool and licensing architecture would enable more widespread use of key minerals than decades of mining and refining investments alone.
Nature | 14 minute read
Ryan Rising was first imprisoned when he was 12 years old, in California. Now a doctoral student, she has helped create programs across the state that address the stigma associated with formerly incarcerated people and support them in pursuing degrees. This is especially valuable for youth caught up in “the well-documented school-to-prison pipeline, in which youth from low-income neighborhoods and underrepresented groups are disproportionately likely to be incarcerated,” Rising says. “In our circumstances, access to weapons and drugs is easy. The difficult thing is going to university.”
Nature | 10 minutes of reading
The journey of replacing your lawn with a thriving, sustainable garden inspired science writer Ferris Jabr to investigate how important it is to stick with native species. It’s a hot debate among organic gardeners; led in part by entomologist Douglas Tallamy, who has published evidence that native plants tend to support more biodiversity than introduced species. Ultimately, Jabr concludes, the most important question is not “where is this plant from?” but ‘what is your role?’
New York Times Magazine | 29 minutes of reading
Today I learned that male marathon runners are about twice as likely as female runners to “hit the wall,” according to a study of people who finished the Berlin Marathon. It could be due to how different people approach race strategy or how different bodies burn fuel.
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Flora Graham, Editor-in-Chief, Nature Briefing
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