Nature Briefing

"Gene-activity 'clock' predicts biological ageing and time of death."

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Hello Nature readers, Today we discover a gene-activity ‘clock’ that can predict time to death, learn that zebrafish snooze similarly to humans and consider whether we can intercept lung cancer before it starts. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider recommending it to a friend or colleague. Click here to forward it by e-mail. Thank you!

Zebrafish’s bodies are transparent for their first few weeks of life, which gave researchers a window into the fish’s brains while they slept. (WireStock via Alamy)

Zebrafish snooze in four distinct stages Zebrafish (Danio spp.) sleep in different stages that resemble the ‘cycles’ of sleep described in people. By tracking the eye movements of snoozing fish, researchers identified four ‘substates’ of sleep — three associated with nighttime slumber and one with short naps during the day. Identifying these distinct sleep states could help researchers to untangle what purpose they serve in fish and other animals. “It’s like a lot of things in biology: The more we look under the hood, the more complex it is,” says marine ecologist Michael Heithaus. The New York Times | 3 min read Reference: Nature Communications paper

Gene-activity clock predicts time to death A powerful molecular clock calibrated using gene-activity data can predict biological ageing in rodents, monkeys and humans — and time to death in people. Although it isn’t ready for medical use, the tool could eventually be a boon to biologists keen to learn which drugs or lifestyle changes might mitigate ageing’s myriad effects on the body. A gene-activity clock could be more sensitive than those based on molecular changes to DNA, which are slower to respond and might not capture the impacts of environmental changes, says computational biologist and study co-author Alexander Tyshkovskiy. Nature | 5 min read Reference: Nature paper

NSF quietly limits funding for elite unis The US National Science Foundation (NSF) — a major funder of basic research — has restricted the flow of new research grants to four elite universities. According to internal agency documents seen by Nature, the NSF’s grants-management office put limits on new awards to Duke, Harvard, Yale and Princeton at the beginning of April, and little funding has been made available to these institutions since then. It’s not clear why the NSF has put these restrictions in place, or when it will lift them. Nature | 6 min read

Spinosauruses might’ve ‘cried’ salty tears Some spinosauruses (Spinosauridae) might have had a specialized gland that enabled them to purge salt from their bodies. Researchers noticed grooves in the fossilized skulls of spinosaurs such as Baryonyx walkeri and Irritator challengeri in around the same place that the salt gland rests in modern bird species such as seagulls (Larinae). The findings suggest that these dinos might’ve had a similar organ, and lend support to the theory that spinosauruses were at least semi-aquatic. “If they’re in the water a long time, they need a salt gland,” says palaeontologist David Martill. Science | 5 min read Reference: Historical Biology paper

Features & opinion

Leave reviews to human experts Artificial intelligence models shouldn’t be trusted to conduct systematic reviews of scientific literature on their own, argues Rupa Sarkar, editor-in-chief of the Cochrane Collaboration, which produces gold-standard reviews of medical literature. Conducting systematic reviews isn’t a purely computational task and requires nuanced human expertise that models don’t often possess. AI tools can lighten some of the load of conducting a review, such as compiling structured data sets from disparate sources, but they should be used to support, not replace, scientists, Sarkar writes. Nature | 5 min read

Video: a pill that ‘intercepts’ lung cancer Mutations might lay the foundations for lung cancer, but evidence suggests that inflammation is what sparks the first stages of tumour development. “Stopping mutation is something very difficult. However, we know how to stop inflammation,” says physician-scientist Miriam Merad. Researchers are now investigating the use of anti-inflammatory drugs to nip lung cancer in the bud — a burgeoning field known as cancer ‘interception’. Nature | 19 min video This article is part of Nature Outlook: Lung cancer, an editorially-independent supplement produced with financial support from Daiichi Sankyo and MSD.

Infographic of the week

Using a technique called spatial transcriptomics, researchers have compiled an atlas of gene expression in 4- to 8-week-old human embryos that captures the early growth of 50 different organs, each indicated here in a different colour. The atlas could be used to identify how genetic variants affect development in people with congenital conditions, or help to explain why fetuses are susceptible to infections with, for example, Zika virus. (Nature News & Views | 4 min read) Reference: Nature paper

Quote of the day “I thought the AI revolution demanded that I become a different kind of professional — faster, savvier, more cutting edge. Now I think it demands something simpler: that I know who I am.” Choosing an artificial-intelligence tool that suits your needs and learning how to use it properly is more beneficial than trying to stay abreast of constant updates and new product releases, says pharmacist Zhang-Ren Chen. (Nature | 8 min read)

Today I’m taking penguin-anatomy lessons. By examining macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus), researchers have finally put a name to a muscle in the birds that’s puzzled their predecessors for decades: m. adductor tibialis. The muscle, which extends from the penguins’ torsos into each leg, appears to hold the birds’ legs together to streamline their bodies during dives, and helps them keep their balance while they waddle. Help us keep this newsletter streamlined by sending your feedback to briefing@nature.com. Thanks for reading, Jacob Smith, associate editor, Nature Briefing

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