Each month, we check in with our colleagues at the journal Nature to review recent science headlines that they have been following. Nick Howe of the Nature multimedia team brought us highlights of some major developments and trends in science.
- Climate litigation is on the rise globally.While over three-quarters of lawsuits about climate change since 1990 have been filed in the United States, the number being filed in low- and middle-income countries is rising. These lawsuits include cases against governments, businesses, and international courts and bodies, and most are efforts to strengthen climate policies or ensure that these policies are enforced.
- The Hungarian government has taken over control of about 40 institutions that are part of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which is responsible for most of the country’s basic research. This has caused international outcry and has raised questions about academic freedom in Hungary. While the government’s aim is to make research more innovative, researchers worry that the changes will harm science.
- NASA is making changes to how it assigns telescope time in order to address gender bias. The new system is “double-blind,” meaning neither the research proposer or the reviewer knows who the other is. NASA hopes to greatly reduce conscious and unconscious biases during the allocation of scientific resources, and is considering expanding this dual-anonymous type of review to other research programs.
Web post by Becca Cox