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RESEARCH

Higgs data unveiled Physicists at the Hadron Collider Physics Symposium 2012 in Kyoto, Japan, last week presented the first new data on the Higgs boson since its discovery in July (see Naturehttp://doi.org/jr2;2012). The data so far indicate that the properties of the Higgs closely fit predictions made by the standard model of particle physics, disappointing those who were hoping to see signs of ‘new physics’. See page 505 for more.

Space scope fails A European satellite that in 2009 discovered the first known rocky planet outside the Solar System has suffered a computer failure that means it can no longer retrieve data from its telescope. The first computer aboard the Convection, Rotation and Planetary Transits (COROT) satellite failed in 2009, leaving the mission reliant on a second unit, which has now also failed. The mission team will try to reboot the first computer in December, after it failed to restart the second. See go.nature.com/qki5ox for more.

Credit: Fergus Walsh/BBC

No pain, ‘says’ patient in vegetative state A man thought to have been in a vegetative state has told doctors ‘no’ when asked if he was in pain on a BBC documentary programme broadcast on 13 November. He communicated with the aid of a functional magnetic resonance imaging technique developed by Adrian Owen, a neuroscientist at Canada’s Western University in London, Ontario (see Nature 486, 178–180; 2012). This is the first time that the method has been used to ask a patient substantive questions about their condition. See go.nature.com/atvwlw for more.

POLICY

Climate warning The world is on course for warming of 4 °C by the end of the century, with alarming consequences for natural ecosystems, agriculture and human well-being, according to an analysis commissioned by the World Bank. Released on 18 November, a week before the next round of United Nations climate talks kicks off in Doha, the report stresses that 4 °C of warming could overwhelm human efforts to adapt to climate change. Limiting warming to 2 °C — a formal goal of the United Nations — is possible, but would require urgent action, the report says.

Strict open access The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is stepping up enforcement of its public-access policy, which has a compliance rate of just 75%. The policy requires investigators to submit papers arising from NIH-funded research to the PubMed Central repository when they are accepted for publication; the papers must be freely accessible to the public within 12 months of publication. On 16 November, the NIH said that beginning as soon as spring 2013, it would withhold the next instalment of grant funds from recipients who have not complied.

Catch contained The body that decides how many tuna can be caught in the Atlantic and Mediterranean has followed the advice of scientists and set a catch limit of some 13,500 tonnes of bluefin tuna per year from 2013 — up roughly 600 tonnes from this year. The move delighted conservationists, who had feared that the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas would set a higher quota that could threaten signs of recovery in the troubled species. See go.nature.com/w4igy8 for more.

US flight exemption Legislation that would keep US airlines out of the emissions-trading scheme set up by the European Union (EU) was passed by the US House of Representatives on 13 November. The EU folded aviation into its scheme this year, but on 12 November announced a one-year postponement for flights entering and leaving the EU. Environmental groups are pressing President Barack Obama to veto the US bill, which needs his signature to become law. See go.nature.com/zfcmou for more.

Fishing action The European Commission has warned eight nations that they risk being listed as ‘uncooperative’ in its fight against illegal fishing. If Belize, Cambodia, Fiji, Guinea, Panama, Sri Lanka, Togo and Vanuatu do not take action to combat such activity, which is generally regarded as one of the main barriers to sustainable fisheries, they could face trade sanctions. Maria Damanaki, the commissioner for fisheries, described the warning — the first of its kind — as “not a black list, but a yellow card”.

Merger off The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) last week abandoned a plan to create a single institute devoted to the study of substance abuse and addiction. The plan would have required dissolving two existing NIH institutes, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has an annual budget of US$1 billion, and the $460-million National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (see Nature 467, 643; 2010). The expenditure of resources needed to set up a new institute was not justified in a time of fiscal strain for the agency, said NIH director Francis Collins. See go.nature.com/uibf6x for more.

Malaria funding  The future of a multimillion-dollar effort to subsidize malaria medicines looks shaky. Last week, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria decided to fold the stand-alone programme (called the Affordable Medicines Facility — Malaria) into its existing grants system, and not set aside any money for it after 2013. The Global Fund, based in Geneva, Switzerland, has also appointed a new executive director, Mark Dybul, a physician and immunologist at Georgetown University, Washington DC. See pages 495 and 508 for more.

Credit: Galapagos National Park/AP

EVENTS

Galapagos poison Last week, conservationists began dropping poisoned bait onto two islands in the famous Galapagos archipelago, Ecuador, to rid them of invasive rats that eat local flora and the eggs of native species such as iguanas, other lizards and tortoises. The US$1.8-million dumping operation on Pinzón and Plaza Sur, carried out by helicopter (pictured), is funded by the Ecuadorean government and a coalition of conservation groups. It marks the second phase of an effort to clear out all non-native rodents by 2020.

PEOPLE

Physicist paroled Russian physicist Valentin Danilov has been granted parole after 11 years in jail and could be released this week. Danilov was head of the Institute of Thermodynamics at Krasnoyarsk State Technical University before he was arrested in 2001 on charges of selling classified satellite technology to a Chinese company. He was cleared of all charges in 2003 but a new jury overturned the decision a year later, sentencing him to a total of 14 years in prison. See go.nature.com/thq7pk for more.

BUSINESS

Sea mining stopped Nautilus Minerals, a deep-sea mining company based in Toronto, Canada, is to end its controversial plans to extract copper, gold and silver off the coast of Papua New Guinea, it announced on 13 November. The company had said in June that it was in dispute with the country’s government over the payment of the costs of the project. Critics have argued that deep-sea mining needs to be better regulated to protect fragile ecosystems. See go.nature.com/xpqcx3 for more.

Meningitis vaccine Europe’s drug regulators could soon approve the first broad-spectrum vaccine against meningitis B, after the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use recommended its approval on 16 November. Called Bexsero, the vaccine contains four antigens that target the more than 3,000 strains of subtype B Neisseria meningitides, the most common subtype in European meningitis cases. Analysts think that the therapy could generate about US$1 billion a year for its maker, Novartis in Basel, Switzerland.

Spill settlement Oil-and-gas giant BP will pay US$4 billion in fines after pleading guilty to 14 criminal charges relating to the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil accident in the Gulf of Mexico (see nature.com/oilspill). The fine, the biggest such settlement in US history, includes $2.4 billion for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and $350 million for the National Academy of Sciences to support a 30-year programme that will study human health and the environment in the Gulf coast region. See go.nature.com/uwsfzd for more.

Credit: Source: EMCDDA

TREND WATCH

The number of new psychoactive substances that are synthesized or extracted from plants to get around drug-control laws continues to rise, says a report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in Lisbon. The agency says that it spotted 49 new drugs — known as ‘legal highs’ — last year (by analysis of drugs either seized or bought for testing). About two-thirds were synthetic cathinones (related to amphetamines) or cannabinoids, and most are said to be made in China and India.

COMING UP

26 November Climate negotiators start a fortnight of debate at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Doha, geared towards a proposed 2015 global climate treaty. go.nature.com/wnhovv

29–30 November In Brussels, the 2nd European Gender Summit discusses how to support women’s scientific careers, and how to tackle gender issues in research. www.gender-summit.eu