Brain-like organoids engineered to contain a NOVA1 gene variant found in extinct Neanderth
als and Denisovans are smaller and more roughly textured than those with the human version
of the gene. NOVA1 influences brain development, and the new study suggests the human var
iant was important in our evolution. This is the first time researchers have used genome e
diting to revert a gene to its archaic form in human cells used to grow brain tissue.Natur
e | 5 min readReference: Science paperAcademic mothers face pandemic tollNew data show exa
ctly how the pandemic has raised the barriers — and created new ones — for women and mothe
rs working in academia. A paper published this week showed that when a Canadian grant-fund
ing agency asked researchers to submit proposals in just 8 days, only 29% of applications
came from women. When the agency offered another grant round — but extended the deadline t
o 19 days and reduced the paperwork — women’s applications jumped to 39%. Another working
paper from the US National Bureau of Economic Research published last month found that, du
ring the pandemic, mothers have experienced a drop in research hours that is 33% larger th
an the reduction fathers have faced.Science | 4 min readReference: PNAS paper & NBER worki
ng paperStonehenge was erected in Wales firstStonehenge might have been built from an earl
ier stone circle: Waun Mawn in west Wales. Stonehenge’s majestic bluestone pillars had alr
eady been traced to their source. The stones were excavated from quarries in Wales as earl
y as 3400 BC, about 500 years before Stonehenge was built. Now, researchers have used carb
on dating and other techniques to suggest that similar stones that once stood in Waun Mawn
were removed at just about the time the first construction at Stonehenge began. The findi
ngs further develop a picture of an interconnected society centered on the Irish Sea that
flourished in the fourth millenium BC.