New Delhi smog, death-sentence appeal and a porpoise setback

Iran–Iraq quake More than 450 people were killed when a magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck near the Iran–Iraq border on 12 November. The quake, which happened near the boundary of the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates, struck at a depth of about 20 kilometres — shallow enough to cause very strong ground shaking and topple mud-brick buildings. It also triggered several landslides in the mountainous region, cutting off rescue efforts to remote villages.

High-energy wishes Astroparticle physicists in Europe have set out their research priorities for the next decade, in a strategy document released on 13 November. The Astroparticle Physics European Consortium (APPEC) coordinates funding agencies from 14 European countries to develop Earth-based experiments that observe the cosmos by catching and analysing high-energy particles. Among the top priorities is KM3NeT, a high-energy-neutrino observatory being built in waters off Italy and France, and the planned Cherenkov Telescope Array, which will detect γ-rays hitting the atmosphere above Chile and Spain’s Canary Islands. APPEC is also pushing for a next-generation gravitational-wave interferometer and a scaling up of attempts to detect possible dark-matter particles using liquid noble gases.

FACILITIES

Regenerative hub Local officials and scientists unveiled plans for a huge regenerative-medicine research facility in the Chinese city of Guangzhou on 11 November, at a meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. Details of the proposal are being finalized, but the scientists behind the project say that the city will devote billions of yuan to the centre, which is tentatively called the Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Laboratory. It will be built at the city’s existing biomedical hub and will host some 300 research groups and 3,000–6,000 researchers, in areas ranging from basic science to commercialization. The facility will focus chiefly on cell-based therapies and gene editing, and will also have a monkey research centre. Pei Duanqing, director-general of the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health and the laboratory’s interim director, hopes that at least 15% of the scientists will be hired from abroad.

Hawaii lawsuit A Hawaiian agency in charge of improving conditions for Native Hawaiians has sued the state government and the University of Hawaii. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs alleges that the two bodies have failed to properly care for the natural and cultural resources of Mauna Kea, a mountain that is home to many astronomical research facilities. Some Native Hawaiians say the scientific development has violated a site that they hold sacred. The lawsuit, filed on 7 November, asks a circuit court to terminate the university’s lease on Mauna Kea. A spokesman for the university said that it has made great strides in better managing and protecting the mountain.

CONSERVATION

Porpoise project Conservationists have given up trying to capture some of the last remaining members of a rare porpoise species, the vaquita (Phocoena sinus), which lives only in Mexico’s Gulf of California. The last-ditch effort, led by Mexico’s environment ministry, aimed to capture vaquitas and put them in sea pens to protect them from the fishing nets that entangle and kill them. But a vaquita calf captured on 18 October soon showed signs of stress and was released, and on 4 November a female vaquita died within hours of being captured. Fewer than 30 animals are thought to remain in the wild.