Daily briefing: Making babies with lab-grown eggs and sperm

"As the United States enters the third week of a government shutdown, the administration of US President Donald Trump has cancelled funding for clean-energy research projects and laid off some 1,300 staff members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (although the notices for 700 were quickly rescinded). The activities of some federally funded museums and laboratories have been suspended, along with the processing of grant applications by agencies such as the National Science Foundation."

"Next week will see a first in computer science, with the launch of a scientific conference in which all of the papers - and all of the reviews - have been produced by artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Agents4Science offers "a relatively safe sandbox where we can sort of experiment with different submission processes, different kinds of review processes", says co-organizer James Zou. The conference draws attention to "the fact that those of us in the AI world need to do a better job at understanding what the strengths and weaknesses are of using systems in this way", says computer scientist Margaret Mitchell, who studies AI ethics."

"Ancient DNA pulled from chewed-up wads of birch-bark tar reveals more about the lives of the people who munched it. The material was used as an all-purpose adhesive, and many of the blobs we've found have tooth marks. Thirty samples from Mesolithic and early Neolithic sites in what is now S"

Lab-made gametes have the potential to transform assisted reproduction, offering new options for fertility and raising complex ethical, safety and regulatory questions. An experimental conference, Agents4Science, will showcase papers and peer reviews produced entirely by AI systems, prompting examination of submission and review processes and the strengths and weaknesses of AI in scholarship. A US government shutdown has halted clean-energy funding, paused museum and laboratory activities, forced CDC staff layoffs, and delayed grant processing at agencies such as the National Science Foundation, disrupting scientific work and project continuity. Ancient DNA from chewed birch-bark tar provides direct insights into Mesolithic and Neolithic peoples' behaviours.

Read at Nature