Climate change could reawaken harmful invasive plants
The sooner they can be weeded out, the better
THE MISSION is simple. Arrive on foreign soil, blend in and wait. Then, when the time is right, emerge from the shadows and take over. This procedure, familiar from spy fiction as the preserve of sleeper agents, is also the modus operandi of certain invasive plant species.
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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Sleeper creepers”
From the August 17th 2024 edition
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AI researchers receive the Nobel prize for physics
The award, to Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield, stretches the definition of the field
A Nobel prize for the discovery of micro-RNA
These tiny molecules regulate genes and control how cells develop and behave
AI offers an intriguing new way to diagnose mental-health conditions
Models look for sound patterns undetectable by the human ear
Why it’s so hard to tell which climate policies actually work
Better tools are needed to analyse their effects
Isolated communities are more at risk of rare genetic diseases
The isolation can be geographic or cultural
An adult fruit fly brain has been mapped—human brains could follow
For now, it is the most sophisticated connectome ever made