The cities getting ‘richer and cleaner’ by nailing green growth without fossil fuels

Hello Nature readers,
Today we discover the cities that are nailing green growth, discover why the common hormonal condition PCOS is now PMOS and learn how to vibe code in science.

If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider recommending it to a friend or colleague. Click here to forward it by e-mail. Thank you!

The cities getting ‘richer and cleaner’

Thousands of cities are decoupling economic growth from the burning of fossil fuels. Researchers compared levels of the greenhouse gas nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) with information on gross domestic product (GDP) to track the green development trajectories of more than 5,000 of the world’s biggest cities. About 2,000 cities showed improvement in both metrics between 2019 and 2024 — most of them in China.

Hantavirus passengers head for quarantine

Almost 150 passengers and crew members on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius have disembarked to return to their home countries, where they will quarantine. How each country deals with their isolation will differ, however, in part because transmission of the virus between people is poorly understood. Passengers from Spain, for example, will spend one week in quarantine at a military hospital, whilst those returning to the United Kingdom will be monitored for 72 hours in hospital, followed by a 45-day stint of isolation at home or at a facility.

Decades-long campaign renames PCOS

Researchers and campaigners are celebrating a name change for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) — now called polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) — that reflects its primary effects on the endocrine system that regulates hormones. The condition affects around one in eight women but is commonly undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. It was given its former, misleading name in the 1930s because it can cause follicles in the ovaries that were mistaken for cysts. The new name “moves away from the incorrect focus on cysts … to recognising this is a much broader condition”, says endocrinologist Helena Teede, who spearheaded the renaming effort.

Vibe coding 101

The boom in large language models (LLMs) has encouraged some researchers to try their hand at ‘vibe coding’ — in which a user asks an LLM-powered tool to build or do something with code behind it, and provides clarifying prompts until the results look right. The laid-back nature of vibe coding makes it less intimidating for people without formal coding experience, and can dramatically speed up steps in research, say early adopters. But code written by AI can be prone to errors, which can be difficult for non-experts to spot and fix, researchers say.

Drilling Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’

Scientists on an expedition that aimed to understand Antarctica’s remote Thwaites glacier faced a dangerous mission to drill through ice that was shifting beneath their feet. Unlike other glaciers, where a few months or years might be needed to perceive a change, Thwaites is sliding towards the sea at more than 9 metres per day. On “Thwaites, you can feel it,” says polar researcher Won Sang Lee, who led the team. Much is at stake: Thwaites already accounts for about 4% of global sea-level rise and its loss could make things worse.

Talking quantum is child’s play

Theoretical physicist Katia Moskvitch co-hosts a quantum computing podcast, The Quantum Kid, with her nine-year-old, Kai. Having such a young interviewer encourages expert guests to pitch their explanations at a level that’s accessible to non-expert listeners, and Kai’s questions are often more interesting that those adults might ask, she says. “You can’t fake a child’s curiosity or attention span. If something is boring or unclear, it shows immediately. That’s actually very valuable.”