Smriti Mallapaty

Australia

Asia-Pacific Reporter at Nature

Asia-Pacific reporter for Nature News (smriti-dot-mallapaty-at-nature-dot-com)

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Articles

‘Super-healing’ animals inspire human treatments

1 week ago | nature.com | Smriti Mallapaty

After an injury, some flatworms can regrow almost every cell in their bodies, axolotls can rebuild entire limbs and parts of their brain, zebrafish can mend broken spinal cords and green anole lizards can fabricate new tails. Most mammals are incapable of the restorative feats seen in fish, amphibians, reptiles and worms, whose abilities have long fascinated researchers.
Mice with human cells developed using ‘game-changing’ technique

1 week ago | nature.com | Smriti Mallapaty

Researchers have developed mice with organs containing human cells, using a convenient and surprising approach — injecting the cells directly into the amniotic fluid of pregnant mice. The method resulted in baby mice with a sprinkling of human cells in their intestines, liver and brain. But researchers say that, for the technique to be useful, more work needs to be done to increase the proportion of human cells that grow in the organs.
Tiny human hearts grown in pig embryos for the first time

2 weeks ago | nature.com | Smriti Mallapaty

Researchers have reported growing hearts containing human cells in pig embryos for the first time. The embryos survived for 21 days, and in that time their tiny hearts started beating. The findings were presented this week at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Hong Kong. Scientists developing human–animal chimaeras grow human cells in animal embryos, with the aim of one day generating animals with human organs that can be transplanted into people.
How China is vying to attract the world’s top scientific talent

2 weeks ago | nature.com | Smriti Mallapaty

In central China, the largely rural county of Gulin in Sichuan province is offering PhD holders a lump sum 300,000 yuan (US $42,000) and a monthly allowance of 1,000 yuan to move there. The city of Taizhou in Zhejiang province will pay university graduates up to 100,000 yuan to resettle to the coastal locale. And Hunan province will provide a sum of up to 1 million yuan to doctoral students who move there from abroad.
Kamo'oalewa: Erste chinesische Mission zur Beprobung eines Asteroiden gestartet

2 weeks ago | spektrum.de | Smriti Mallapaty

Bericht Lesedauer ca. 3 Minuten DruckenTeilen Kamo'oalewa: Erste chinesische Mission zur Beprobung eines Asteroiden gestartetDie Volksrepublik China hat die Sonde Tianwen-2 auf eine ehrgeizige Mission geschickt, um Gesteinsbrocken von einem erdnahen Asteroiden aufzusammeln. Damit könnte sie das Geheimnis seiner Entstehung lüften. Exklusive Übersetzung ausTianwen-2 startete am 28. Mai 2025 vom Startzentrum Xichang in Südchina.
‘Another blow’: How Trump’s latest travel ban could harm research

3 weeks ago | nature.com | Rachel Fieldhouse |Smriti Mallapaty

Scientists have been quick to react to US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new version of the controversial travel ban introduced during his first presidency. The latest policy, issued on 4 June, places an indefinite ban on citizens from a dozen countries entering the United States and comes into effect on 9 June. Affected countries include those targeted by the 2017 travel bans, such as Iran and Libya, along with further countries, including Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad and Haiti.
First Chinese mission to sample an asteroid starts its journey

1 month ago | nature.com | Smriti Mallapaty

China has sent a probe on an ambitious mission to grab rocks from a near-Earth asteroid and return them to Earth before making a final visit to a distant comet. Tianwen-2 blasted off from Xichang launch centre in southern China at 1:31AM Beijing time today. The spacecraft is now on its way to Kamo‘oalewa, an asteroid between 40 and 100 metres wide. The asteroid’s small size and fast spin — a full rotation takes only 28 minutes — will make gathering samples challenging.
Hong Kong universities woo Harvard international students targeted by Trump

1 month ago | nature.com | Smriti Mallapaty

At least three universities in Hong Kong are inviting international students at Harvard University to join their institutions, following the United States administration’s shock decision last week to ban the prestigious American institution from enrolling foreign students.
‘Landmark’ evolution study shows how rice inherits tolerance to cold without DNA changes

1 month ago | nature.com | Smriti Mallapaty

Rice plants can inherit tolerance to cold without changes to their genomes, according to a decade-long study1 carried out by researchers in China. The work, published in Cell today, strengthens the evidence for a form of evolution in which environmental pressures induce heritable changes that do not alter an organism’s DNA.
How Much Ultraprocessed Food Do You Eat? Blood and Urine Record It

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Smriti Mallapaty

Molecules in urine and blood can reveal how much of a person’s diet comes from ultra-processed foods, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine today. The paper suggests that these measurements provide an objective way to track consumption of ultra-processed food — and would be useful for investigating links to diseases such as diabetes and cancer.