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Ebola trial result Scientists reported the first positive results from a human clinical trial of a drug to treat Ebola on 25February. A team led by researchers at the French Institute of Health and Medical Research announced that an antiviral drug, favipiravir, halved the mortality rate among people with low amounts of the Ebola virus in their blood. The death rate in the 40-person trial group was 15%, compared with 30% in the historical control group. But the trial leaders caution that the study numbers are small, among other caveats. The results were announced at the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle, Washington.

Minnesota review An external review commissioned by the University of Minnesota has found that substantial change is necessary in the way in which the university monitors clinical trials. The report, dated 26 February, states that the universitys ethical review committees are not sufficiently staffed or trained, and do not adequately consider the needs of vulnerable research subjects, such as children or people with mental illnesses. The report was intended to address faculty concerns that human-research oversight at the university may not be sufficient after a clinical-trial participant with a psychiatric disorder took his own life in 2004.

Will Burrard-Lucas/naturepl.com

Chinese pandas increasingly isolated Chinas wild pandas have seen an increase in living space, and there are now 1,864of them compared with 1,596 a decade ago all of which sounds like good news. But the results of a four-year survey announced on 28 February are not necessarily cause for celebration, and some experts are still concerned. Although living area has grown, panda populations are increasingly isolated, their habitats fragmented by roads, railways, dams and mines. Climate change threatens their food source, bamboo. And it is not clear that numbers from the latest survey can be directly compared to the previous search around ten years ago. See go.nature.com/h93hle for more.

Placenta project A mysterious but crucial organ, the placenta, is getting its day in the sun thanks to a US$41.5-million investment by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). On 26 February, the agency announced that the Human Placenta Project will fund eight or nine research teams to develop tools to monitor the placenta in real time as a proxy for tracking the developing fetuss health. This could include imaging technologies and ways to detect fetal biomarkers in the mothers blood. Much of the programmes budget is redirected from the NIHs $150-million National Childrens Study, which was cancelled in December. See go.nature.com/ohtjm5 formore.

Russian ISS plan Russias space agency Roscosmos announced on 24February that it will continue its involvement in the International Space Station (ISS) until 2024 a timeline that the United States had committed to last year. Roscosmos also added that after 2024 it will consider taking the Russian-built ISS modules and assembling them into a separate space station. Last year, as USRussian tensions rose over the crisis in Ukraine, Russias deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin said that the country would pull out of the ISS by 2020.

UK embryo law Mitochondrial donation will become legal in the United Kingdom after the final vote in a debate on 24February that may set an international precedent. The House of Lords voted overwhelmingly to approve regulations on human fertilization that would allow the creation of embryos with DNA from three people. The technique aims to prevent disease passing from mother to child through the mitochondria the cells energy-producing structures, which have their own genes. Only 48 members of the Lords voted against the regulations, and 280 voted for them. The previous vote in the House of Commons was more closely contested (see go.nature.com/hyirxf).

Green-card spouses Spouses of highly skilled foreign workers will soon be allowed to work legally in the United States, the US government announced on 24 February. The measure, due to take effect on 26 May, will apply to those married to individuals who are in the process of obtaining permanent residency (or a green card) while on an H-1B visamany of whom are scientists or engineers. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services estimate that nearly 180,000 couples will benefit from the policy change in its first year and 55,000 per year after that.

Pipeline veto US President Barack Obama vetoed legislation on 24February that would have authorized the construction of a controversial pipeline intended to carry oil from Canadas tar sands in Alberta to the US Gulf Coast. Republican majorities in both houses of Congress passed the legislation earlier this year, arguing that the Keystone XL pipeline would boost economic development; environmentalists argue that it would increase greenhouse-gas emissions because it promotes a dirty source of energy. The fate of the project now rests with the White House pending an environmental review by the US Department of State, which is expected in the coming weeks.

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Seven days: 27 February5 March 2015