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Hello _Nature_ readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here. THE MONTH’S BEST SCIENCE IMAGES Contamination from fish factories stained the water

hot pink in this lagoon in Chubut, Argentina. The bright hue is caused by sodium sulfite, an antibacterial compound used to preserve shrimp. When protests stopped trucks that were carrying

fish waste through the town of Rawson to treatment plants, Chubut authorities gave factories permission to dump their waste in the lagoon. The province’s environmental-control chief Juan

Micheloud claims that the pink colour “does not cause damage”. Local environmental activists have condemned the move and expressed concern that the waste might harm wildlife. See more of the

month’s sharpest science shots, selected by _Nature_’s photo team. Nature | Leisurely scroll IPCC CLIMATE REPORT: EVERY MOMENT MATTERS A landmark assessment from the United Nations

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes it clear that the future of our planet depends, in large part, on the choices that humanity makes today. Our dependence on fossil fuels

has pushed Earth’s global surface temperature up by around 1.1 °C over the average in 1850–1900 — a level that hasn’t been witnessed in 125,000 years, before the most recent ice age. The

report lists a dizzying array of impacts that climate change has had on Earth, including record droughts, wildfires and floods that have devastated communities and livelihoods worldwide. It

also offers the most scientifically confident projections yet for how humanity’s choices can turn down the heat — or not. “The climate we experience in the future depends on our decisions

now,” says climatologist Valérie Masson-Delmotte. Nature | 6 min read Go deeper with a detailed exploration of the report and its findings by _Carbon Brief_ (73 min read) Reference: IPCC

climate report EXOTIC TETRAQUARK PARTICLE SPOTTED AT LHC Scientists using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) — which memorably revealed the Higgs boson in 2012 — have discovered a previously

unknown exotic particle made of four quarks. The new ‘tetraquark’, Tcc+, is extremely unusual: most known hadrons, including protons and neutrons, are made of two or three quarks. This

brings the LHC’s bounty of new hadrons — non-elementary particles that are made of quarks — up to 62. Nature | 5 min read MAMMOTH’S EPIC TRAVELS PRESERVED IN TUSK Researchers have

reconstructed the detailed movements of a single woolly mammoth (_Mammuthus primigenius_) from one of its tusks. Every place on Earth has a distinct chemical signature based on geological

differences. The ratios of various isotopes of elements, such as strontium and oxygen in the bedrock and water, create a unique profile specific to that location that remains consistent over

millennia, and is incorporated into soil and plants. As mammoths grazed on the Arctic plains, these isotopic signatures were integrated into their ever-growing tusks, creating a permanent

record of the animals’ whereabouts from birth to death, with almost daily resolution. Nature | 5 min read Reference: _Science_ paper COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS UPDATE TO BOOST OR NOT TO BOOST

Concerns over waning immunity and SARS-CoV-2 variants have convinced some countries to give further vaccine doses to fully vaccinated people. A growing list of countries, including Israel,

China and Russia, have already started administering extra doses. But, at this point, the scientific case for COVID-19 vaccine boosters is weak. They might not be necessary for most people,

and could divert much-needed doses away from others. “It’s a difficult call and it will almost certainly have to be made on incomplete evidence,” says infectious-disease epidemiologist

Robert Aldridge. Nature | 10 min read _Nature_’s Noah Baker and Amy Maxmen discuss COVID boosters amid global vaccine inequity in the _Coronapod_ podcast (18 min listen) FLAWED IVERMECTIN

PREPRINT WITHDRAWN An influential unreviewed study, which reported that the anti-parasite drug ivermectin spectacularly reduced COVID-19 death rates, has been withdrawn. The preprint server

Research Square removed the paper on 14 July after specialists in detecting fraud in scientific publications raised concerns about plagiarism and data manipulation. Ahmed Elgazzar at Benha

University in Egypt, who is one of the authors on the paper, told _Nature_ he was not given a chance to defend his work before it was removed. The jury is still out on ivermectin, and the

retraction speaks to the difficulty of assessing research during a pandemic. Adding to the challenge are conspiracy theories that the benefits of the drug are being suppressed. Nature | 7

min read Nature’s Noah Baker and Sara Reardon discuss the controversy plaguing ivermectin as a COVID treatment in the Coronapod podcast (12 min listen) Reference: Research Square preprint

(withdrawn) NOTABLE QUOTABLE “THE BOTTOM LINE IS, THIS CAN HAPPEN — IT CAN BE TRUE THAT VACCINATED PEOPLE CAN SPREAD THE VIRUS. BUT WE DO NOT YET KNOW WHAT THEIR RELATIVE ROLE IN OVERALL

COMMUNITY SPREAD IS.” Virologist Thomas Friedrich and his colleagues found that Delta is more likely than other SARS-CoV-2 variants to spread through vaccinated people. (Nature | 6 min read)

Reference: medRxiv preprint (not peer reviewed) FEATURES & OPINION THE HUNT FOR RED FLUORESCENT PROTEINS Green fluorescent protein is one of the most popular items in the microscopist’s

toolbox. Now, bioengineers are pushing fluorescent proteins further into the red. Imaging at the red end of the spectrum works without oxygen, can add another hue to experiments and offers

lower background fluorescence, reduced toxicity and deeper tissue penetration. “All other factors being the same, redder is better,” says protein engineer Robert Campbell. Nature | 7 min

read THE BACH OF PHYSICS Nobel-prizewinning physicist Steven Weinberg played a central part in formulating and establishing theoretical physics’ two standard models — the standard model of

fundamental interactions and the standard model of cosmology. His approach to science was scholarly and his assessment of religion was scathing, writes his friend (and occasional competitor)

Frank Wilczek. But Weinberg’s more usual, jovial appreciation of the human comedy was exemplified by something else, writes Wilczek: “Given the chance, he would sneak off from stiff parties

to play games with the children.” Weinberg died on 23 July, aged 88. Nature | 5 min read WHERE I WORK Chemist María Fernanda Cerdá builds solar cells using natural dyes that are found in

fruit and flowers. “The technology to convert plant dyes into electricity was developed in Switzerland, but I’m applying it to plants that are indigenous to my home country, Uruguay,

including its national flower, the ceibo (_Erythrina crista-galli_),” says Cerdá. “Funding is scarce, and without it I cannot pay salaries. That’s why I still work in the laboratory at the

age of 54. But I don’t complain: I love lab work.” QUOTE OF THE DAY “SPEAK UP IN LINE AT THE PHARMACY. VOLUNTEER TO SPEAK AT YOUR KIDS’ SCHOOL. OR, IF YOU’RE AMBITIOUS, JOIN ME AT THE

UPCOMING FLAT-EARTH CONVENTION.” Talking to science deniers is not hopeless, says philosopher of science Lee McIntyre — if you’re willing to build trust and listen. (Nature | 5 min read)