Rob Cooke
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Articles by Rob Cooke
The hidden ways insects support animal life—from habitat to health—go way beyond being food
Insects like this damselfly perform many jobs that benefit their ecosystems and ultimately people. Credit: Rob Cooke There are at least 14 million insect species on Earth, and they play highly diverse roles in sustaining the natural world. Insects provide many well-known benefits—what scientists often call "ecosystem services." For example, you can thank a bee or a hoverfly for pollinating wildflowers and agricultural crops, or credit dung beetles for decomposing manure and other waste materials.
The hidden ways insects support animal life – from habitat to health – go way beyond being food Original
There are at least 14 million insect species on Earth, and they play highly diverse roles in sustaining the natural world. Insects provide many well-known benefits – what scientists often call “ecosystem services.” For example, you can thank a bee or a hoverfly for pollinating wildflowers and agricultural crops, or credit dung beetles for decomposing manure and other waste materials.
The hidden ways insects support animal life – from habitat to health – go way beyond being food
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The importance of insect biodiversity for vertebrates
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Abstract Insects are central to ecosystem functioning, including the persistence of many vertebrate species. In this Review, we discuss the range of positive, negative and indirect effects of insects on vertebrates and evaluate the extent to which insect declines could affect vertebrate populations. Insects provide food, structures, sanitation, protection and engineering of ecosystem features that vertebrates depend on. At times, they also cause harm, especially through disease and predation.
By Rob Cooke, Eliza M. Grames, Jeff Ollerton, Laura H. Antão, James Bell, Matthew Bulbert, Yuval Cohen, Julia E. Earl, Luke Evans, Will Hawkes Verified, Brynn Johnson, Sami Kivelä, Thomas Merckx, Muneeb M. Musthafa, Desiree Narango, Desirée L. Narango, James Pryke, Lindsey Swierk, Morgan W. Tingley, Chris Elphick, Suyeon Jang, Julianna R. Yager
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Nature
Verified
A global research coordination programme is urgently needed for biodiversity
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Current biodiversity research and science–policy interfaces are fragmented, poorly coordinated, underfunded and geographically biased, which limits their ability to address the scale and severity of the rapidly accelerating biodiversity crisis1,2,3. To close this gap, a new global organization is needed to coordinate biodiversity research, funding, and policy implications, reduce global inequities, and enhance implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)3.
By Mark Urban Verified, Damaris Zurell, Greta Bocedi, Andrew Gonzalez, Santiago Velazco, Bezeng S. Bezeng, Natalie Briscoe, Lluís Brotons, Lauren B. Buckley, Rob Cooke, Tyler Eddy, Simon Ferrier, Gurutzeta Guillera-Arroita, Nick Isaac, Cornelia Krug, Carolyn J. Lundquist, Jean Paul Metzger, Katie L Millette, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Andy Purvis, Juliano Sarmento Cabral, Josef Settele, Justin Travis, Fabricio Villalobos, Paulo De Marco Júnior, Marisa Mamede, Haigen Xu
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Nature
Verified
Future scenarios for British biodiversity under climate and land-use change
Abstract Projections of biodiversity futures are needed to translate global policies into national action. We use dissimilarity modelling to project climate change scenarios for 1002 plant, 56 butterfly, and 219 bird species across Great Britain up to 2080. Under all scenarios we find extensive community reorganisation, with the disappearance of current bioclimates and emergence of novel ones.
Meta-analysis reveals negative but highly variable impacts of invasive alien species across terrestrial insect orders - Nature Communications
Abstract Insects are crucial to ecosystem functioning but face numerous threats, with invasive alien species likely among the most severe. As insect declines continue, there is a growing need to synthesise evidence on how invasive alien species affect insects, as research has historically focused more on insects as invaders than as victims.
Extensive compositionality in the vocal system of bonobos
Editor’s summary One hallmark of human language is the combination of elements into larger meaningful structures, a pattern referred to as compositionality. Compositionality can be trivial, in which the two parts are added together to give meaning, or nontrivial, in which the meaning in one part modifies the meaning in the other.
Strain-induced rubidium incorporation into wide-bandgap perovskites reduces photovoltage loss
Editor’s summary Cooperative lattice contraction created by small chlorine and rubidium ions allows the formation of a stable wide-bandgap perovskite for use in tandem solar cells. The small size of rubidium cations usually prevents formation of the perovskite phase, but Zheng et al. showed that the strain induced with added chlorine prevents phase segregation of the rubidium and cesium cations in the perovskite and creates a phase with a wide band gap (1.67 electron volts).
Superior resistance to cyclic creep in a gradient structured steel
Editor’s summary A range of techniques are used to strengthen metal alloys to increase their duty life, but these approaches often reduce the ability of the alloys to resist asymmetric stress cycling, which can cause cumulative unidirectional plastic strain. Pan et al. showed that it is possible to achieve both high strength and superior resistance to cyclic creep by engineering the gradient hierarchy of dislocation cells in single-phase, face-centered cubic 304 stainless steel.
Editor’s summary There are many natural and engineered enzymatic systems for breaking apart and piecing back together DNA and RNA. With a few exceptions, proteins are not amenable to this kind of manipulation once they are produced and folded. Hua et al. developed a chemical transposition system for proteins in which an internal section can be entirely replaced by an exogenously supplied polypeptide. Matching the kinetics of the two splicing reactions is key to efficient transposition.
Editor’s summary Regulatory T (Treg) cells play a well-defined role in restraining inflammatory immune responses. Midavaine et al. found that depleting Treg cells specifically localized to the meninges of the central nervous system (mTreg cells) increased the responses of female, but not male, mice to mechanical pain stimuli. These mTreg cells were a source of enkephalin, an endogenous opioid peptide, within the cerebrospinal fluid.
Vaccine-enhanced competition permits rational bacterial strain replacement in the gut
Editor’s summary The gut has essential microbial assemblages that need conservation during treatment to maintain homeostasis, but they can also be manipulated to good effect to exclude pathogens. Whole-cell inactivated oral vaccines are safe and stimulate high-affinity immunoglobulin A responses, but alone they may not eliminate infection. Lentsch et al.
Ectoderm barcoding reveals neural and cochlear compartmentalization
Editor’s summary Sensory organs play a major role in how animals interact with the environment. de Haan et al. used in utero injection and lineage tracing to resolve cellular differentiation trajectories of the developing inner ear in mice. Lentiviral injection into the mouse amniotic cavity at embryonic day 7.5 allowed the authors to determine the various cell types within the cochlear epithelium, neural crest–derived glia, and intermediate cells in the cochlea.
Transcription factor networks disproportionately enrich for heritability of blood cell phenotypes
Editor’s summary Most genetic variants associated with phenotypes or diseases are located in noncoding regions of the genome that play a crucial role in regulating gene expression. However, the mechanisms through which these variants exert their effects remain largely unclear in most cases. Martin-Rufino et al.
Archaea go multicellular under pressure
Perspective Cell Biology A microbe from the Dead Sea switches to a tissue-like form when compressed Eva K. Pillai and Thibaut Brunet thibaut.brunet@pasteur.frAuthors Info & Affiliations Science 3 Apr 2025 Vol 388, Issue 6742 pp.
Dancing with the cells: How acoustically levitating a diamond enabled a redesign of biotech automation
At the start of my PhD, I was asked if I wanted to try and levitate a diamond using acoustic waves. I said yes, but at the time I did not realize this challenge was my first puzzle piece in a technology that would eventually enable us to redesign biotechnology automation from the ground up. Behind every pharmaceutical development lies hundreds of thousands of thankless hours spent by scientists hunched over a laboratory bench, growing and maintaining cells in culture.
Rubella and measles: The beginning of the endgame
A vaccination is prepared in Gedaref, Sudan, during a campaign against measles and rubella in January 2024. A September 2024 recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO) for universal introduction of rubella-containing vaccines (RCVs) into childhood vaccination programs in all countries paves the way to dramatically reduce, and ultimately eradicate, congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), which affects tens of thousands of families each year (1).
Empower the age of smart mRNA medicine: Programmable RNA sensor and molecular tools refine therapeutic payload production
COVID-19 put a spotlight on mRNA vectors, which were programmed, manufactured, and distributed at an unprecedented speed. mRNA is safer than conventional DNA vectors because it cannot possibly insert into the human genome and cause mutations. It is also short-lived, which minimizes the risk of persistent side effects. mRNA has the potential to empower broad swaths of gene and cell therapies, such as encoding smart circuits that detect and remove cancer cells or senescent cells (for rejuvenation).
Catalysis at the crossroads
Abstract Approximately 90% of industrial chemical products use catalysts during manufacturing to speed up a reaction, minimize energy consumption, and reduce waste products (1). They are classified into two main types. Homogeneous catalysts that are in the same phase as the reactants decrease the activation energy by direct binding. By contrast, heterogeneous catalysts are in a different phase than the reactants and work by surface reactions (2).
Exogenous RNA surveillance by proton-sensing TRIM25
Editor’s summary Recent advances have established messenger RNA (mRNA) as a transformative therapeutic tool, yet the mechanisms governing its cellular regulation remain poorly understood. Using genome-wide CRISPR screens, Kim et al. mapped the cellular pathways regulating lipid nanoparticle–encapsulated mRNAs. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans and vacuolar ATPase were identified as mediators of mRNA uptake and endosomal escape, respectively.
In Science Journals
Animal Communication Closer than we thought Sacha Vignieri Wild bonobos extensively use complex vocal utterances, not unlike how humans combine elements in speech. One hallmark of human language is the combination of elements into larger meaningful structures, a pattern referred to as compositionality. Compositionality can be trivial, in which the two parts are added together to give meaning, or nontrivial, in which the meaning in one part modifies the meaning in the other.
Nonlinear sound-sheet microscopy: Imaging opaque organs at the capillary and cellular scale
Editor’s summary Visualizing deep within living tissues is a perennial challenge. Heiles et al. developed a method to allow the generation of three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound images of gene expression and 2D ultrasound images of capillary vessels. The fundamental idea behind this method, which is called nonlinear sound-sheet microscopy, is simple. Biomolecules expressed in cells or microbubbles circulating in blood vessels are excited along thin ultrasound sheets that are swept across the sample.
‘Uniquely human’ language capacity found in bonobos
Researchers spent 8 months following wild bonobos and recording their vocalizations. Human language can combine words to create an infinite number of meanings—an ability that gives language its expressive power and sets it apart from the communication of other animals. Now, researchers have found a more modest version of this ability in bonobos, our closest living relative. The apes can combine different calls to create new meanings, the team reports this week in Science (p. 104).
A geological timescale for bacterial evolution and oxygen adaptation
Editor’s summary When exploring deep time, the problem is that there are few, if any, good fossils of the earliest living organisms, and it is impossible to precisely date the evolution of those that do exist. One calibration point is provided by the impact event about 4.5 billion years ago that resulted in sterilization of Earth and formation of the Moon. Davín et al.
Human high-order thalamic nuclei gate conscious perception through the thalamofrontal loop
Editor’s summary Most studies investigating the neural correlates of conscious perception have focused on the cerebral cortex, and the functional role of subcortical structures has rarely been explored. It has, however, been proposed that subcortico-cortical loops play a prominent role in conscious perception. Using simultaneous intracranial recordings from human thalamus and prefrontal cortex, Fang et al. investigated the neurophysiological correlates of conscious detection and report.
News at a glance
Mass firings at health agencies, grant solicitations vetted, and autism revisited Trump Tracker HHS workers line up outside their office in Washington, D.C., on 1 April, when many were fired. Some staffers learned of this only when they were barred from the building. PHOTO: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS HEALTH LEADERS AXED President Donald Trump’s administration this week began an expected—and sweeping—purge of senior officials and other workers at U.S. federal health agencies.
Convince me, control me
Skip to main content Main content starts here Access the full article View all access options to continue reading this article. Books 1 The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion Rebecca Lemov Norton, 2025. 464 pp. Information & Authors Information Published In Science Volume 388 | Issue 6742 4 April 2025 Copyright Copyright © 2025 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Science safeguards
Information & Authors Information Published In Science Volume 388 | Issue 6742 4 April 2025 Copyright Copyright © 2025 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Article versions Submission history Published in print: 4 April 2025 Permissions Request permissions for this article.
Beyond wear and tear at the joint
Abstract Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent joint disorder worldwide and a leading cause of chronic pain and disability in older adults. Traditionally, it has been regarded as a degenerative disease driven by mechanical wear and tear (1, 2). However, emerging evidence highlights the role of metabolic pathways in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (3, 4).
Saving the cultural legacy of wild animals
A long-tailed macaque uses a stone to open a shell (Koram Island, Thailand), an example of behavioral culture in wild animals. PHOTO: CYRIL RUOSO/NPL/MINDEN PICTURES Biodiversity is increasingly declining in response to the effects of human activities on Earth’s climate, geological processes, and ecosystems. This includes the degradation of behavioral and cultural diversity of animals (1–4).
In Other Journals
Camouflage Hiding in plain sight Sacha Vignieri Broadclub cuttlefish (Sepia latimanus) mimic the shapes and coloration of leaves and coral to sneak up on prey. Cuttlefish are known for their amazing ability to produce color and texture patterns on their skin using muscularly controlled chromatophores and papillae. These animals have been shown to use this control flexibly across a wide array of conditions to hide or mimic. How et al.
mRNA binding proteins join the longevity pipeline: Rebuilding muscle through the power of mRNA binding protein therapeutics
We use our muscles every day. When we walk or exercise, we create small tears that damage them. Luckily, skeletal muscles have an extraordinary ability to self-regenerate thanks to skeletal muscle stem cells called satellite cells. These cells, which surround muscle fiber (myofibers) at a quiescent state, have the capacity to activate and proliferate after muscle strain or injury and repair the injured myofibers, or form entirely new myofibers, to make the muscle stronger and more endurant (1).
Homogeneous-heterogeneous bifunctionality in Pd-catalyzed vinyl acetate synthesis
Editor’s summary There are two broad classes of chemical catalysis, one in which the catalyst dissolves with the reagents in homogeneous solution and another in which it persists in a separate heterogeneous solid phase. Harraz et al. reported the surprising finding that catalytic palladium (Pd) appears to operate in both regimes in the commercial synthesis of vinyl acetate (see the Perspective by Tway and Filip).
Beyond the Binary: Navigating AI’s Uncertain Future in Africa
The artificial intelligence (AI) debate is increasingly polarized in Africa, mirroring a trend across the globe. On one side, utopian headlines, such as “5 Ways To Harness AI And End Poverty Forever,” claim that AI will revolutionize development. On the other, warnings that “AI Is Bad News for the Global South” paint the technology as an inevitable amplifier of inequality and exploitation.
Don’t quit the long game
Living cells that produce biofuel; robots that assist factory workers; intelligent machines that guide drug discovery—these technologies are “deep” in that they achieve something extraordinary—often thought impossible—and push society forward. Indeed, so-called “deep tech” powers the future of medical breakthroughs, resilient energy grids, and clean industrial processes, among other frontiers.
When trainees seek other paths
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Formation of hydrided Pt-Ce-H sites in efficient, selective oxidation catalysts
Abstract Single-atom site catalysts can improve the rates and selectivity of many catalytic reactions. We have modified Pt1/CeO2 single sites by combining them with molecular groups and with oxygen vacancies of the support.
Integrating multiple evidence streams to understand insect biodiversity change
Editor’s summary Reports of declining insect abundance and biodiversity have generated concern, but trends vary across taxonomic groups, locations, and the types of data used. Ideally, trends would be assessed using population time series spanning many taxa and locations, with variation in the strength of drivers such as temperature, land use change, and pesticide use. However, these criteria are not often met, making it difficult to parse drivers and find overall patterns. Cooke et al.
Structural insights into chromatin remodeling by ISWI during active ATP hydrolysis
Abstract Chromatin remodelers utilize the energy of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) hydrolysis to slide nucleosomes, regulating chromatin structure and gene activity in cells. In this work, we report structures of imitation switch (ISWI) bound to the nucleosome during active ATP hydrolysis and remodeling, revealing conformational transitions of the remodeling motor across the adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) cycle.
Undiscovered bird extinctions obscure the true magnitude of human-driven extinction waves - Nature Communications
Abstract Birds are among the best-studied animal groups, but their prehistoric diversity is poorly known due to low fossilization potential. Hence, while many human-driven bird extinctions (i.e., extinctions caused directly by human activities such as hunting, as well as indirectly through human-associated impacts such as land use change, fire, and the introduction of invasive species) have been recorded, the true number is likely much larger.
The efficacy of biodiversity and ecosystem assessment approaches for informing a regenerative approach to built development
Original Article This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1002/ieam.4811 ABSTRACT The built environment, even at its ‘greenest’, inevitably entails changing ecosystem structure and function.
Humanity’s diverse predatory niche and its ecological consequences - Communications Biology
Abstract Although humans have long been predators with enduring nutritive and cultural relationships with their prey, seldom have conservation ecologists considered the divergent predatory behavior of contemporary, industrialized humans. Recognizing that the number, strength and diversity of predator-prey relationships can profoundly influence biodiversity, here we analyze humanity’s modern day predatory interactions with vertebrates and estimate their ecological consequences.
Species’ traits and exposure as a future lens for quantifying seabird bycatch vulnerability in global fisheries
Copyright © 2022 by the author(s). Published here under license by The Resilience Alliance. This article is under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt the work provided the original author and source are credited, you indicate whether any changes were made, and you include a link to the license. Go to the pdf version of this article The following is the established format for referencing this article: Richards, C., R. Cooke, D. E. Bowler, K. Boerder, and A. E.
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