US: Ben Barres, transgender brain researcher and advocate of diversity in science, dies at 63

Ben Barres, a neurobiologist who made groundbreaking discoveries regarding the structure and function of the brain that may have implications for understanding Alzheimer’s disease and other degenerative disorders, and who, as a transgender man, became an outspoken opponent of gender bias in science, died Dec. 27 at his home in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 63.

Malaysia: Alarm over course to convert transgender women in Terengganu

A Malaysian state plans to run a conversion therapy course aimed at transgender women, officials said yesterday, sparking alarm among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists in the conservative Muslim-majority country.