Designing better electrolytes
Announcing the New Cohort of US Science Envoys – US Department of State
The US Department of State has selected seven distinguished scientists to serve as US Science Officers in January 2023: Dr. Drew Harvell, Dr. Jessica Gephart, Dr. Christine Kreuder Johnson, Dr. LaShanda Korley, Dr. Prineha Narang, Mrs. Frances Seymour, and Dr. Kyle Whyte. Through the Science Envoy program, outstanding U.S. scientists and engineers use their expertise and networks to forge connections and identify opportunities for sustainable international collaboration to advance solutions to common challenges, drive innovation and enhance America’s scientific leadership and technical to demonstrate ingenuity. Like their 23 predecessors, these distinguished scientists are recognized by the Secretary of State. TheyRead News
Physics – Smart Materials: From Science Fiction to Science Fact
November 29, 2022• Physics 15, 184 Materials that learn to change shape in response to an external stimulus are one step closer to reality, thanks to a prototype system produced by UCLA engineers. Living things are constantly learning, adapting their behaviors to their environment so that they can thrive regardless of their surroundings. Inanimate materials usually don’t learn, except in science fiction movies. Now, a team led by Jonathan Hopkins of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has demonstrated a material known as architecture capable of learning [1]. The material, made up of a network of beam-like components, learnsRead News
Berkeley is leading a “new era of innovation” in quantum science, technology research
UC Berkeley physics, chemistry, electrical engineering and computer science professors discuss the importance of leading the way in quantum science and technology. (UC Berkeley video by Blake Edgar, Kenneth Macaraig, Stephen McNally and Sepe Rafiei) What is quantum science? What kind of innovations can come from researching it, and how can that technology affect our daily lives and the lives of future generations? For decades, UC Berkeley has invested in research around fundamental quantum science, building a strong foundation and rich ecosystem of more than a dozen institutes, groups and colleges across campus dedicated to its study. In this video,Read News
Students at a Sydney school were injured when a science experiment went awry
File photo of an ambulance in New South Wales Several students in a primary school in the Australian city of Sydney have been injured after a science experiment in the classroom went wrong. Reports say at least one student was taken by ambulance to a hospital with serious burns. Others are believed to have suffered superficial burns. Initial reports suggest the experiment involved sodium bicarbonate and denatured alcohol, 9news said. Helicopters, paramedics and fire trucks were seen responding to the scene. The incident took place at Manly West Public School around 1pm local time (02:00 GMT) on Monday. A residentRead News
Science spared from UK austerity amid economic turmoil
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has pledged to protect the research budget. Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Britain’s finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, said the economic crisis will not affect the ambitious plans for research investment, much to the relief of researchers. The concern of universities and scientists that the government may use the money promised for science to block two billion pounds in national funds caused by the financial decisions of the previous prime minister, Liz Truss. UK graduate students want pay rise from country’s biggest research fund UK graduate students want pay rise from country’s biggest research fund ButRead News
USDA Recommends Scientific Updates to Foods Served Through WIC
The proposed changes promote nutritional safety and health of the mother and child, and increase the flexibility of participants Washington, November 17, 2022 – The USDA Food and Nutrition Service announces proposed changes to foods prescribed for participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC. These science-based versions include the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Recommendations and the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. “The USDA is committed to improving maternal and child health through WIC, helping mothers, infants and young children thrive,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “These proposed changesRead News
Saying ‘no’ in science is not enough
In August 2022, a group of academics wrote “Why four female scientists spent a year saying no” – an article about what they had gained by saying no to 100 work-related requests over the course of the year. We knew we had found kindred spirits in the authors. We, too, have wasted our time saying yes to a job that hasn’t advanced our careers. This led us, four teachers, to form the No Club. Over the past decade, we’ve been investigating jobs that don’t help advance careers, an attempt to understand why we, along with many others, were doing soRead News
Americans are more engaged with science news than in 2017
The coronavirus outbreak has underscored the prominent role that science news and information can play in public life, and there are signs that Americans are now paying more attention to science news. More than half of American adults (56%) say they talk about science news with others at least a few times a month, including about a quarter (24%) who say they talk about science news at least a few times a week. The remaining 43% say they do so less often, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in December 2021. Americans’ engagement with science news in dailyRead News
VSU hosts science on Saturday, November 12
Jessica Pope Communications and Media Relations Coordinator These images are from Valdosta State University’s October 22 Science Saturday: Fabulous Fibers, presented by the College of Science and Mathematics, Department of Chemistry, and Student Members of the American Chemical Society. VALDOSTA – The College of Science and Mathematics and Department of Biology at Valdosta State University present Science Saturday: The Circle of Life from 9 a.m. to noon Nov. 12 in the Hugh C. Bailey Science Center. Science Saturday: The Circle of Life is a fun and educational opportunity to learn about different organisms, both large and small. Learners of allRead News
US midterm elections: 3 ways the science is on the line
People enter an early voting location for the US mid-term elections in Stafford, Virginia. Credit: Samuel Corum/Getty The voters of the United States are heading to the polls tomorrow to choose their representatives for Congress, and the results could have consequences for the scientific agenda established by President Joe Biden and his Democratic Party. With recent votes favoring Republicans to take control of the House of Representatives and perhaps the Senate, researchers anticipate reductions in science funding, a renewed focus on research safety and heightened congressional scrutiny of science programs being launched by the Biden administration. Did Biden follow theRead News
The emergent properties of the connected brain
What is the difference between functional connectivity and effective connectivity? Functional integration can be characterized in two ways, functional connectivity and effective connectivity. While functional connectivity describes statistical dependencies between data, effective connectivity relies on a mechanistic model of the causal effects that generated the data. What is functional connectivity in psychology? Functional connectivity is defined as the temporal overlap of spatially distant neurophysiological events (Friston, 1994). That is, two regions are considered to show functional connectivity if there is a statistical relationship between the activity measures recorded for them. What is meant by functional connectivity? On a general note,Read News
With Republicans on the verge of controlling Congress, science is on the line
WASHINGTON — Halfway through this year, the future of federal science policy is in the sights of Republicans. Some of the most vocal critics of scientists and science agencies like the NIH and CDC, including Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, are poised to gain powerful committee chairs that will allow them to thoroughly investigate and to put health officials on public trial. New presidencies could also give them the opportunity to tighten the purse strings of health agency budgets — and outright deny funding for new Covid-19 measures or other Biden health priorities. At the same time, some of theRead News
How the US-China Science Freeze Threatens Climate Disaster
US climate correspondents John Kerry and China’s Xie Zhenhua at last year’s climate convention in Glasgow, UKCredit: Alberto Pezzali / AP / Shutterstock Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has granted himself a third five-year term as the leader of his country, has moved science to the center of his presidency. At the 20th Communist Party Congress in late October, he declared that China must “consider science and technology as our main productive force, talent as our primary resource and innovation as our main engine of growth” . To underscore this ambition, 6 of the 25 recently announced Politburo members haveRead News
Weekly Science Links » Explorersweb
A passion for the outdoors drives many of our adventures. And when we’re not outside, we love to immerse ourselves in discoveries about the places we live and travel. Here are some of the best natural history links we found this week. The Harlem Hive-Trotters Bees that play ball: Bumblebees are the first insects known to play. Scientists have found that they roll wooden balls, a behavior that is of no benefit to the bees. Researchers have observed birds and mammals at play, but never insects. In the experiment, wooden balls were placed next to a feeding station filled withRead News
Opinion | Science Has a Nasty Photoshopping Problem
Dr. Bik is a microbiologist who has worked at Stanford University and the Netherlands National Institute of Health. One evening in January 2014, I was sitting at my computer at home browsing research papers. As a microbiologist, this was not unusual, although I certainly did not expect to find what I did that night. These particular articles were descriptions of medical research, and many of them contained pictures of biological samples such as tissues. One photo caught my attention. Was there something familiar about it? Curious, I quickly looked through other articles by the same authors, comparing their images withRead News
Americans value the United States’ role as a Scientific Leader, but 38% say the country is losing ground globally
Widening partisan divide over scientists’ place in policy debates Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand how Americans see science and their levels of trust in groups and institutions in society, including scientists and medical scientists. For this analysis, we surveyed 10,588 US adults from September 13-18, 2022. All those who participated in the survey are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random samples of residential addresses. In this way, almost all American adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of theRead News
The pandemic revealed ways to speed up science
The pandemic has exposed broad problems in research: that many studies were exaggerated, flawed, or even fraudulent, and that misinformation could spread quickly. But it also demonstrated what was possible. While it usually takes years to test drugs for a new disease, this time it took less than a year to find multiple vaccines and treatments. Scientists once discovered new virus strains only after an outbreak had already occurred, but now they have been able to use sewage samples to predict outbreaks in advance. Not everyone saw the speed of this progress in a positive light: the belief that vaccinesRead News
ESA – Promoting Earth Science
24/10/2022 331 views 16 likes With science at the core of the FutureEO Earth Exploration programme, ESA has opened a new scientific facility, the Science Centre, which offers new opportunities for collaborative research to further enhance the scientific output of the Agency and its Members. Using new ideas and concepts to create pioneering satellite projects and improve the impact of Earth observation on society, FutureEO is ESA’s Earth observation research and development initiative. This world-leading program creates compelling science and indisputable implications for understanding our changing world – in fact, FutureEO is the cornerstone of ESA’s mission in Earth observation.Read News
The science behind the aroma of autumn
If you’re lucky enough to live in a place where nature puts on a show in the fall, your nose might know it’s fall as soon as you step outside. “This is what fall is all about. The leaves are falling from the trees and the bacteria and fungi in the soil are actively digesting them,” said Theresa Crimmins, director of the US National Phenology Network. “And in the process, various [gases] are being released, and that’s a lot of the smells.” So, if fall is in full swing and yet your local foliage isn’t showing up, the holdover couldRead News
Why we enjoy fear: the science of good scares
Sweaty palms, rapid heart rate, muscle spasms. Your skin prickles and your stomach churns. When fear disappears, we can be left with feelings of happiness. Is this just the relief of survival – or something more? Fight or flight The amygdala, a conductor-like bundle of neurons in the center of the brain, controls the fear response. In a dangerous situation, the amygdala stimulates the hypothalamus, which activates two systems in the body – the immune system and the body’s immune system – causing a flood of hormones and triggering the response- or-flight. Adrenaline improves the alertness of the body. ItRead News
Links Science of the Week » Explorersweb
A love of the natural world drives many of our adventures. When we’re not out and about, we love to explore the places we live and travel. Here are some of the best natural history links we found this week. Gender-switching fish The rainbow fish that changes sex: The coral reef fish lives in the dark zone of the Maldives. Most of them are found between 40m and 70m, they are at a very shallow depth and are often explored by divers. A group of divers wanted to know more about the aquifers in this area so they used specialRead News
Asteroid science is rewriting the history of the solar system
Image: Sarah Grillo/Axios New studies, missions and rich data about asteroids are giving scientists a clearer picture of the history of the solar system. Why it matters: Asteroids are leftovers from the dawn of the solar system that carry a record of the materials that built planets. They could help piece together how the solar system formed – and how life-producing water arrived on Earth. Driving the news: A trio of papers published today analyzed samples from the Ryugu asteroid returned to Earth in 2020 by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. How it works: The composition of asteroids is studied by analyzingRead News
Learn science in the field … or in the rainforest
Since 1999, students at Bishop O’Dowd High School have been found tracking bats in Belize, giant tortoises in the Galapagos, and bison and elk in Yellowstone National Park. Some of O’Dowd’s most inspired scientific learning takes place in the field – an essential experience for budding scientists. Up to eight times a year, faculty plans and tracks student research trips to explore diverse ecosystems, including Costa Rica and Yosemite. The trips are attended by students from all four grades who have been recommended by their science teachers. A passion for the subject is required, because participants actually conduct and contributeRead News
Opinion: Science Has a Communication Problem – and a Communication Problem
Scientists can be great communicators. We are trained to work on collaborative projects large and small, present our work clearly and purposefully in journal articles and conferences, and generally enjoy talking to each other. Communication is an important part of scientific life. But when researchers try to engage the public, they face barriers to getting their message across and can often find that their messages are being manipulated. As a scientist closely involved in science communication, I find my colleagues fall into the same traps over and over again—assuming they even bother. Science cannot effectively communicate its process and valuesRead News
Learning science in the field… or the rainforest
Since 1999, Bishop O’Dowd High School students have discovered bats in Belize, giant tortoises in the Galapagos, and bison and elk in Yellowstone National Park. Some of O’Dowd’s most inspiring science learning takes place in the field – an essential experience for budding scientists. Up to eight times a year, the faculty plans student research trips to explore different ecosystems, including Costa Rica and Yosemite. The trips involve students from all four grades recommended by science teachers. A passion for the subject is required, as participants perform and assist with experiments for researchers at partner institutions in each location. WorkingRead News
Questions and Answers: Melissa Nobles on Nature’s Guest Editor to investigate racism in science
The venerable British journal Nature will publish four special issues in 2022 addressing issues of racism and science, including how racist thinking has permeated the content of biological thought, downplaying knowledge accumulated by non-Western societies and the exclusion of people of color from the scientific establishment. MIT Chancellor Melissa Nobles is one of four guest editors for these issues, along with Elizabeth Wathuti, an environmental and climate activist from Kenya and founder of the Green Generation Initiative; Chad Womack, a scientist, vice president of national STEM programs and tech initiatives at UNCF for Education, Washington DC, and founder of theRead News
How monkeypox is spread, and more – this week’s best science charts
Adolescents losing sleep Epidemiological studies of US school students aged 14–18 have shown that declines in mental health reflect reductions in the amount of sleep they get. Although it is difficult to show a causal relationship between these changes, the authors of this commentary argue that ensuring young people get enough sleep is essential to their well-being. Various factors can contribute to this sleep loss, they say, including the use of digital media before bed, school work pressure and leisure activities late at night or early in the morning. Sources: J.M. Twenge et al. Sleep Med. 39, 47–53 (2017)/US CDCRead News
The National Science Foundation Award paves the way for the UT Center for Pandemic Decision Science Science – UT News
AUSTIN, Texas — The National Science Foundation has selected the University of Texas at Austin for a pilot grant to establish the UT Center for Pandemic Decision Science (CPDS). The new interdisciplinary center will bring together scientists, engineers, clinicians and policy makers to address the grand challenge of preparing the world to combat future pandemic threats. “This represents an ambitious next step for the UT COVID-19 Modeling Consortium,” said Lauren Ancel Meyers, professor of integrative biology and statistics and data sciences who is directing the effort. “Over the past three years, the consortium has been a major force in pandemicRead News
Fun Details about the Human Side of Science
The Thwaites ice shelf is cracking, humans have learned to walk many times and covert consciousness can be detected in unresponsive patients The Thwaites Ice Shelf is one of the most important geological features on the planet and it is in trouble. The 800 square kilometer ice sheet floats in front of Antarctica’s massive Thwaites Glacier and holds it in place. In recent years, scientists have discovered new ways in which the ice shelf is melting, cracking and rocking. Science journalist Douglas Fox accompanied the researchers as they pulled sledges full of radar equipment across the ice to study itsRead News
