News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
A flaw in a commonly used piece of software has left millions of web servers vulnerable to exploitation by hackers Technology 13 December 2021 By Matthew Sparkes Hackers could use the Log4j bug to access secure data Shutterstock / Tammy54 A major security flaw has been discovered in a piece of software called Log4j, which … Read more
A technology that keeps Norway’s fjords ice-free in winter could help prevent devastating hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico in the future, a Norwegian company now backed by an independent study believes. It’s a hot, humid summer in Louisiana sometime around the mid-2020s. Weather forecasters are keeping an eye on a tropical depression forming in … Read more
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Michelle L.D. Hanlon, Professor of Air and Space Law, University of Mississippi Greg Autry, Clinical Professor of Space Leadership, Policy and Business, Arizona State University On Nov. 15, 2021, Russia destroyed one of its own old satellites using a missile … Read more
When COVID shut down life as usual in the spring of 2020, most physicians in the U.S. focused on the immediate physical dangers from the novel coronavirus. But soon pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris began thinking of COVID’s longer-term emotional damage and those who would be especially vulnerable: children. “The pandemic is a massive stressor,” explains … Read more
The south-central coast of Chile could be more vulnerable to tsunamis than the historical record suggests. Geological research among the tidal marshes of Chaihuín has now revealed the fallout of a long, high wall of water that struck land in 1737. Written documents from the time, however, describe no such wave. “There are records … Read more
Neurologists in the United States think they have finally figured out why people with asthma seem to develop fewer brain tumors. The findings could one day help us develop better treatments for both conditions. The curious connection between asthma and brain tumors first began popping up in global epidemiological research about 15 years ago, … Read more
Imagine two of the world’s most iconic canids – a dingo and a wolf – head to head in a fight. Who would win? Before we examine the combatants in more detail, we need to answer an important question first, which wolf and which dingo? Taxonomy – the way we describe, name and classify Earth’s … Read more
The replicability of scientific studies is under the microscope like never before: scientists are increasingly examining just how many studies can be repeated with the same results a second or third time around. If a study doesn’t pass the so-called replication test, that casts some doubt over the findings; newly published investigations are now indicating … Read more
It might seem an obvious statement that there are limits to what we know, but the principle first expounded by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg in 1927 takes things to a new and weird level. Think of a football. If you kick a football, knowing where it is doesn’t stop you knowing where it’s going, … Read more
Science consultant Elisabeth Bik is on a mission to detect duplicate images in scientific papers, exposing either genuine mistakes or signs of fraud. Humans 19 February 2020 , updated 2 December 2021 Voyagerix/Getty Images Microbiologist Elisabeth Bik has spent years searching for duplicated and manipulated images within scientific papers, scouring for clues as to whether … Read more