News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
The Kingdom of Tonga doesn’t often attract global attention, but a violent eruption of an underwater volcano on January 15 has spread shock waves, quite literally, around half the world. The volcano is usually not much to look at. It consists of two small uninhabited islands, Hunga-Ha’apai and Hunga-Tonga, poking about 100 meters (328 … Read more
What was the Big Bang? The Big Bang Theory is the leading explanation for how the universe began. Simply put, it says the universe as we know it started with an infinitely hot and dense single point that inflated and stretched — first at unimaginable speeds, and then at a more measurable rate — over … Read more
We can all take a deep breath before the James Webb Space Telescope’s next major deployment. On Tuesday (Jan. 4), Webb finished bringing its huge, five-layer sunshield up to the proper tension, wrapping up the most complex and tricky operation of the $10 billion observatory’s lengthy deployment phase. The mission team can therefore now turn … Read more
Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images HELLO and welcome to the first issue of 2022 – and our predictions of what the year ahead holds. This magazine went to press as the omicron variant of the coronavirus was on the rise. As the pandemic enters its third calendar year, we look at the likely evolution of … Read more
“The last star will slowly cool and fade away. With its passing, the Universe will become once more a void, without light or life or meaning.” So warned the physicist Brian Cox in the recent BBC series Universe. The fading of that last star will only be the beginning of an infinitely long, dark epoch. … Read more
Congress came very close to giving U.S. researchers a funding windfall in 2021. But the Democrats’ narrow majority in both houses and a united Republican opposition doomed efforts to pass three major pieces of legislation, each one containing billions of dollars for research. However, science advocates are cautiously optimistic that lawmakers, who return to work … Read more
For a society constantly trying to over-extend, over-perform, and over-deliver, skipping out on sleep may be seen as the ultimate badge of productivity. It’s a lifestyle we most associate with the rich and powerful of the world, not to mention the hustle-drunk tech bros of Silicon Valley – but it’s not even a new thing. Even … Read more
A newly discovered fossil shows that within just 3 million years of their first appearance on Earth, ichthyosaurs had evolved into 17-metre-long giants Life 23 December 2021 By Riley Black An artist’s impression of Cymbospondylus youngorum Stephanie Abramowicz Fossil remains of one of the ocean’s earliest giants have been unearthed in Nevada. Named Cymbospondylus youngorum, … Read more