News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
A partial skull from China represents the earliest human with a “modern” brain size. It could represent an unknown group of ancient humans, or perhaps one of the enigmatic Denisovans Humans 26 January 2022 By Michael Marshall Fragments of a large ancient human skull known as Xujiayao 6 Xiu-Jie Wu,Christopher J.Bae, Martin Friess, Song Xing, … Read more
For the past year, the U.S. government had argued that Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineering professor Gang Chen broke the law by failing to disclose his ties to China when applying for a grant from the Department of Energy (DOE). But last week, prosecutors abruptly reversed course and dropped all charges against him, telling … Read more
A former University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, engineering professor today pleaded guilty to one count of lying to FBI about his status as an inventor. In return, the U.S. government agreed to drop its efforts to prosecute him for allegedly hiding his ties to China on federal grant applications. Simon Ang is one of two dozen … Read more
The criminal charges against Harvard University chemist Charles Lieber—and dozens of others ensnared in the U.S. Department of Justice’s China Initiative—have put a spotlight on the Thousand Talents Program (TTP), a Chinese government effort that brought Lieber and other scientists from overseas to China’s universities and research institutes. U.S. authorities have portrayed the program as … Read more
Western Australia, which has remained largely covid-free, has cancelled its border reopening due to omicron fears, but there may be little to gain by holding out longer Health 21 January 2022 By Alice Klein Women wearing face masks in Perth, Australia Matt Jelonek/Getty Images Western Australia, which has mostly dodged the coronavirus by sealing itself … Read more
A federal judge has dismissed charges against Gang Chen, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) accused of lying about his ties to China. It was one of the highest profile cases under the government’s 3-year-old China Initiative, which is intended to prevent China from stealing U.S.-funded research. Critics of … Read more
We haven’t been able to take a close-up look at the far side of the moon until now, and the discoveries being made by the Yutu-2 rover might prove important for future missions 19 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins A photo of the Yutu-2 moon rover, taken by the Chang’e-4 lunar probe AFP The first … Read more
China executed its first launch of 2022 with a classified mission, the Shiyan 13 test satellite. The Long March 2D rocket carrying Shiyan 13 launched from the China National Space Administration‘s (CNSA) northern Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center Tuesday (Jan. 17) at 10:35 a.m. local time (0235 GMT, or 9:35 p.m. EST on Jan. 16) The … Read more
Scientists in China say they have found the oldest flower bud in the fossil record, finally aligning the fossil evidence with the genetic data suggesting flowering plants, or angiosperms, evolved tens of millions of years earlier than we initially thought. The team hopes their discovery will help “ease the pain” around a nagging, centuries-old mystery that … Read more
Chinese scientists have built an “artificial moon” research facility that will enable them to simulate low-gravity environments using magnetism. The facility, slated for official launch this year, will use powerful magnetic fields inside a 2-foot-diameter (60 centimeters) vacuum chamber to make gravity “disappear.” The scientists were inspired by an earlier experiment that used magnets to … Read more