News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
By Richard Webb David Stock AS ASTRONOMER Royal, you have to assume Martin Rees isn’t in it for the money: £100 a year is the reward for advising the UK monarch on all matters astronomical. It is just one of many hats Rees has worn, though – including president of both the Royal Astronomical Society … Read more
By Rory Mc Donnell Jennie Edwards SLUGS and snails may not look frightening, but don’t be fooled. Poking out from beneath their slimy bodies is a tongue-like appendage called a radula, covered with thousands of tiny teeth. As gardeners know to their cost, this is a tool of extreme destructive power, which can shred stems … Read more
Precision measurements have long suggested that particles called muons, closely related to the electron, are misbehaving. Now, it seems their shenanigans might be pointing to the presence of new particles Physics 9 February 2022 By New Scientist Jennie Edwards FOR decades, physicists have been aware of a gnawing anomaly in the behaviour of a mysterious … Read more
A sustainable future means using less stuff more wisely – but politicians aren’t yet grasping the nettle, says the head of the UN International Resource Panel Environment 9 February 2022 By Joshua Howgego Farhan ullah Pekhawaray/Alamy Joshua Howgego: What does the circular economy mean to you? Janez Potočnik: I think the nicest definition was given … Read more
By Abigail Beall Jennie Edwards FROM the breathtaking Atlas mountains in Morocco to the expansive deserts of the US, Christopher Jackson’s work has taken him to some incredible places. Incredible and sometimes risky, too: he has been held at gunpoint and put in prison in the line of duty. Why does he do it? Just … Read more
Philosopher David Chalmers explains how virtual worlds shed light on questions such as what is reality and are we living in a simulation, and explores what corporate metaverses mean for humanity Mind 26 January 2022 By Richard Webb Jennie Edwards THE Australian-born philosopher David Chalmers has long made waves in the world of consciousness. In … Read more
By Becca Caddy Jennie Edwards BEFORE heading into the depths of interstellar space, the Voyager 2 probe flew by the giant icy worlds on the edge of our solar system, giving us our first ever close-up of Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. These passes were fleeting, but the data the spacecraft collected about … Read more
By Emily Bates Beth Singler, anthropologist of AI at the University of Cambridge Dave Stock We are growing used to the idea of artificial intelligence influencing our daily lives, but for some people, it is an opaque technology that poses more of a threat than an opportunity. Anthropologist Beth Singler studies our relationship with AI … Read more
The president of Blackrock Neurotech says the company’s brain-computer interface, designed for people who are paralysed, could be available in 2022 if regulators approve it Health 24 December 2021 By Clare Wilson Technology can read brain signals to control a computer Pakpoom Makpan/Shutterstock A brain implant that lets people who are unable to speak because … Read more
Snowflakes can form in either a plate or column shape, but no one understood why – until physicist Kenneth Libbrecht investigated. His theory is the result of two decades making snow in the lab Humans 15 December 2021 By Kenneth Libbrecht Courtesy of Kenneth Libbrecht SNOWFALL in Pasadena, California, is so rare, it’s almost unheard … Read more