News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Nearly 200 nations approved a major UN climate change report detailing the accelerating impacts of global warming on Sunday, at the end of a sometimes fraught two-week meeting overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed that debates had concluded over the report’s crucial “Summary for Policymakers”, a … Read more
New Scientist’s weekly round-up of the best books, films, TV series, games and more that you shouldn’t miss Humans 23 February 2022 Read Carbon Queen is Maia Weinstock’s account of the remarkable life of nanoscience pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus, who, from the 1950s, defied society’s expectations of women to become an influential scientist and engineer. Daniel … Read more
Most of us have heard the plaintive songs of humpback whales, or the cries of orcas chattering with their pods. But what about the strains of the spiky kina sea urchin? (It makes a hollow plopping sound.) Now, scientists want to bring the song of the kina—and thousands of other unassuming sea creatures—to other researchers … Read more
A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 375, Issue 6583. After passing through a security gate, the van descends into a tunnel that burrows under the forests of Olkiluoto, an island off Finland’s west coast. The wheels crunch on crushed stone as a gray, wet October day gives way to darkness. “Welcome to … Read more
COVID-19 Africa builds mRNA vaccine capacity The drive to help African countries produce vaccines with messenger RNA (mRNA) technology got big boosts last week from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the company BioNTech. The success of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines made by the Pfizer-BioNTech collaboration and Moderna led to intense global demand, but African countries … Read more
One of the creepiest encounters I’ve ever had came 25 years ago, when I moved into my first house. Turning on the bathroom light early one morning, a gigantic centipede—with its blur of legs—ran up and over my foot without breaking stride. Now, even the sight of one sends shivers up my spine. Not so … Read more
This morning, hours after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mikhail Gelfand canceled his regular lecture on comparative genomics and instead had a heart-to-heart conversation with his students over Zoom. “I’m an old man,” says the bioinformatics specialist at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology near Moscow, rattling off a list of wrenching … Read more
France’s nuclear regulator has ordered ITER, an international fusion energy project, to hold off on assembling its gigantic reactor until officials address safety concerns. This month, the ITER Organization was expecting to get the green light to begin to weld together the 11-meter-tall steel sections that make up the doughnut-shaped reactor, called a tokamak. But … Read more
Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but a new study suggests it could have an unexpected downside: A few minutes of mopping indoors with a fresh-scented cleaning product can generate as many airborne particles as vehicles on a busy city street. The finding suggests custodians and professional cleaners may be at risk of health effects … Read more
Almost 200 people died in the German floods of 2021 because experts couldn’t convince them of impending danger. We must rethink how to get through to the public, says hydrologist Hannah Cloke Humans | Comment 23 February 2022 By Hannah Cloke Simone Rotella IMAGINATION is one of those powerful human traits that sets us apart … Read more