Mars is a dead planet — “Or is it?” asks the New York Times:
Previous research has hinted at volcanic eruptions on Mars 2.5 million years ago. But a new paper suggests an eruption occurred as recently as 53,000 years ago in a region called Cerberus Fossae, which would be the youngest known volcanic eruption on Mars. That drives home the prospect…
Tag: peer review
Faith in Government Declines When Mobile Internet Arrives
An anonymous reader shares a report: The early days of the internet were full of predictions about access to information unleashing a wave of democratisation. More recently, views on the internet’s impact have soured, as states use it to spy on dissidents and influence foreign elections. Opinions on this topic are abundant, but hard data are scarce. No one knows whether…
13 Scientists Troll Scientific Journal With a Bogus Paper about Earth’s Black Hole
“They’re trolling us… we think. But how the hell did this get published?” asks Popular Mechanics. Slashdot reader worldofsimulacra shares their report: Scientists have uncovered a bizarre, indefensible paper that squeaked through peer review at what appears at first pass to be a legitimate medical journal… 13 listed authors from wildly different fields throw together a series of escalating falsehoods. “Recently,…
Building skills through online learning: 4 data-driven best practices
By: Alexandra Urban, Senior Teaching & Learning Specialist, Coursera Teaching and learning online can feel daunting, especially at first. With the pandemic forcing millions of instructors and students abruptly into remote schooling, many have questioned the quality of online learning and its effectiveness — especially those new to the online setting. This new landscape inspired […]
The post Building skills through online…
Self-Replicating Chernobyl Mold Tested on ISS as a Space Radiation Shield
Humans on the moon and Mars would face the problem of damaging space radiation. But new research suggests one possible solution to the fact that “Space wants to kill you,” according to CNET:
To protect astronauts, scientists have been studying an unusually hardy organism, discovered in one of the most radioactive places on the planet: Chernobyl… In some parts of the plant,…
Do Drones Help Democratize Surveillance?
A University of San Diego (USD) professor has just published The Good Drone: How Social Movements Democratize Surveillance. He tells a local newspaper that drones (as well as other aerial technologies like balloons, satellites, and even kites) actually help effect social change. “That was my litmus test,” Choi-Fitzpatrick continues. “Can I, or other people like me, use this technology for good?…
Astronomers ponder Odd Radio Circles in space
Scientists in Australia have discovered a strange new phenomenon in deep space – “Odd Radio Circles” – that appear in radio telescope images as mysterious circles or rings. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/astronomers-ponder-odd-radio-circles-in-space…
Tech Firms Hire ‘Red Teams.’ Scientists Should, Too
The recent retraction of a research paper which claimed to find no link between police killings and the race of the victims was a story tailor-made for today’s fights over cancel culture. From a report: First, the authors asked for the paper to be withdrawn, both because they’d been “careless when describing the inferences that could be made from our data”…
Physicists say they’ve found a ‘tetraquark’
On July 1, scientists announced the discovery of a new exotic particle – a so-called “tetraquark” – a finding that marks a major breakthrough in a search of almost 20 years, carried out in particle physics labs all over the world. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/cern-physicists-discovery-new-particle-tetraquark…
Best evidence yet for existence of anyons
A small team of researchers at Purdue University has found the strongest evidence yet of the existence of abelian anyons. They have written a paper describing experiments they conducted designed to reveal the existence of the quasiparticles and have uploaded it to the arXiv preprint server while they await peer review. …