суббота, 31 мая 2025 г.

Chronicles of a Trumpastrophe 11: An attempt to revise nuclear safety standards (towards increasing the dose) and the abolition of scholarships for young scientists

 1. Nuclear safety must be approached with great caution. Low doses of radiation are a deadly Russian roulette: some will be lucky, some will not. But if Trump, with his incompetence and chaos, interferes, then it is better not to change anything at all.

Read More:  https://www.science.org/content/article/boost-nuclear-power-trump-orders-controversial-rewrite-radiation-safety-rules

 

2.  The abolition of scholarships means that graduates will not remain in universities, which can undermine continuous succession and scientific schools. Business will certainly benefit from the influx of young personnel, but in the short term (within a generation), and then it will also be difficult: quality students will be reduced due to the lack of good teachers. Do the administrations think in such long time intervals?

Read More:  https://www.science.org/content/article/will-nsf-s-flagship-training-program-survive-under-trump

четверг, 29 мая 2025 г.

Science.org: Explorers of Ukrainian caves may have brought deadly bat fungus to U.S.

 White-nose syndrome in bats is a strain of fungus that was unwittingly brought to North America by Ukrainian cave explorers. Mice become infected with it during hibernation. My imagination immediately ran wild and I imagined that such a fungus could be dangerous to space travelers who are in suspended animation during long-term space flight. Thus, this organism would be even more dangerous to Ripley than the Aliens:

 

Explorers of Ukrainian caves may have brought deadly bat fungus to U.S.

Study traces mysterious strain of white-nose disease to visits between American and European cavers

read more:  https://www.science.org/content/article/explorers-ukrainian-caves-may-have-brought-deadly-bat-fungus-u-s

вторник, 27 мая 2025 г.

Science.org: What attracted me today 27 May 2025

 Gamma-ray flashes from lightning on Earth. If lightning generates such high energies, maybe nuclear reactions occur in them?
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads6906

A scanning tunneling microscope for studying graphene. I have been looking at a scanning tunneling microscope for a long time and find this device quite valuable. It can be used to study not only the morphology of the surface, but also the electronic properties of the surface.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads0342

The role of shock plasma in the formation of magnetic anomalies on the Moon. Geologists and paleomagnetists have a place to turn around besides planet Earth.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr7401

Nonlinear processes in transparent oxide films under intense pulsed laser irradiation, the role of electrons in energy relaxation from the laser to the substance. May be useful for considering pulsed annealing models.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu8850

Logic gates on magnons, for computing.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu9032

Magnons can be controlled with the frequency of light, this is very fast, much faster than modern computers. On the example of ErFeO3, which may also be interesting for the Mössbauer effect and gamma optics.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adv3757

China plans to sample near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamo‘oalewa.
https://www.science.org/content/article/china-sets-out-sample-unusual-near-earth-asteroid

"War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength. Trump's science adviser says science cuts will benefit science."
https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-s-science-adviser-defends-funding-cuts-chance-revitalize-u-s-science

вторник, 20 мая 2025 г.

Science.org: Indian police are trying to ‘read minds' of suspects, over neuroscientists' objections

 

Mind reader?

A forensic technology developed in India sifts brain recordings for clues to a suspect’s guilt or innocence. Many neuroscientists are skeptical, but it is catching on in other countries

 

One day in 2021 an Indian student in her early teens came to her family with some distressing news: At school, a man in his 20s had called her into an empty classroom and raped her at knifepoint. Later, after the student found out she was pregnant and decided to abort, she filed a statement with the police.

The man accused of the crime, Surjaram, denied everything and sought to be released on bail. To prove his innocence, he asked to undergo three forensic science tests, including one called brain electrical oscillation signature profiling (BEOS).

During the test, he would likely have sat quietly in an empty room, listening to a series of short, first-person phrases recounting the crime scene—perhaps “I called the girl into the room,” “I closed the door,” and “I pulled a knife”—while a headset recorded his brain’s electrical activity. Meanwhile, a computer monitored how his brain responded to each phrase, looking for telltale signs that he had participated in the crime. In Surjaram’s case, the results were what he hoped for: His brain signals suggested he had no experience of these events, and was therefore innocent.

 ***

read more: https://www.science.org/content/article/indian-police-are-trying-read-minds-suspects-over-neuroscientists-objections

суббота, 17 мая 2025 г.

Taliban in Kazan

 

KAZAN, May 15. /TASS/. A representative Taliban delegation of more than 20 people, headed by Deputy Chairman of the Afghan Government Abdul Ghani Baradar, has arrived at the forum site in Kazan.

On the sidelines of "Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum," the Taliban are already holding business meetings and inspecting stands, a TASS correspondent reports. Among them are the heads of several ministries and industry departments, including those responsible for energy, industry, and agriculture.

science.org: Observation of edge supercurrent in topological antiferromagnet MnBi2Te4-based Josephson junctions

 

Research Article
PHYSICS
  • Observation of edge supercurrent in topological antiferromagnet MnBi2Te4-based Josephson junctions

Enze Zhang1,2†, Zi-Ting Sun3†, Zehao Jia1,2†, Jinshan Yang4†, Jingyi Yan4, Linfeng Ai1,2, Ying-Ming Xie3, Yuda Zhang1,2, Xue-Jian Gao3, Xian Xu5, Shanshan Liu1,2, Qiang Ma1,2, Chaowei Hu6, Xufeng Kou7, Jin Zou8,9,10, Ni Ni6, Kam Tuen Law3*, Shaoming Dong4, Faxian Xiu1,2,11,12
 
Science Advances
14 May 2025
Vol 11, Issue 20
 
 

Abstract

Hybridizing superconductivity with topology and magnetism attracts growing interest in condensed matter physics. Here, we present our findings on the measurement of supercurrent induced in an intrinsic antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4. By constructing a MnBi2Te4 proximity Josephson junction, we observed an anomalously large period of the Fraunhofer patterns, indicating a strong Josephson coupling state. As the MnBi2Te4 thickness is reduced, a distinct asymmetric edge supercurrent emerges, aligning consistently with the observed oscillatory junction magnetoresistance. Leveraging this large asymmetric edge supercurrent, we have realized a nonvolatile Josephson diode device with programmable polarity, achieved through training with an out-of-plane magnetic field. Theoretical calculations substantiate that these behaviors are attributed to the interference between the highly asymmetric topological edge channel–mediated supercurrent induced in MnBi2Te4. Our study establishes this system as a promising avenue for investigating topological superconductivity, chiral Majorana edge modes, and advanced functionality device applications.
 

пятница, 16 мая 2025 г.

ScienceInsider: Low-quality papers are surging by exploiting public data sets and AI

 

Low-quality papers are surging by exploiting public data sets and AI

Paper mills are also likely contributing to “false discoveries”

 

Last year, Matt Spick began to notice oddly similar papers flooding in for peer review at Scientific Reports, where he is an associate editor. He smelled a rat. The papers all drew on a publicly available U.S. data set: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which through health exams, blood tests, and interviews has collected dietary information and other health-related measurements from more than 130,000 people. “I was getting so many nearly identical papers—one a day, sometimes even two a day,” says Spick, a statistician at the University of Surrey.

What he was seeing at his one journal is part of a larger problem, Spick has discovered. In recent years, there has been a drastic surge in poor-quality papers using NHANES, possibly spearheaded by illicit moneymaking enterprises known as paper mills and facilitated by the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated text, he and colleagues reported in PLOS Biology last week. The finding suggests large public health data sets are ripe for exploitation, they say.

***

read more:  https://www.science.org/content/article/low-quality-papers-are-surging-exploiting-public-data-sets-and-ai

P.S. From me: It is necessary to develop methods for analyzing scientific texts based on AI in order to automatically filter out low-quality AI-synthesized texts before peer review. The Russian Dissernet has extensive experience in analyzing low-quality and borrowed scientific texts of dissertations from Russia and the former Soviet Union. It is necessary to use their developments to combat this new phenomenon.

 

вторник, 13 мая 2025 г.

Chronicles of a Trumpastrophe 10: Many worry about retribution. But for others, speaking out is worth the risk

 

Trump’s ‘fear factor’: Scientists go silent as funding cuts escalate

Many worry about retribution. But for others, speaking out is worth the risk

 In February, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump was inaugurated, Rebekah Tromble launched a program to advise scientists and journalists targeted for intimidation and harassment. But she announced it quietly, fearing the very kind of attacks the initiative was meant to counter. “We were truly concerned that trying to draw too much attention to our work would jeopardize our funding,” says the George Washington University social scientist. “It’s a bit counterintuitive for a program that is actually trying to reach and help people.”

 ***

read more:  https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-s-fear-factor-scientists-go-silent-funding-cuts-escalate

среда, 7 мая 2025 г.

Chronicles of a Trumpastrophe 9: Trump’s proposed budget would mean ‘disastrous’ cuts to science

 

Trump’s proposed budget would mean ‘disastrous’ cuts to science

Key research budgets would shrink by one-third to one-half in 2026 spending plan

 

President Donald Trump today asked Congress to make massive and unprecedented cuts to the 2026 budgets of major federal science agencies.

The request calls for cutting spending by 37% at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and more than 50% at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the country’s two major science funders. The White House also seeks to eliminate most federal spending on climate and ecological research and would cut NASA’s science budget by more than half, killing major planetary missions. Other agencies would face similarly harsh cuts.

***

read more:  https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-s-proposed-budget-would-mean-disastrous-cuts-science

воскресенье, 4 мая 2025 г.

Science.org: Shape and topology morphing of closed surfaces integrating origami and kirigami

Research Article

ENGINEERING

Shape and topology morphing of closed surfaces integrating origami and kirigami

 

 

Abstract

A closed surface is generally more resistant to deformation and shape changes than an open surface. An empty closed box, for example, is stiffer and more stable than when it is open. The presence of an opening makes it less constrained, more deformable, and easier to morph, as demonstrated by several studies on open-surface morphing across patterns, materials, and scales. Here, we present a platform to morph closed surfaces with bistability that harnesses a balanced integration of origami and kirigami principles. By harmonizing panel rotation around creases nearly tangent to the closed surface and panel rotation around hinges nearly perpendicular to the closed surface, we show that origami-kirigami assemblages can shape-morph between a cube and a sphere, scale between spheres of dissimilar size, and change topology between a sphere and a torus, with programmed bistability. The framework offers a promising strategy for designing bistable reconfigurable structures and metamaterials with enclosed configurations.
 

Science.org: A liquid metal electrode enables dendrite-free, zinc-based flow batteries with exceptional long-duration energy storage.

 

Research Article
ELECTROCHEMISTRY

Liquid metal anode enables zinc-based flow batteries with ultrahigh areal capacity and ultralong duration

 
 

Abstract

Zinc-based flow batteries (Zn-FBs) are promising candidates for large-scale energy storage because of their intrinsic safety and high energy density. Unlike that conventional flow batteries operate on the basis of liquid-liquid conversions, the Zn anode in Zn-FBs adopts a solid-liquid conversion reaction, presenting challenges such as dendrite formation, poor reversibility, and low areal capacity, limiting its long-duration energy storage (LDES) applications. Here, we developed a liquid metal (LM) electrode that evolves the deposition/dissolution reaction of Zn into an alloying/dealloying process within the LM, thereby achieving extraordinary areal capacity and dendrite-free Zn-FBs with outstanding cycling stability. Both Zn-I2 and Zn-Br2 flow batteries using LM electrodes exhibited an ultrahigh areal capacity of 640 milliampere-hours per square centimeter, corresponding to an ultralong discharge duration of ~16 hours, thus exceeding the LDES standard defined by the US Department of Energy. This study breaks the solid-liquid working mode of the Zn anode, offering an effective solution for LDES applications with Zn-FBs.
 

четверг, 1 мая 2025 г.

Chronicles of a Trumpastrophe 8: 100 days of American science under siege

 About this, links to 3 articles from Science below:

 1. How Trump upended science

A chaotic 100-day push to remake federal research will have lasting consequences

 

It is almost certainly the most consequential 100 days that scientists in the United States have experienced since the end of World War II.

Since taking his oath of office on 20 January, President Donald Trump has unleashed an unprecedented rapid-fire campaign to remake—some would say demolish—vast swaths of the federal government’s scientific and public health infrastructure. His administration has erased entire agencies that fund research; fired or pushed out thousands of federal workers with technical backgrounds; terminated research and training grants and contracts worth billions of dollars; and banned new government funding for activities it finds offensive, from efforts to diversify the scientific workforce to studies of the health needs of LGBTQ people. The frenetic onslaught has touched nearly every field—from archaeology to zoology, from deep-sea research to deep-space science. And it has left researchers from postdocs to lab heads feeling bewildered, worried—and angry. Many fear that in just 14 weeks, Trump has irreversibly damaged a scientific enterprise that took many decades to build, and has long made the U.S. the envy of the world.

***

read more:  https://www.science.org/content/article/100-days-that-shook-u-s-science

2. After 100 days of upheaval, what’s next for U.S. science?

Fights over research spending and pending court rulings loom large

 With a torrent of executive orders, President Donald Trump has turned U.S. science upside down in his first 100 days, and the onslaught isn’t likely to end soon. Trump shows no sign of backing off his push to shrink the federal science workforce, end programs he considers wasteful or objectionable, and bring universities to heel by canceling their government research grants and contracts. But factors outside the White House could slow or drastically accelerate these efforts in the coming months, as Congress and the courts get a chance to embrace—or push back against—Trump’s science agenda.

***

read more: https://www.science.org/content/article/after-100-days-upheaval-what-s-next-u-s-science

3. NIH under siege

After Trump’s first 100 days, agency scientists say U.S. health institutes are demoralized and have lost essential staff and funding

On a cool, sunny, mid-April day, the cheerful redbuds and other flowering trees amid the sprawling labs on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) main campus belied the pervasive gloom. Nearly 3 months into President Donald Trump’s administration, NIH in-house scientists and other workers were reeling from mass layoffs of colleagues; the removal of leaders; and limits on travel, communication, and purchasing that have shut the agency off from the outside world, hamstrung experiments, and crushed the community’s spirits.

***

read more: https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-insiders-trump-dismantling-and-destroying-everything