Argentina’s move to woo Trump has derailed South America’s largest radio telescope | Science | AAAS
Science Insider / Latin America
U.S.-Chinese tensions have left nearly complete observatory in limbo, jeopardizing research into pulsars and other celestial objects
27 Oct 2025 4:10 PM ET By María de los Ángeles Orfila
Three articles in Science this week were devoted to Ukraine.
One concerns geological exploration, in the context of the US-Ukraine agreements on minerals.
https://www.science.org/content/article/battle-ukraine-s-geological-wealth
Another concerns research into post-traumatic stress disorder, which affects physiology and affects the body quite materially, and not just mentally (although mentality is a manifestation of matter, and not vice versa).
The third is about the service of Ukrainian science to the defense of the country.
Bad Batch gives a vision of a possible Star Wars story arc in the direction of a separate clone faction or clone clan. I immediately saw that this could be similar to the BattleTech world, but not as mech pilots, but as the Outer Rim Clans in this fantasy world. The ending of Bad Patch and the starting conditions for the new arc are:
- a large enough number of clones survived;
- Kamino's advanced genetic technology was destroyed by Lama Su, but perhaps some materials remained;
- Omega survived;
- Dr. Emerie Karr survived and joined the clone rebels;
- Pantorans and Senator Riyo Chuchi are allies of the clone rebels;
- Boba Fett is managing the Hutt legacy on Tatooine quite successfully.
Although Lama Su destroyed all of her genetic cloning work in her laboratory on Tantiss Base, it is likely that some materials, technology, and equipment survived the orbital bombardment on Kamino ordered by Imperial Vice Admiral Edmon Rampart. Since Emerie Karr and Omega have scientific cloning skills and are capable of conducting genetic experiments, it is possible that they can restore the cloning technology and preserve the clone faction and its reproduction.
Now, things get very similar to the Clans from the BattleTech world. In this fantasy world, most clan members are clones grown from selected best genetic materials. Constant warfare between clans is a natural means of selection, as the strongest survive. The best soldiers, military leaders, scientists, and technicians become the progenitors of a new generation of social groups that are part of the clan and are called "trueborn". Those who are born naturally are disdainfully called "freeborn".
It can be assumed that in the Star Wars universe, the clones manage to gain their own subjectivity, their own goals, and come to the conclusion that preserving their own identity and their correctness lies in preserving and improving the cloning program. They manage to restore the lost Kamino technology with the help of Dr. Emerie Karr and Omega, and they begin reproducing clones.
Further, there may be various plots about the formation of the clone society and their development. This can be quite entertaining.
An interesting observation about life in Russia. Internet market pick-up points appear in small settlements outside of cities, but near major transport routes. Of greatest interest are the supplies of building materials and tools. This may be a threat to regular building markets, which have large stores or pick-up points located only in cities.
An interesting note to me is about a lichen from the Nevada desert that is resistant to the sun's ultraviolet radiation. It is considered as a form of life that could survive beyond Earth, perhaps on Mars or other space objects. By other objects, I hope I mean small planets like Ceres or the Moon. Of course, the vacuum of space is dehydrating, but if hypothetical living organisms have an outer shell that can prevent dehydration due to evaporation in vacuum, then they could survive on small planets.
27 Jun 2025 3:10 PM ET By Hannah Richter
read more: https://www.science.org/content/article/uv-c-light-kills-nearly-everything-except-unusual-organism
Access to Science.org has been restored, I don't know for how long.
I was attracted by the news that the Trump administration is cutting federal agencies' subscriptions to scientific journals published by Springer, including Nature. Well, the direction of the Trump administration's vector is clear: militant ignorance and the destruction of scientific institutions.
ScienceInsider/Scientific Community
27 Jun 20257:41 PM ET By Jeffrey Brainard
read more: https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-cuts-subscriptions-springer-nature-journals
Amid the deterioration of the Internet in Russia, the site https://www.science.org has stopped opening on Russian territory. Russia is creating its own separate segment of the Internet, similar to the "Great Firewall of China".
I don't think that doing science gives moral indulgence. A researcher who does scientific work in the military field must understand that he is a target. On the other hand, authoritarian authorities may not give him a choice, as happened with Andrei Sakharov. Having created the most monstrous weapon in the world, a thermonuclear bomb, as I understand it, he spent the rest of his life atoning for his guilt, becoming a defender of human rights in the USSR and was persecuted (in the city of Gorky, now the city has returned to its old name Nizhny Novgorod) and tortured (forced feeding through a tube).
13 Jun 2025 4:25 PM ET By Richard Stone
The Republican-controlled Congress is showing signs of resistance to Trump's plans to cut the research budget for agricultural research. I don't think this is unexpected. The U.S. agricultural industry is a powerful lobbyist and very likely relies on government-sponsored research. Expensive research can be afforded by large corporations and agricultural holdings, but many independent farmers cannot.
13 Jun 2025 5:40 PM ET By Dan Charles
Read more: Congress shows first signs of resisting Trump’s plans to slash science budgets | Science | AAAS
The cuts in scientific spending in the United States under Trump are jeopardizing the gravitational wave astronomy project. It is planned to close one of the gravitational wave detectors, which are located in the States. There is still one left in Europe. The closure of one of the detectors means that the resolution of this complex of devices will be greatly reduced. The situation can be saved by the construction of a gravitational wave detector in Asia, by such large countries as China and India. But it seems that the new round of the arms race, provoked by Russia, puts an end to these wishes.
ScienceInsider/Physics
10 Jun 2025 5:35 PM ET By Adrian Cho
It is important to understand that there is no "gold standard" in science. It is just a catchy word, because Trump loves everything golden. In fact, science is a very difficult and hard business, like any other human business, and there are no miracles in it, but there is hard and painstaking mental work. There is an old saying "there are no royal roads in science", which means that there are no easy steps even to simple scientific conclusions. The fact that the commission's report contains references to non-existent works only speaks of the incompetence of this commission and its harm to society (not only American).
30 May 2025 4:50 PM ET By Phie Jacobs
1. The Trump administration's policies are exacerbating the crisis in the US national academic community by causing job losses for scientists who receive government funding. I read how the economic crisis in the USSR began in the 70s, which began with an unpublicized reduction in scientific positions and departments at the institutes of the Academy of Sciences, in particular at Baykov's IMET [in the book "Baykov's IMET - 80 years", ed. by Academician Solntsev, "Interkontakt Nauka", 2018]. These events seemed similar to me. I hope the US can survive these difficulties.
2 Jun 2025, 4:50 PM ET By Meredith Wadman
read here: https://www.science.org/content/article/national-academies-staggering-trump-cuts-brink-dramatic-downsizing
2. Experimental muon magnetism turns out to be exactly as predicted by theory.
3 Jun 2025, 12:00 PM ET By Adrian Cho
Read here: https://www.science.org/content/article/long-running-physics-experiment-dashes-hope-new-particles-and-forces
3. Octopus can grow two from one severed tentacle (video)
2 Jun 2025, 3:30 PM ET By Sahas Mehra
Read here: https://www.science.org/content/article/octopus-grew-ninth-arm-which-soon-developed-mind-its-own
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.
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
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:
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
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.
***
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.
***
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.
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.”
***
