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".
пятница, 20 июня 2025 г.
суббота, 14 июня 2025 г.
ScienceInsider: Israeli attack kills two of Iran’s top nuclear weapons scientists
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).
ScienceInsider/Asia/Pacific
Israeli attack kills two of Iran’s top nuclear weapons scientists
Bombing raids target uranium enrichment facility and key personnel
13 Jun 2025 4:25 PM ET By Richard Stone
ScienceInsider: Congress shows first signs of resisting Trump’s plans to slash science budgets
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.
ScienceInsider/Science and Policy
Congress shows first signs of resisting Trump’s plans to slash science budgets
House panel rejects cuts to agricultural research, and Senators express doubts about cuts to NIH and forest research
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
среда, 11 июня 2025 г.
ScienceInsider: Trump’s proposed cut to giant physics experiment could snuff out new form of astronomy
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
Trump’s proposed cut to giant physics experiment could snuff out new form of astronomy
Degrading LIGO’s observations of gravitational waves would amount to “killing a newborn baby,” one astrophysicist says
10 Jun 2025 5:35 PM ET By Adrian Cho
воскресенье, 8 июня 2025 г.
Trumpastrophe 12: References to phantom studies comes after White House pledge to practice “gold standard” science
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).
Trump officials downplay fake citations in high-profile report on children’s health
References to phantom studies comes after White House pledge to practice “gold standard” science
30 May 2025 4:50 PM ET By Phie Jacobs
четверг, 5 июня 2025 г.
What was interesting at the beginning of this week, June 2-3
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.
National Academies, staggering from Trump cuts, on brink of dramatic downsizing
Plan for slashed units and mission to be presented at governor’s meeting next week
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.
Long-running physics experiment dashes hope of new particles and forces
Muon is just as magnetic as predicted, requiring no new theory to explain
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)
This octopus grew a ninth arm—which soon developed a mind of its own
Study highlights just how flexible cephalopod’s bodies are after injury and during recovery
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
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.
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
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.
***
суббота, 17 мая 2025 г.
Taliban 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
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.
***
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.”
***
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
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.
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
пятница, 25 апреля 2025 г.
Chronicles of a Trumpastrophe 7: NIH freezes funds to Harvard and four other universities, but can’t tell them
NIH freezes funds to Harvard and four other universities, but can’t tell them
Move follows broader White House attack on Harvard funding and stop-work orders to contractors
After freezing all grants to Columbia University last week, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is now stopping grant and contract payments to Harvard University and four other universities that President Donald Trump’s administration believes have not done enough to combat antisemitism on their campuses. The move will both block new funding and halt payments to investigators currently working on NIH projects.
***
суббота, 19 апреля 2025 г.
t-invariant: American biologist Sergei Mirkin: “People don’t believe that this is happening in the United States today”
American biologist Sergei Mirkin: “People don’t believe that this is happening in the United States today”
American universities are being stripped of government funding. Some universities have announced hiring freezes this year. Others are laying off their staff. Still others – Columbia University, for example – have been left without government grants. But beyond purely financial decisions, we are also seeing interference in the substantive work of science. Why is the Trump administration turning on scientists? T-invariant talked to Tufts University endowment professor, biologist Sergei Mirkin, who has been working in the United States for 36 years.
Sergei Mirkin was born in 1956 in Moscow. He graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University in 1978, then entered graduate school at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, defended his PhD thesis in 1983 and worked there until he left for the U.S. in 1989. From 1990 to 2006 he was faculty in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Illinois at Chicago (Professor from 2002). Since 2007, he has served as Professor and White Family Chair in Biology at Tufts University (Biology Department Chair 2013-2019). Mirkin’s research interests lie in the area of DNA structure and function: the role of genomic instability caused by repetitive DNA sequences and collisions between transcription and replication in human genetic diseases. He is a recipient of several prestigious scientific awards and honors.
The main enemy is university liberals...
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