Science News

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With the Leopoldina Prize for young scientists 2023, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina honors Dr. Jingyuan Xu, who researches novel heating and cooling technologies for the energy transition at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Currently, the young engineer can boast two more significant awards: the Hector RCD Award as well as admission to the Global Young Academy, an exclusive association of international young scientists.

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Individual wellbeing doesn’t always add up to team wellbeing – but reflection and open communication can help

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Researchers found that a formula used in statistical analysis provides a streamlined mathematical description of how neural networks, such as GPT-2, a precursor to ChatGPT, learn relevant patterns in data, known as features. This formula also explains how neural networks use these relevant patterns to make predictions. The team presented their findings in the March 7 issue of the journal Science.

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Researchers have received a three-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to measure cognitive workload with a wearable sensor to monitor how children recover from a brain injury.

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Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have tested the performance of a new device that boosts particle signals.

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At high temperatures and densities, plasmas in fusion devices can develop gradients that can grow into instabilities, including edge localized modes (ELMs) that can damage reactor walls. In this research, scientists studied negative triangularity, a way the plasma shape can deviate from an oval. The research found this shaping was inherently free of instabilities across various plasma conditions, including operating reactor conditions.

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New research from the UW examines how three wellness Instagram influencers profited from anti-vaccine misinformation.

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A team of chemists and materials scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a new printing process that prints stronger nonmetallic materials in record time, five times faster than traditional 3D printing.

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The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering the nation’s most promising innovators in science and technology, today announced the election of Max Mankin to its board of directors, along with four other new board members: Cheri Ackerman, co-founder and CEO, Concerto Biosciences; Steven B. Lipner, executive director, SAFECode; Michael Schnall-Levin, CTO and founding scientist, 10x Genomics; and Alfred Spector, visiting scholar, MIT, and senior advisor, Blackstone.

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The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering the nation’s most promising innovators in science and technology, today announced the election of Michael Schnall-Levin to its board of directors, along with four other new board members: Cheri Ackerman, co-founder and CEO, Concerto Biosciences; Steven B. Lipner, executive director, SAFECode; Max Mankin, co-founder and CTO, Modern Hydrogen; and Alfred Spector, visiting scholar, MIT, and senior advisor, Blackstone.

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Michigan State University researchers have provided new answers to that question by analyzing soil microbes near a mine fire that’s been burning for more than 60 years.

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High-temperature superconductor magnets have the potential to lower the costs of operating particle accelerators and enable powerful new technologies like fusion reactors. But quenches – the sudden, destructive events wherein a part of the material loses superconductivity – are a major barrier to their deployment.

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The Portman lab at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester discovered that the male roundworms use pheromones and touch signals to determine the sex, age, nutritional health, and mating history of the hermaphrodites and show preference toward worms that have not previously mated with another male and are nutritionally healthy.

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The best measurements from Hubble show the universe is now expanding faster than predicted based on observations of how it looked shortly after the big bang. Some scientists suggested that Hubble observations are wrong due to some creeping inaccuracy in its deep-space yardstick. However, Webb’s sharp infrared views of milepost markers known as Cepheids agree with Hubble data.

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In 2021, two Stony Brook University researchers began conducting a survey study on attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) among American adults. Some of their recent findings, published in the journal Seeds of Science, show a shift in Americans’ views on AI.

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In the current climate of increased medical mistrust, survey data show sexual minority adults are more open to using COVID-19 screening and tracking tools, challenging stereotypes and highlighting the need for inclusive health care solutions.

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In cancer research, seeing is believing. Before they can diagnose or treat cancer, researchers and doctors need to have a clear understanding of what’s happening at a microscopic level. While existing technology allows us to see things the naked eye can’t, a team of researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is working to standardize a process for staining and seeing cancer in a whole new perspective – in 3D (three dimensions).

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The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) is partnering government-funded research institutes and universities to create a hyper-realistic metaverse that can be touched.

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A Chula researcher has been successful in adding value to agricultural waste generated by industrial factories by transforming cassava waste and sewage sludge into organic fertilizer to replace the use of chemical fertilizers. He has also come up with a special formula of microbial inoculum that increases nutrients needed by plants.

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Researchers have developed a new method for controlling the polarization of light that could lead to advances in cryptography, imaging, and other fields. This method uses liquid crystals to create holograms enabling the manipulation of vectorial field at different points.

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Skin injuries caused by prolonged pressure often occur in people who are unable to change their position independently – such as sick newborns in hospitals or elderly people. Thanks to successful partnerships with industry and research, Empa scientists are now launching two smart solutions for pressure sores.

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In the astronomy field, the term “nearby” is quite relative. Neighboring galaxies to our home galaxy, the Milky Way, are a few million light-years away. In contrast, some of the most distant galaxies ever detected, closer to the Big Bang, are billions of light-years away.

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Theoretical models can fill the gaps in experimental physics, but using a single imperfect theoretical model can be misleading. To improve the quality of predictions, researchers created a machine learning method that combines the results of several imperfect models.

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A new research unveils a groundbreaking approach to air quality monitoring, leveraging the power of surveillance cameras with a state-of-the-art hybrid deep learning model.

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A recent study introduces a novel methodology for evaluating the economic viability and competitive edge of onshore wind energy against traditional power sources. This approach underscores the potential of wind power to reach grid parity, where its cost becomes comparable or lower than conventional electricity sources. The research marks a significant step in understanding the dynamics of renewable energy markets and highlights the role of wind power in China's ambitious environmental goals.

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Our Senior Fellow Professor Enge Wang recently visited HKIAS between 4 March to 8 March 2024 and participated in academic exchanges at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK).

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Through the work of Florida State University’s Coastal & Marine Laboratory and the Apalachicola Bay System Initiative, there is a plan to help restore one of the country’s great fisheries.

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In honor of International Women’s Day, we’re featuring Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph.D., a professor of bioengineering at Rice University who has been solving women’s health challenges globally for the past two decades.

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A pilot program led by Argonne and the Civic Infrastructure Collaborative uncovers a fun and creative way to make urban transportation more environmentally friendly.