Lately, there have been many headlines about scientific fraud and journal article retractions. If this trend continues, it represents a serious threat to public trust in science.
One way to tackle this problem—and ensure public trust in science remains high—may be to slow it down. We sometimes refer to this philosophy as “slow science.” Akin to the slow food movement, slow science prioritizes quality over speed and seeks to buck incentive structures that promote mass production.
Slow science may not represent an obvious way to improve science because we often equate science with progress, and slowing down progress does not sound very appealing. However, progress is not just about speed, but about basing important societal decisions on strong scientific foundations. And this takes time.
Axions, hypothetical subatomic particles that were first proposed by theoretical physicists in the late 1970s, remain among the most promising dark matter candidates. Physics theories suggest that the interactions between these particles and regular matter are extremely weak, which makes them very difficult to detect using conventional experimental set-ups.
The HAYSTAC (Haloscope at Yale Sensitive to Axion Cold Dark Matter) experiment is a research collaboration between Yale, Berkeley and Johns Hopkins, aimed at detecting axions by searching for the small electromagnetic signals that they could produce within a strong magnetic field.
In a recent paper published in Physical Review Letters, the HAYSTAC collaboration has reported the results of the broadest search for axions performed to date, utilizing a technique known as quantum squeezing, which is designed to reduce quantum noise (i.e., random fluctuations that adversely affect their haloscope’s measurements).
Vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG) is a nonlinear spectroscopic method widely used to investigate the molecular structure and dynamics of surface systems. However, in far-field observations, the spatial resolution of this method is constrained by the diffraction limit, which restricts its ability to resolve molecular details in inhomogeneous structures smaller than the wavelength of light.
To address this limitation, researchers, Atsunori Sakurai, Shota Takahashi, Tatsuto Mochizuki, and Toshiki Sugimoto, Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), NINS, developed a tip-enhanced VSFG (TE-SFG) spectroscopy system based on scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Using this system, the team detected VSFG signals from molecules adsorbed on a gold substrate under ambient conditions.
The research is published in the journal Nano Letters.
As demand for energy-intensive computing grows, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new technique that lets scientists see—in unprecedented detail—how interfaces move in promising materials for computing and other applications. The method, now available to users at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at ORNL, could help design dramatically more energy-efficient technologies.
The research is published in the journal Small Methods.
Data centers today consume as much energy as small cities, and that usage is skyrocketing. To counter the trend, scientists are studying exotic materials such as ferroelectrics that could store and process information far more efficiently than silicon, which is traditionally used. But realizing the potential depends on understanding the processes occurring at dimensions thousands of times smaller than a human hair —specifically, at the ferroelectric material’s domain walls, which are the boundaries between areas of the material that exhibit different magnetic or electric properties.
The materials that make up all the structures and physical systems around us, including our own bodies, are not perfect—they contain flaws in the form of tiny cracks. When one of these cracks suddenly and rapidly spreads, it can be life-threatening, but the rich, intricate patterns formed by cracks can also be spectacular and intriguing.
Until now, physicists have struggled to provide a theoretical framework explaining why cracks often branch out and deviate from their expected path, slowing down as a result.
Two recent studies from the Weizmann Institute of Science bring order to the disorderly propagation of cracks and show that, although each crack may seem unique, there are quantitative physical parameters that shape the propagation process and explain the formation of asymmetrical crack patterns.
Researchers in Australia have found evidence that bacteria that live in the nose can make their way into the brain through nasal cavity nerves, setting off a series of events that could lead to Alzheimer’s disease. The work adds to the growing body of evidence that Alzheimer’s may be initially triggered through viral or bacterial infections.
Chlamydia pneumoniae is a common bacterium that, as its name suggests, is a major cause of pneumonia, as well as a range of other respiratory diseases. But worryingly, it’s also been detected in the brain on occasion, indicating it could cause more insidious issues.
For the new study, researchers at Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology set out to investigate how C. pneumoniae might get into the brain, and whether it could cause damage once there. The team already had an inkling about how this nose-dwelling bug might make the trek.
Proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) and proximal junctional failure (PJF) remain difficult problems following correction of adult spinal deformity (ASD). The goal of this study was to perform a comprehensive evaluation of risk factors associated with PJK and PJF using advanced statistical methods through inverse probability weighting (IPW).
Patients who presented to the authors’ institution with symptomatic ASD from 2013 to 2021 and who underwent thoracolumbar fusion ending in the pelvis were included in the study. The primary outcomes were development of PJK and PJF following ASD correction. PJK was classified using Glattes’ criteria. PJF was defined as a proximal junctional angle 20° from preoperative measures or complications at the upper instrumented vertebra (UIV) including vertebral body fracture, instability, and/or hardware failure. Patient charts and images (radiography, CT, and MRI) were used to extract demographics, measures of sagittal and coronal balance on pre-and postoperative radiography, operative techniques, and bone health metrics. Propensity score generation with IPW was used to control for confounding variables.
In total, 187 patients were included in the study with a median follow-up of 24.6 months. Sixty-nine patients (36.9%) developed PJK, while 26 (13.9%) developed PJF. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that both PJK and PJF largely occurred within the 1st year of index ASD correction. IPW showed that patients who developed PJK had a larger correction in the sagittal plane including global lumbar lordosis (p < 0.001) and sagittal vertical axis (p = 0.020). PJF development was associated with factors at the UIV including low Hounsfield units (p = 0.026) and cranially directed screws at the UIV (p = 0.040).
Science fiction often shows us dark, grimy, dystopian mega-cities in the future, but are such planet-wide cities possible, what would they be like, and how many people could they hold?
To get started planning a career that works on one of the world’s most pressing problems, sign up now at https://80000hours.org/isaacarthur. Join this channel to get access to perks: / @isaacarthursfia. Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net. Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur. Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur. Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… Group: / 1,583,992,725,237,264 Reddit: / isaacarthur Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: / discord Credits: Hive Worlds Episode 394a, May 14, 2023 Produced, Written & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Editors: Jason Burbank David McFarlane Graphics by: Aryeh Yakov Katz Jeremy Jozwik Katie Byrne Ken York Legiontech Studios Mikael Lampiranta Sergio Botero Steve Bowers The Ashdale Regiment Music Courtesy of: Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator Markus Junnikkala, “Hail The Victorious Dead” Stellardrone, “Red Giant”, “Ultra Deep Field” Sergey Cheremisinov, “Labyrinth”, “Forgotten Stars“ Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264 Reddit: / isaacarthur. Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: / discord.
Credits: Hive Worlds. Episode 394a, May 14, 2023 Produced, Written & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Editors: Jason Burbank. David McFarlane.
Graphics by: Aryeh Yakov Katz. Jeremy Jozwik. Katie Byrne. Ken York. Legiontech Studios. Mikael Lampiranta. Sergio Botero. Steve Bowers. The Ashdale Regiment.
