Articles Archives

Arts & Humanities

Empowering communities in the face of grand challenges: The critical role of local food systems and democratized science

Feeding a rapidly growing global population is nearly impossible. Food production is increasingly controlled by powerful organizations, climate change is negatively impacting food production, inequality is growing globally, and menacing geopolitical shifts are likely to make matters worse. Dr William Lacy, a leading sociologist and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California Davis, USA, […]

Health & Medicine

Autoimmune encephalitis and psychiatric disorders

Despite the latest advances in medical research, the causes of psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia (a long-term illness that affects the person’s perception of reality) remain a puzzle for researchers and doctors around the world. Unlocking the mechanisms behind these diseases is paramount for effectively treating or even preventing them. Through her study of an uncommon case of autoimmune encephalitis, […]

Engineering & Technology

Scaling down electronic components with diamond films

Diamonds are an engineer’s best friend. As well as their incredible hardness, diamonds have several physical properties that make them excellent for electrical devices – like light-emitting diodes (LEDs). One of the big challenges in electronics is continually trying to miniaturise devices: the smaller they become, the more heat is generated which reduces their lifespan, reliability, and efficiency. Effective thermal […]

Business & Economics

Which factors are relevant for asset prices?

Much research effort has focused on developing estimation methodologies and models aiming to identify the relevant factors for pricing the cross-section of stock returns, meaning the change in average returns across different stocks. Traditional asset pricing models with many factors can no longer cope with the dimensionality of present-day problems. Moreover, relying on misleading results could end in disastrous financial […]

Education & Training

Steering STEM education development through play

The growing importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for learning at school and beyond is placing increased emphasis on building the framework for their experiences in early childhood. However, designing the learning progressions children experience during this time undervalues a remarkable fact: children’s connection with STEM is intuitive. Chelsea Cutting of the University of South Australia’s Mount Gambier-based […]

Health & Medicine

The heart of the matter: Elamipretide in the treatment of Barth syndrome

Barth syndrome (BTHS) is an ultra-rare but debilitating genetic disease affecting cell mitochondria. High infant mortality due to cardiac complications and a weakened immune system significantly decrease life expectancy. Current medications treat symptoms but not the cause, leaving an unmet clinical need to develop effective treatments that target the underlying pathology. Dr Hani N Sabbah, Professor of Medicine at Wayne […]

Physical Sciences

Adaptive experiments: Machine learning can help scientific discovery

Machine learning can help scientists design experiments. Scientific discovery relies on experiments that build our understanding of natural phenomena, and traditionally has been based on trial and error. Depending on the goal, different machine learning strategies can be used for adaptive experiments: active learning, maximising information gain, Bayesian optimisation, bandit approaches, and reinforcement learning. Cheng Soon Ong, machine learning scientist […]

Health & Medicine

Artemis:DNA-PKcs: A new drug target for cancer treatment?

Cells encounter DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) every day. Because they can lead to loss of genetic information, DSBs must be repaired. Nonhomologous DNA end joining (NHEJ) is the major pathway for repairing DSBs, and the key enzymes include Artemis nuclease and DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs). For the first time, Dr Go Watanabe and his team from the University […]

Physical Sciences

Retrocausality: How backwards-in-time effects could explain quantum weirdness

Since the earliest days of quantum theory, physicists have struggled to reconcile the apparently nonlocal, faster-than-light interactions demanded by quantum mechanics with the strict laws of relativity. Dr Rod Sutherland at the University of Sydney, Australia, believes that the answer to this problem lies with ‘retrocausality’ – a concept which would allow quantum measurements to influence events in their past. […]

Earth & Environment

Triharmony/Trilemma of Nutrients Assets in tropical peatland

Peatland soils and water are characterised by low nutrient concentrations. Despite this, biomass in native tropical peatlands is abundant and has adequate nutrients. At Hokkaido University, Sumitomo Forestry Co Ltd, Japan, and BRIN, Indonesia, scientists studying nutrient cycling in peatlands have developed an innovative nutrients management system for agriculture. Their approach – AeroHydro culture – involves cultivation using high groundwater […]