Archiv: Forschung / research (science)


03.09.2024 - 13:50 [ Solhyd.eu ]

Successful production of hydrogen panels

(November 15, 2024)

Solhyd not only develops technology to produce hydrogen from air and sunlight. We also develop methods to produce that technology in a cost-effective and reliable manner. Efficient production, with cost reductions driven by scale benefits, will eventually lead to the lowest cost approach to make hydrogen from solar energy.

We took the first step in that process this year.

03.09.2024 - 13:31 [ Katholieke Universiteit Leuven ]

Green energy breakthrough thanks to KU Leuven scientists

(02 October 2019)

For over a decade, Professor Johan Martens and Drs. Tom Bosserez, Jan Rongé and Christos Trompoukis have been developing a ‘solar hydrogen panel’, i.e. a solar panel that can create hydrogen from the water vapour in the air. Using sunlight, moisture taken from the air – i.e. no liquid water – is split into hydrogen on the one hand, and oxygen molecules on the other.

The panel is able to directly convert no less than 15 per cent of sunlight into hydrogen gas, Which is a world record

20.09.2023 - 04:33 [ ORF.at ]

KI bestimmt Risiko für genetische Erkrankungen

(19.09.2023)

Die Suche nach den Ursachen für genetische Erkrankungen ist ein großes Unterfangen, bei dem vermehrt auch künstliche Intelligenz (KI) zum Einsatz kommt. Ein neues KI-Werkzeug von Google DeepMind kann das Krankheitsrisiko abschätzen, das von bestimmten Genmutationen ausgeht. Die entstandene Datenbank soll künftige Untersuchungen zur Entstehung der Krankheiten deutlich erleichtern.

20.09.2023 - 04:25 [ European Bioinformatics Institute / European Molecular Biology Laboratory ]

New predictions of genetic variant pathogenicity using AlphaFold protein structures

(19.09.2023)

Google DeepMind has developed a new tool called AlphaMissense, which uses the AlphaFold human protein structure models to predict whether a sequence variant which changes one amino acid in a protein is likely to be tolerated or to impact protein function.

The Ensembl Variant Effect Predictor now integrates Google DeepMind’s new AlphaMissense Catalogue.

20.09.2023 - 04:19 [ endpts.com ]

Al­phaFold, meet Al­phaMis­sense: Google Deep­Mind‘s AI suc­ces­sor pre­dicts how 71M mu­ta­tions cause dis­ease

Google Deep­Mind has de­vel­oped an AI sys­tem that pre­dicts the chances that tens of mil­lions of ge­net­ic vari­ants will cause dis­ease.

20.09.2023 - 03:49 [ European Bioinformatics Institute / European Molecular Biology Laboratory ]

A more diverse human reference genome

(10 May 2023)

The work was led by the international Human Pangenome Reference Consortium (HPRC), a group funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and consisting of 14 institutes, including EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). (…)

The majority of the genomes used to create the human pangenome reference were collected as part of the 1000 genomes project, the largest public catalogue of human variation and genotype data from a wide range of populations. (…)

In order to understand the differences in the genes present across the individual genomes represented in the human pangenome, researchers in EMBL-EBI’s Ensembl team needed to map the high-quality annotations on the reference human genome generated as part of the GENCODE project, across the pangenome.

20.09.2023 - 03:12 [ Wikipedia ]

1000 Genomes Project

Some genomic differences may not affect fitness. Neutral variation, previously thought to be “junk” DNA, is unaffected by natural selection resulting in higher genetic variation at such sites when compared to sites where variation does influence fitness.[14]

It is not fully clear how natural selection has shaped population differences; however, genetic candidate regions under selection have been identified recently. (…)

It was found that on average, each person carries around 250–300 loss-of-function variants in annotated genes and 50-100 variants previously implicated in inherited disorders. Based on the two trios, it is estimated that the rate of de novo germline mutation is approximately 10−8 per base per generation.

20.09.2023 - 02:51 [ National Library of Medicine / National Institutes of Health (NIH) ]

The 1000 Genomes Project: Welcome to a New World

(Dec 2015)

“Now this is not the end… But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning” as Winston Churchill said. Large-scale sequencing projects will continue for more regional or ethnic groups, in order to extend the global coverage. Much effort will focus on a better understanding of the relationship between genetic variation and common disorders. The translation of this massive genetic information to human health will benefit from the development of complex databases gathering genetic, clinical, and biological data, such as multi-omics profiles, while maintaining protection of potentially sensitive personal information (3). Efforts are also underway to increase genetic awareness in the public and to educate health professionals

20.09.2023 - 02:12 [ GENCODE project ]

GENCODE

The goal of the GENCODE project is to identify and classify all gene features in the human and mouse genomes with high accuracy based on biological evidence, and to release these annotations for the benefit of biomedical research and genome interpretation.

20.09.2023 - 01:59 [ European Molecular Biology Laboratory ]

The Human Genome Project at 20: interview with Ewan Birney

(25 April 2023)

EMBL-EBI Director Ewan Birney was a graduate student in the 90s, when the Human Genome Project was in full swing. On the project’s 20th anniversary, he shares his memories of the slow but incredibly accurate analysis software he developed, how the private initiative sped up the public one, and how a betting book highlighted how little we knew about the human genome at the time.

20.09.2023 - 01:45 [ European Molecular Biology Laboratory ]

DeepMind and EMBL release the most complete database of predicted 3D structures of human proteins

(22 July 2021)

For those scientists who rely on experimental protein structure determination, AlphaFold’s predictions have helped accelerate their research. For example, a team at the University of Colorado Boulder is finding promise in using AlphaFold predictions to study antibiotic resistance, while a group at the University of California San Francisco has used them to increase their understanding of SARS-CoV-2 biology.

The AlphaFold Protein Structure Database builds on many contributions from the international scientific community, as well as AlphaFold’s sophisticated algorithmic innovations and EMBL-EBI’s decades of experience in sharing the world’s biological data. DeepMind and EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) are providing access to AlphaFold’s predictions so that others can use the system as a tool to enable and accelerate research and open up completely new avenues of scientific discovery.

06.05.2023 - 16:24 [ Club der Klaren Worte ]

Die Spur des Geldes

Häufig liest man an vielerlei Stellen, die Pandemie sei geplant gewesen. Belege dafür liefert kaum jemand. Es scheint an der Zeit, einmal zu fragen, wer denn überhaupt ein Motiv dafür gehabt haben könnte.

06.05.2023 - 15:17 [ JudicialWatch.org ]

Judicial Watch: Records Show Funding for EcoHealth/Wuhan Institute Research to Create Coronavirus ‘Mutants’

(April 19, 2023 )

EcoHealth Alliance’s $3.3 million grant to fund a project titled “Understanding the Risk of Coronavirus Emergence” was initially to run from October 1, 2013, to September 30, 2018. The first “Project/Performance Site Location” is the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Three other Chinese sites follow: East China Normal University in Shanghai, Yunnan Institute of Endemic Disease Control and Prevention in Dali, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Guangdong in Guangzhou.

On May 27, 2014, the NIH awarded EcoHealth Alliance $3,086,735 over five years for “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.”

An EcoHealth Alliance grant application, received by the NIH on June 5, 2013, includes a list of “Senior/Key Personnel” including Shi Zhengli and Zhang Yun-Zhi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV); Peter Daszak, CEO of EcoHealth Alliance; and other Chinese scientists, including Ke Changwen of the Chinese “CDC and Prevention of Guangdong Province.”

06.05.2023 - 14:05 [ Multipolar Magazin ]

Das Corona-Laborvirus: Die unbequeme Wahrheit kommt ans Licht

In der Periode der zweiten Obama-Präsidentschaft (2012-2016) war nach heftigen Debatten um „GoF“ die bundesstaatliche Förderung dafür mit Gültigkeit ab 2014 vorerst ausgesetzt worden – ein zeitweiliges „Moratorium“. Ein eigenes Verfahren zum Genehmigen von Vorhaben mit „besonders riskanten“ Mikroben sollte entwickelt werden. (2) Das setzte Grenzen für den Fortgang der Vorhaben an Barics UNC-Instituten für Virologie und Epidemiologie. Zur Hilfe kam eine Absprache zur Zusammenarbeit mit dem WIV, vermittelt durch die New Yorker Organisation „EcoHealth Alliance“ und deren Chef Peter Daszak, die dafür gerade noch rechtzeitig eine Finanzierung seitens NIH/NIAID beantragt hatte, die dann von Faucis NIAID ebenfalls noch 2013 für fünf Jahre ab 2014 genehmigt wurde.

24.04.2023 - 11:25 [ Times of India ]

Study: Sun’s magnetic field is weakening

(Oct 7, 2019)

The research, according to the team, will help monitor and evaluate the influence of solar activities and their implications on the Earth’s climate. The astrophysicists’ team included experts from Ahmedabad’s Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Japan, and China.

24.04.2023 - 10:52 [ International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) / Cairo University ]

The Shrinking of the Heliosphere Due to Reduced Solar Wind

(2010)

Abstract. The heliosphere is the space within which the solar wind dominates and the solar interplanetary magnetic field prevails. Its boundary is determined by the balance between stellar and solar winds. Owing to the present reduction in the solar wind pressure, one would expect that the stellar wind would push the heliosphere inward leading to its shrinkage. In this paper we calculate the extent of the heliosphere at different solar wind status.

Backward estimation of the extent of the heliosphere since 1890 is done. It is found that the heliosphere oscillated between 75 and 125 AU between 1890 –
2010. Most important is the forecast of the shrinkage and oscillations of the heliosphere and their implications on the earth. The shrinkage of the heliosphere would allow more invasions of cosmic rays to the earth and planets, increased cloud cover and a cooler Earth.

1 Introduction

The heliosphere is the cavity curved by the solar wind into the interstellar medium. Its extension is determined by the equality of the solar wind pressure and the stellar wind pressure. For this reason, we will first study past, present and future status of solar activity and then we will reflect this study into the heliosphere.

24.04.2023 - 10:51 [ Telegraph.co.uk ]

Sun‘s protective ‚bubble‘ is shrinking

(18.10.2008)

New data has revealed that the heliosphere, the protective shield of energy that surrounds our solar system, has weakened by 25 per cent over the past decade and is now at it lowest level since the space race began 50 years ago. (…)

„Around 90 per cent of the galactic cosmic radiation is deflected by our heliosphere, so the boundary protects us from this harsh galactic environment.“

The heliosphere is created by the solar wind, a combination of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields that emanate a more than a million miles an hour from the sun, meet the intergalactic gas that fills the gaps in space between solar systems.

24.04.2023 - 08:59 [ Electroverse.info ]

No, Antarctic Ice Isn’t Melting Into Oblivion; + Shiveluch Erupts (Again)

If the world’s propagandizing ‘news’ outlets insist on reporting that Antarctica sea ice is melting in oblivion–which NASA reveals it most certainly isn’t–then they need to come up with a new mechanism to support it, because temperatures, clearly, are playing no part.

04.02.2023 - 10:04 [ acm.org ]

How Quantum Computer Could Break 2,048-Bit RSA Encryption in 8 Hours

(June 5, 2019)

Google‘s Craig Gidney and KTH‘s Martin Ekera demonstrated that a quantum system could crack 2,048-bit RSA encryption with just 20 million quantum bits (qubits), rather than requiring 1 billion qubits as previously theorized, in only eight hours with this technique.

The technique uses modular exponentiation, a mathematical process for finding the remainder when a number is raised to a certain power and divided by another number.

Gidney and Ekera have formulated various ways to optimize this process, reducing the resources required to run the large-number-factoring Shor‘s algorithm.

07.01.2022 - 15:47 [ Spiro P. Pantazatos, Hervé Seligmann / researchgate.net ]

COVID vaccination and age-stratified all-cause mortality risk

(October 2021)

Accurate estimates of COVID vaccine-induced severe adverse event and death rates are critical for risk-benefit ratio analyses of vaccination and boosters against SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in different age groups. However, existing surveillance studies are not designed to reliably estimate life-threatening event or vaccine-induced fatality rates (VFR). Here, regional variation in vaccination rates was used to predict all-cause mortality and non-COVID deaths in subsequent time periods using two independent, publicly available datasets from the US and Europe (month-and week-level resolutions, respectively). Vaccination correlated negatively with mortality 6-20 weeks post-injection, while vaccination predicted all-cause mortality 0-5 weeks post-injection in almost all age groups and with an age-related temporal pattern consistent with the US vaccine rollout. Results from fitted regression slopes (p<0.05 FDR corrected) suggest a US national average VFR of 0.04% and higher VFR with age (VFR=0.004% in ages 0-17 increasing to 0.06% in ages >75 years), and 146K to 187K vaccine-associated US deaths between February and August, 2021.

15.12.2021 - 05:07 [ .Researchgate.net ]

Latest statistics on England mortality data suggest systematic mis-categorisation of vaccine status and uncertain effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccination

(December 2021)

At first glance the ONS data suggest that, in each of the older age groups, all-cause mortality is lower in the vaccinated than the unvaccinated. Despite this apparent evidence to support vaccine effectiveness-at least for the older age groups-on closer inspection of this data, this conclusion is cast into doubt because of a range of fundamental inconsistencies and anomalies in the data. Whatever the explanations for the observed data, it is clear that it is both unreliable and misleading. While socio-demographical and behavioural differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated have been proposed as possible explanations, there is no evidence to support any of these. By Occam‘s razor we believe the most likely explanations are systemic miscategorisation of deaths between the different categories of unvaccinated and vaccinated; delayed or non-reporting of vaccinations; systemic underestimation of the proportion of unvaccinated; and/or incorrect population selection for Covid deaths.

14.11.2021 - 14:00 [ Nature.com ]

Solar differential rotation reproduced with high-resolution simulation

(Published: 13 September 2021)

Here, we show that a high-resolution calculation succeeds in reproducing the solar-like differential rotation. Our calculations indicate that the strong magnetic field generated by a small-scale dynamo has a significant impact on thermal convection. The successful reproduction of the differential rotation, convection and magnetic field achieved in our calculation is an essential step to understanding the cause of the most basic nature of solar activity, specifically, the 11 yr cycle of sunspot activity.

14.11.2021 - 12:24 [ EOS.org ]

Accurate Simulation of Sun’s Rotation Might Illuminate Solar Cycle

(08.11.2021)

Japanese scientists said they have created the first accurate computer simulation of how the Sun rotates, reproducing a phenomenon in which its equatorial area spins faster than its polar regions. The insight could help explain the whys and hows of the solar cycle, one of the biggest mysteries of our star.

05.11.2021 - 22:00 [ Eike-Klima-Energie.eu ]

14. Internationale EIKE- Klima- und Energiekonferenz am 

12.-13. November 2021 in Gera

Die Konferenz Nr. 14 bietet alte und beliebte Bekannte; darüberhinaus aber auch viele neue Gesichter. Vorträge werden gehalten von:

James Taylor (Heartland Institute, USA)
Prof. Dr. Horst-Joachim Lüdecke (Pressesprecher, EIKE)
Prof. Dr. Peter Ridd (Australien)
Prof. Dr. William Happer (USA)
Dr. habil. Sebastian Lüning (Kalte Sonne)
Prof. Dr. Ana G. Elias (Argentinien)
Prof. Dr. Henrik Svensmark (Dänemark) & Prof. Dr. Nir Shaviv (Israel)
Dr. Susan Crockford (Kanada)
Prof. em. Dr. Christian Schlüchter (Schweiz)

Prof. Dr. Richard Lindzen (USA)
Prof. Dr. Maria da Assunção Araújo (Portugal)
Dr. Bernd Fleischmann (Deutschland)
Dipl.-Ing. Michael Limburg (Vizepräsident, EIKE)
Prof. Dr. Valentina Zharkova (Vereinigtes Königreich)
Prof. Dr. Nicola Scafetta (Italien)
Prof. Dr. John R. Christy (USA)

Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt (Kalte Sonne)
Prof. Dr. László Csaba Szarka (Ungarn)
Dr. Götz Ruprecht, Institut für Festkörper-Kernphysik gGmbH (Deutschland)

09.07.2021 - 09:47 [ Elynitthria.net ]

Aus den Annalen des Sterbens der Politischen Mythologie

Solange das Erdöl sprudelt, erforscht man, erfindet man und meldet Patente an. Mn schöpft aus, was die Erdöl-abhängige Welt hergibt und wenn die Zeit reif ist, keine Sekunde früher, baut man um. Schön im Tackt, Stück für Stück, so, dass dem alten alles abgetrotzt werden kann, was in ihm steckt, aber das neue in fließendem Übergang auf sichere Fundamente gestellt wird und „sicher“ meint: unter der Kontrolle und zum Wohle der Dynasti

16.03.2021 - 11:44 [ Boris Johnson - Gov.uk ]

PM Boris Johnson: The Oxford vaccine shows why we and the world need Britain to be global

The objective of Global Britain is not to swagger or strike attitudes on the world stage. It is to use the full spectrum of our abilities, now amplified by record spending on both defence and science, to engage with and help the rest of the world. That is how we serve the British interest, and I mean the economic interest of people up and down the country. And as the vaccine programme begins to inspire a new global hope, we want to use this moment to heal, both literally and figuratively.

23.02.2021 - 13:34 [ Informationsstelle Militarisierung (IMI) ]

EU: Zivil-militärische Synergien

Mit dem Aktionsplan sollen die Bereiche Weltraum, Verteidigung und zivile Forschung zunehmend verwoben werden, was zu einer weiteren Militarisierung der Wissenschaft beitragen dürfte.

04.01.2021 - 11:08 [ Rubikon ]

Die Vertuschungsaktion

(22.12.2020)

Laut Alina Chan, Molekularbiologin am Broad Institute of Harvard und am MIT, kann man die Evolution von SARS-CoV-2 nicht mit der These eines zoonotischen Ursprungs in Einklang bringen, denn das Virus war bereits vollständig für die Mensch-zu-Mensch-Übertragung angepasst, als es zum ersten Mal auftrat.

Die renommierte medizinische Fachzeitschrift „Nature“ erlaubte anscheinend einigen Autoren, ihre Daten heimlich zu ändern, ohne auf diese Korrekturen in den Artikeln hinzuweisen.

Chans Untersuchungen zeigen, dass die Autoren ihre Proben umbenannt, falsch zugeordnet und ein Genomprofil generiert haben, das mit keiner ihrer Proben übereinstimmt. In anderen Papers fehlen Daten.

Das Coronavirus RaTG13, zu 96 Prozent mit SARS-CoV-2 identisch und somit der engste Verwandte, ist in Wirklichkeit btCoV-4991. Dieses Genom wurde schon 2013 in Proben nachgewiesen und 2016 veröffentlicht.

03.01.2021 - 18:07 [ ChildrensHealthDefense.org ]

Did Top Medical Journal Help Cover Up Origins of SARS-CoV-2?

(11.09.2020)

– According to Alina Chan, a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, SARS-CoV-2 did not evolve in a manner you’d expect, had it jumped from an animal to a human. It sprang into action fully evolved for human transmission
– It appears Nature, a top medical journal, has allowed authors to secretly alter data sets in their papers without publishing notices of correction
– Chan’s investigation reveals authors have renamed samples, failed to attribute them properly, and produced a genomic profile that doesn’t match the samples in their paper. Others are missing data
– RaTG13 — the coronavirus that most resembles SARS-CoV-2, being 96% identical — is actually btCoV-4991, a virus found in samples collected in 2013 and published in 2016
– If SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 and the subsequent response to it, came from a lab, then we need to reassess the future of gain-of-function research that allows for the weaponization of viruses

03.01.2021 - 17:53 [ Alina Chan / Twitter / threadreaderapp.com ]

Get ready. This is going to be an important thread. Election season will be over soon and hopefully more people will devote some attention to this… I‘m going to walk through a timeline of SARS2-related virus data published in the months after the outbreak. (1/30)

(25 Oct 20)

Since the outbreak in late 2019, events have been unfolding at such a fast pace that it is difficult to keep track of what happened and in what order.

I use visualizations of the timeline to follow key events relating to the search for the animal host of SARS2. (2/30)

Even today, I still hear people saying that SARS-CoV-2 came from pangolins and a Seafood market in Wuhan. I hope this analysis will help to clear things up. It will refresh us on significant early pandemic events and major publications discussing the origins of the virus (3/30).

03.01.2021 - 16:55 [ Dr. Jurgen Mayer / Peakprosperity.com ]

Scientific history of RaTG13

(Jul 07, 2020)

In early February 2019, Dr. Shi’s team suddenly tossed a brand new genome online and published a paper, citing that hCoV-2019 must come from (horseshoe) Bats because it is so similar to this other sample obtained from Bats in July 2013.

*If an existing genome was already in the system and the new data was uploaded we would expect to see reference notes and that the previous listing had been removed or updated.

*The scientists were forcing an argument that this newly published genome (RaTG13) came from a Bat and is the closest relative to hCoV-2019, therefore our pandemic virus more than likely came from a bat.

At the time of this publication, there is quite literally zero record or publication referencing this sudden new virus that they designated as Bat SL-CoV RaTG13 (Ra being Rhinolophus affinis, 13 being sampling year). How could this new virus have been just ABSENT from the scientific community for SEVEN YEARS?!

In fact, there are (comparatively) barely any Rhinolophus Affinis Samples in our databases. Meaning there is a small pool or Bat viruses from this specific species. The team simply renamed the sample and maybe forgot that 4991 was already in GenBank?! Because 4991 is actually RaTG13, yet this super important publication which was read by all of the top scientists in the world makes zero mention of this important fact.

03.01.2021 - 16:33 [ Shing Hei Zhan, Benjamin E. Deverman, Yujia Alina Chan / bioRxiv.org ]

SARS-CoV-2 is well adapted for humans. What does this mean for re-emergence?

(May 02, 2020)

Abstract: In a side-by-side comparison of evolutionary dynamics between the 2019/2020 SARS-CoV-2 and the 2003 SARS-CoV, we were surprised to find that SARS-CoV-2 resembles SARS-CoV in the late phase of the 2003 epidemic after SARS-CoV had developed several advantageous adaptations for human transmission. Our observations suggest that by the time SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in late 2019, it was already pre-adapted to human transmission to an extent similar to late epidemic SARS-CoV. However, no precursors or branches of evolution stemming from a less human-adapted SARS-CoV-2-like virus have been detected. The sudden appearance of a highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 presents a major cause for concern that should motivate stronger international efforts to identify the source and prevent near future re-emergence.

03.01.2021 - 06:56 [ DailyMail.co.uk ]

Boris Johnson hails Oxford vaccine as a ‚triumph for British science‘ and says he is ‚confident this is the year we will defeat coronavirus‘

The initial supplies of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have been produced by a company called Halix in the Netherlands.

Once produced in bulk, the vaccine goes to a plant in Wrexham, run by an Indian company called Wockhardt, where it is decanted into vials in a process known as ‚fill and finish‘. The plant can bottle at least 150,000 doses a day.

02.12.2020 - 15:54 [ DailyMail.co.uk ]

How did Covid REALLY spread around the world? As damning test results show antibodies were in US in December – WEEKS before China raised the alarm – growing global evidence points to a cover-up

– Blood samples unveiled this week show people in California, Oregon and Washington infected in December
– Further tests on blood taken in mid-to-late December and into early January found virus in six more states
– Italy, Brazil and France have all since found traces of the virus before China even acknowledged it existed
– Evidence has emerged in Spain and the UK suggesting that Covid-19 was around before testing was possible
– Claims the virus emerged in a market in Wuhan last winter have crumbled in the face of scientific evidence

25.11.2020 - 19:47 [ Informationsstelle Militarisierung (IMI) ]

Repression im Cyber Valley

Heute fand ein erster Prozess gegen die Menschen statt, die vor einem Jahr im Tübinger Gemeinderat gegen das Amazon-Entwicklungszentrum im Cyber Valley protestiert hatten. Betroffen war ein IMI-Beirat und -Autor. Wir dokumentieren hier Beiträge der Berichterstattung aus dem Prozess und von der Solidaritäts-Kundgebung.

14.11.2020 - 15:59 [ BMJ.com ]

Covid-19: politicisation, “corruption,” and suppression of science

Science is being suppressed for political and financial gain. Covid-19 has unleashed state corruption on a grand scale, and it is harmful to public health.1 Politicians and industry are responsible for this opportunistic embezzlement. So too are scientists and health experts. The pandemic has revealed how the medical-political complex can be manipulated in an emergency—a time when it is even more important to safeguard science.

The UK’s pandemic response provides at least four examples of suppression of science or scientists. First, the membership, research, and deliberations of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) were initially secret until a press leak forced transparency.

10.11.2020 - 18:15 [ University of Oxford ]

Science reveals secrets behind the success of Game of Thrones

In other words, Martin keeps his characters’ networks within the limits that his readers’ human minds were designed by evolution to cope with.

14.10.2020 - 02:04 [ ORF ]

Kreta: Lebenslang für Mörder von Max-Planck-Forscherin

Die aus Oakland (US-Bundesstaat Kalifornien) stammende Biologin war 2000 an das Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Zellbiologie und Genetik (MPI-CBG) nach Dresden gekommen.

06.10.2020 - 14:00 [ Tagesschau.de ]

Forschung zu Schwarzen Löchern: Deutscher erhält Physik-Nobelpreis

Der Nobelpreis für Physik geht in diesem Jahr zur einen Hälfte an Roger Penrose aus Großbritannien sowie zur anderen Hälfte an den Deutschen Reinhard Genzel und die US-Amerikanerin Andrea Ghez für ihre Forschungen zu Schwarzen Löchern. Das teilte die Königlich-Schwedische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Stockholm mit.

15.09.2020 - 20:05 [ Informationsdienst Wissenschaft ]

P-ONE: Neues Observatorium im Pazifik für hochenergetische kosmische Neutrinos

Astronomen beobachten das Licht, das von entfernten Himmelsobjekten zu uns kommt, um das Universum zu erkunden. Licht verrät jedoch nichts über hochenergetische Ereignisse außerhalb unserer Galaxie, wie etwa über die Jets aktiver galaktischer Kerne, Gammastrahlenausbrüche oder Supernovae. Denn auf ihrem langen Weg durch das Universum verlieren Photonen mit extrem hohen Energien einen Teil ihrer Energie durch Interaktion mit anderen Teilchen.

15.09.2020 - 18:01 [ Europäische Weltraumagentur / European Space Agency - ESA.int ]

Secrets for Solar Orbiter to solve

(04.09.2020)

The Sun’s magnetic field is responsible for all the solar activity we see; it drives the 11-year ebb and flow in the number of sunspots, and dominates the behaviour of the solar atmosphere. Furthermore, this magnetic field surrounds the entire solar system, creating a giant bubble known as the heliosphere that is filled with electrified gas known as plasma. Disturbances in this plasma can affect the planets, creating aurorae and interfering with the behaviour of technology. Yet the details of the magnetic field’s initial generation inside the Sun are not yet understood.

15.09.2020 - 16:15 [ Hans Volland / Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics / researchgate.net ]

Periodic variations of solar radiation – a possible source of solar activity-weather effects

(May 1979)

It is suggested that long-lasting co-rotating active longitudes on the Sun may be associated with small variations of the solar radiation reaching the Earth. The oscillations have a basic period of about 27 days and are not expected to have amplitudes greater than 0.1%. They result in a time-varying heat input to the Earth‘s continents and, since the land exchanges heat with the overlying atmosphere, this oscillatory heating process generates large-scale planetary waves, mainly of the Rossby-Haurwitz type, in the atmosphere.

15.09.2020 - 15:42 [ Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics / ScienceDirect.com ]

The effect of the 11-year solar-cycle on the temperature in the upper-stratosphere and mesosphere: Part II numerical simulations and the role of planetary waves

(July 2005)

The numerical simulations presented here suggest a mechanism by which a small change induced by the solar forcing can generate a large atmospheric response.

15.09.2020 - 14:11 [ Nature.com ]

Rapid geomagnetic changes inferred from Earth observations and numerical simulations

(06.07.2020)

Rapid changes in field direction have also attracted significant attention, particularly in the context of polarity reversals18. Historically, the fastest directional changes were attributed to lava flows at Steens Mountain, though these results are now thought to be untenable19. Currently, the fastest directional changes noted are those recorded by sediments in central Italy20, where angular changes in the Virtual Geomagnetic Pole position (P^V) reach values of ∂P^V/∂t∼1∘yr−1. These rates are about a factor of 10 faster than values of ∂P^V/∂t∼0.1∘yr−1 for the modern field, similar to the difference in rates of intensity change between the modern field and spikes.

15.09.2020 - 14:05 [ ScienceDaily.com ]

Earth‘s magnetic field can change 10 times faster than previously thought

(06.07.2020)

The clearest example of this in their study is a sharp change in the geomagnetic field direction of roughly 2.5 degrees per year 39,000 years ago. This shift was associated with a locally weak field strength, in a confined spatial region just off the west coast of Central America, and followed the global Laschamp excursion — a short reversal of the Earth‘s magnetic field roughly 41,000 years ago.

15.09.2020 - 12:32 [ BBC ]

Venus clouds ‚might harbour life‘

(25.05.2004)

„Current theories suggest that Venus and the Earth may have started out alike. There might have been a lot of water on Venus and there might have been a lot of carbon dioxide on Earth,“ Professor Ingersoll explained.

But all that was to change. On Earth, life in the oceans took in carbon dioxide and turned it into limestone. On Venus, 30% closer to the Sun, any oceans boiled away and the water vapour added to the runaway greenhouse effect.

15.09.2020 - 11:57 [ Harold Morowitz and Carl Sagan / Nature.com ]

Life in the Clouds of Venus?

(16.09.1967)

WHILE the surface conditions of Venus make the hypothesis of life there implausible, the clouds of Venus are a different story altogether. As was pointed out some years ago, water, carbon dioxide and sunlight—the prerequisites for photosynthesis—are plentiful in the vicinity of the clouds. Since then, good additional evidence has been provided that the clouds are composed of ice crystals at their tops and it seems likely that there are water droplets toward their bottoms. Independent evidence for water vapour also exists5.

15.09.2020 - 11:56 [ ScienceDirect.com ]

Water vapor in the atmosphere of Venus

(December 1972)

Infrared spectra of Venus produced by a Fourier spectrometer flown aboard the NASA CV 990 jet aircraft were analyzed for water-vapor content by comparison with calculated model spectra. The reflecting layer model gave an abundance of 1.6 ± 0.4 μ of precipitable water for the two-way transmission of the Venus atmosphere. The scattering model resulted in a value of 0.25 ± 0.10 μ of water per scattering mean free path.

15.09.2020 - 11:53 [ New York Times ]

Life on Venus? Astronomers See a Signal in Its Clouds

(14.09.2020)

“This is an astonishing and ‘out of the blue’ finding,” said Sara Seager, a planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an author of the papers (one published in Nature Astronomy and another submitted to the journal Astrobiology). “It will definitely fuel more research into the possibilities for life in Venus’s atmosphere.”