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Zhurong (pictured, centre) spent a 12 months exploring Mars earlier than it went into hibernation final Might.Credit score: Xinhua/Shutterstock
Is one thing amiss with Zhurong, China’s first Mars rover? The car has been in induced hibernation since Might. It was speculated to awaken final month, however the Chinese language area company has been tight-lipped about its standing, main some researchers to invest that it won’t have survived the cruel Martian winter and dirt storms. “There’s a protracted historical past of solar-powered landers and rovers on Mars operating out of energy,” says astrobiologist David Flannery.
A examine of greater than 80,000 Elsevier journal editors reveals a bigger-than-expected gender hole in senior editors. Girls made up simply 14% of editorial boards and stuffed 8% of editor-in-chief positions. The proportion of feminine editors has modified little over the previous 4 many years. Self-publishing was additionally widespread. One-quarter of editors revealed not less than 10% of their papers in journals that they edit. However some revealed as a lot as two-thirds of their profession output in their very own journals.
Dig deeper with an professional evaluation by sociologist Molly King within the Nature Information & Views article (3 min learn, Nature paywall)
Reference: Nature Human Behaviour paper
The unreal-intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT has been listed as a co-author on 4 papers and preprints. Publishers are beginning to ban AI authorship as a result of chatbots can’t take accountability for a paper’s content material and integrity. Some publishers say that chatbot use ought to be documented within the strategies or acknowledgements sections — and that not doing so may very well be thought-about plagiarism.
US chemical engineer Feng ‘Franklin’ Tao is not going to go to jail after being convicted of failing to reveal ties to China on a college kind. He was the primary educational to be prosecuted underneath the now-defunct China Initiative, which was meant to guard US science from espionage however confronted accusations of being biased in opposition to researchers of Chinese language descent. Prosecutors had requested for two.5 years jail, however the choose sentenced Tao to ‘time served’, which quantities to per week in jail. In line with certainly one of Tao’s attorneys, the choose “reiterated that this was by no means a case about espionage”.
Options & opinion
Sponsorship depends on senior researchers leveraging their affect to assist junior colleagues to climb the profession ladder. This may are available in many kinds, write sociologist Christine Parsons and neuroscientist Pat O’Connor, corresponding to inviting a PhD scholar to a casual assembly with a visiting professor or together with an early-career researcher on a prestigious convention panel. Such small however career-making actions significantly profit these from under-represented teams — they may obtain formal mentoring, however what’s lacking is sponsorship.
It’s arduous for researchers to seek out out that their proposal gained’t be funded. Giving good suggestions can soften the blow, writes research-development supervisor Adam Golberg. His high ideas for breaking the unhealthy information: begin with a transparent and fast message concerning the end result, then comply with up with extra particulars. By no means share ‘uncooked’ reviewers’ feedback — take the time to supply a humane abstract. Researchers must keep in mind that funding is a contest, not a take a look at, Golberg says: “The rationale purposes don’t get funded has not less than as a lot to do with the purposes which can be chosen.”
A daredevil takes a bounce too far right into a black gap in the newest brief story for Nature’s Futures collection.
Scientists have used a high-energy pulsing laser to divert lightning strikes on high of a Swiss mountain. Physicist Jean-Pierre Wolf tells the Nature Podcast what it was like seeing pictures of the system in motion for the primary time: “Wow, we dreamed of this image for 20 years.” Researchers hope that, finally, lasers will likely be used to pressure cloud discharge to raised shield giant infrastructure, corresponding to airports.
Nature Podcast | 20 min pay attention
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