Research Scientist

The link between science, innovation, and technology is crucial: rapid technological advances create new opportunities for scientific progress in healthcare, communication, energy production, and more, essential for society's progress. In an impactful partnership, Frontiers joined the World Economic Forum to identify the top 10 emerging technologies in 2024. The result is a report that highlights tech advancements with the potential to revolutionize how we connect, tackle climate change, and propel scientific discovery forward. Frederick Fenter, Frontiers' Chief Executive Editor, emphasizes how the report draws on the expertise of a global network of field editors to offer deep insights into breakthrough technology and its transformative potential for improving societies, economies, and individual lives. Inspired by this collaboration, we’ve curated seven Research Topics harnessing the power of transformative technologies. From AI-powered plant disease detection to the futur

A group of globally renowned social, natural and climate scientists has once again convened to offer their newest annual synthesis report, “ 10 New Insights in Climate Science .” The report, published Oct. 28 as a tool to be used in climate policy negotiations around the world, including the international climate conference COP29, provides input on recent advances in climate change research and key opportunities for impactful climate action. The report — jointly produced by Future Earth , The Earth League and the World Climate Research Programme — highlights the policy implications that can inform climate negotiations and policy through 2025 and beyond. "The urgency to respond to climate change has never been clearer,” said Peter Schlosser , vice president and vice provost of Global Futures at Arizona State University and co-chair of The Earth League. “ Every degree of warming, every delay in action, accelerates the transition from climate crisis to climate catastrophe. We hav

The NASA-orchestrated research initiative GOLD mission has observed that strange anomalies resembling alphabets and floating in space may be impacting global communication signals and disrupting navigation. In the mysterious space of the ionosphere, scientists had long back spotted X and C-shaped charged particles. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre's research scientist Jeffrey Klenzing said that this discovery will help scientists understand the complex atmosphere of the Earth. When the geomagnetic storm occurred on May 10 , it was observed that GPS guidance systems faced difficulties, as claimed by the tractor company John Deere. “During solar storms, that signal hits a ‘fog’ of charged particles and can be lost,” said Tim Marquis, who is a senior product manager at John Deere. These kinds of disruptions can widely impact communications and also disturb the GPS signals which are important in fields like agriculture, shipping, transportation, and construction. “There could be

Papers of Ashok Pandey of CSIR-NIIST in Thiruvananthapuram and CSIR-IITR in Lucknow published in the journal Bioresources Technology, where he served as editor-in-chief, have been retracted Forty-three papers of Ashok Pandey who retired from the Thiruvanthapuram-based National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology ( CSIR-NIIST ) and now associated with the Lucknow-based Indian Institute of Toxicology Research ( CSIR-IITR ) that were published in an Elsevier journal Bioresources Technology have been retracted. PubPeer, a website that allows researchers to discuss and review scientific research after publication, has listed all the 43 retracted papers . As per a reliable source at CSIR-IITR lab, Dr. Pandey retired from CSIR-NIIST in 2015 and has been an industry-sponsored distinguished scientist at CSIR-IITR since 2018. His tenure as an industry-sponsored distinguished scientist was first renewed in 2020 and again in August 2023 for a period of three years subject to co

In 2017, myself and Guillaume Cabanac published the results from our examination of the electronic records for over 11,000 manuscripts submitted to the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) between 2005 and 2014. The data we assessed (amongst others) were the dates of the original submissions, the dates that selected papers were sent to the referees, the dates that the referees returned their reports with their recommendations (e.g., accept, minor revisions, major revisions, revise and resubmit, and reject) and – if appropriate – the dates of resubmissions and revised manuscripts. Inadvertently, of course, this data also disclosed the days of the week when these operations were carried out. Our results showed that the number of submissions (n = 6130), either initial or revised, declined steadily throughout the week, with Monday being the most frequent (18%) and Saturdays and Sundays the least frequent (7 and 9%). Credit: Rawpixel/Getty Images In 2017, myself and Guillaume C

Astronomy gave us GPS, WiFi and medical imaging , but the spillover from space exploration to everyday life is under threat if mega-constellations of satellites continue to launch. That's according to a new study by radio astronomers that reveals that the new second generation of SpaceX Starlink satellites emits 32 times more radio interference than first generation hardware. Radio Astronomy Starlink is SpaceX’s service that offers broadband access using low-orbit satellites. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics in September, the paper ’s authors used the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope, which has antennae in seven countries. It’s the largest radio telescope operating at the lowest frequencies that can be observed from Earth. “Without mitigations, very soon the only constellations we will see will be human-made,” said Professor Jessica Dempsey, general and scientific director of ASTRON , the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy. “We have the solutions for

How does scientific research and cooperation bring peace and progress to humankind? 6 examples of initiatives supported by UNESCO: CERN, ICTP... The need for a stronger scientific collaboration It was one of the longest-standing enigmas in art history. For centuries, no one had been able to say for sure that a Madonna and Child painting , often attributed to Raphael, had been directly created by the great Renaissance master himself. During that time, the painting had changed hands many times. It became the property of popes, was looted by Napoleon during the Italian campaign and in the 1930s ended up in a private collection in Prague, disappearing from public view. The painting lay almost forgotten until 2020, when a robotic scanner using a particle detector developed at CERN , the European Organization for Nuclear Research, confirmed the brushstrokes on the canvas were indeed Raphael’s. The authentication of Raphael’s painting through particle detection is just one of the many scien

The possibility of extraterrestrial life has confounded mankind for centuries. With technological advancements, astronomers and scientists are indeed using the best of innovation to trace any signs of life, but nothing has bore fruit yet.  However, some new research seems to state that we may be closer to cracking this mystery of a lifetime. The new Nasa research suggests that conditions for photosynthesis may exist below the dusty ice at Mars’ mid-latitudes regions.  For the uninitiated, mid-latitudes of Mars are essentially areas between 30 degrees and 60 degrees latitude in both hemispheres.  These regions are believed to contain a lot of water ice in the subsurface, preserved under lithic materials that can be thick by several meters. Photosynthesis is essentially a process that lets plants, algae, and some bacteria convert sunlight into carbon dioxide, and water into oxygen and glucose.  Photosynthesis is responsible for generating much of Earth’s atmospheric oxygen. The resea

Up to 14, possibly “kilometer-class” space rocks could lurk within a long-feared stream of space debris known to drift near Earth. However, a recent hunt for large asteroids within the Taurid Swarm, dubbed the “Doomsday” asteroid swarm, revealed fewer than astronomers expected. “Fortunately, we found that it’s likely there may only be a handful of asteroids — perhaps only nine to 14 of them — that fit this large size class in the swarm,” said Quanzhi Ye, an assistant research scientist in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland, who supervised the project. If the relatively small number of dangerous asteroids close to Earth is reassuring in some ways, the researchers think their findings underscore the need for vigilance and better detection capabilities. Rare Opportunity The scientists used the Zwicky Transient Facility telescope at the Palomar Observatory, California, to survey the night sky for evidence of massive space rocks in the Taurid swarm. “ We took adva

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES-East satellite captured this image of Hurricane Michael as it came ashore near Mexico Beach, Florida on Oct. 10, 2018. According to the National Hurricane Center, Michael intensified before landfall with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, heavy rainfall and deadly storm surge. (Courtesy of NOAA) Hurricanes are massive, complex systems that can span hundreds of miles as they swirl around the low pressure of the storm’s eye. In such a complicated situation, predicting how powerful a hurricane will grow is a difficult undertaking. A new collaboration between researchers in South Korea and Florida State University is improving hurricane forecasting by incorporating the effects of sea spray into the models that predict hurricane behavior. The work was published in Environmental Research Letters “We know forecasts predicting hurricane tracks are pretty good most of the time, but the intensity forecasts have traditionally not been a

The research authors have shared their full poster presentation for updated details about their research abstract. Please see the digital file attached, under additional resources below, for these details. The most current statistics, reviewed and confirmed by the research authors, are in the poster (please see the digital file attached, under additional resources below) and the news release. As with any new science development, patients should always consult with their doctor prior to making changes to their health regimens. As noted in all American Heart Association scientific meetings news releases, research abstracts are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Research Highlights: A study of over 20,000 adults found that those who followed an 8-hour time-restricted eating schedule, a type of intermittent fasting, had a 91% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease. People with heart disease or cancer also had an increased risk of cardi

People have always looked for patterns to explain the universe and to predict the future. “ Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning ” is an adage predicting the weather. AI is very good at seeing patterns and making predictions. Now, Microsoft researchers are working to apply “ foundation models ” – large-scale models that take advantage of recent AI advances – to scientific disciplines. These models are trained on a wide variety of data and can excel at many tasks, in contrast to more specialized models. They have the potential to generate answers in a fraction of the time traditionally required and help solve more sophisticated problems. Some of the wildly different scientific disciplines that are promising for advancement through AI include materials science, climate science and healthcare and life sciences. Experts say foundation models tailored to these disciplines will speed up the process of scientific discovery, allowing them to more quickly cr

Global challenges call for global solutions—imagine the chaos if there was no international cooperation on climate change or trade. Yet, despite the fact that every nation funds, conducts, and benefits from research together worth $1 trillion , our research publishing system remains deeply flawed, with scant global collaboration to fix it. In our digitally interconnected world, where AI is rapidly advancing, sharing research should be easier than ever, supercharging progress and global prosperity. However, this potential is stifled by a publishing industry dominated by corporate interests that restricts access for millions of researchers who can't afford to pay. Although some strides have been made in reforming publishing payment models and engaging with individuals and institutions to improve Open Access, high-level diplomatic and political cooperation has been largely ignored. This needs to change. But how? Building on our previous CGD policy paper on research publishing reform

Eleven research project on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and six projects to research quantum projects will receive nearly $1,20,000 each, totalling over $2 million in grants for joint research and development. The awards were announced at an event hosted by US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti, who was accompanied by Dr Seth Center , Acting Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technologies at the US Department of State. India’s Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh and Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology Abhay Karandikar, along with Principal Science Adviser to the Government of India Ajay Sood, along with the leadership of the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF), were at the event to celebrate the announcement of 17 winners for joint research, development, and commercialisation projects under the USISTEF 'Quantum Technologies and AI for Transforming Lives' grant competition. The proposals of the 17 researchers, who have

MACON — Mercer University has been awarded $116,349 in federal funds through the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research equipment that will help advance material science research and teaching. Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dr. Dorina Mihut said the grant “will also significantly expand faculty and students’ experimental participation to multiple research projects and training from mechanical, biomedical, environmental and civil engineering, broadening the participation of underrepresented groups.” The grant will be used to acquire precision tools to conduct cutting-edge research , including an ultra-high accuracy digital microscope that will promote multidisciplinary research for developing antimicrobial-coated materials. “ The digital microscope will facilitate fundamental studies of erosion, abrasion and their effects on materials’ surfaces ,” said Dr. Mihut. “Understanding and preventing erosion and abrasion is a serious concern for a variety of industri