#PeerReview: editors of specialist journals find it difficult to convince experts to review submitted articles. 👇 @theconversation.com @scientoskop.bsky.social
Problems with peer review
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
Horizons Magazine
@horizons-en.bsky.social
The Swiss research magazine, powered by @snsf-ch.bsky.social and Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. 🧠🔬🌱📚 https://www.horizons-mag.ch/
According to a study by the University of Zurich, the gut microbiome can tell us whether Ethiopian kids live in a city or the countryside, and whether they prefer sweets to traditional flatbreads.👇
Flatbreads stimulate the microbiome of kids in Ethiopia
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
“We’re feeling pretty uncomfortable”, says Maribeth Murray, an environmental archaeologist from Canada. She’s currently working in #Greenland, where geopolitical tensions are bringing great uncertainty to researcher’s lives. @jho42.bsky.social
The trials of researchers in Greenland
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
🤖✋ Up to now, developing a sense of touch for robots was too complicated. But a research team including members of ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich has developed a new approach that could change all that. 👇 @giacomoi.bsky.social @ethz.ch
The final hurdle: Robots with a sense of touch
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
⚠️⚠️⚠️ #significant Be cautious: A so-called significant reduction or spike in something is sometimes very different from ‘meaningful’ or ‘substantial’. 👇 @scientoskop.bsky.social
‘Significant’
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
Twelve percent of women develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress after giving birth. Déborah Fort documents this subject, which is little studied despite “a third of women believing they’ve experienced a traumatic birth”, says Professor Antje Horsch.👇
Memories as vectors of distress
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
More secure, trackable and eco-friendly: The Lausanne startup Aeler wants to use smart containers to revolutionise transport logistics.
A smart container for eco-friendly logistics
Horizons (EN) - Issue 149
horizons-mag.ch
🌊🏔️📏 It’s difficult to measure #groundwater in the Alps. But measuring tiny changes in gravity can provide the necessary information, and much easier. A study by the University of Neuchâtel. 👇
Water beneath the Alps
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
#Retraction: Science magazine has retracted a study because its conclusions have been proven to be incorrect. It’s thereby created a controversial precedent. 👇👇👇 @bradyharan.bsky.social @scientoskop.bsky.social
Dispute about retracting an article
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
🏊🥊🏒🏂⚽🚴🥋🥌⛹️🏓👟🤾🏀⛸️ Sports coaches fail to recognise violent situations in 30 percent of cases, according to a study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen. 👇
Sports coaches turn a blind eye to violence
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
Voilà ! Va bene ! Also gut ! In Switzerland, 40 percent of #children grow up with more than one #MotherTongue. But is this a blessing or a curse? Research can provide the answers we need. 👇
Voilà, va bene! When two languages are spoken at home
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
Half of #construction wood is wasted, because it does not meet industrial standards. 🤖🪵🏗️🪵🤖 An interactive #robot developed by the EPFL makes it possible to enhance these gaps by integrating them into structures.
From scrap to frame
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
👆💶🫨 “Their decision was wrong, stupid and not evidence-based”. Environmental chemist Martin Scheringer can’t understand why the ‘Swiss Health Study’ planned by the federal government has been cancelled. Why there’s no progress on #PFAS and #pesticides.
Flying blind with PFAS and pesticides
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
Tamás Deutsch from the Hungarian Fidesz party wants to cut the EU #research budget. He’s following the right-wing #populist playbook, masking an attack on unwelcome research topics by pretending to fight for academic integrity. @jho42.bsky.social 👇
The dangers of self-censorship
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
📄👁️🪙 An article in Nature Communication costs: 💰 EUR 29 to read 💸 more than CHF 6000 to make it open access Why does publishing academic articles cost so much? We have the answers here 👇 @scientoskop.bsky.social
The costs of publishing
Horizons (EN) - Issue 149
horizons-mag.ch
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 😱 An aversion to empty spaces – #HorrorVacui – can also be observed on shards of Venetian ceramics. These are now being investigated by a researcher at the University of Bern @unibe.ch. 👇
Art against emptiness
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
Deciphering human beings “through their beauties and defects”: This is why Laurence Toutous-Trellu became a #dermatologist. We paint a portrait between Geneva and Africa, where she scrutinises both the skin of her patients and historical medical samples.👇
Scrutinising beauty and skin ailments
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
🤖📈🌎 What does AI really consume? While the numbers are often opaque, the trend is clear: Energy and environmental costs are soaring, as data centres are thrown together to meet the growing demand for AI.
Insatiable AI
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
🍫🥛🍫🥛“Of course it wasn’t about how to mix cocoa powder and cold milk”. Joint Editor-in-Chief Judith Hochstrasser @jho42.bsky.social recalls an epic debate in the café collective where she worked before university … …and draws conclusions about #democracy itself.
Editorial: Power games via cocoa powder
Horizons (EN) - Testing democracy
horizons-mag.ch
🫀🫁🫘🧠 As if by miracle, clusters of cells come together and organise themselves to form an #organoid. We investigate how these mini-organs are made, and what they’re used for.👇
Mini-organs are conquering the lab
Horizons (EN) - Issue 149
horizons-mag.ch
A #FlatShare is really just like a #democratic nation state. The Wimmelbilder by Simon Landrein reveal heated discussions at the kitchen table, the dictatorial tendencies of tech geeks, and one-sided decisions by the landlady. 👷♀️💂♂️👩🎓👨🏫👩🌾👨🍳👩🔧👨💼👩🔬👨💻👩🎨👨✈️👩🚒
Image series: The flat share as an allegory for the nation state
Horizons (EN) - Testing democracy
horizons-mag.ch
⛵☁️ The sea, the icebergs, the sailboat and the balloon are there for us to see. But what needs explaining are the technological feats packed into this mini flying research station that studies the aerosols responsible for cloud formation over the fjords.
Above the poles
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
Science can explain how the world works. But it cannot tell us how we should live. Especially in a democracy, values and decisions must be constantly renegotiated, writes Eri Bertsou, a political scientist at @unisg.ch.👇
Science, democracy, and the terms of engagement
Horizons (EN) - Testing democracy
horizons-mag.ch
When humans sleep, our brain goes through the same phases as the brain of a #chameleon. Only we don’t change colour. Inselspital Bern has been involved in a study showing how sleep rhythms can be traced far back in our evolution.👇
A chameleon’s skin changes with its sleep cycle
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
Equality in #democracies has its flaws. Examples in #Switzerland include restrictive naturalisation processes, bonuses for the rich and the priority of rural cantons. An overview of the limits of democratic participation.👇
Democratic participation doesn’t always promote equality
Horizons (EN) - Testing democracy
horizons-mag.ch
💡💻📱💡💻📱💡💻📱💡💻📱 “Something that used to seem unique is now part of a larger territory. #Graphene has created a new #paradigm”. How researchers view the future of two-dimensional materials in #electronics👉
New ‘stem cells’ for electronics
Horizons (EN) -
horizons-mag.ch
“You have to invite people to participate in politics”, says political scientist Daniel Kübler. New methods for #democratic #participation are trending today. We take a look at a selection of them.👉
Eight creative ideas for more democracy
Horizons (EN) - Testing democracy
horizons-mag.ch
“#Democracy wasn’t invented in Athens; only the name we give to it”. The political philosopher Francis #Cheneval explains the nature of democracy in our interview. And where its roots lie👉 @jho42.bsky.social
“We haven’t yet found the perfect form of democracy”
Horizons (EN) - Testing democracy
horizons-mag.ch
Who should get a say? The latest issue of Horizons explores democracy as a fragile process that has to be renegotiated on a constant basis. We look at power struggles and participatory decision-making in politics, academia and society at large. 👉www.horizons-mag.ch
