current
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Other Sciences
Reliable science takes time. But the current system rewards speed
Credit: Franz Van Harden of Pexel Recently, there have been many headlines about scientific fraud and withdrawal of magazine articles. If this trend continues, it represents a serious threat to public trust in science. One way to tackle this issue and ensure public trust in science can slow it down. We sometimes refer to this philosophy as “slow science.” Like…
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Earth
How surface current circulation patterns help clean Great Pacific garbage patches
A bird surrounded by debris from the ocean on an island in the northwest of Hawaii. Credit: Matthew Chaubin Between Hawaii and California, trash swirled with huge currents and got caught up in the infamous Texas-sized Great Pacific garbage patch. This is just one of many people found all over the world. While efforts to clear patches with the Sweeing…
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Physics
Physicists achieve record-breaking electron beam output and current
Schematic diagram of an ultra-high current, extreme beam generation experiment. Credit: arxiv doi: 10.48550/arxiv.2411.10413 A team of physicists from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, California produced the highest peak power electron beam ever produced. The team publishes the papers in physical review letters. Over the years, scientists have found new uses for powerful laser light, from splitting…
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Nanotechnology
Single-atomic metal layer reveals unexpected spin-polarized current control by light
When circularly polarized light is applied to a thallium-lead alloy, the majority of the electrons “up-spin” and flow in the correct direction (spin-polarized current). Credit: Taniuchi et al. 2025 Researchers at the University of Tokyo have demonstrated that the direction of spin-polarized current is restricted to only one direction in a single atomic layer of a thallium-lead alloy when irradiated…
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Earth
Ancient climate research links past ocean acidification to current trends
SST proxy of PETM and paleoposition of CaCO3 dataset. Credit: Nature Geoscience (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01579-y A research team led by Professor Li Mingsong from Peking University has provided new insights into the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) and its impact on ocean chemistry. The study, published in Nature Geoscience and titled “Coupled decline in ocean pH and carbonate saturation during the…
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Biology
Ancient mud reveals 130,000 years of Australia’s fire history and future solutions to the current fire crisis
The Conversation by Michela Mariani, Anna Florin, Heidi Cudd, Matthew Adley and Simon Connor Flowchart describing the approach used in this study to quantify historical changes in fuels within the shrub layer (ladder fuels). Credit: Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adn8668 Intensified land management by Aboriginal people in southeastern Australia about 6,000 years ago cut forest shrub cover in half, according to…
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Physics
Direct generation of spin current using ultrashort laser pulses
Experimental schematic and static characteristics. Source: Physical Review Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.106902 An international team of physicists has discovered that they can directly generate spin current using a specific type of ultrashort laser pulse. In a study published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the team generated the spin current using linearly polarized laser pulses and a circularly polarized probe…
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