International Young Scientist Awards

  A leading US disease ecologist says he has faced death threats and harassment because of his work with Chinese   scientists   on virus research before the Covid-19 pandemic – an experience he describes as a “medieval” witch hunt. Peter Daszak, president of scientific research organisation  EcoHealth Alliance  (EHA), said he and the non-profit had endured four years of “relentless” and “damaging”  attacks , online and in the press, including actions directed at him and his family. He said an envelope containing white powder had been sent to his home address in the United States, while the names of his children and wife had appeared on a “kill list” on 4chan, an anonymous online forum. “That is not appropriate or normal for a scientist to be put through. And you get zero sympathy for this,” Daszak told the Post in an interview “You talk to the FBI to try and help. They are the same guys investigating you and do not believe that you did not do something wrong. It is awful.” “No one has

A blast of X-rays from a nuclear explosion should be enough to save Earth from an incoming asteroid, according to the results of a first-of-its-kind experiment. The findings, published 1 on 23 September in Nature Physics, “showed some really amazing direct experimental evidence for how effective this technique can be”, says Dawn Graninger, a physicist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “It’s very impressive work.” Nathan Moore, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and his colleagues designed the experiment to simulate what might happen if a nuclear bomb was detonated near an asteroid. Previously, scientists have studied the momentum of a bomb’s shock wave — which results from the expansion of gas — pushing against an asteroid. However, Moore’s team says that the huge amount of X-rays produced in the explosion would have a bigger effect in changing an asteroid’s trajectory. The team used Sandia’s vast Z machin

A new study suggests that supermassive black holes and certain galaxies , whose early existence has long puzzled scientists, may have originated from massive cosmic strings — hypothetical one-dimensional objects in space that may have formed when the early universe went through a phase transition, similar to defects that form in other types of matter during phase changes. Because of their large mass, such objects could have attracted large amounts of matter, allowing massive cosmic objects to quickly form from or around them. “Cosmic strings are line-like defects predicted by some elementary particle theories,” said Robert Brandenberger, a professor of physics at McGill University and one of the authors of the study, in an email. “A good analog is defect lines in crystals.” Many scientists, like Brandenberger, believe that next-generation gravitational wave detectors and other advanced observational tools could be used to test the hypothesis of cosmic strings by finding evidences of t

Even though the strange behaviour we observe in the quantum realm isn’t part of our daily lives, simulations suggest it is likely our reality could be one of the many worlds in a quantum multiverse ould we live in a quantum  multiverse  without ever noticing its oddness? A simulation suggests that the answer may be “yes” surprisingly often. The concept of a quantum multiverse is a compelling framework that suggests our reality is part of a vast ensemble of parallel universes, each emerging from different outcomes of quantum events. This idea arises primarily from interpretations of quantum mechanics, which challenge our traditional understanding of reality and observation. At the heart of quantum mechanics lies the principle of superposition , where particles exist in multiple states simultaneously until measured. This leads to the notion that every quantum decision creates a branching of realities. For instance, when a particle is in a superposition of states, upon measurement, it co

Scientists are developing a new strategy to direct chemotherapy drugs straight to tumors while sparing normal organs from unnecessary damage. Conventional chemotherapy often falls short because it cannot specifically target cancer cells, leading to collateral damage in healthy tissues. With cancer rates rising globally — driven by an aging population, risky lifestyle habits like smoking and drinking, and various environmental factors — there is an increasing focus on improving chemotherapy drugs to enhance effectiveness and reduce harmful side effects. In a paper published in Advanced Healthcare Materials, scientists from China demonstrated that hyaluronic acid oligosaccharides could enhance the safety of chemotherapy by targeting receptors abundant on cancer cells. Their approach builds on drug delivery vehicles called chitosans, which are derived from natural sugars in chitin and can be easily modified to improve drug delivery. “Polysaccharide-based biomaterials have garnered sign

  What is climate change? Climate change is the long-term shift in the Earth's average temperatures and weather conditions. Over the last decade, the world was on average around 1.2C warmer than during the late 19th Century. It has now been confirmed that                                  global warming exceeded 1.5C across the 12 month period between February 2023 and January 2024. That followed 2023  being declared the warmest year on record. The temperature increase was driven by human-caused climate change and boosted by  the natural El Niño weather phenomenon . How are humans causing climate change? The climate has changed throughout the Earth's history and natural factors, such as El Niño, can affect the weather for shorter periods of time, as happened in 2023. But natural causes cannot explain the particularly rapid warming seen in the last century, according to the UN's climate body, the IPCC. This long-term  climate change has been caused by human activity , the IPC

Imagine a battery that charges almost instantly and holds far more energy than today’s best options. This is the promise of a quantum battery, a cutting-edge energy storage device that taps into quantum phenomena like entanglement and superposition. A recent study has outlined a design for such a battery, and if future experiments confirm its potential, it could revolutionize the way we think about energy storage. “ Traditional batteries that are still in use, such as lithium-ion, alkaline, and lead-acid batteries, operate based on electrochemical reactions that involve the motion of ions between two electrodes through an electrolyte,” said a team of researchers in a recent paper published in Advanced Quantum Technologies describing the idea. “Quantum batteries, on the other hand, are a novel concept that probe the potential of quantum mechanics to enhance energy storage.” Despite their theoretical promise, developing a working quantum battery is fraught with challenges. The most se

  Science ideas are everywhere. Some of the greatest discoveries have come from tinkering and toying with new concepts and ideas. NASA astronaut Don Pettit is no stranger to inventing and discovering. During his previous missions, Pettit has contributed to advancements for human space exploration aboard the International Space Station resulting in several published scientific papers and breakthroughs. Pettit, accompanied by cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will launch to the orbiting laboratory in September 2024. In preparation for his fourth spaceflight , read about previous “science of opportunity” experiments Pettit performed during his free time with materials readily available to the crew or included in his personal kit. Have you ever noticed a white bubble inside the ice in your ice tray at home? This is trapped air that accumulates in one area due to gravity. Pettit took this knowledge, access to a -90° Celsius freezer aboard the space station, and an open weekend t