Science Summary - 2023, May

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---------------------------------------- May 2023 ----------------------------------------

Image: https://imgur.com/gallery/yys38Ek

Monthly newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/359cae84aa22/science_summary

----------------- Selection -----------------

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_in_science

Items which I added to the Wikipedia list (WP in general) are marked with a star (*) below.

Criteria info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Prototyperspective/Year_in_science/Inclusion_criteria
Nonincluded items:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Prototyperspective/Year_in_science/List_of_nonincluded_items_for_2023

------------------ Sources ------------------

* Earth detectability
https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/522/2/2393/7028804

Brain-reading
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.29.509744v1.full

* Death EEG
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2216268120

Africa evolution
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06055-y

* Climate niche
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01132-6

* Intelligence
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38626-y

* Pain insensitivity
https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article/doi/10.1093/brain/awad098/7169317

* Earth boundaries
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06083-8

_____

* Economics and neurology
https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41467-023-37778-1

WHO COVID-19 emergency over
https://www.who.int/news/item/05-05-2023-statement-on-the-fifteenth-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-pandemic

* Experimental evolution
https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41586-023-06052-1

Saturn moons
https://science.ubc.ca/news/saturn-now-leads-moon-race-62-newly-discovered-satellites

* Zombie parasite
https://doi.org/10.7554%2FeLife.85410

* Centenerians microbiomes
https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs43587-023-00389-y

* School curricula
https://doi.org/10.1161%2FCIR.0000000000001128

Asteroid hazards
https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.04896

* Lakes volume loss
https://repository.kaust.edu.sa/bitstream/handle/10754/691878/abo2812_ArticleContent_v5.pdf

* Methane policies
https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.oneear.2023.04.009

* Time-use study
https://doi.org/10.1186%2Fs12916-023-02882-y

* UAP
https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-023-01746-3

* Reason trends
https://doi.org/10.1542%2Fpeds.2022-060410

* Misinfo x2
https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41586-023-06078-5
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/02/technology/google-youtube-disinformation-climate-change.html

------------------ Not included ------------------

27 items + health & innovation items


Most/all would have been included if there was more space (19):

- A new AI algorithm developed by Baidu is shown to boost the antibody response of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines by 128 times.

- Drug company Eli Lilly reports that donanemab can slow the pace of Alzheimer's disease by 35%, following a Phase 3 study in human patients.

- Astronomers using the Gemini South telescope report the first direct evidence of an exoplanet being swallowed by an ancient Sun-like star, a fate that likely awaits the Earth in five billion years.

- The first infrared image of an asteroid belt outside our Solar System is captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Three distinct rings of debris are shown to exist around Fomalhaut, a young star 25 light years away.

- AI successfully identifies people at the highest risk for pancreatic cancer up to three years before diagnosis, using solely the patients' medical records.

- A rough draft of the human "pan-genome" is presented, consisting of 47 genomes from a cohort of genetically diverse individuals. This aims to improve medical research by building on the earlier Human Genome Project.

- The National Institutes of Health begins a Phase 1 trial of an mRNA-based universal influenza vaccine, enrolling 50 volunteers.

- * Researchers propose a methodological approach and quantifications for reparations from fossil fuel producers.
Cross-disciplinary researchers propose academics make universities implement, leadingly, the plant-based dietary transition that an increasingly large and confirmed corpus of studies, to which these contributed to, concludes is vital.


- 34% of neuroscience papers and 23% of medical papers published in 2020 were probably fabricated or plagiarized, according to a study, stemming from paper mills.

- * Nature reports China has "overtaken the United States as the number one ranked country or territory for contributions to research articles published in the Nature Index group of high-quality natural-science journals", remaining at second place overall. The Nature Index, since 2016, evaluates contribution by the number of articles published in a subgroup of their journals – other potential or less popular approaches and metrics for quantifications of success or impact can or could produce different rankings or annual tables and conclusions.

- * A study highlights a list of problematic persuasive methods in academic articles, such as exaggerating the importance of the work or insufficient contextualization by "Not citing previous work that decreases the perceived novelty of the current work".


- * A study identifies plastic chopping boards as a substantial source of ingested microplastics.
Researchers show plastic recycling facilities are a major source of microplastic water pollution.

- 5,000 marine species new to science are discovered in the Clipperton Fracture Zone, a proposed deep sea mining hotspot in the Pacific Ocean.

- AI is used to develop an experimental antibiotic called abaucin, which is shown to be effective against A. baumannii.

- Evidence for the existence of a second Kuiper Belt is presented by NASA scientists, which the New Horizons spacecraft could potentially visit during the late 2020s or early 2030s.

- * A study reports observational evidence for problematic fast slowdown of the Antarctic bottom water current.

- * Neuroengineers demonstrate induction of a torpor-like state in mice via ultrasound stimulation.

- A new record high efficiency of 19.3% for organic solar cells is reported.

- * Scientists provide details of H5N1 bird flu's fast viral evolution of clade 2.3.4.4b including reassortment after "explosive geographic expansion in 2021 among wild birds", with relevance to measures such as existing candidate vaccines.


Most/all are unlikely to be included as category-2 items (8):

- A single-molecule valve is demonstrated, a breakthrough in nanoscale control of fluids.

- Westinghouse Electric's nuclear division announces the AP300, a miniature version of its signature AP1000 nuclear reactor.

- A software tool called Allegro is reported to accurately simulate 44 million atoms, running on the Perlmutter supercomputer.

- The newly discovered exoplanet LP 791-18 d is theorised to be covered with volcanoes, due to the extreme gravitational pull of a super-Earth in the same system.

- IBM announces that it will begin development of a 100,000-qubit quantum computer, the world's largest and most powerful, to be completed by 2033.

- Using the Hubble Space Telescope and Gaia spacecraft, an analysis of proper motions of the closest known globular cluster, Messier 4, reveals an excess mass of roughly 800 solar masses in the center. This appears to not be extended, and could thus be the best kinematic evidence for an intermediate-mass black hole (even if an unusually compact cluster of compact objects, white dwarfs, neutron stars or stellar-mass black holes cannot be completely discounted).

- MBR Explorer is announced by the United Arab Emirates Space Agency, an uncrewed mission to explore seven asteroids, which includes an attempted surface landing on 269 Justitia in 2034.

- The first X-ray of a single atom is reported.


------------------ Health & innovations ------------------


Healthcare systems related results are published: large increases in medication prices via sustained decrease in their use can cause poorer disease control, widespread implementation of the particular Alzheimer's disease therapeutic solution lecanemab may increase annual U.S. Medicare spending by $2.0 to $5.1 billion, mailed HPV self-collection kits with scheduling assistance can lead to greater uptake of cervical cancer screening, cost-related medication nonadherence occurs in approximately 1 in 5 older adults in the U.S. in 2022, and a QALY-based health economics study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of U.S. population-wide screening for CKD.

Research on potential current public risk sources is published: the common DBP and BPAF appear to have "substantial impact on the integrity of the sperm nucleus and DNA structure" in mice via oxidative stress, a preliminary study contextualizes "time spent on social media" as one of the "least influential factors in adolescent mental health", ubiquitous environmental contaminant TCE appears to be a risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD), various pesticides are identified as potential risk factors for PD, researchers demonstrate a two zero-day vulnerabilities-based quick low-cost method – "BrutePrint" – for bypassing common smartphones' fingerprint authentication, and common sucralose impurity sucralose-6-acetate appears to be DNA damaging with sucralose-sweetened drinks potentially far exceeding the threshold of toxicological concern.

Promising innovations relating to global challenges are demonstrated: an open source automated experimentation science platform (BacterAI) for predicting microbial metabolism with little data, a pesticide alternative against wheat seed loss, a low-cost smartphone-attachment (BPClip) for blood pressure measurement, an open source transfer learning-based system (Geneformer) for predicting how networks of interconnected human genes control or affect the function of cells.

Promising results of therapeutic candidates are reported: phase I trialed ultrasound BBB-opening device against brain cancer, phase I trialed personalized mRNA vaccine against pancreatic cancer recurrence, a novel antibiotic (Streptothricin F) against ABR bacteria, an e-skin for prosthetic sensing, two-dose JYNNEOS vaccine against mpox appears ~86% or ~66% effective, and a xenografted mice-tested pan-KRAS-inhibitor against cancer.