The scientific community enjoys one of the highest levels of trust among American institutions. But engaging in the political arena during a contentious election season comes with dangers.
Some changes to visa rules could make travel easier for scientists.
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Scientists from the developing world perceive current visa rules as a major impediment to professional travel. They miss out on opportunities to collaborate globally.
Climate change and the current El Niño have left Africans more vulnerable than ever to hunger.
Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters
Economic growth alone won’t end hunger. Good policies and programmes are needed, too. Scientists and researchers have a role to play in these initiatives.
Science communication puts research under the microscope.
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Science communication has grown in leaps and bounds over the past 60 years. It plays a crucial role in democratising science and making it less mysterious.
Scientists themselves may be the key to finding the right balance.
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The public loses when their only choices are inaccessible, impenetrable journal articles or overhyped click-bait about science. Scientists themselves need to step up and help bridge the divide.
Scientists need to learn how to hit other communication goals.
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Broader goals like building trust, fostering excitement about science and influencing policy decisions don’t necessarily just fall into place when researchers focus only on describing their work.
Investment in science and innovation is needed to help build Africa.
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Successful economies are led by innovation and driven by knowledge. For Africa to advance, it needs to make more substantial investments in its research and development sector.
Science and innovation can improve the world –but scientists have to help ensure strong democracies too.
Reuters/Kumerra Gemechu
Big data is about processing large amounts of data. It is often associated with multiplicities of data. But the ability to generate data outpaces the ability to store it.
Glamorous award ceremonies and popular TV shows can only get you so far – finding the time to do the science is still the most important thing.
Tens of millions of smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa have a stake in improving the health of the soil their cattle graze on.
Reuters/Goran Tomasevic
Africa’s soil crisis calls for quick and creative action. This includes deepening farmers’ knowledge about soil microbes.
Neutrinos, we’re looking for you! Japan’s Super-Kamiokande detector.
Kamioka Observatory, ICRR (Institute for Cosmic Ray Research), The University of Tokyo
The discovery of Homo naledi has been a social media sensation, recording an extraordinary number of views – more than 170,000 – for a scientific paper.
The skull of Homo naledi is built like those of early Homo species but its brain was just more than half the size of the average ancestor from 2 million years ago.
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Africa is a developing continent but there’s ample opportunity for careers in science that can contribute to science advancement as well as uplifting the socio-economic status of the continent.
The idea of a common biological cause for the association between psychological distress and creativity is clearly an attractive one.
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Researchers have suggested a new theory for why neurotic unhappiness and creativity are often found in the same person. But is the assumption that creative people are more neurotic actually true?
After a hard day at work, children still expect their mom to spend quality time with them.
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How successful a mother or career scientist one can become depends on how one’s available time is divided between the two activities.
To grow into healthy adults, children need lots of exercise. The best kind is when they are playing freely – even better when it is with their parents.
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Previous Vice President of the Academy of Science of South Africa and DSI-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics, Professor in Genetics, University of Pretoria, University of Pretoria