The spread of far-right conspiracy theories on Elon Musk’s X is usually more of a concern to researchers than his work with spacecraft company SpaceX – but, according to the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, or Astron, the latter is having a pretty negative impact, too. Radio waves from SpaceX’s thousands of Starlink satellites are “blinding” radio telescopes and interfering with astronomical research, according to the BBC. “Every time more [Starlink satellites] are launched with these kinds of emission levels, we see less and less of the sky,” Astron director Jessica Dempsey explained. “This is actually threatening the entirety of ground-based astronomy in every wavelength and in different ways. If it continues, without the sort of mitigation to make these satellites quiet, then it does become an existential threat for the kinds of astronomy we do.”
Pigeon-guided missiles, drunk worms and breathing through your anus: this year’s Ig Nobel prizewinners were honoured at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recognised for scientific discoveries that “first make people laugh, and then make them think”. A team of Japanese researchers won the physiology prize for their work on anus breathing – or, more accurately, their research demonstrating that mammals including mice, rats and pigs were able to absorb oxygen from the rectum into the bloodstream, as The Guardian reported. It wasn’t frivolous work: the scientists began their research when hospitals were overwhelmed amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with a serious shortage of ventilators. Author Takanori Takebe, of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, had very understandable “mixed feelings” when he first heard the team’s research had won an Ig Nobel, but came around to the prize after learning it was awarded for making people laugh and think. If the award prompted greater interest in “enteral ventilation” – or breathing through the anus – “I’d be very happy”, Dr Takebe said.
The lead author of a new study into academics’ travel habits has stated there is a “level of hypocrisy” among researchers who “know that flying is bad for the environment” but continue to “fly to international conferences, often to [make the argument] that society should be more sustainable”. Jonas De Vos of UCL and his colleagues surveyed more than 1,100 UCL staff on their flight history and climate stances, The Times reported. While more than 80 per cent of respondents said flying was bad for the planet, more than a third reported flying to a conference or other academic event in the past year. “Some academics practise what they preach: they don’t fly at all. But I have the impression that for most academics, the visibility of their work is often more important,” Professor De Vos said.
It’s devastating enough to see your football team get relegated, but if you work in higher education, there might be another reason for misery. According to a new study, universities that have a clear name association with an English Premier League (EPL) team suffer a fall in domestic undergraduate admissions if that team is relegated. “In principle, the visibility of the EPL brand should be an advantage for UK universities, particularly if they share a name as well as a city with a successful EPL team,” said lead author Carl Singleton, senior lecturer in economics at the University of Stirling. But if that team does poorly? The study found that a one-year absence from the Premier League resulted in an average undergraduate admissions drop of 4 per cent, rising to up to 8 per cent if the team stayed down for longer. Try not to panic, University of Southampton…
At least Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre could be responsible for reviving humanity should the species become extinct, Sky News reported. Researchers led by Peter Kazansky employed ultra-fast lasers to inscribe an entire human genome on to a 5D crystal. As a university spokesperson explained, “Unlike marking only on the surface of a 2D piece of paper or magnetic tape, this method of encoding uses two optical dimensions and three spatial coordinates to write throughout the material – hence the ‘5D’ in its name.” The highly durable crystal can reportedly survive for billions of years, and the scientists hope it could be used to preserve the DNA information of species threatened with extinction. “The 5D memory crystal opens up possibilities for other researchers to build an everlasting repository of genomic information from which complex organisms like plants and animals might be restored should science in the future allow,” Professor Kazansky said.