Author archives: Invited Researcher

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Outstanding researchers present their work and share their opinions in Mapping Ignorance.

Transforming university physics education: The challenge of <i>building to learn</i>

Transforming university physics education: The challenge of building to learn

EducationPhysics

By Invited Researcher

Physics, a cornerstone of engineering and science degrees, often becomes a daunting hurdle for many first-year students. Abstract concepts like Ohm’s Law or Lorentz Force, essential for any student, are frequently perceived as distant and disconnected from real-world applications. This classic challenge (physics courses being among the hardest) plays a significant role in academic failure […]

Life Through the Looking Glass: An Unprecedented Threat?

Life Through the Looking Glass: An Unprecedented Threat?

Biology

By Invited Researcher

Author: Ramón Muñoz-Chápuli has been Professor of Animal Biology in the University of Málaga until his retirement. He has investigated for forty years in the fields of developmental biology and animal evolution. On December 12th, the British newspaper The Guardian published the following headline: “An Unprecedented Risk to Life on Earth“ The article wasn’t about […]

The Antarctic <i>plastisphere</i>

The Antarctic plastisphere

Biology

By Invited Researcher

Authors: Pere Monràs i Riera, PhD candidate, Universitat de Barcelona and Elisenda Ballesté, assistant professor in Microbiology, Universitat de Barcelona Antarctica, the world’s most remote, harsh and pristine continent, is not free from marine pollution. Where human activity goes, plastic debris inevitably follows. What might the early explorers of this icy wilderness think today, upon […]

Adipocytes orchestrate T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia propagation

Adipocytes orchestrate T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia propagation

Biomedicine

By Invited Researcher

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a devastating disease of T-cell progenitors that mainly affects children and young adults. Numerous genomic alterations are known to induce survival, proliferation, and differentiation of T-ALL cells . The interactions between leukemic cells and their microenvironment are known factors that contribute to T-ALL pathogenesis. The bone marrow (BM) microenvironment […]

Inferentialism, a new system of logic that could boost critical thinking and AI

Inferentialism, a new system of logic that could boost critical thinking and AI

Computer scienceLinguisticsPhilosophy of science

By Invited Researcher

Author: Alexander V. Gheorghiu, Research Fellow in Logic or Applied Logic, University College London The rigid structures of language we once clung to with certainty are cracking. Take gender, nationality or religion: these concepts no longer sit comfortably in the stiff linguistic boxes of the last century. Simultaneously, the rise of AI presses upon us […]

Astrocytes transplantation as a treatment for some neurological disorders

Astrocytes transplantation as a treatment for some neurological disorders

Neuroscience

By Invited Researcher

Authors: Albert HiuKa Fok, Postdoctoral Fellow in Neuroscience, McGill University and Sabrina Chierzi, Research Associate, Neuroscience, McGill University Astrocytes — named for their star-like shape — are a type of brain cell as abundant as neurons in the central nervous system, but little is known about their role in brain health and disease. Many neurological […]