Author archives: Invited Researcher

China’s Moon mission to find water ice is unlike anything NASA has done

China’s Moon mission to find water ice is unlike anything NASA has done

Geosciences • Planetary Science • Robotics

By Invited Researcher

Author: Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University How do you explore a place where the Sun never shines? China’s space programme will soon embark on one of the most innovative lunar exploration missions in recent years. We’ve known for nearly two decades that some form of water exists on the Moon. What we […]

The death of dark energy is a false alarm – the universe is still accelerating

The death of dark energy is a false alarm – the universe is still accelerating

Cosmology

By Invited Researcher

Authors: Phil Wiseman, Senior Research Fellow and Ernest Rutherford Fellow in Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton and Mark Sullivan, Professor, University of Southampton A 2025 study by South Korean researchers caught the attention of the astronomy community when it suggested that the evidence behind dark energy could be wrong. Dark energy makes up about […]

Generative AI has changed mathematics forever

Generative AI has changed mathematics forever

Artificial Intelligence • Mathematics • Philosophy of science

By Invited Researcher

Author: Melissa Lee, Senior Lecturer, School of Mathematics, Monash University Some weeks ago, artificial intelligence company OpenAI announced ten advances in mathematics and computer science made with their as-yet unreleased model Astra. The discoveries cover a wide range of mathematical fields, including geometry, cryptography and coding theory. These ten are just the latest in a […]

We are not ‘in the singularity’ with AI.

We are not ‘in the singularity’ with AI.

Artificial Intelligence • Economics

By Invited Researcher

Authors: Kai Riemer, Professor of Information Technology and Organisation, University of Sydney and Sandra Peter, Director of Sydney Executive Plus, Business School, University of Sydney “We are now, like, in the singularity”. These are the words of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, speaking on the Relentless podcast on July 25. He added: “I’ve been waiting […]

Eight lifesaving ways to improve wildfire risk management

Eight lifesaving ways to improve wildfire risk management

Ecology • Economics • Environment

By Invited Researcher

Authors: María-Luisa Chas-Amil, Catedrática de Economía Aplicada, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela and Julia María Touza, Professor of Environmental Economics, University of York As the flames advanced towards the village of Bédar, in the Almería province of Andalusia, the mayor gave a desperate order to ring the church bells to warn residents. It was not […]

Doing and experiencing in language: how similar are they?

Doing and experiencing in language: how similar are they?

Language • Linguistics • Neurobiology • Neurolinguistics

By Invited Researcher

Author: Marta Sánchez López, Postdoctoral researcher at Research Centre for Basque Language and Texts (CNRS-IKER) – Université Bordeaux Montaigne. She also collaborates with the The Bilingual Mind Research Group (Gogo Elebiduna), University of the Basque Country. In our daily life, we perceive many different events around us with different participants involved, such as a woman […]

Cracks in the foundations of today’s cosmological model

Cracks in the foundations of today’s cosmological model

Cosmology

By Invited Researcher

Author: Subir Sarkar, Emeritus Professor, Department of Physics, University of Oxford According to our best understanding, the universe is expanding – and is doing so at an accelerating rate. This is believed to be caused by something called the “cosmological constant”, which was first proposed by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity. In […]

The hidden role of the immune system in female Alzheimer’s

The hidden role of the immune system in female Alzheimer’s

Biomedicine

By Invited Researcher

For decades, Alzheimer’s research has been dominated by a seemingly intuitive idea: the disease is largely explained by the accumulation of abnormal proteins in the brain, primarily beta-amyloid and tau. However, while this view has been useful, it has fallen short in explaining certain fundamental aspects. One of the most striking is that Alzheimer’s affects […]

A giant space mirror to test ‘sunlight on demand.’

A giant space mirror to test ‘sunlight on demand.’

Astronomy

By Invited Researcher

Auhtors: Samantha Lawler, Associate Professor, Astronomy, University of Regina and Aaron Boley, Professor, Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia A giant mirror to create “sunlight on demand” was just approved by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), despite opposition from astronomers and the public, and real safety concerns. The FCC approved the company […]

Enhanced BCMA – CAR T-cell therapeutic efficacy in multiple myeloma

Enhanced BCMA – CAR T-cell therapeutic efficacy in multiple myeloma

Biomedicine

By Invited Researcher

Chimeric antigen-specific receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA; BCMA-CAR T cells) has produced remarkable clinical responses in advanced multiple myeloma (MM), with a substantial fraction of patients achieving complete remission . However, many patients relapse within months, largely due to insufficient CAR T-cell persistence, a recognized mechanism of acquired resistance . A […]