The 29 Best and Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2024
Ph.D. Candidate Wants To Improve Science Communication So No One Ever Again Writes That Sniffing Farts Prevents Cancer
Ph.D. Candidate Ashli Wright knows science has a problem – and she doesn't mean the actual problem that someone studies and tries to solve using the scientific method.
Rather, she recognizes that potentially revolutionizing, even life-impacting science often does not resonate with the public. Worse, it sometimes is ignored or even distorted.
Just read here the crazy example she shares to prove her point: an article in which a writer states that doctors believe that inhaling deeply when someone passes wind will protect against cancer. (The claim is preposterous.)
Among the challenges to serving up science for the masses, Wright cites media that prioritize click bait over sound reporting of scientists' work or journalists who simply get it wrong.
She also takes to task researchers who share their findings in high-level publications meant for their similarly educated peers but don't consider how to communicate with the lay audience. "Do we really need all these big words?" she asks of seemingly impenetrable scientific abstracts that keep all but the most specialized experts from directly reading about the latest advances. (Wright is a proponent of glossaries in journal articles to help with that.)
The pandemic brought many of these issues into focus, Wright says. "We were all overwhelmed during COVID about what we should or shouldn't be doing, and we were relying heavily on scientific research." In the frenzy of that uncertain time, contradictory and ill-reported information seeped into channels from traditional TV and radio to the internet and social media. Making matters worse, the resulting misinformation frequently met up with outright disinformation to create even more confusion.
Wright's doctoral dissertation – she won first place for its presentation at FIU's recent 3-Minute Thesis competition and made it to the finals of another such contest in South Carolina – homes in on what too often goes wrong even as she offers constructive ways forward.
Among her suggestions: Give students in high school the chance to read journal articles to further their understanding of how science translates from investigations in the lab or the field into shared knowledge. Educating youngsters in this way will teach them how science applies to them and set them up to consume and understand such news.
As a former biology teacher at Maritime and Science Technology Academy, known for short as MAST, in Key Biscayne, Wright saw firsthand the benefits – and difficulties – of such an approach when she offered her students the original paper in which Nobel Prize laureates James Watson and Francis Crick revealed their discovery of the molecular structure of DNA. She also shared the Ph.D. Dissertation of the English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.
"They were intimidated," Wright says of her students. "We took entire class periods to get through it."
In the end, the exercise was worth it - "They loved it, eventually" - she says. She provided a glossary of terms for the students and then covered the reading in class, with youngsters collaborating in small groups to make sense of it.
Such learning drives home the living, evolving nature of science, Wright explains. She draws a contrast with teaching solely from a standardized textbook, which can give the impression that science is somehow fixed in time.
Wright encourages devising curricula for high school and undergraduate science courses around current topics that students likely already know something about, such as climate change. She created such a curriculum around FIU's long-term Florida Everglades restoration by selecting five journal articles published in recent years by the scientists directly involved in the project.
And Wright has other ideas. "I'm working on a manuscript that is a call to action about how we can change the way we communicate," she says. "I know some journals are trying to include glossaries in the articles, graphical abstracts, video abstracts. I'm saying, here's what we can do as researchers, here's what we can do at the publication level and possibly here's what we can do in the classroom."
Ultimately, she says, "I think the people with the most influence are the scientists themselves. The publications, the journals are going to do what they do to fill subscriptions. Consumers are going to do what they do to get bite-sized information quickly. It's on the scientists to communicate in a way that will resonate with everyone, which is hard."
A New World Of 2D Material Is Opening Up
image:
Jie Zhou, assistant professor at Linköping university.
view moreCredit: Olov Planthaber
Materials that are incredibly thin, only a few atoms thick, exhibit unique properties that make them appealing for energy storage, catalysis and water purification. Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, have now developed a method that enables the synthesis of hundreds of new 2D materials. Their study has been published in the journal Science.
Since the discovery of graphene, the field of research in extremely thin materials, so-called 2D materials, has increased exponentially. The reason is that 2D materials have a large surface area in relation to their volume or weight. This gives rise to a range of physical phenomena and distinctive properties, such as good conductivity, high strength or heat resistance, making 2D materials of interest both within fundamental research and applications.
"In a film that's only a millimetre thin, there can be millions of layers of the material. Between the layers there can be a lot of chemical reactions and thanks to this, 2D materials can be used for energy storage or for generating fuels, for example," says Johanna Rosén, professor in Materials physics at Linköping University.
The largest family of 2D materials is called MXenes. MXenes are created from a three-dimensional parent material called a MAX phase. It consists of three different elements: M is a transition metal, A is an (A-group) element, and X is carbon or nitrogen. By removing the A element with acids (exfoliation), a two-dimensional material is created. Until now, MXenes has been the only material family created in this way.
The Linköping researchers have introduced a theoretical method for predicting other three-dimensional materials that may be suitable for conversion into 2D materials. They have also proved that the theoretical model is consistent with reality.
To succeed, the researchers used a three-step process. In the first step, they developed a theoretical model to predict which parent materials would be suitable. Using large-scale calculations at the National Supercomputer Centre, the researchers were able to identify 119 promising 3D materials from a database and a selection consisting of 66,643 materials.
The next step was to try to create the material in the lab.
"Out of 119 possible materials, we studied which ones had the chemical stability required and which materials were the best candidates. First, we had to synthesise the 3D material, which was a challenge in itself. Finally, we had a high-quality sample where we could exfoliate and etch away a specific atom layers using hydrofluoric acid," says Jie Zhou, assistant professor at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
The researchers removed yttrium (Y) from the parent material YRu2Si2, which resulted in the formation of two-dimensional Ru2SixOy.
But to confirm success in the lab, verification is necessary – step three. The researchers used the scanning transmission electron microscope Arwen at Linköping University. It can examine materials and their structures down at the atomic level. In Arwen it is also possible to investigate which atoms a material is made up of using spectroscopy.
"We were able to confirm that our theoretical model worked well, and that the resulting material consisted of the correct atoms. After exfoliation, images of the material resembled the pages of a book. It's amazing that the theory could be put into practice, thereby expanding the concept of chemical exfoliation to more materials families than MXenes," says Jonas Björk, associate professor at the division of Materials design.
The researchers' discovery means that many more 2D materials with unique properties are within reach. These, in turn, can lay the foundation for a plethora of technological applications. The next step for the researchers is to explore more potential precursor materials and scale up the experiments. Johanna Rosén believes that future applications are almost endless.
"In general, 2D materials have shown great potential for an enormous number of applications. You can imagine capturing carbon dioxide or purifying water, for example. Now it's about scaling up the synthesis and doing it in a sustainable way," says Johanna Rosén.
Article TitleTwo-dimensional materials by large-scale computations and chemical exfoliation of layered solids
Article Publication Date15-Mar-2024
COI StatementAuthors declare that they have no competing interests.
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! Are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! By contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
Temperature Extremes Could Help Capture Solar And Wind Energy
Register for free to listen to this articleConditions that usually accompany the kind of intense hot and cold weather that strains power grids may also provide greater opportunities to capture solar and wind energy.
A Washington State University-led study found that widespread, extreme temperature events are often accompanied by greater solar radiation and higher wind speeds that could be captured by solar panels and wind turbines. The research, which looked at extensive heat and cold waves across the six interconnected energy grid regions of the US from 1980–2021, also found that every region experienced power outages during these events in the past decade.
The findings, detailed in the journal Environmental Research Letters, suggest that using more renewable energy at these times could help offset increased power demand as more people and businesses turn on heaters or air conditioners.
"These extreme events are not going away anytime soon. In fact, every region in the US experiences at least one such event nearly every year. We need to be prepared for their risks and ensure that people have reliable access to energy when they need it the most," said lead author Deepti Singh, PhD, a Washington State University climate scientist. "Potentially, we could generate more power from renewable resources precisely when we have widespread extreme events that result in increased energy demand."
The study showed increased solar energy potential in all six US regions during heat extremes, and in all but one region during cold ones, the area covered by the Texas-run grid. The researchers noted that atmospheric ridges or atmospheric high-pressure systems that cause intense heat, like the heat wave that hit the Pacific northwest in 2021, are often characterized by cloudless, blue skies. Clear skies allow more of the sun's radiation to reach the Earth, which could be converted into power by solar panels.
Conditions for wind power were more variable, but at least three regions had increased potential to capture this type of energy during these hot and cold events: the northeast during widespread cold, and both the Texas grid and a major midwestern grid during heat waves.
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For this analysis, Singh and her colleagues used long-term historical climate data along with power outage data from the US Energy Information Administration. The researchers specifically looked at large heat and cold waves as opposed to localized events because they can impose greater stress across the entire power grid.
Previous research has shown that climate change is changing the characteristics of temperature extremes. Adding to that evidence, this analysis showed that large heat waves are increasing in frequency, particularly across the western US and Texas grids, rising by 123 percent and 132 percent, respectively. In the west, they are also increasing in intensity, duration, and extent, meaning that they are hotter, last longer, and affect a larger area.
On the other hand, cold extremes are declining in frequency yet have remained mostly the same in terms of intensity, duration, and extent. A notable example is the costly February 2021 cold wave that blanketed nearly the entire country. The event caused an estimated $24 billion in damage, including multiple days of power outages in Texas, and resulted in 226 deaths, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report.
Whether there were outages or not, all regions experience increased energy demand during such temperature extremes. This demand strains their power grids, highlighting the need for alternate solutions.
Expanding solar and wind energy has the potential to improve the resilience of energy systems during extreme events to minimize service disruptions and associated adverse impacts, which are often felt the hardest among vulnerable, overburdened communities, said Singh. In addition to increasing climate resilience of the country's energy infrastructure, she also pointed out these renewable energy sources have multiple benefits.
"At the very least, solar and wind power do one other major thing: reduce air pollution that is associated with burning fossil fuels and is really bad for our health and the health of our ecosystems," she said. "Solar and wind are also conducive to having a more distributed energy system. They can be installed closer to communities where they're used, which can help advance energy equity and access."
This study identifies only the potential of solar and wind energy to help shore up power grids, the authors noted. More research and development would be needed to increase the resilience of energy grids to climate variability and extremes.
"There is complexity here because we have to think about vulnerabilities in transmission and distribution infrastructure as well as the environmental impact of expanding solar and wind systems, but hopefully these benefits can give us additional reasons to accelerate our transition towards renewable energy," said Singh. "There are also technological improvements that could help ensure that we can leverage renewable energy when it's needed. The capacity is there."
This study received support from the National Science Foundation and WSU.
-This press release was originally published on the Washington State University website and has been edited for style and clarity.
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