Why tweeting about your paper doesn’t boost citations: Implications for abortion drug access in the U.S. and implications for the scientific merit
The increased engagement of posting about a paper on X does not translate into more citations. A group of researchers, each with at least several thousand followers, took to social media to share their thoughts on more than 100 articles. In the short term, this increased the downloads and the scores on the Altmetric measure (a measure of how many people have looked at and are talking about it). But three years later, the citation rates for the tweeted papers weren’t significantly different to those of 440 control articles.
Some Supreme Court members expressed skepticism about arguments from a group of organizations that want to stop the use of abortion drugs in the United States. The US Food and Drug Administration has allowed the drug to be sent by post, despite having expanded its use limit to 10 weeks. Drug access would be restricted if the court invalidates those actions. Reproductive health researchers say that the case has no scientific merit, because mifepristone has proved to be safe and effective. A decision is expected in June.
Source: Daily briefing: Tweeting about your paper doesn’t boost citations
The Persian Plateau: Who Cares? What Are We Really Doing About the World? A Reassessment of Current Status in the Conservation of Natural Resources
After Homo sapiens expanded out of Africa 70,000 years ago, they seem to have paused for some 20,000 years before colonizing Europe and Asia. Now researchers think they know where. Looking at ancient and modern DNA, and the environment of the time, scientists have pinpointed the Persian Plateau — which in this definition encompasses Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and parts of Oman — as the perfect place. It will be hard to find local archaeological evidence to confirm this. “There’s very little work being done there because of geopolitics,” says archaeologist and study co-author Michael Petraglia.
During a press conference this week, US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg acknowledged that some modern bridges are “designed with different features to mitigate impacts and protect their piers.” He notes that there is uncertainty about their effectiveness. “Right now, I think there’s a lot of debate taking place among the engineering community about whether any of those features could have had any role in — in a situation like this.”
In 1997, ecologist Suzanne Simard made the cover of Nature, with the discovery of a subterranean network of roots and a link to the other side of the world. In her hit book Finding the Mother Tree, Simard shared ideas that were deeply felt by many. But some ecologists think our fascination with the ‘wood wide web’ has outstripped the scientific evidence that underpins it.
Of the ten speakers invited to Portugal for a panel last month, only four of them received visas, and one of them was a Ghanaian herpetologist. “My experience left me feeling demoralized, embarrassed and insulted,” she writes. Her visa fees, flights and costs were not deductible. Global efforts to prevent further loss of flora and fauna due to visa issues are also affected. Owusu-Gyamfi writes, “Our participation is not a matter of simply tick the inclusivity boxes but a deliberate attempt to ensure that the voices of people for whom some of the policies are formulated are heard and their opinions sought.”
Bridges aren’t ready for today’s huge ships: A study using sound waves around the Suez Canal, Panama, and Delaware
Sound waves can be used to suspend bubbles in the air. The use of conjugates could be reduced because they are needed to keep from popping in industrial processes. Researchers achieved longevity under microgravity for the first time using Ultrasonic waves, and kept soap stable for up to 15 minutes. The bubbles tended to rotate a few times per second, maybe because of the way the sound waves moved around them. (Nature Research Highlight | 3 min read, Nature paywall)
Azizinamini expects the National Transportation Safety Board to take a “very hard look” at the regulations in place to see if there are better ways to protect the nation’s bridges. Public safety is the top issue when it comes to being an engineer.
Some cities will likely reexamine the safeguards on their bridges after the Key Bridge collapse. A $93 million project to install dolphins around the Delaware Memorial Bridge’s piers was kicked off last year. The city took the initiative to reinforce the bridge, which could lead to other cities doing the same.
But larger ships also carry their own set of risks. In 2021, the 1,312-foot-long Ever Given ran aground in the Suez Canal and was trapped there for nearly one week. There have been changes to accommodate larger ships. In 2017, the Panama Canal expansion project was completed to “meet the growing demand of maritime trade using larger vessels.” In 2019, the Bayonne Bridge connecting New York and New Jersey was raised 64 feet so ships could fit underneath.
Over the past two decades, the average size of cargo ships has grown enormously as shipping companies contend with global demand for goods. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, more than 90 percent of traded goods travel by water, with maritime trade volumes expected to triple by 2050. The reason shipping companies have started preferring larger mega-ships is due to the fact that they can carry goods from retailers like Amazon, Target, and Walmart on a single trip.
The Failure of Concrete Barriers Designed for the Key Bridge to Slow or Deflect a Vessel in the Presence of a Direct Impact
Officials tell The New York Times that the Key Bridge had concrete barriers installed in the river that were “intended to deflect or slow an out-of-control vessel.” However, they’re situated far from the bridge’s support beams, which means they didn’t offer any real protection in case of a direct impact.
However, Schmucker notes that these new rules typically take a few years before they’re adopted. It could have been in the 2000s before a bridge was designed for it, Schmucker says. That is because of the lengthy process we use for major bridges. They are expensive… and they can be a challenge to integrate with the environment.”
The three-span continuous nature means one of the two spans lost its primary support when the main span was destroyed by the ship, according to a University of Utah professor. “When the middle span collapsed, it essentially pulled the third span with it because it was integrally designed to function together, not in isolation.”