A recent study in Communications Physics is among the first to systematically analyze whole city networks of spider-webbing roads and sidewalks. Examining 10 global cities, including Boston, Paris, and New York, researchers created an algorithm that could help planners choose … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recent, timely papers selected by Academy member labs
Author Archives: Amy McDermott
An algorithm suggests a sidewalk-space redesign to make cities safer for pedestrians
Categories: Computer sciences | Journal Club
Tagged city planning, COVID-19, cycling, pedestrian, sidewalk, social distance, urban planning
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Robot swarms communicate best when messages spread neighbor to neighbor
In the not-so-distant future, swarms of robots could help contain environmental disasters such as wildfires, by locating and dousing the most dangerous patches, even as flames move and spread. But how would these individual robots coordinate effectively to pull off … Continue reading
Categories: Animal Behavior | Computer sciences | Journal Club
Tagged ants, fish, kilobot, majority rule, network connection, node, robot, robotics, schooling, social network, wildfire
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Forests fight drought, even from far away
Forests are said to be the lungs of the Earth—they also provide a moist breath that travels tens to thousands of miles. Dense stands of trees release foggy clouds of condensation. The water molecules from those clouds ride wind currents … Continue reading
Categories: Environmental Sciences | Journal Club
Tagged aforestation, climate change, conservation, drought, IPCC, precipitationshed, rainforest, reforestation
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Well-connected members of tight-knit groups spread controversial ideas much more readily than “influencers”
The people who spread new and controversial ideas—changes in diet, exercise routine, political leaning, or even attitudes about vaccination—may not be the Kim Kardashians and Paris Hiltons. According to a recent study in Nature Communications, those with the most actual … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Social Sciences
Tagged complex contagion, COVID-19, network science, simple contagion, social network, sociology, vaccines
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Study suggests mask-wearing reduces the odds of self-infection with SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19 typically turns deadly when the virus infects the lungs. Hence, how exactly SARS-CoV-2 gets deep into the respiratory tract has been a pressing question since the pandemic started early last year. One pathway is well known: Most people catch … Continue reading
Categories: Immunology | Journal Club | Uncategorized
Tagged coronavirus, COVID-19, lung, SARS-Cov-2, self-infection, virus
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Degradable plastic polymer breaks down in sunlight and air
Plastic trash chokes shorelines and oceans, in part because plastic polymers do not easily decompose. But a new kind of environmentally degradable plastic could help change that: It breaks down in about a week in sunlight and air, according to … Continue reading
Categories: Chemistry | Journal Club
Tagged biodegradable, materials science, plastic, plastic waste
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Harmful social behaviors are the toughest to shift
Social norms changed dramatically during the pandemic. Six-foot distancing and mask wearing became de facto rules in some communities, while elsewhere, wearing a mask was seen as an invitation for harassment. A new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society … Continue reading
A popular household fern may be the first known eusocial plant
Staghorn ferns are popular houseplants, sporting long, antler-like fronds that poke out from a brown, tissue-papery base. They may also be the first known example of a plant that exhibits a type of social organization—that is, the first plant thought … Continue reading
Categories: Ecology | Evolution | Journal Club
Tagged behavioral ecology, eusociality, social behavior, social insects, staghorn fern, tropical dry forest
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Atlas identifies genome regions that regulate plant cell identity
Zoom in on the leaf of a corn plant, and you’ll find a patchwork of about 20 different cell types. A recent study, published in Cell, provides an atlas of critical genomic regions that control cell identity in six different … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Genetics | Journal Club
Tagged corn, genome, plant biology, plant cell, protein binding, transcription
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Several brain regions help us anticipate what’s going to happen next
If you watch a movie clip on repeat, many areas of your brain begin to anticipate upcoming events onscreen, according to a recent study published in eLife. The first time you see the clip, your brain forms a distinctive neural … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Neuroscience | Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Tagged anticipation, brain, cognitive neuroscience, cortex, expectation, fMRI, hierarchy, memory, prediction, psychology
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Small, sharp blades mark the change from Middle to Later Stone Age in coastal Kenya
The transition between the Middle and Later Stone Age is a controversial topic among archeologists. Recent findings offer a possible answer, suggesting that the shift occurred between 67,000 and 71,000 years ago, and has as its hallmark a sudden abundance … Continue reading
Categories: Anthropology | Journal Club
Tagged archaeology, human evolution, Levallois cores, paleolithic, Panga ya Saidi, Prismatic blade, stone age, stone tools
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