Finishing | Zhou Shuyi, Wangxiang
10 years after the publication of the first paper, nearly half of the scholars "quit the circle"
A longitudinal cohort study of nearly 400,000 scholars in 38 countries found that five years after the publication of their first paper, about one-third of scholars quit academia and no longer engage in scientific research, a proportion that rises to nearly 50% after 10 years. In addition, the study also found that women were more likely than men to "drop out", but the difference varies by discipline. The paper was recently published in Higher Education.
In the new study, researchers used data from the citation database Scopus to track the publication of nearly 400,000 scholars from the United States, Japan, Korea and Europe across 16 STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) disciplines. The participants were divided into two groups: one group published its first paper in 2000 and included 142776 people, of whom 52,115 were women; The other group published its first paper in 2010 and included 232843 people, of whom 97,145 were women.
The analysis shows that in the "2000" group, about one-third of the researchers did not publish a paper five years after the publication of the first paper, and this proportion rose to nearly 50% after 10 years and nearly two-thirds after 19 years. Women were 12.54%, 11.52% and 6.33% more likely to give up scientific research at 5, 10 and 19 years, respectively. By 2019, only 29.4% of female academics were still publishing papers, compared to 33.6% of male academics in the same period.
2000年初试啼声的140,000名科研人员,15年后仍在活跃的不足一半。| Nature News
Data from the "2010" group show that the gender gap has narrowed over the past 10 years. Nine years after the publication of the first paper, about 41% of women and 42% of male academics are still active in academia. In addition, there are differences in the situation across subject areas, with smaller gender gaps in "math-intensive" subjects such as physics, mathematics, engineering and computer science. In the field of physics, for example, the dropout rate for female academics after 10 years is about 48 percent, which is about the same as the 47 percent of men. The authors point out that women are underrepresented in these disciplines, that there is a clear gender selection effect, and that those who are able to successfully publish their papers tend to "survive" more. But in other areas, particularly in the life sciences, the gender gap is stark: 58 per cent of female academics in biology have dropped out in 10 years, compared to 49 per cent of men.
Related papers: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01284-0
Stop-and-go is a better weight loss than walking all the time
It's good to have perseverance, but you may not have to be consistent in your running speed when exercising. A study published Oct. 16 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B showed that stop-and-go while climbing stairs or walking burned 20 to 60 percent more calories than doing the same activity continuously, and exercised better.
图片来源：Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
The researchers recruited 10 volunteers and asked them to walk at different speeds (1.39 m/s) or climb stairs (0.20 m/s, 0.25 m/s, 0.36 m/s) for durations ranging from 10 seconds to 4 minutes. The researchers had the volunteers wear respirators and monitor their oxygen intake during the process to estimate caloric expenditure.
It was found that multiple stop-and-go sessions burned 20 to 60 percent more calories than continuous walking at the same distance. At the beginning of each walk, more calories need to be consumed to warm up and "kick in", and after the walk lasts for a while, the body enters a metabolic homeostasis in which the heart rate is stable, the production and consumption of energy in the body are balanced, and the exercise efficiency is higher. Francesco Luciano, author of the paper and a researcher at the University of Milan in Italy, said: "When we stop and go, we consume more calories and oxygen to cover the same distance. It's like a car, 'starting' consumes more fuel than 'cruising'. ”
This study further confirms the idea that short walks and stair climbs are good for your health, and in particular, may explain why fragmented short periods of exercise can be effective even if you are sedentary. The new research will also help develop rehabilitation programs for people with limited mobility who struggle to exercise for long periods of time, such as obese or stroke patients.
Related papers: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1220
Discover a large number of new RNA viruses with the help of AI
A study published in Cell on October 9 reported the discovery of more than 160,000 RNA viruses in 180 supergroups around the world, greatly expanding the diversity of RNA viruses around the world. This study applied artificial intelligence technology to virus identification, discovered the "dark matter" of viruses that could not be discovered by traditional research methods, and explored a new path of virology research.
In the early days, people isolated and cultured viruses and observed them under a microscope to confirm their existence. With the development of biomics, scientists have been able to use sequencing technology to compare the similarity of nucleic acid sequences of unknown viruses and known viruses to identify and identify new viruses. This approach relies heavily on existing knowledge of the virus. However, RNA viruses are highly differentiated, diverse, and easily mutated, especially in the face of "dark matter viruses" with little or very low homology, and this method of sequence homology alignment is prone to failure.
In this study, the core algorithm used by the team, LucaProt, is a deep learning Transformer model, which can independently form a set of judgment criteria about viruses after learning a large number of viral and non-viral genome sequences, so as to mine virus sequences in a large number of RNA sequencing datasets. In the test, LucaProt demonstrated extremely high accuracy and specificity, with a false positive rate of 0.014% and a false negative rate of 1.72%. It also shows an advantage in handling longer sequences compared to other virus mining tools. The LucaProt model has been open-sourced in the paper.
Use artificial intelligence to dig deep into the global viral circle and classify | Sun Yat-sen University
Using this algorithm, the research team mined 10,487 RNA sequencing data from samples from the global biological environment and found more than 510,000 viral genomes, representing more than 160,000 potential virus species and 180 RNA virus superpopulations (equivalent to the taxonomic level of phylum or class), expanding the number of RNA virus superpopulations by about 9 times. Twenty-three of these superpopulations could not be identified by sequence homology methods.
Professor Shi Mang, author of the paper and professor at Sun Yat-sen University School of Medicine, said: "The ability of artificial intelligence algorithmic models to mine viruses that we have previously ignored or simply did not know about is particularly important in disease prevention and control and the rapid identification of new pathogens. Especially during outbreaks, the speed and precision of AI can help scientists target potential pathogens more quickly. ”
Through further analysis, the team reported the longest RNA viral genome to date, with a length of 47,250 nucleotides, and discovered a genome structure beyond previously understood, demonstrating the flexibility of RNA virus genome evolution. At the same time, the team also identified a variety of viral functional proteins, especially those associated with bacteria, further indicating that there are more types of RNA phages to be explored.
Shi Mang said that the study shows the depth of virus diversity, but the breadth still needs to be supplemented by more samples. The diversity of viruses is far beyond human imagination, and what we see so far is still the "tip of the iceberg". We hope to continue to make full use of the advantages of cloud computing and artificial intelligence to solve important problems in the field of life sciences through cross-field scientific research cooperation in the future.
相关论文：https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)01085-7
Standing does not counteract the risk of sitting for long periods of time, but is harmful to the circulatory system
"Sitting for a long time hurts the body" has been supported by more and more research and has become a popular concept. "Standing office" was born and is regarded as an effective means to combat the dangers of sedentary life, and is favored by many people. But a new study suggests that the effort may be futile — instead of "sitting for long periods of time" improving cardiovascular health, it may lead to circulatory problems such as varicose veins and deep vein thrombosis in the long run. The paper was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology on October 16.
Using data from the United Kingdom Biobank, the researchers included 83,013 adults (mean age 61.3 years, 55.6% women) who assessed their sitting and standing time over seven days with a wearable accelerometer and followed them for an average of 6.9 years. The results showed that during the follow-up period, a total of 6829 cases of cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease, heart failure and stroke) and 2042 cases of orthostatic circulation disease (orthostatic hypotension, varicose veins, chronic venous insufficiency and venous ulcers) occurred. The study used the Cox regression model and the limiting cubic spline (RCS) to assess the hazard ratios (HR), and explained the competitive risk by the Fine-Gray test.
The analysis showed that standing duration was not associated with cardiovascular disease risk, but standing for more than 2 hours per day on average was associated with an increased risk of orthostatic circulation disease; On average, sedentary spending more than 10 hours per day is associated with an increased risk of orthostatic circulatory disease and cardiovascular disease; Staying at rest for long periods of time, including sitting and standing for long periods of time, is harmful to your health, mainly as a result of sitting for a long time.
"The point is that standing for long periods of time does not offset the harm of sitting for long periods of time, but rather harms circulatory health." "For people who are often sedentary, exercising regularly and moving from time to time may be a better way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease," said author Matthew Ahmadi. A previous study by Ahmadi showed that even those who were sedentary for more than 11 hours a day could significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by engaging in six minutes of vigorous exercise or 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise.
Related papers: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyae136
Playing soccer may help with prisoner rehabilitation
A paper published Oct. 14 in Nature Human Behavior found that playing soccer may help inmates improve their behavior in prison and reintegrate into society after being released from prison, and the findings shed new light on how to reduce recidivism rates.
A program known as the "Pairing Project" organizes football-based activities for inmates with the aim of improving their physical and mental health. The programme was initiated by the United Kingdom and is also being implemented in the United States, Italy, Australia and South Africa. The Twinning Project seeks to help prisoners acquire skills, such as relationship building and self-control, for reintegration into society after release. The program pairs prisons with local football clubs, including Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea in the United Kingdom. However, it is unclear whether the program will improve the behavior of prisoners while serving their sentences, reduce the crime rate after release, or increase employment opportunities for those who have completed their sentences.
To investigate the effectiveness of the twinning programme, Martha Newson and colleagues at the University of Oxford in United Kingdom analysed the behaviour of inmates in 45 United Kingdom prisons. They compared the performance of 676 participants with 1,874 non-participants and found that participation in the program generally resulted in a reduction in inmate misconduct and an overall improvement in their performance. The researchers also surveyed 1,797 employers to understand what factors influence their willingness to hire people with criminal records. The researchers found that people were more likely to hire people with previous convictions who had completed educational programs such as "twinning programs."
These findings suggest that football may provide an opportunity to foster social connections, help rehabilitate and support prisoners' reintegration into society. However, the authors note that the outcome of this project may depend on the attitudes of the inmates. (China Science News)
Related papers: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02006-3
UN report: 1.1 billion people worldwide are living in extreme poverty, of whom nearly 500 million are affected by war
According to the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2024, an annual report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on October 17, about 1.1 billion people live in extreme poverty, more than half of whom are minors under the age of 18. It is worth noting that 2023 is the year with the most conflicts in the world since World War II, and the poverty rate in war-affected countries is three times higher than in other countries.
SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere World Bank/Jamie Martin
"For the poor living in conflict-affected countries, struggling to meet basic needs is an even more brutal and desperate battle," said Yanchun Zhang, Chief Statistician at UNDP. ”
The report collects data on 6.3 billion people in 112 countries and territories, and analyses 1.1 billion people in "multidimensional" poverty, that is, in extreme poverty, based on a lack of adequate housing, sanitation, electricity, water supply, nutrition and school enrolment rates. Of these, 455 million people, or about 40 per cent, live in the shadow of conflict.
The report was also co-authored by the Centre for Poverty and Human Development Studies at the University of Oxford. Sabina · Alkier, the centre's director, said that the conflict has hampered poverty alleviation and "is a serious and inescapable challenge for the international community to work on poverty reduction and promote peace."
The report also shows that among the extremely poor, 584 million are under the age of 18, accounting for 27.9% of the world's minors; The proportion of adults living in extreme poverty is 13.5 per cent. Regionally, about 83.2 per cent of the extremely poor live in sub-Saharan South Africa and South Asia; About 83.7 per cent of the population lives in rural areas. Nationally, India has the largest number of people living in extreme poverty, with 234 million of its 1.4 billion people affected by multidimensional poverty. (United Nations, Xinhua News Agency)
Cats can pair human words with images
The German philosopher Cassirer pointed out in "On Man" that from the perspective of human culture, "symbolic thinking and symbolic behavior are the most representative characteristics of human life", and man can be defined as a symbolic animal. Saussure, the founder of modern linguistics, believed that language is a system of symbols. It is true that when we pronounce a name, the fleeting sound waves are meant to be combed into the web of the world of experience, and imagination and hope unfold. And a new study shows that cats also have this ability to associate language with things — they can pair images with human language without any cues or rewards. Cats may care more about what we're talking about than humans think.
In the new study, 31 adult cats were tested with words designed for human infants: The researchers showed the cats two cartoon animations in a loop, while repeatedly playing the audio of meaningless imaginary words — one accompanied by "keraru" and the other with "parumo" until they got bored and looked away. After a short rest, the cat comes back to the computer screen and watches the animation—only this time some of the animation is accompanied by the opposite word audio. Cats are confused when they hear the word "wrong": they spend an average of 33% more time staring at the screen, and some even show signs of dilated pupils. This is thought to be a sign that they have linked words and images.
实验示意图 | Scientific Reports
Surprisingly, most cats learned this association with just 2 rounds of viewing (4 repetitions of each word and 9 seconds of animation), while 14-month-old human babies needed 4 rounds (7 times of word replay and 15 seconds of animation) to learn. However, experts say the results do not necessarily mean that human babies learn words as fast as cats. There are differences in testing methods, for example, cats hear trisyllabic words spoken by their owners in exaggerated tones, while babies hear monosyllabic words spoken by unfamiliar voices in various intonations.
Although the new findings cannot be directly compared with those of other animals, cats are indeed able to associate words heard from humans with objects around them — even without any reward-based training, much like human babies learn language, the researchers said. The paper was published in Scientific Reports on October 4.
Related papers: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-74006-2
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