A recent Nature report found that over the last decade, the proportion of published articles in a year that have been retracted has trebled. The report was provided with the data from three technology firms, as well as countries and journals associated with retracted articles. Over the years, the number of retracted articles by the firms is more than the Retraction Watch data set they build on.
Learn more →Researchers at US’ Washington University have used cancer-derived mitochondria to “reverse cancer-related cell death.” The mitochondria in cancerous tumors were less able to divide and more likely to commit cell’suicide’, the team showed in cellular models. In mice with cancer, cancerous TILs that had imbibed alien mitochondria showed signs of T cell exhaustion, the loss of cancer-killing potential.
Learn more →Dennis Torswats, the man who swatted a child’s phone in US’ Seattle last year, said that children should be taught what they don’t know. In his latest interview with Wired, Torswats said, “It’s taking money that would ordinarily be used for welfare checks to Jews and bankers…and it’s being spent on searching schools.” He added that he made the hoax calls partly for fame.
Learn more →US-based NPR is asking students to record a podcast for a story on NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’ or ‘All Things Considered’, between three and eight minutes in length. The students will be interviewed by the NPR team. The entries should be original work by students. “Pre-recorded music cannot be used,” NPR said, adding that students can use live performances of public domain songs.
Learn more →Australia has fallen to 12th position in the 2019-2024 Nature Index ranking of the world’s top 100 research institutions. This comes after the government announced that it would no longer fund all Australian universities and colleges under a ‘University Accord’ scheme. The government also cut funding for public and private research by a total of AU$900 million between 2016-2019.
Learn more →US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education. She served as the head of US Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term in office and will be taking over as Secretary of Education. McMahon said she will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every state in America and empower parents to make the best education decisions for their families.
Learn more →The University of Hull has proposed to stop teaching chemistry from the academic year 25th to 26th of the following century. In July, the UK’s Office for Students (OS) tendered a contract for financial-management consultancy firms to take over universities that become insolvent. OS said that universities should close departments that aren’t popular with students.
Learn more →The FBI has said that it received several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time. The threats contained photos of guns. In a post on X, the FBI said that it received “several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time”.
Learn more →A 14-year-old boy opened fire at a high school in US’ Georgia on Wednesday, killing two teachers and two students, according to the authorities. “We’re not releasing any information as far as injuries, but we’ve multiple injuries,” Barrow County sheriff’s office said. The boy was taken into custody and will be charged with murder, officials said.
Learn more →A high school student in Georgia has been charged with murdering another student and injuring two others at the school. The 14-year-old was identified as the suspected shooter by the GBI. The alleged shooter was later found dead inside the school. Two teachers and a golf coach were also injured in the incident which took place on Wednesday.
Learn more →
