Science

The research, published in the journal Molecular Cell, explores members of a family of proteins called serpins, which are implicated in a number of diseases. The research is the first to investigate how the location and composition of carbohydrates attached to the serpins ensure that they fold correctly. Serious diseases—ranging from emphysema and cystic fibrosis to Alzheimer’s disease—can result when the cellular oversight of protein folding goes awry. Identifying the glyco-code responsible for high-fidelity folding and quality control could be a promising way for drug therapies to target many diseases.

Insulin is a hormone that decreases blood glucose levels. The only cells that produce insulin are pancreatic beta cells (β-cells), and a decrease in these cells is a major cause of diabetes. Although therapies aimed at increasing pancreatic β-cells are eagerly awaited, a strategy that can increase β-cells has, thus far, not been developed.

In a promising development, a research group has revealed that stimulating autonomic vagal nerves connected to the pancreas can improve the function and also increase the number of pancreatic β-cells in mice.

For science-based decision-making on the climate emergency: 10 new insights in climate science

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Open science round-up: November 2023

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For decades, government scientists have toiled away trying to make nuclear fusion work. Will commercial companies sprint to the finish?

Podcast with Qiufan Chen: Science Fiction and the Future of Science: Values and Senses in Artificial Intelligence

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Spain’s much-maligned system for evaluating scientists, in which the sole criterion for career advancement is the publication of papers, is set to be overhauled under new proposals from the country’s National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency (ANECA).

The reforms, announced earlier this month, would for the first time see researchers at Spain’s public universities evaluated on a range of outputs besides papers, and would also encourage the distribution of findings via open-access platforms. Many scientists are welcoming the move, saying it will help academia move on from a system that has been described as establishing a “dictatorship of papers.”

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Under the new system, ANECA wants assessments to consider a broader range of research outputs, including “publications, patents, reports, studies, technical works, artistic works, exhibitions, archaeological excavations, [and the] creation of bibliographic records.” Assessors will no longer consider only the impact factor of the journals in which scientists publish, but also details such as whether the research reaches nonacademic audiences through news reports or government documents. Papers will also score more highly when coproduced with local communities or other nonacademic authors. And in an attempt to reduce the level of public funds being spent on publication costs, assessors will take into account papers published on noncommercial, open-access publishing platforms that don’t charge author fees, such as Open Research Europe.

Scientists have detected the most powerful cosmic ray seen in more than three decades. But the exact origin of this turbocharged particle from outer space remains a mystery, with some suggesting that it could have been generated by unknown physics.

The puzzling cosmic ray had an estimated energy of 240 exa-electronvolts (EeV; 10^18^ electronvolts)

COP28: The International Science Council’s engagement in climate science

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Call for nominations to renew the Scientific Committee of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) Programme

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Charting the Future of Science: Reforming scientific publishing for a new era of open knowledge

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Charting the Future of Science: Reforming scientific publishing for a new era of open knowledge

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Podcast with Fernanda Trías: Science Fiction and the Future of Science: Lessons from an Eco-Dystopia

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Researcher Assessment: ISC Members invited to respond to global survey

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Scientific communication: Join the Ethnografilm festival for a filmmaking experience in Paris

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