Sources for the Science Summary for April 2023
All items are included in the Wikipedia article 2023 in science
* CFCs
* Misinformation
* Innovations (see WP article)
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* Open source LLMs (see WP article)
* Therapeutic candidates (see WP article)
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Items I added to that list (and usually Wikipedia in general) are marked with a star (*) above (unmarked items were added by other editors).
Studies not featured in the Wikipedia list are not considered for inclusion in the summary.
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Donations enabled
I have been doing these summaries for over three years now, for every month, and updated countless Wikipedia articles for most of the items (recently created articles: List of open letters by academics and Cyber Resilience Act, an upcoming EU cybersecurity regulation). Entirely without any financial returns as a volunteer.
Finding and selecting the studies and editing Wikipedia take up most of the time, not making the final graphics based on that.
There are no incentives for me to do all of this, other than that I find it important and mostly fun to do. I don't know if I'll keep doing it, not because I find it less important to keep Wikipedia up-to-date and scientific information accessible and integrated into the articles people look for it, but because I also have some other projects in the works for which I need some time too. Moreover, most of my Wikipedia writing (including article creations) is only scheduled as I also come across many other useful studies doing the research for the "Year in science" articles but only have time for the featured items.
However, so far there is nobody that would largely replace me (PM me if interested or just go ahead). For example, it's rare to see other Wikipedians who have integrated any of the studies before I do so, or who have uploaded any of the images from the studies (we need more people who upload science-related images), and there currently are only around two other main authors of the "Year in science" articles. That's why I intend to keep doing this for now (indefinitely).
I don't think anybody will send anything, but I'd like to at least enable donations.
So if you'd like to support my Wikipedia-editing (overall) and the brief monthly overviews you can do so from from now on – any amount would be useful and greatly appreciated. Later, there could be ways donations can be claimed; for now you could get named here and elsewhere as a thank you if you also send me a mail.
There are three ways you can do so:
Sending Monero to 873kYxbnxieSQqhdC1X9wyFdyWNNn5biN2LhrPAPT48aRD6J2VnqqMJRm9qkRntLjVe2Jk8gAC5jH4LLZywcop8tHiBFmFL
Sending Ethereum to 0xd07ede31a7f3a79365f0d9747ddb9676c2b9ac25
Donating with credit/debit card via Sendwyre/Eth
This works similar to how you can donate to the largest library, the shadow library Anna's Archive (featured in the Summary for Nov 2022)
Copy my Ethereum wallet address from above
Click on "buy crypto instantly"
Paste my wallet address & follow the instructions (takes ~5 min)
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17 items from the Wikipedia list were not included in the summary.
You can look them up via the Wikipedia article (their texts as copied from there):
Most/all would have been included if there was more space (9):
* A study affirms that and shows why a moderate decrease in body temperature extends longevity.
The NOAA reports that greenhouse gases continued to increase rapidly in 2022, and that CO2 levels in the atmosphere are now the highest in 4.3 million years.
* A study shows neurons take up glucose (from food) and metabolize it by glycolysis. There was only limited research on how neurons get their energy in the context of links between glucose metabolism and cognition (brain health and performance).
* A global trend towards more rapid-onset "flash droughts" hindering forecasting is reported.
A new technique for improving the resolution of post-mortem MRI brain scans "by 64 million times" is reported by researchers, who capture the sharpest ever images of an entire mouse brain
* Researchers show parrots can and enjoy to use a videocalling system.
* A university reports on a demonstration of multisensory motion cue integration by a neuromorphic nerve for robots.
* An international study indicates that the contemporary domestic policy-proposal of a general speed limit on highways in Germany, the only large country in the world without such, for a quick GHG emissions reduction would also be economically beneficial. It points to a climate change mitigation law (KSG) that mandated emission reductions in this sector that was changed in 2023 so as to remove these obligations.
The first ever global assessment of glacier mass loss from satellite radar altimetry is published. It shows that glaciers lost 2,720 gigatonnes of ice, about 2% of their volume, between 2010 and 2020.
Most/all are unlikely to be included as category-2 items (8):
A National Hurricane Center tropical cyclone report (TCR) on Hurricane Ian officially upgrades the hurricane from a Category 4 to a Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson scale and finds it caused $112.9 billion worth of damage.
The direct imaging of HIP 99770 b, a new exoplanet found 133 light years away, is reported by astronomers.
Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) to search for life in the Jovian system, with an expected arrival date of 2031.
Astronomers conclude that, "... planets in the habitable zones of stars with low metallicity are the best targets to search for complex life on land."
A bolide is observed over Ukraine and Belarus for about five seconds.
Astronomers release close-up global images, for the first time, of the Martian moon Deimos that were taken by the Mars Hope orbiter.
Astronomers present an image, for the first time viewed together, of the shadow of the black hole in the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, and its related high-energy jet.
ChatGPT is shown to outperform human doctors in responding to online medical questions when measured on quality and empathy by "a team of licensed health care professionals", albeit the chatbot may have previously been trained on these reddit Q&A threads.
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Earlier summaries can be found here and their sources here.
There also are videos & 2 podcasts for some of the earlier summaries.