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Funding from ARPA-Energy has led to the creation of companies such as solar manufacturing firm 1366 Technologies (now CubicPV). Here, a technician shows off a solar cell at a demonstration plant in 2013.Credit: Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe/Getty
The rise of ‘ARPA-everything’
The United States’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and the United Kingdom’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) are among the global science agencies modelled on the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), whose work a generation ago laid the foundation for the modern Internet. Scientists who have studied the DARPA model say it works if applied properly to the right ‘ARPA-able’ problems. But replicating DARPA’s recipe isn’t easy: programme managers must be given exceptional independence and the freedom to fail.
Australia lab-animal supplier to close
Australia’s biggest supplier of mice and rats for research has announced that it plans to shut down operations over the next 18 months — a decision that scientists say could have a devastating impact on biomedical research in the country. The imminent closure of the Animal Resources Centre “obviously is going to leave a huge gap in the supply of animals to many universities and medical-research institutes”, says Malcolm France, former president of the Australian and New Zealand Laboratory Animal Association.
Richard Branson nips out to space
British billionaire Richard Branson completed a round trip to the edge of space in his own spaceplane — just for the thrill of it. SpaceShipTwo Unity launched from a spaceport in New Mexico on Sunday, reaching around 80 kilometres altitude and giving its passengers a few minutes of weightlessness before safely returning to Earth. The flight earned Branson, his crew of pilots and Virgin Galactic execs the title ‘astronaut’. American billionaire Jeff Bezos is expected to fly to space in his company’s capsule later this month.
The Washington Post | 7 min read (intermittent paywall)
English isn’t everything
“My experience of teaching English to Russian academics has shown me how deeply many believe that a language barrier is the main reason their papers do not get published,” writes Zhanna Anikina. Language does matter, but it’s not everything. “For editors and reviewers, good science is almost always more important than language ability.” She shares her advice for fine-tuning your language learning so it doesn’t take too much time away from your research.
Why I critiqued my past papers on Twitter
Brain scientist and fact-checking podcast host Nicholas Holmes took to Twitter to revisit each of his publications with a critical eye. “I found this reflection enlightening — it highlighted my mistakes and removed a weight of self-doubt,” writes Holmes. “I now worry less that I’ve missed something big, or got something very wrong.” He offers his suggestions for how to become your own harshest critic and calls on journals, funders and employers to reward scientists for owning up to fallibility.
Image of the week
Credit: Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty
Rowers near the Caddebostan shore of Turkey’s Marmara Sea cut through a layer of marine mucilage, a green-grey sludge that develops on the water’s surface owing to the proliferation of microorganisms. The substance, informally dubbed sea snot, was first documented in Turkish waters in 2007. Researchers warn that the mucilage is harmful to sea life and is likely to occur more often in future because of climate change.
See more of the month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team. (Nature | Leisurely scroll)
