Super-Misconduct, Cloud Seeding, & What's Up With ASMR (Patreon)

A Super-Misconductor?

The supposed superconductor. Image: University of Rochester.

Nature – the world’s most read, respected, and prestigious science journal – has retracted yet another paper about the supposed discovery of a high-temperature superconductor. This paper in question had been published earlier this year. It reported the discovery of a material that was superconducting at room temperature, albeit at 10,000 times atmospheric pressure.

To add insult to injury, the newly retracted paper comes from the same research group of Ranga Diaz from which Nature already retracted a paper last year. Ranga Diaz has recently had another paper retracted by another journal (PRL) and has also been accused of having plagiarised parts of his PhD thesis.

In contrast to the previous retractions of Diaz’s work, the new retraction was requested not by other research groups, but by some of Diaz’s co-authors. Diaz denies wrongdoing and claims that he has recently been able to replicate the results that were in the newly retracted paper. The retraction notice is here, and a press release about it here.

India Moves Forward With Cloud Seeding

Smog in New Delhi. Image: Sumitmpsd, WikiCommons, CC-BY-SA 4.0

A team of scientists at the Indian University of Technology at Kanpur plans to seed clouds above the city of New Delhi to trigger rain. The team hopes to clear the dangerous smog that has plagued India’s capital city for the past week, and which has forced officials to shut down schools, stop construction, and impose restrictions on vehicle use.

Cloud seeding does not create clouds, it merely makes them rain earlier than they would normally do. The scientists expect enough cloud cover on November 20 to commence the project, in which clouds will be injected with seed salts such as silver iodide, potassium iodide, or sodium chloride via aircraft dispersion.

This is the first time cloud seeding will be attempted to remove pollution. If it works, we will likely see much more of it in the future. It’s a hugely problematic solution that I am afraid will create international tensions over water supply.

Watch a news report and video here, a primer on cloud seeding here, and a full paper about recent Indian cloud seeding experiments here.

What’s the Deal with ASMR Tingles?

Soft sounds tickle some brains, but why?

ASMR, the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, has been trending on YouTube and TikTok for years. These videos usually feature close-up, soft and whispery sounds that suggest intimacy. People tend to either love or hate those sounds – I am firmly in the good-grief-no-camp but many people use ASMR to unwind and fall asleep. Just why that works, no one really knows. In a recent meta-analysis of peer-reviewed papers, researchers found that ASMR videos bring both health and mood benefits, such as lower heart rates and blood pressure. Press release here. Paper here.