presidente juego de cienciadesarrollador Leyenda Negra: Wukongsugirió que el popular juego de rol de acción aún no ha llegado a las consolas Xbox de generación actual debido a problemas de optimización en la Xbox Series S, menos potente. La actualización del CEO de Game Science contradice afirmaciones anteriores de que el desarrollador está firmando un acuerdo de exclusividad de consola con Sony. Leyenda Negra: Wukong fue lanzado en computadora y PS5 En agosto del año pasado, pero la fecha de lanzamiento de serie xbox S/X aún no ha sido anunciado.
El CEO de Game Science lamenta los problemas de optimización de Xbox Series S
El cofundador y director ejecutivo de Game Science, Feng Ji, lamentó que Black Myth: Wukong no esté disponible en el xbox plataforma en un correo en la plataforma de redes sociales china Weibo el miércoles. Citó una publicación sobre el juego que ganó tres premios en los Steam Awards 2024, incluido el de Juego del año, del usuario oficial de Black Myth Weibo, y dijo que lo único que faltaba era una versión para Xbox del juego.
“Aunque no hay grandes sorpresas, todavía me siento un poco emocionado después de recibirlas todas”, dijo Feng Ji en Black Myth: la victoria de Wukong en los Steam Awards 2024. Añadió: “…pero lo único que falta es la capa de XBOX… parece un poco incorrecto, pero 10 GB de memoria compartida es realmente imposible de conseguir sin varios años de experiencia en optimización”.
El responsable de Game Science parece señalarlo Xbox Serie S 10 GB de memoria compartida entre sistema y juegos. Los 10GB de RAM, frente a los 16GB de la Serie
Limitaciones de Xbox Serie S
Las limitaciones técnicas de la Serie S retrasaron su lanzamiento Puerta de Baldur 3 En las consolas Xbox de generación actual, la consola de gama baja ha tenido problemas con el modo cooperativo de pantalla dividida. En definitiva, un juego de rol recibo en consolas Xbox sin la función cooperativa de pantalla dividida en la Serie S, cuatro meses después de su lanzamiento en PC y tres meses después del lanzamiento de PS5.
Microsoft, como política, impone la paridad en las funciones de juego entre cada una de sus consolas de generación actual y la compañía tiene la intención de lanzar juegos en ambas series Xbox.
Razones contradictorias detrás del retraso
Sin embargo, los comentarios de Feng Ji sobre las limitaciones de la Serie S complican aún más la saga detrás del retraso en el lanzamiento de Black Myth: Wukong en Xbox. Si bien cita problemas de optimización como motivo del retraso, A un informe En agosto de 2024, se afirmó que Game Science había firmado un acuerdo exclusivo con sony Mantener el juego en PS5 por tiempo indefinido. Sin embargo, ni Sony ni el desarrollador han confirmado tal acuerdo.
Sin embargo, la afirmación sobre un posible acuerdo de exclusividad contradice la declaración oficial emitida por la propia Game Science. en Instrucciones En el sitio web del juego, el estudio chino dijo que necesita más tiempo para mejorar el título de Xbox Series S/X.
“Los usuarios de PC y PS5 podrán disfrutar del juego completo a partir del 20 de agosto de 2024. “Actualmente estamos mejorando el retraso de la serie Xbox. Nuestro objetivo es reducir la espera para los usuarios de Xbox. Anunciaremos la fecha de lanzamiento una vez que cumpla con nuestros estándares de calidad.
Sin embargo, la situación se complica porque… microsoft Una declaración de junio de 2024 señaló posibles acuerdos entre desarrolladores y otros propietarios de plataformas como Sony.
“Estamos emocionados de lanzar Black Myth Wukong en Xbox Series el dijo En ese tiempo. “No podemos comentar sobre los acuerdos que nuestros socios tienen con otros propietarios de plataformas, pero seguimos enfocados en hacer de Xbox la mejor plataforma para los jugadores, y los grandes juegos son el centro de eso”.
Las declaraciones contradictorias y la falta de claridad y transparencia de todos los involucrados, sin una fecha de lanzamiento confirmada para Xbox Series S/X para Black Myth: Wukong, probablemente frustrarán a los jugadores de Xbox.
Black Myth: Wukong se lanzó para PC y PS5 el 20 de agosto de 2024. En los Steam Awards 2024, anunciados el 31 de diciembre, el juego de rol de acción ganó en tres categorías, incluido Juego del año, Juego más aclamado e Historia excepcional. Premio de juego rico.
Los enlaces de afiliados pueden generarse automáticamente; consulte nuestro sitio web Declaración de ética Para más detalles.
Ciencia popular La revista nombró el lunes los auriculares Vision Pro de Apple como una de sus innovaciones del año entre los nuevos dispositivos de 2024. A pesar de su importante precio y los desafíos iniciales del mercado, el enfoque revolucionario del dispositivo hacia la realidad aumentada lo distingue de sus competidores.
“El dispositivo tiene sus propios obstáculos que superar, pero después de unos minutos de usarlo, quedó claro que era algo diferente, importante y, francamente, bastante sorprendente”, escribió la revista.
Ciencia popular Vision Pro nombra la innovación del año
el La publicación de ciencia y tecnología elogió el Vision Pro Capacidades visuales excepcionales, con una impresionante pantalla de 23 millones de píxeles que ofrece una resolución de más de 4K para cada ojo. La perfecta integración de los elementos AR con el mundo real impresionó particularmente a los críticos, quienes notaron cómo la interfaz del dispositivo se convierte en una parte intuitiva del entorno del usuario.
“Es realmente molesto quitarse los auriculares y ver el mundo real sin la interfaz de usuario flotante”. Ciencia popular Dijo. Como resalta la publicación Visión Pro Un sistema de interacción sin controladores, que elimina las barreras tradicionales entre los usuarios y el espacio aumentado.
Un enfoque integral de la computación espacial
Los logros tecnológicos de Vision Pro se extienden más allá de sus especificaciones de hardware. El dispositivo representa un elemento estratégico en el ecosistema más amplio de Apple y es particularmente evidente en el último trabajo de la compañía. Diseños para cámaras de iPhone.. Estas cámaras cuentan con disposiciones de disparo específicas y optimizadas. Contenido de vídeo espacial Dedicado al consumo de Vision Pro, lo que demuestra el enfoque integral de Apple para Computación espacial.
Si bien se reconocen áreas de mejora, como la función de vista ocular de la pantalla externa, Ciencia popular Destacó el potencial transformador del dispositivo.
“Aunque ha habido auriculares AR antes, este recibió nuestro premio por la amplitud de las capacidades que muestra”, señala la publicación. Sugirió que una versión menos costosa de esta tecnología podría revolucionar el mercado.
Y otros homenajeados
Vision Pro lideró una lista diversa de innovaciones que incluían productos avanzados en múltiples sectores. Otros homenajeados notables incluyen:
En el departamento de cuidado personal, el rastreador de actividad Oura Ring 4 ganó debido a su forma más delgada y ergonómica y sus características mejoradas. pero lo haré Apple fabrica uno alguna vez?
La Sony A9 III es conocida por su capacidad para eliminar los problemas de distorsión de la imagen en las cámaras sin espejo.
Snapdragon de Qualcomm
Algunos equipos promocionados se quedan cortos
En un contraste interesante, algunas de las innovaciones más esperadas de 2024, incluida El conejo R1 impulsado por IA y Pin Amnistía Internacional HumanidadNo se pudo cumplir Ciencia popularEsperanzas de heredar. La selección de Vision Pro por parte de la publicación sobre estos y otros contendientes subraya su notable impacto.
reconocimiento de Ciencia popular Se suma a la creciente lista de premios de Vision Pro, consolidando su posición como un desarrollo fundamental en la informática espacial. A pesar de los desafíos relacionados con el precio y la adopción por parte de los desarrolladores, la decisión de publicación destaca el potencial de los auriculares para remodelar la forma en que interactuamos con el contenido digital en nuestro mundo físico.
El premio subraya particularmente cómo el Vision Pro se destaca de los cascos de realidad aumentada anteriores, lo que sugiere que la aplicación de Apple podría marcar el comienzo de una nueva era en la informática (especialmente con precios asequibles).
NASA Uno de los instrumentos científicos de la Voyager 2 ha sido apagado para preservar la energía restante durante su viaje a través del espacio interestelar. Lanzada el 20 de agosto de 1977, la nave espacial se encuentra actualmente a 12,8 mil millones de millas de la Tierra y explora más allá del sistema solar. Desde que abandonó la heliosfera el 5 de noviembre de 2018, viajero 2 Estudió el entorno interestelar utilizando cuatro instrumentos científicos activos. Sin embargo, a medida que el suministro de energía de la sonda disminuyó gradualmente, la NASA se vio obligada a tomar la difícil decisión de desactivar otro instrumento.
Gestionar la disminución del suministro de energía
Voyager 2 con su contraparte viajero 1funciona con plutonio en descomposición, lo que reduce la energía disponible en unos 4 vatios cada año. Para prolongar su vida operativa, la NASA ha ido desmantelando gradualmente sistemas no esenciales y algunos instrumentos. Hasta ahora, se han desactivado seis de los diez instrumentos originales de la nave espacial. El 26 de septiembre de 2024 se tomó la decisión de desmantelar el Plasma Science Instrument, que había resultado dañado. Yo jugué Un papel fundamental a la hora de confirmar la salida de la sonda de la atmósfera solar mediante el seguimiento del descenso de partículas solares.
Datos clave del Plasma Science Instrument
El instrumento científico de plasma incluye cuatro “tazas” para medir partículas cargadas, tres de las cuales están dirigidas hacia el sol y para monitorear el viento solar mientras está dentro de la heliosfera. Después de que la nave espacial pasó la heliosfera, estas copas dejaron de recopilar datos, dejando solo una copa en funcionamiento. Esta copa restante proporcionó datos útiles a intervalos a medida que la Voyager 2 realizaba su rotación periódica de 360 grados.
El futuro de la Voyager 2
El Laboratorio de Propulsión a Chorro de la NASA confirmó que el dispositivo de plasma se apagó sin complicaciones y la nave espacial continúa funcionando con normalidad. Mientras los instrumentos restantes recopilan datos valiosos, los ingenieros continuarán monitoreando las reservas de energía de la sonda para determinar cuándo serán necesarios más apagados, lo que permitirá que la misión continúe el mayor tiempo posible.
A member of the rebel Free Syrian Army walks past a burnt-out Syrian army tank in northern Aleppo province in 2012.Credit: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty
Working scientist profiles
This article is part of an occasional Nature series in which we profile scientists with unusual career histories or outside interests.
Aref Kyyaly has a guiding principle: don’t give up. That might sound clichéd or trite, but in his journey to find a stable job and a safe place to live, he and his wife have been stretched and tested to the extremes. He’s been separated from his family, seen his workplace blown up, sustained physical injuries and been forced into an asylum-seeker system that he was desperate to avoid.
Kyyaly was born in 1978 in Aleppo — a city in Syria then famed for its bazaars and historic citadel, rather than for being war-torn. He studied applied chemistry at the University of Aleppo, and met his wife, Razan, in 2006 before they went to Egypt, where he pursued a PhD in biochemistry at Cairo University.
When they returned to Syria in 2009, he soon found work as a researcher in a factory that was one of the country’s biggest producers of yeast, while also lecturing part-time at his alma mater. Things were looking good. But the Syrian revolution broke out in 2011, and the ensuing civil war saw armed groups with differing world views — ranging from the Free Syrian Army to ISIS — take over large swathes of the country. The Syrian regime’s army had a base close to the factory, and militias opposed to it began to use the factory grounds to launch rockets at the base, which in turn made the factory a target.
“We were commuting during the clashes. If we stopped [operating the factory] there’d have been no bread, so we worked seven or eight months under these conditions and it was really hard, because you’d see people dying in the streets and you couldn’t do anything,” he remembers. “We kept doing that until the factory was completely bombed by airplanes.”
Then came money problems. “I had no real work; I was only part-time at the university and the value of the currency dropped at the same time.” His monthly salary, which had been worth around US$400, went down to the equivalent of around $50. “I couldn’t afford to buy anything,” he says. Despite the financial stresses, Kyyaly was still trying to remain in Syria. “I’m my parents’ only son,” he explains. But when he was seriously hurt in an explosion, he finally resolved to get himself, his wife and their two children out. He and his wife had a third child once they left Syria.
He started to send e-mails to everyone he knew who worked at universities abroad. He also contacted many people he didn’t know. At one point he got an offer to work in Libya, but it fell through before he could travel. “In retrospect, I’m lucky that happened,” he says, because Libya was descending into its second civil war in 2014.
Of the 50 or so e-mails that Kyyaly sent, one landed in the inbox of the Council for At-Risk Academics (Cara), an organization based in the United Kingdom that tries to help scholars around the world who are forced to flee owing to a high risk of imprisonment, injury or death. Cara tries to find positions for researchers such as Kyyaly in safe countries, offering both practical and financial support to make that happen. The majority of people he contacted didn’t reply, so he was surprised when Cara called him in 2014. He moved to the United Kingdom later that year. “It was like a door was opened for me.”
Zeid Al Bayaty, Cara’s deputy director, was behind the call. At the time, Al Bayaty was also in touch with a number of other Syrian scholars. “When Syrian applicants heard about Cara, they were convinced that it was too good to be true and some of them were quite suspicious,” he says. But once the first cohort of Syrians had arrived to join Cara’s fellowship programme, “they told colleagues back in Syria and then the number of applications significantly increased. Aref was in that first early wave,” he says.
At the peak of the war in Syria, Cara was receiving about 20 applications per week, says Al Bayaty. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Al Bayaty and his colleagues expected a similar influx of calls from researchers looking to leave. But it didn’t quite pan out in the same way. “There were a number of situations where we placed Ukrainians at [UK] universities, but they then chose not to come because they had other opportunities on the continent and they chose to go to Germany instead,” he says. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that the visas were more straightforward for Ukrainians and so they had options. We just wish it was like that for more countries in conflict.”
Most applications today are coming from scientists in the Palestinian territories and Sudan, says Al Bayaty.
Within six months of that first call with Al Bayaty, Kyyaly was on a one-way flight to the United Kingdom. Cara had helped him to secure a visa and find a job as a research associate in the International Centre for Brewing Science at the University of Nottingham. But it was another eight months before the paperwork for his wife and children could be sorted out. Leaving them behind was incredibly tough, he says. “You can imagine what it was like when you listen to the news,” he says. “It was very, very horrible at times.”
After spending a year in Nottingham, he moved to the University of Southampton’s faculty of medicine, where he spent a couple of years as a research fellow before helping to set up a laboratory for the Isle of Wight Birth Cohort, a longitudinal study that investigates allergies. “I changed field again to asthma and allergy,” he says.
Aref Kyyaly appreciates the inclusivity of UK society.Credit: Sami Sultan
None of this chopping and changing of jobs and locations was for CV-building purposes. Kyyaly says he hasn’t really had the luxury of thinking about his career trajectory. If there was a gap in his employment, he would run the risk of having his visa revoked, in which case he’d need to either return to Syria or apply for asylum. So, he was often forced to jump from one post to another when academic funding ran out or looked unstable.
Eventually, things caught up with him: his Syrian passport was about to expire and, to keep his UK work visa, he would have had to return to Syria to renew his passport. This forced Kyyaly’s hand, and he applied for asylum in the United Kingdom.
It took two-and-a-half years for the UK government to reach a decision to allow him to stay as an asylum seeker, he says. That’s fairly typical of the UK asylum system; a 2021 report from the Refugee Council, a UK charity, found that the number of people waiting more than a year for an initial decision on their asylum claim rose from 3,588 in 2010 to 33,016 in 2020.
Kyyaly is now a lecturer in biomedical science at Solent University in Southampton, UK. He spends most of his time teaching, but he is also investigating molecular biomarkers for complicated and difficult-to-diagnose diseases and conditions, such as cancers and allergies.
It’s a job he enjoys and most importantly, he says, it’s a permanent role. But when he looks back at his career history, he sees how his immigration status and the geopolitics of the Middle East severely limited his options. If he had been able to secure a permanent job when he arrived in the United Kingdom, he thinks his current salary would have reached at least £70,000 (US$87,000). “I’m on half of that now,” he says. “I have friends who started four or five years after me and now they’re way ahead of me.”
But it’s about more than money. “If you are doing research in one topic for eight years, then you’re an expert,” he says. “But if you’re changing every two years, yes, you have a broader range of skills and things, but if you’re applying for funding or for jobs, then you’re not that attractive.”
But this is where Kyyaly’s “guiding principle” comes into play.
“If you’re passionate about research, about science, I think my advice is to never give up. I was about to give up in 2013 before I reached out to Cara because everything felt closed to me,” he says. Now he has a job he loves; his children are enjoying school in the United Kingdom; and he and his wife feel accepted into British society. It’s been years since he last saw his parents but he’s hoping in the near future to be able to meet them once again.
“If you have to change fields, change fields. Change jobs if you must. Keep moving. Keep your dream in your mind until you have the chance to get it out into the real world.”
That mentality, Kyyaly says, has allowed him to keep his dignity and a sense of agency through very tough times. “You can’t change life to follow you. You need to follow life. It’s very similar to sailing. You cannot control the wind, but you can control the sail.”
Quick-fire questions
Do you have a favourite quote?
“Whoever saves a life, it is as if he saved all of humanity.” It’s my favourite verse from the Koran and it shows the importance of human life in Islam. You don’t need to be a Muslim to see the beauty of that phrase. I think it also takes the pressure off you when you feel overwhelmed by the world’s huge problems, such as war. You don’t need to solve the whole thing by yourself; just try to improve things if you can, where you can.
If you weren’t a scientist, what would you have been?
I would have loved to be a medical doctor or a pharmacist because I’m passionate about helping people to fight different diseases. I think that’s why I’ve worked on allergies in the past and I’m now focused on disease biomarkers.
What do you miss most about Syria?
My parents, sister and friends. It’s hard to be so far apart and know it’s not like we can just hop on a flight to see each other.
What do you like most about living in the United Kingdom?
The inclusivity of most of the people here, both in terms of the general public but also the institutions. After living through a civil war, you really appreciate that.
If you could go back and time and meet yourself as a recent PhD graduate, what advice would you give yourself?
Honestly, I’d have told myself not to go back to Syria from Cairo. I’d have said, get you and your family out of Syria. I waited too long to do that.
India’s academic freedom has been in steady decline for a decade. This is well documented: in the 2024 Academic Freedom Index update produced by V-Dem, a project on democracy based in Gothenburg, Sweden, India is ranked in the bottom 20% of a list of 179 countries and territories on metrics such as ‘institutional autonomy’ and ‘freedom to research and teach’.
Historically, academic freedoms were certainly not perfect in India. Yet even a cursory glance at the evidence reveals that the scale of restrictions and the misuse of laws to curb academic freedom has increased. In the interests of preserving India’s global competitiveness, whoever wins the election should seek to reverse this trend.
The documented drop in academic freedom is part of a broader decline in India’s vibrant culture of public debate. I have personally witnessed the growing restrictions during my 15 years as a researcher at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research (CPR), where I served as president for 7 years until I stepped down in March.
My own research community — think tanks that aim to support evidence-based policies — engages deeply with the global academic and policy ecosystem. Given that public funds have many competing priorities, much of our research relies on international philanthropic funding. That is becoming increasingly difficult to come by, owing to a tightening of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), which controls licences to access foreign funding.
For instance, after amendments to this law in 2020, recipients of foreign funding cannot give subgrants to other organizations, making collaborative research impossible. And since 2014, nearly 17,000 civil-society organizations have lost their FCRA licences altogether. For those that still have a licence, the renewal process is onerous. Many organizations receive temporary extensions of three to six months, rather than the full period of five years allowed under law.
It seems that tax laws are also increasingly being used against institutions. Some research organizations are facing penalties and, in extreme cases, the loss of their tax-exempt status, which is required for accessing charitable donations. In September 2022, six institutions, including the CPR, were subject to tax ‘surveys’ that eventually resulted in them having both their FCRA licences and their tax-exempt statuses revoked. This has left them mired in legal minutiae and struggling to fund their work.
Similar challenges to the freedom to pursue independent research are visible on university campuses. In 2022, the India Academic Freedom Network (IAFN) prepared a status report for the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression. It lists 78 instances in which seminars, lectures or talks at public universities were disrupted by politically aligned groups or the permission to organize such events was denied. It also lists 25 cases of faculty arrests, including some under anti-terror and sedition laws — mostly for speaking on issues of public interest, on campus or in social-media posts. A further 37 incidents pertain to the arrest of students. The IAFN report also points to difficulties associated with foreign researchers obtaining visas and entering India — even for people who hold Overseas Citizenship of India cards.
All this comes at a juncture when critical feedback and effective consultation are required to secure the country’s long-term growth and prosperity. But rather than engage with ideas and challenge them in the spirit of inquiry and public debate, in my view, it has now become increasingly common for technocrats in government to seek to discredit researchers and suppress research. In late 2023, for instance, the World Bank removed from its website an important study that highlighted reversals of progress recorded under a flagship sanitation programme. The bank cited procedural issues, but was presumably under government pressure.
Even crucial government data are now hard to obtain. The decennial census, for example, was last conducted in 2010–11; the public report on the 2017–18 household consumption expenditure survey was junked and only partial data have been released from the 2022–23 survey. The consequences of this are significant. In my field, development and social policy, the data gaps make it harder to measure changes in well-being. The debate on poverty reduction is bogged down in estimates, leaving the public with relatively little objective analysis on the reach and effectiveness of economic policies.
To reverse these trends, researchers must make their voices heard and be willing to defend the principle and value of academic freedom in the public domain. Research bodies should engage more effectively with philanthropists in India and find ways to preserve the space for civil discourse. An alliance with broader civil society is also required to push back against draconian regulations that undermine scientific freedoms.
India’s experience is not unique, but a reflection of a broader malaise. The V-Dem report makes it clear that several countries — including the United States, where university campuses are in turmoil — have witnessed a deterioration in the space available to pursue independent research. Researchers in India and elsewhere should fight to retain that space. It will be a long and difficult battle. But it is an essential one.
Superconductivity has been demonstrated at extremely low temperatures, but it remains elusive at room temperatures.Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory/SPL
Research misconduct is hugely detrimental to science and to society. Defined as “fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results” by the US Office of Research Integrity, it violates trust in science and can do great harm to the wider public, scientific institutions and especially co-authors and students who had no part in the wrongdoing. In cases involving public funds, it squanders resources that could have been allocated to other research and it can erode lawmakers’ support for science.
Does the scientific community, as a whole, have appropriate processes for reporting, investigating and communicating about instances of potential misconduct? This question is not new. At Nature, we’re asking it again, after two separate studies that we published were subsequently retracted.
The studies1,2 were originally published in October 2020 and March 2023. The first was retracted in September 2022 and the second in November 2023. The corresponding author on both papers was Ranga Dias, a physicist studying superconductivity at the University of Rochester in New York, and a recipient of grants from the US National Science Foundation (NSF).
The papers by Dias and his co-authors claimed to report room-temperature superconductivity under extremely high pressures, each in different materials. Room-temperature superconducting materials are highly sought after. They could, for example, transform the efficiency of electricity transmission, from the smallest to the largest application. But high-pressure experiments are difficult and replicating them is complex.
Nature initiated an investigative process that resulted in the 2020 paper being retracted after members of the community told the journal they were troubled by aspects of the data being reported. Nature also initiated an investigation into the 2023 paper. However, this article was retracted at the request of most of Dias’s co-authors while the investigation was still ongoing.
Many details about this case came to light thanks to continued questions from the research community, including during post-publication peer review. Much credit must also go to the persistence of science journalists, including members of Nature’s news team (which is editorially independent of Nature’s journal team) and those from other publications.
What can journal editors, funding organizations and institutions that employ researchers learn from such cases? We have the same goal: producing and reporting rigorous research of the highest possible standard. And we need to learn some collective lessons — including on the exchange of information.
The University of Rochester conducted three inquiries, which are a preliminary step to making a decision about whether to perform a formal investigation into scientific misconduct. The inquiries were completed between January and October 2022. Each concluded that such an investigation was not warranted.
Earlier this month, Nature’s news team uncovered a 124-page report on a subsequent confidential investigation, performed at the NSF’s request. In it, a team of reviewers concluded after a ten-month assessment of evidence that it was more likely than not that Dias had committed data fabrication, falsification and plagiarism. The report is dated 8 February 2024, and the determination is regarding the two Nature papers, a 2021 study3 published in Physical Review Letters and a 2022 study4 in Chemical Communications — both of which were also retracted. However, the investigation has not yet officially been made public.
Some researchers have asked why Nature published Dias’s second paper in March 2023, when questions were being asked about the first one. Others have asked why the retraction notices didn’t spell out that there has been misconduct.
It’s important to emphasize that it’s Nature’s editorial policy to consider each submission in its own right. Second, peer review is not designed to identify potential misconduct. The role of a journal in such situations is to correct the scientific literature; it is for the institutions involved to determine whether there has been misconduct, and to do so only after the completion of due process, which involves a systematic evaluation of primary evidence, such as unmodified experimental data.
Access to raw data is fundamental to resolving cases of potential misconduct. It is also something we constantly think about in relation to publishing. Indeed, for certain kinds of data, Nature requires authors to deposit them in external databases before publication. But there must be more the research community — including funders and institutions — can all do to incentivize data sharing.
Another question is whether the matter could have been dealt with more quickly. Nature’s editors have been asking the same question: specifically, could there have been more, or better, communication between journals and institutions once evidence of potential misconduct came to light?
Last month, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), a non-profit organization that represents editors, publishers and research institutions, updated its guidelines on how publishers and universities could communicate better. The guidelines are full of important advice, including that institutions, not publishers, should perform integrity or misconduct investigations. Investigators require access to primary evidence. As employers and grant-givers, institutions are the appropriate bodies to mandate access to unmodified experimental data, correspondence, notebooks and computers and to interview relevant staff members — all essential parts of an investigation.
But often, journals need to start a process that could lead to retracting a study in the absence of an institutional investigation — or while an investigation, or inquiry, is ongoing5. Are cases such as this an opportunity for journals and institutions to discuss establishing channels through which to exchange information, in the interest of expedited outcomes — as part of due process? Nature’s editors would be willing to play a part in such discussions.
Retractions are part of publishing research, and all journals must be committed to retracting papers after due process is completed. Although a paper can be retracted for many reasons, when the cause is potential misconduct, institutions must conduct thorough investigations.
This case is not yet closed. Both the university and the funder need to formally announce the investigation’s results, and what action they intend to take. They should not delay any more than is necessary. When there is credible evidence of potential scientific misconduct, investigations should not be postponed. There is strength in collaborating to solve a problem, and nothing to be ashamed of in preserving the integrity of the scientific record.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau and finance minister Chrystia Freeland hold copies of the 2024 federal budget.Credit: David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty
Researchers in Canada got most of what they were hoping for in the country’s 2024 federal budget, with a big boost in postgraduate pay and more funding for research and scientific infrastructure.
“We are investing over $5 billion in Canadian brainpower,” said finance minister Chrystia Freeland in her budget speech on 16 April. “More funding for research and scholarships will help Canada attract the next generation of game-changing thinkers.”
Postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers have been advocating for higher pay for the past two years through a campaign called Support Our Science. They requested an increase in the value, and number, of federal government scholarships, and got more than they asked for. Stipends for master’s students will rise from Can$17,500 (US$12,700) to $27,000 per year, PhDs stipends that ranged from $20,000 to $35,000 will be set to a uniform annual $40,000 and most postdoctoral-fellowship salaries will increase from $45,000 to $70,000 per annum. The number of scholarships and fellowships provided will also rise over time, building to around 1,720 more per year after five years.
“We’re very thrilled with this significant new investment, the largest investment in graduate students and postdocs in over 21 years,” says Kaitlin Kharas, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, Canada, and executive director of Support Our Science. “It will directly support the next generation of researchers.”
Although only a small proportion of students and postdoctoral fellows receive these federal scholarships, other funders tend to use them as a guide for their own stipends.
Many postgraduates said that low pay was forcing them to consider leaving Canada to pursue their scientific career, says Kharas, so this funding should help to retain talent in the country.
“This is going to move us from a searing brain drain to a brain gain, and position us to compete on the world stage,” says Chad Gaffield, chief executive of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities, based in Ontario, which supported the campaign.
‘Determined to thrive’
The budget also includes marked boosts for basic research. There is an extra $1.8 billion over five years in core funding for the three federal grant-awarding research councils, as well as $400 million for upgrades to the TRIUMF particle accelerator in Vancouver, and more cash for several other large facilities and institutes across the country. There will also be more than $2 billion for the artificial-intelligence sector in Canada.
“[This budget] really emphasizes that Canada is determined to thrive in the twenty-first century based on science and research,” says Gaffield.
Others have pointed out that the vast majority of the money in the budget for the research councils is backloaded, with just $228 million coming in the next two years. This means that the gains will be slow, and could be vulnerable to changes in the political climate, says Alex Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates, a consultancy in Toronto. “Do not count on this money being there after an election,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter). Canada’s next federal election is due in October 2025, and the opposition Conservative Party is campaigning on reigning in spending.
The budget also makes some changes to how science funding is organized. Instead of ten different programmes for scholarships and fellowships, with differing levels of support, there will now be a single programme with just three levels — master’s degrees, PhDs and postdoctoral fellowships. Kharas says that this should simplify the system.
The government will also create a new “capstone” research-funding organization to better coordinate the work of the three granting councils and “help to advance internationally collaborative, multi-disciplinary and mission-driven research”, the budget says. It will also create an advisory Council on Science and Innovation, comprised of leaders from academia, industry and the non-profit sector, which will develop a national science-and-innovation strategy to guide priority setting and increase the impact of federal investments. “This should help move us towards a more efficient, well-coordinated and nimble way of supporting research in Canada,” says Gaffield. “I look forward to working with the government to optimize it.”
The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector enabled the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN, Europe’s particle-physics lab near Geneva.Credit: Richard Juilliart/AFP via Getty
Roughly 100 metres underground, in a tunnel that crosses the border between Switzerland and France, lies the largest machine ever built. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) compresses and collides tiny bits of matter to recreate the fundamental particles that appeared just one-trillionth of a second after the Universe was created.
It’s all part of a day’s work at CERN, Europe’s particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, which is home to the LHC. The lab, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, continues to attract scientists who are eager to uncover the nature of particles that comprise matter. Along with more than 2,600 staff members and 900 fellows, CERN hosted nearly 12,000 visiting scientists from 82 countries in 2022. According to indexed papers on the Web of Science database, the researchers publish, on average, around 1,000 papers each year that explore the origin of the Universe, antimatter, dark matter, supersymmetry and beyond. And their ranks include eminent scientists such as Tim Berners-Lee, credited with inventing the World Wide Web, and physicist Peter Higgs, who died on 8 April.
“Particle physics is basically exploring back in time,” says Alain Blondel, a particle physicist who has worked at CERN and the University of Geneva in Switzerland. “The science we do, together with cosmology, astrophysics and many other fields, explores how the Universe was born and how it works. These are questions that have fascinated people for generations”.
Discoveries made at CERN, such as the production of antihydrogen and the development of the World Wide Web, have affected not only the scientific world, but society as a whole. Yet, the inaccessibility of CERN to the majority of the public has led to an almost mythical perception of the organization, says Andri Pol, a photographer based in Switzerland. Pol spent two years capturing the inner workings of CERN for his 2014 book Inside CERN. “You jump into another world and you feel like an alien,” he says. “I don’t know anything about physics, chemistry or mathematics. But you feel the creativity. There’s a lot of energy not only in the machines, but also the people.”
Brain gain
Retaining and attracting scientific talent was a key driving force behind the creation of CERN. During and after the Second World War, many scientists fled Europe to pursue careers in the United States. In the early 1950s, a small group of European scientists put forth a proposal to create a physics laboratory to unite scientists throughout Europe. On 29 September 1954, 12 member states signed a convention establishing CERN near Geneva (see ‘CERN’S growth’).
Source: CERN
Part of the decision to build CERN in Switzerland was the country’s central location in Europe and its neutrality during the war. In fact, CERN’s convention states, “The Organization shall have no concern with work for military requirements.”
“CERN has this aspect of science for peace,” says Rainer Wallny, a physicist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich who chaired the Swiss Institute of Particle Physics in 2020–21. “You are not doing anything military related; you work for the curiosity.”
Now, CERN is governed by a council of 23 member states that provide financial contributions and make decisions regarding the organization’s activities, budget and programmes. CERN’s projected annual revenue for 2023 was 1.39 billion Swiss francs (US$1.53 billion), all of which it spends.“I think it is a great model for international collaboration,” says Wallny. “It has a lot of facilities available that are beyond the scope of individual user groups. No one has a particle accelerator in their backyard.”
The LHC, which is the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets. Inside, two particle beams shoot trillions of protons towards one another at nearly the speed of light, causing some to collide and transform their energy into new particles. Along with the LHC, CERN has eight other particle accelerators, two decelerators, an antimatter factory and a vast array of engineering and computing infrastructure.
These resources bring together thousands of scientists from around the world to tackle big questions in particle physics. Research efforts at CERN led to the discovery of weak neutral currents in 1973, the W and Z bosons in 1983 and three types of neutrino in 19891–3. These findings provided support for the standard model of physics, a theory developed in the 1970s that describes the fundamental particles of the Universe and the four forces that shape their interactions. Then, in July 2012, scientists at CERN found evidence for the last key force in the standard model — the Higgs boson4.
“I’m fascinated by the concept of having these large, international collaborations working on a scientific puzzle,” says Lea Caminada, a particle physicist at the University of Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland. Caminada and her research group develop pixel detectors for the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS), a particle detector experiment at the LHC that does research on the standard model, dark matter and extra dimensions. “Doing high-energy physics is unique. It’s really the energy frontier, and there is no other facility in the world where you can do this,” she says.
The CMS collaboration involves more than 5,900 physicists, engineers, technicians and students from 259 institutions across 60 countries. The collaboration publishes around 100 papers each year and celebrated its 1,000th publication in November 2020. But organizing and contributing to large-scale projects is no simple feat. “It’s not always easy to work at CERN. It’s very hard to organize experiments this big,” Caminada says. For instance, she explains, everyone involved in the CMS experiment can review manuscript drafts and provide feedback before submission of a paper. “But I think it creates opportunities for people in different countries.”
A fount of knowledge
Thea Klæboe Åarrestad’s first experience at CERN was during an undergraduate internship in July 2012. During the paid programme, she took three weeks of classes, met with fellow physicists and attended lectures from specialists in the field. It also happened to be the year CERN announced the discovery of the Higgs boson. “Peter Higgs was there. The press of the free world was there. People were sleeping in lines outside the main auditorium to catch the speech,” she says.
The Gargamelle chamber at CERN, operational during the 1970s, detected neutrinos.Credit: CERN PhotoLab
Åarrestad went on to earn her PhD from the University of Zurich in 2019, where she worked on the CMS experiment at CERN, and then became a research fellow at CERN from 2019 to 2021. “My daughter was five months old when I started commuting to CERN. I spent eight hours on the train every day,” she says. “My friends questioned whether I could do exactly the same work for a company, and I can honestly say no, I can’t.”
Now, as a particle physicist at ETH Zurich, Åarrestad studies how to use machine learning to improve data collection and analysis methods at CERN. “The environment there is fantastic. You go for a coffee and everyone has ideas and thoughts to discuss. I was always very passionate about physics, and being at CERN just made me even more passionate about it because I shared it with so many others,” she says.
Reverberating impacts
The impact of CERN goes well beyond the smashing together of tiny particles. “Such a vibrant intellectual node radiates out to the universities,” says Wallny. He often sends his graduate students to CERN, where they can gain experience in a large, international setting. “There’s a lot of education happening, and not just in science and engineering. You interact with people from other cultures and learn how to express yourself in English,” he adds.
According to Wallny, lessons from organizing large-scale collaborations at CERN can also be applied to other areas of science, such as quantum computing. “In these large experiments, you have to invent your own governance. You have a bunch of usually quite anarchistic academics who still have to play by some rules. You have to give yourself a constitution and a collaboration board. These approaches can easily be copied in other emerging fields of science,” he says.
Investing in projects such as CERN has benefits for society that expand beyond the bounds of academia. Massimo Florio, an economist at the University of Milan in Italy, calculates the costs and benefits of large-scale research infrastructure projects. In 2018, Florio and his colleagues evaluated how procurement orders from CERN for the production of the LHC affected knowledge production, patent filings, sales and profits for more than 350 supplier companies5.
“There is clear evidence that after they got an order from CERN, even 10 years later, it was transformative for them,” says Florio. “Even if you give zero value to the discovery of the Higgs boson, the knowledge generated along the way has immediate benefits to society.”
Over the past 70 years, technologies developed at CERN to tackle technical and computing challenges have been applied throughout the world. Perhaps the most notable is the World Wide Web, which was developed by computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 to rapidly share knowledge among scientists. In medicine, the technologies from particle accelerators and detectors are used in positron emission tomography scanners and radiation methods for cancer treatments, such as hadron therapy6.
Satisfying curiosity
As CERN embarks on its eighth decade of research, the organization is planning to upgrade its accelerators to add to knowledge about the fundamental particles that make up the Universe. Towards the end of 2025, the LHC will be shut down and upgraded to a high-luminosity LHC over about four years. The upgrades aim to increase the machine’s luminosity tenfold, which would result in a larger number of collisions, allowing scientists to observe new events and rare events, such as those producing a Higgs boson, in more detail. “If we’re ever going to produce new physics, we need a lot of data. And in order to get a lot of data, we need more collisions,” says Åarrestad. She notes that upgrades to the LHC will result in almost quadruple the number of collisions that occur now.
Feasibility studies are also being conducted for the potential development of the Future Collision Collider (FCC), a massive, 91-kilometre particle accelerator7. A later phase of the proposed FCC is a hadron collider that could have roughly seven times the collision energy of the LHC. But there are concerns about the costs and environmental impacts of the FCC proposals8, as well as particle-physics research more broadly. “There are a lot of humans that would benefit from that money. It costs energy and affects the environment to do fundamental physics,” says Åarrestad. “But I think it is something we should continue in the future despite the cost and the energy consumption, because in the end, as humans, what are we if we’re not curious about where we’re from?”
Furthermore, says Pol, basic research often leads to real-world advances. “Sometimes, something new comes out of basic, theoretical research — one never knows. So, you have to give people who are really skilled a chance to try and find out what makes us what we are,” he says.
That sentiment holds for non-scientists, as well. While working on a contribution to the 2023 book Collisions: Stories from the Science of CERN, Lucy Caldwell, a novelist and playwright based in Ireland, had the opportunity to visit the organization. There, she met several scientists and published a fictional piece on the basis of her experiences. “As humankind, we tend to tell the same stories over and over in different variations,” she says. “Being able to go somewhere like CERN and talk to the scientists right at the cutting edge of knowledge gives you, as a writer, new images, new words and new concepts. It gives you ways to make old stories fresh again and ways to tell new stories. And I think that’s important for all of us.”
Podcasts are to radio as streaming services are to television, and we are lucky enough to be living through the golden age of both. You can find a podcast about almost anything these days, but with great choice comes great mediocrity—you might need a helping hand to find the podcasts worthy of your ear. Our expertly curated list will entertain and educate you, whether you’re doing the dishes, working out, commuting, or lazing in the bath.
Updated March 2023: We added several podcasts, including Your Undivided Attention, Mobbed Up: The Fight for Las Vegas, Dead Eyes, and My Therapist Ghosted Me, plus a new health and wellness section.
Table of Contents
Special offer for Gear readers: Get a1-year subscription toWIREDfor $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com and our print magazine (if you’d like). Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.
Courtesy of ABC News
The Dropout
Sneak a peek behind the curtain, as this podcast follows the trials and tribulations of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, the tech startup that promised to disrupt blood testing but disintegrated in the face of whistleblowers, inaccurate results, and fraudulent claims. John Carreyrou’s reporting broke the scandal, and his book Bad Blood also spawned another interesting podcast. But The Dropout is a refreshingly clear recounting of the sordid tale, with season two tackling the trial.
Courtesy of Darknet Diaries
Darknet Diaries
Anyone with an interest in hacking and cybercrime will appreciate this investigative podcast from Jack Rhysider. Densely packed and tightly edited, the show covers topics like Xbox hacking, a Greek wiretapping Vodafone scandal, and the impact of the NotPetya malware. Rhysider skillfully weaves informative narratives to unravel some complex issues and keeps things mostly accessible, though it may occasionally get a little too technical for some folks.
Courtesy of Center for Humane Technology
Your Undivided Attention
Ex-Googler Tristan Harris, who you may recognize from the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, talks with Aza Raskin about the dangers of living your life online. Cofounders of the Center for Humane Technology, they delve into the ethics of Big Tech, unpack the potential pitfalls, and try to imagine ways to harness technology for the good of humanity.
Courtesy of Dallas Taylor
Twenty Thousand Hertz
Painstakingly researched, this podcast dives deep into the world of sound to explain everything from those sounds you always hear in movie trailers to car engines, choral music, the Netflix intro, and way beyond. Learn how iconic sounds were created, why certain sounds make us feel the way they do, and how sound enriches our lives in myriad ways.
Other Great Tech Podcasts:
WIRED’sGadget Lab: Want to catch up on the week’s top tech news? Listen to our very own podcast hosted by senior writer Lauren Goode and senior editor Michael Calore.
The Lazarus Heist: This captivating investigation starts with the Sony hacks, digs into the involvement of North Korean hackers, and moves on to a billion-dollar cyber theft.
Rabbit Hole: What is the internet doing to us? New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose investigates things like the impact of algorithms on radicalization with a dreamy soundscape backdrop.
Reply All: The beautifully paced, always convivial, and sorely missed Reply All dragged us down internet rabbit holes to investigate long-forgotten songs, phone scammers, hacked Snapchat accounts, and Team Fortress 2 bots.
Click Here: With a focus on cybersecurity, this podcast unravels tales of hacking, misinformation, cyberterrorism, and more, with interviews and insight from experts in episodes that usually come in under half an hour.
Waveform: Laid-back chats about the latest gadgets and developments in the world of tech with Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) and co-host David Imel.
Courtesy of Audible
The Last Days of August
Jon Ronson brings an inquisitive, empathetic, and slightly neurotic intelligence to bear on fascinating and often surprising tales. Following The Butterfly Effect (only on Audible), which delves into the collision of tech with the pornography industry, The Last Days of August investigates the untimely death of porn performer August Ames. All of Ronson’s other podcasts are equally excellent (we recommend Things Fell Apart and So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed), but this is a great place to start.
Courtesy of Apple
Wild Things: Siegfried and Roy
Famous German duo Siegfried and Roy were a mainstay on the Las Vegas show scene and performed about 30,000 times over five decades with an act that included white lions and tigers. When Roy was attacked live on stage, it made headlines everywhere. This podcast unravels their rise to stardom, touches on their controversial handling of wild animals, and digs into what really happened that fateful night.
Courtesy of Pushkin Industries
Revisionist History
In this eclectic mix of quirky stories, Malcolm Gladwell tackles misunderstood events and rarely discussed ideas, veering from subjects like Toyota’s car recall to underhand-throwing basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain, and even the firebombing of Tokyo at the end of World War II. Gladwell freely mixes research and opinion and enjoys challenging conventional views, but every episode serves up facts and stories you have likely never heard before.
Other Great Society Podcasts:
Run Bambi Run: The riveting story of ex-Milwaukee police officer and Playboy Club bunny Laurie Bembenek, who was convicted of murdering her husband’s ex, despite conflicting evidence, and subsequently escaped prison and fought to have her conviction overturned.
Missing Richard Simmons: Ebullient fitness guru Richard Simmons used to be everywhere, and this podcast charts an investigative reporter’s attempts to find out why he disappeared.
The Moth: This podcast offers random folks the chance to tell deeply personal stories to a crowd of strangers and reinforces just how weird and wonderful humans are.
The Trojan Horse Affair: This tale unpacks the British scandal over an alleged attempt by Islamist extremists to take over a Birmingham school and radicalize its students.
Day X: A sobering look at the neo-Nazi specter in modern-day Germany, its possible infiltration of police and government, and a plan involving a military officer and a faked refugee identity.
Project Unabom: Delving into the life of Ted Kaczynski, this podcast interviews his brother and recounts the FBI investigation to try to make sense of Kaczynski’s terrifying bombing spree.
Will Be Wild: Curious about the January 6 insurrection? This podcast interviews people from both sides, examines the struggles of law enforcement and intelligence under Trump, and charts the anti-government extremism that led to this dark day for democracy.
Courtesy of Imperative Entertainment
The Cost of Happiness: Tony Hsieh
The online shoe store Zappos made Tony Hsieh a billionaire, and this podcast investigates his $350 million investment in the Downtown Project in Las Vegas. His utopian vision of a happy worker village promised to revitalize the depressed heart of Sin City. The experimental community generated much excitement, but the charismatic and eccentric Hsieh soon ran into trouble.
Courtesy of Novel
The Superhero Complex
Part of the way into this investigation of the Rain City Superhero Movement, a real-life group of self-proclaimed superheroes active in Seattle a few years ago, I had to stop listening and check that this wasn’t fiction. The podcast focuses on the arrogant Phoenix Jones, an ex-MMA fighter turned violent vigilante, and his fall from grace. But there is also a fascinating glimpse into the friendlier side of the movement, with some heroes handing out water to homeless folks and helping people in distress.
Courtesy of The LoudSpeakers Network
The Read
Brutally honest comedians with chemistry, Kid Fury and Crissle West recap and review the latest pop culture news and offer their opinions on everything. Insightful, funny, challenging, and refreshingly different from the podcast pack, these sprawling conversations run for a couple of hours, covering recent events and frequently touching on social justice, mental health, race, and sexual identity.
Courtesy of Forever35
Forever35
Like eavesdropping on conversations between relatable besties, Forever35 started as a physical self-care podcast but expanded to discuss mental health, relationships, and any other topic that appeals to LA-based writers Doree Shafrir and Kate Spencer. They go from chatting about serums and creams to seasonal affective disorder and how to deal with a new stepmother as an adult—but always in a fun, inclusive, and down-to-earth way.
Other Great Culture Podcasts:
Sounds Like a Cult: Fanatical fringe groups have never been so prevalent, and there’s something more than a little cultish about celebrity stans, multilevel marketing, and marathon runners—just three of the subjects this lighthearted podcast unpacks.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard: Now a Spotify exclusive, this often funny and always insightful podcast seeks out human truths and sometimes finds them.
Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy: Ably hosted by author David Barr Kirtley, this sci-fi fantasy extravaganza digs into fascinating topics with the help of accomplished guests like Neil Gaiman, Brent Spiner, and Steven Pinker.
The Allusionist: If you are interested in words, this witty but accessible show will delight you as it charts the evolution of slang, explains euphemisms, and generally celebrates language.
Courtesy of Las Vegas Review Journal
Mobbed Up: The Fight for Las Vegas
This fascinating tale, told through interviews with old gangsters, law enforcement, politicians, and journalists, charts the symbiotic rise of organized crime and Las Vegas. The first season recounts the FBI’s attempts to take down the “Hole in the Wall Gang” and reveals the true-life inspiration for movies like Casino. Season two tackles Jimmy Hoffa and the battle to oust the mafia from the Strip’s casinos.
Courtesy of Vox Media
Criminal
Soothing host Phoebe Judge unravels captivating tales with reverence in this polished production about the spectrum of crime. Criminals, victims, lawyers, police, historians, and others whose lives have been altered by crime voice their stories as Judge carefully avoids the sensational and exploitative by respectfully teasing out the heart of each subject.
Courtesy of WBEZ
S-Town
Give this compelling mystery five minutes and you’ll be hooked. The talented host, Brian Reed, investigates a small town in Alabama at the behest of eccentric horologist John B. McLemore, who claims the son of a wealthy family has gotten away with murder. The script, pacing, editing, music—basically everything about this production—are perfect.
Courtesy of Lava For Good
Bone Valley
Painstakingly researched, thoughtfully told, and skillfully produced, this true-crime podcast hosted by Gilbert King focuses on a 1987 Florida murder. After an incompetent police investigation and distinctly dodgy trial, Leo Schofield was convicted of killing his wife. Despite fresh evidence and a confession from someone else, Schofield remains in prison.
Courtesy of Campside
Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen
Murder may dominate this genre, but there are other fascinating stories worth telling in the world of crime, like this one, which is about a scammer posing as a Hollywood mogul. This weird, compelling, investigative podcast unwinds a satisfyingly twisty tale that’s mercifully free of blood and violence. The third season, Wild Boys, tells a completely new story, and the fifth tackles hypnotist Dr. Dante.
Other Great True-Crime Podcasts:
Who Killed Daphne: Investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered by car bomb in Malta, and this podcast delves into her work exposing the unscrupulous elite to identify her killers.
The Clearing: The families of serial killers often seek obscurity (understandably), but that means we never hear their stories. That’s something this podcast about April Balascio, daughter of American serial killer Edward Wayne Edwards, rectifies.
The Trials of Frank Carson: Police and prosecutors go after the defense attorney who has been beating them in court for years, sparking accusations of conspiracy and one of the longest trials in US history.
Sweet Bobby: This British catfishing tale charts successful radio presenter Kirat’s relationship with handsome cardiologist Bobby, and things get impossibly weird.
Dr. Death: A gripping podcast that focuses on incompetent or psychopathic (maybe both) ex-surgeon Christopher Duntsch and exposes terrifying institutional failures.
Crimetown: Taking a forensic approach to organized crime in American cities, this slick podcast comes from the supremely talented makers of The Jinx.
Hunting Warhead: A journalist, a hacker, and some detectives go after a chilling child abuse ring led by a criminal known as Warhead in this tactfully told and thorough podcast.
Love Janessa: Catfishing scams are big business, but why do so many use photos of Janessa Brazil? This podcast tracks her down to find out.
The Evaporated: Gone With the Gods: Journalist Jake Adelstein dives deep into Japanese culture, pursuing his missing accountant and exploring the mysterious disappearances of thousands of people in Japan every year.
Courtesy of Aubrey Gordon & Michael Hobbes
Maintenance Phase
The worlds of wellness and weight loss are awash with questionable products and advice, so a podcast to debunk fads and junk science with reasoned argument and research is welcome. It’s more fun than it sounds, thanks to the entertaining hosts, and there’s even a fascinating episode on “snake oil” that recounts the history of health scams.
Courtesy of NPR
Hidden Brain
An absorbing deep dive into human behavior with the help of psychologists, sociologists, and other experts, Hidden Brain is densely packed with informative nuggets. The host, NPR’s accomplished science correspondent Shankar Vedantam, renders complex ideas accessible and offers insight into the inner workings of our minds.
Courtesy of BBC
The Infinite Monkey Cage
This whimsical show, hosted by physicist Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince, poses questions like “Does time exist?”—which are then debated by a diverse panel of three guests, usually a mix of experts and entertainers. Definitive answers are in short supply, but it’s always articulate, enthusiastic, and thought-provoking.
Other Great Science Podcasts:
Science Rules!: Bill Nye, the science guy, teams up with science writer Corey Powell to grill experts on all sorts of interesting science-related topics.
Stuff You Should Know: Prizing knowledge for its own sake and provoking healthy curiosity, this podcast is comical, charming, and full of interesting conversational nuggets.
Courtesy of NPR
The Indicator
This Planet Money spin-off delivers digestible, fast-paced, well-told stories about business and the economy, tackling topics that range from TikTok marketing to opioid nasal sprays and ticket scalpers. Each enlightening episode comes in under 10 minutes and serves as a quick primer that will leave you feeling well informed.
Courtesy of Freakonomics Radio Network
Freakonomics Radio
Promising to delve into the “hidden side of everything,” this long-running, data-driven show is hosted by Stephen J. Dubner, coauthor of the Freakonomics books, and it regularly features economist Steven Levitt. It’s a clever mix of economics and pop culture that flows easily and balances entertainment with education, presenting both sides of debates while consulting relevant guests.
Courtesy of Macro Musings
Macro Musings
If you long to understand the economy better, this topical show, hosted by David Beckworth of the Mercatus Center, interrogates a diverse line-up of economists, professionals, and academics to bring you invaluable insights. It takes a serious look at macroeconomics and monetary policy, but the guests do a solid job of unpacking complex topics.
Other Great Economics Podcasts:
Planet Money: This top-notch podcast has entertaining, digestible, and relatable stories about the economy, unraveling everything from health care to income taxes.
EconTalk: This no-frills show sees economist Russ Roberts engage in sprawling conversations with writers and academics on a range of economics topics.
Courtesy of Wondery
How I Built This
This NPR podcast hosted by Guy Raz explores the stories behind some of the biggest companies in the world from the perspective of the innovators and entrepreneurs who built them. Expect cautionary tales, nuggets of wisdom, and business lessons galore in probing and insightful interviews that reveal a lot about their subjects and what drove them.
Courtesy of Steven Bartlett
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Serial entrepreneur Steven Bartlett built a successful business from nothing and is now an investor on Dragons Den (the UK’s Shark Tank). He talks frankly about his own experiences and interviews various CEOs to find out why they started their businesses and how they guided them to success. Sprawling discussions range from personal life challenges and mental health to business strategies and advice.
Courtesy of TED/Audio Collective
WorkLife with Adam Grant
Expertly hosted by organizational psychologist Adam Grant, this podcast offers practical advice on tackling various issues you are sure to encounter in the average job. The show features interesting psychological perspectives on everything, from how to rethink a poor decision to crafting a great pitch to dealing with burnout. The podcast also boasts insightful interviews with business leaders.
Other Great Business Podcasts:
The Pitch: Fans of Shark Tank will enjoy this podcast, which features entrepreneurs pitching investors to secure real money for their startups.
Ask Martin Lewis: Personal finance guru Martin Lewis has been helping folks in the UK save money for years and provides straightforward financial advice here.
BizChix: This podcast from business coach Natalie Eckdahl is aimed squarely at female entrepreneurs and is packed with no-nonsense expert advice.
Teamistry: With a focus on teams and what they can achieve, the latest season of this podcast tells the fascinating story of the supersonic passenger jet Concorde.
Best Celebrity Interview Podcasts
Courtesy of Adam Buxton
The Adam Buxton Podcast
Consummate conversationalist Adam Buxton is always witty and well prepared, and he has interviewed many interesting people over the course of his long-running show, from Charlie Brooker to Jeff Goldblum. Ostensibly rambling, Buxton skillfully pulls fascinating insights from his interview subjects, bouncing between their personal lives, work, and popular culture with seeming ease.
Courtesy of Wondery
Life Is Short With Justin Long
Likable actor Justin Long and his brother Christian host this enthusiastic and sprawling interview show, where they chat with guests like Zack Snyder, Kristen Bell, and Billy Crudup. The siblings get sidetracked by nostalgic reminiscences and occasional bickering, which sort of makes the show, but they are always generous and kind to their guests.
Courtesy of Wondery
SmartLess
Charming and goofy, this conversational podcast stars Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes, and they always have a surprise celebrity guest, like Ryan Reynolds or Reese Witherspoon. It is warm, gentle, and often laugh-out-loud funny, but don’t expect challenging questions or bared souls.
Other Great Celebrity Interview Podcasts:
WTF With Marc Maron: Self-deprecating, sardonic, supremely skilled interviewer Marc Maron interviews some of the world’s most famous people, from Barack Obama to Paul McCartney.
Grounded With Louis Theroux: A soothingly gentle facade belies Louis Theroux’s ability to draw fascinating insights from his subjects with tact and humor.
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wake: Kathy Burke laughs in the face of death, asking guests like Stewart Lee and Dawn French how they’d like to die, what sort of funeral they want, and who they plan to haunt.
Courtesy of Wondery
Sports Wars
Epic rivalries and long-anticipated showdowns are a massive part of the enduring appeal of sports, and this slick production homes in on them. Rivalries like Federer vs. Nadal in tennis and Tyson vs. Holyfield in boxing are unpacked over a few episodes apiece by host Dan Rubenstein, who digs into their backgrounds to understand why some face-offs get so highly charged.
Courtesy of The Ringer
The Bill Simmons Podcast
This hugely popular sports podcast features fast-paced roundtable conversations with athletes and celebrities that usually focus on the NFL or NBA. Unfiltered opinions, witty remarks, and encyclopedic sports knowledge collide, but this is enthusiastic and accessible enough for casual sports fans to enjoy.
Courtesy of The Athletic
The PosCast
Primarily focused on baseball, this long-running podcast sometimes covers other sports and often meanders into comical conversations. Guests offer amusing anecdotes, but the chemistry between hosts Joe Posnanski and Michael Schur, who can debate endlessly about any old nonsense, is what makes this show so special.
Other Great Sports Podcasts:
Undr the Cosh: Open and honest banter from ex-professional soccer (football) players, as they talk to current pros and recount hilarious on- and off-pitch anecdotes.
Around the NFL: This funny, fast-paced look at the National Football League runs through all the latest football news, blending anecdotes and analysis.
32 Thoughts: A slickly produced, insightful dive into all the latest hockey news and controversy from knowledgable hosts who bounce off each other.
Courtesy of Earwolf
How Did This Get Made?
We have all asked this question of a movie at some point, but hosts Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas invite guest creatives to engage in heated and hilarious chats about some of the worst films ever. Movies that are so bad they are entertaining, from Face/Off to Junior to The Room, are dissected and thoroughly ridiculed.
Courtesy of BBC
Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review
Respected film critic Mark Kermode has an infectious love of movies and an incredible depth of knowledge about the world of film, and Simon Mayo is a veteran radio presenter. Together they discuss the latest movies, interview top-tier directors and actors, and invite views from their listeners. While the podcast ended earlier this year, the duo have a new show called Kermode & Mayo’s Take.
Courtesy of You Must Remember This
You Must Remember This
Diving into Hollywood myths to investigate and uncover the truth about infamous secrets, scandals, and legends from Tinseltown is a compelling premise, and talented creator and host Karina Longworth makes the most of it. Among the best shows are the “Dead Blondes” series, which includes Marilyn Monroe; the run on Manson; and the “Frances Farmer” episode.
Other Great Movie Podcasts:
The Director’s Cut: Listen to directors like Benicio del Toro, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron being interviewed about their latest movies by their peers in roughly half-hour episodes.
The Rewatchables: Bill Simmons and a rotating cast of cohosts discuss and analyze beloved movies and dig up interesting nuggets of trivia.
Lights Camera Barstool: Reviews, interviews, rankings, and accessible chats about the movies with pop culture debates thrown in.
Black Men Can’t Jump [in Hollywood]: This comedic movie review podcast highlights films featuring actors of color and analyzes the movies in depth, with an eye on race and diversity.
Courtesy of Headgum
Dead Eyes
Join comedian and actor Connor Ratliff on his mission to discover why he got fired from Band of Brothers. His amusing and honest account of how his big break went bad, reportedly because Tom Hanks thought he had “dead eyes,” is often very funny. An easy listen, peppered with celebrity guests like Seth Rogen, Elijah Wood, and Zach Braff, Dead Eyes affords listeners an insight into the world of auditions, acting triumphs, and humiliation.
Courtesy of HBO
HBO’s Succession Podcast
Whether you’re new to this captivating show or a long-time fan, the official podcast affords you a peek behind the curtain as it dissects episodes and explores character motivations. Roger Bennett interviews the main players from the show and then Kara Swisher steps in for the third season to interview the makers and various guests, from Mark Cuban to Anthony Scaramucci, to examine its impact and where it mirrors world events.
Courtesy of Wondery
Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera
Recounting the tragic tale of the exploitative 2004 reality TV show There’s Something About Miriam, this podcast reveals just how cruel reality TV can get. Six young men set up house in an Ibizan villa to compete for the affections of Miriam and a £10,000 ($12,100) cash prize, but the show producers failed to tell them Miriam was trans. It’s a story that ended badly for everyone.
Courtesy of Steve Schirripa
Talking Sopranos
Hosted by actors from the show, Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby Baccalieri), this podcast is essential listening for fans. It runs through every episode with big-name guests, most of whom worked on or appeared on the show. It’s candid about the entertainment industry and absolutely packed to the brim with behind-the-scenes anecdotes and insider revelations.
Other Great TV Podcasts:
Shrink the Box: Actor Ben Bailey Smith talks with psychotherapist Sasha Bates as they put some of the best TV characters of all time (like Walter White and Omar Little) on the couch for analysis.
Obsessed With…: This BBC podcast is hosted by celebrity superfans of various TV shows, including Killing Eve, Peaky Blinders, and Line of Duty.
Fake Doctors, Real Friends: Rewatching Scrubs with Zach Braff and Donald Faison is a joyous experience that’s every bit as entertaining, poignant, and silly as the TV show.
Welcome to Our Show: A warming dose of nostalgia and comfort for New Girl fans as Zooey Deschanel, Hannah Simone, and Lamorne Morris rewatch the show together.
Courtesy of The Paragon Collective
Darkest Night
Horror fans will enjoy reliving the last gruesome moments of various corpses that have landed at the mysterious Roth-Lobdow Institute in this deliciously creepy and occasionally gross chiller. Wonderful narration from Lee Pace; acting from the likes of Denis O’Hare, Missi Pyle, and RuPaul; and clever sound design make for a memorably thrilling ride that you just know is going to end badly.
Courtesy of Hello from the Magic Tavern
Hello From the Magic Tavern
Thoroughly absurd, this fantasy improv-comedy show is the brainchild of Chicago comedian Arnie Niekamp, who falls through a portal at a Burger King and ends up in the magical world of Foon. The role-playing game and fantasy references come thick and fast, guests play bizarre characters of their own creation, and loyal listeners are rewarded with long-running gags and rich lore.
Courtesy of Battle Bird Productions
We Fix Space Junk
Short and sweet episodes of this sci-fi comedy-drama fit neatly into gaps in your day and whisk you away to a nightmare corporate dystopia in a galaxy fraught with evil artificial intelligence and monstrous aliens. Struggling repair technician Kilner gets stuck with a rich murder suspect, Samantha Trapp, after accidentally smuggling her across the galaxy in this polished show with a distinct 1980s feel.
Other Great Fiction Podcasts:
DUST: This podcast started as an anthology of audio sci-fi stories from the likes of Philip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury but has changed things up with each new season.
The Bright Sessions: The therapy sessions of mysterious psychologist Dr. Bright, bookended by voice notes, form intriguing short episodes, as all of her patients seem to have special abilities.
Welcome to Night Vale: This pioneering creepy show is presented as a community radio broadcast from a desert town beset by paranormal and supernatural happenings.
Courtesy of Vox Media
Nice Try!
Utopian ideals have led to the development of some fascinating communities over the years, and season one of Nice Try! delves into their history, the hope that drove them, and why these communities ultimately failed. Season two moves on to lifestyle technology, from doorbells to vacuums, all designed to help us realize a personal utopia in the ideal home.
Courtesy of Revolutions
Revolutions
The modern world was shaped by some of the ideas that drove revolutions, and this deeply researched series runs through the English Civil War and American, French, Haitian, and Russian revolutions; Simon Bolivar’s liberation of South America; and more. The writing is concise, the narration is engaging, and host Mike Duncan does a fantastic job contextualizing revolutionary events and characters.
Courtesy of Radiotopia
The Memory Palace
A dreamy, emotional quality elevates these tales of seemingly random moments from the past, expertly told by the eloquent Nate DiMeo and backed by wonderful sound design. These distilled stories serve as historical snapshots of rarely discussed events, and it’s hard to think of another podcast as artful and poignant as this one.
Courtesy of Grim Mild
Noble Blood
Assured in their divine right to rule over everyone, royal families were often incredibly dysfunctional. Author Dana Schwarz examines tyrannical regimes, murderous rampages, power struggles, and dynasty deaths. The madness of monarchs from various nations is concisely dissected in tightly scripted half-hour episodes that will leave you questioning the idea that there’s anything noble about their bloodlines.
Other Great History Podcasts:
Something True: Enjoy utterly bizarre true stories, as every episode of this podcast explores a seemingly forgotten historical footnote.
Lore: Spooky and witty, this classic podcast plumbs history to uncover horrifying folklore, mythology, and pseudoscience.
Medieval Death Trip: An enthusiastic and well-researched look at medieval times, this podcast offers a witty analysis of the primary texts left behind.
Hardcore History: Relatable and endlessly fascinating, Dan Carlin brings history to life with his own riveting narratives on notable events and periods, peppered with facts and hypothetical questions.
Courtesy of Ramble
A Hotdog Is a Sandwich
Whatever side of the titular, age-old debate you stand on (I’m with the British Sandwich Association), this fast-paced, often funny show will suck you in as it poses tough food-related questions and then debates them. Chefs Josh Scherer and Nicole Enayati decide whether American cheese is really cheese, if Popeye’s and In-N-Out are overrated, and what the best pasta shape is.
Courtesy of Gastropod
Gastropod
If your love of food extends to an interest in the history and science of everything from the humble potato to a soothing cup of tea to ever-polarizing licorice, then this podcast is for you. Knowledgeable cohosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley talk to experts and serve up a feast of delicious bite-size facts that surprise and delight.
Courtesy of The Ringer
The Dave Chang Show
Celebrity chef Dave Chang, whom you may know from his Netflix show, Ugly Delicious, talks mostly about food, guilty pleasures, and the creative process with other chefs and restaurateurs. There is plenty here to satisfy foodies, but some of the funniest moments come when the show covers other random topics, like the perfect email sign-off or wearing shoes indoors.
Other Great Food Podcasts:
Out To Lunch With Jay Rayner: This podcast seats you at a top restaurant to eavesdrop on consummate food critic Jay Rayner with a celebrity guest at the next table.
The Sporkful: You can learn a lot about people and culture through food, and this podcast proves it by serving up delectable bite-size insights.
Best Health and Wellness Podcasts
Courtesy of Lionrock
The Courage to Change: A Recovery Podcast
Whether you are struggling with addiction, childhood trauma, eating disorders, or something else, or you know someone who is, this accessible and inspirational podcast can help you examine why. Host Ashley Loeb Blassingame speaks from experience and offers practical advice to help you onto a healthier path. This podcast is honest, insightful, and emotional but ultimately heartwarming and uplifting.
Courtesy of LYT Yoga
Redefining Yoga
Hosted by Yoga leader and physical therapist Lara Heimann, this podcast is a mix of Q&A sessions, interviews with experts, and motivational advice. It focuses on understanding your body and mind, but you will also find practical advice for chronic pain sufferers and different kinds of injuries, explanations on why and how yoga is good for you, and firsthand accounts of the positive impact yoga has on many lives.
Courtesy of Great Love Media
My Wakeup Call With Dr. Mark Goulston
Each episode sees psychiatrist Mark Goulston interview a notable person about the wakeup call moment that changed their path forever. He encourages them to interrogate what sparked their drive, made them want to be a better person, and led to their success. Some guests are better than others, but the podcast is closing in on 500 episodes, so there are plenty to choose from.
Other Great Health and Wellness Podcasts:
The Big Silence: Host Karena Dawn has conversations about mental health with an eclectic mix of therapists, psychologists, and ostensibly successful folks.
Spiraling With Katie Dalebout and Serena Wolf: Candid chats about anxiety with advice on how to cope. The relatable hosts are open and honest about the anxious feelings that modern life can evoke.
Huberman Lab: Host Andrew Huberman, a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine, interviews various experts to offer advice on optimizing your health and fitness.
Courtesy of Global Player
My Therapist Ghosted Me
Irreverent Irish chat with comedian Joanne McNally and TV presenter Vogue Williams as they put the world to rights. It feels like eavesdropping on brutally honest best pals as they discuss relationships, work woes, health issues, awkward social situations, and sometimes recent news. The down-to-earth pair liberally dole out a mix of sound and questionable advice that is frequently laugh-out-loud funny.
Courtesy of Shiny Ranga
Wolf and Owl
Comedians and friends Tom Davis (the Wolf) and Romesh Ranganathan (the Owl) chat aimlessly and expertly poke fun at each other for around an hour. It’s often nostalgic, sometimes offers decent advice for listeners, and is always warmhearted and laugh-out-loud funny.
Courtesy of Team Coco
Why Won’t You Date Me? With Nicole Byer
Perennially single stand-up comedian Nicole Byer is every bit as charming and funny here as in Netflix’s Nailed It baking show, but this podcast delves into some adult subjects. Byer is disarmingly open about her insecurities and struggles and seamlessly stirs in vulgar humor. She also hosts hilarious conversations with guest comedians.
Courtesy of Athletico Mince
Athletico Mince
Ostensibly a soccer (football) podcast, this surreal show is brought to life by lovable British comedy legend Bob Mortimer, with support from sidekick Andy Dawson. Tall tales about real footballers, complete with strange voices and fictional personalities, are mixed with songs, silly inside jokes, and rambling conversations. You don’t really need to know anything about soccer to enjoy it.
Other Great Comedy Podcasts:
Locked Together: Only on Audible, this show features lockdown chats between comedian pals like Simon Pegg and Nick Frost or Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan.
My Neighbors Are Dead: The wonderful premise of this hit-and-miss improvised show is interviews with lesser-known characters from horror movies, like the caterer from Damien’s party in The Omen and the neighbors from Poltergeist.
Last August, India became the fourth country ever to achieve a soft Moon landing.Credit: Kabir Jhangiani/NurPhoto/Getty
India’s general election begins this week. Nearly one billion voters are eligible to go to the polls in a marathon exercise, starting on 19 April and ending on 1 June.
Opinion polls are projecting that an alliance of parties led by the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party will win a third consecutive term against an alliance of opposition parties led by the Indian National Congress. The winner will take charge of the world’s fifth-largest economy. According to projections, India could become the third-largest economy, behind China and the United States, by the end of the decade.
Along with being an economic power, India is also more than ready to take the next step towards becoming a science powerhouse. This is not yet a given, but it can happen. Researchers told Nature’snews teamthat basic research has been neglected by successive governments, and that a thriving research system needs much greater autonomy. In this editorial, we discuss a third aspect: how to bridge the funding gap. One thing India’s government can do is to boost science spending by encouraging businesses to contribute more, as is the case for other leading economies (see ‘R&D spending in the world’s top-five economies’). If policymakers and industrialists can get this right, an opportunity to put rocket boosters under the country’s impressive scientific achievements is there for the taking.
Source: Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
There is, indeed, much to build on. According to government data, in 2021–22, India had the world’s third-largest pharmaceutical industry by volume and was the leading supplier of affordable medicines and generic drugs, some of which were crucial to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Last year, India became the fourth country ever to achieve a soft Moon landing and the first to land near the lunar south pole. It also has the world’s largest constellation of remote-sensing satellites.
India is among the world’s most prolific countries in terms of research output, after the United States and China. From 2014 to 2021, the number of universities increased from 760 to 1,113. In the past decade, 7 more Indian Institutes of Technology — the country’s network of education and research centres — have been set up, raising the total to 23. In the same period, two new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research were also established.
Now consider that these gains were achieved by a nation that spent just 0.64% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on research and development (R&D) during 2020–21, the latest period for which the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has published data. Whichever political group is elected, it must consider how to increase the country’s R&D spending, as well as what could be achieved with more money.
In 2022, the average R&D expenditure of the 38 high-income countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was around 2.7%, according to data published last month. In 2021, China spent 2.4% on R&D, according to World Bank data.
In absolute terms, India’s science spending, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), increased from the equivalent of US$50.3 billion in 2014–15 to $57.9 billion in 2020–21, according to DST data. PPP is a measure of the buying power of a currency in different countries. What matters more, including for the purposes of international comparisons, is the share of R&D as a fraction of GDP. After economic reforms were introduced in 1991, India’s share of R&D spending rose steadily, peaking in 2009–10 at 0.82% of GDP before declining to its present levels, according to DST data.
Splitting the costs
One thing stands out when the components of India’s science spending are compared with similarly sized economies. Around 60% of India’s research spending can be traced to central and state governments and universities, and around 40% to the private sector. In comparable nations, there is often much more private-sector funding. In 2022, the private sector contributed, on average, 74% of OECD nations’ R&D spending and 66% of such funding for the 27 members of the European Union. India today has many global companies in construction, information technology, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and more. They could be contributing a lot more to the nation’s research — both in terms of funding researchers and also infrastructure.
Last August, the Indian parliament approved a bill authorizing the establishment of a funding agency, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF). It was charged with disbursing 500 billion rupees ($6 billion) to universities and laboratories over 5 years — with 70% of it from non-governmental sources, such as philanthropists and industry. Once established, the ANRF must, once and for all, break perceptions about the neglect of basic research. But ANRF is still only one piece in a larger jigsaw puzzle. The incoming government, alongside the country’s many corporations, will need to look harder at how it can further boost investment in science. As the DST’s own data clearly show, India’s corporations, especially, can, and should be a lot more generous.
Overall, public and private investment in science boosts economies and, by extension, societies, health and well-being. This knowledge has helped the public and private sectors of some of the world’s leading economies to prioritize science in their budgets. They know what these research investments can achieve. Whichever group emerges victorious after India’s marathon election process closes on 1 June must know that India can and should do the same.
