Not coming slow

Women paid 20% less in top UK research institutions Early analysis of UK gender pay gap reports reveals the extent of male favoritism. 29 March 2018 Smriti Mallapaty iStock / Getty Images Plus Women earn up to 30% less than their male colleagues in the  UK's  top-ranked research institutions. Among the high-quality researchers in the Nature Index, the difference between male and female average pay ranges from 28% to 9%. The group's average gender pay gap is 20%. Legislation introduced in 2017 requires UK organisations with more than 250 employees to publish their data by April 4 2018, and every year after that. The public reporting excercise reveals the extent to which women are shortchanged in workplaces across all sectors. Only days ahead of the deadline, 33 research institutions that ranked among the top 50 in the index in 2017 have submitted their gender pay gap reports. Lancaster University  is the worst offender among the institutions which have so far reported, wit...

Hokkaido University  北海道大学 Japan Hokkaido University originates from Sapporo Agricultural College which was established in 1876 as Japan’s first modern institution of higher education to grant bachelor’s degrees. It is one of Japan’s top national universities and has 12 undergraduate and 21 graduate schools covering a wide range of disciplines. Boasting one of the biggest campuses in Japan, the university houses cutting-edge research facilities, a university hospital, and one of the world’s largest research forests. In 2014, the university adopted the “Hokkaido Universal Campus Initiative (HUCI)” — a reform program which aims to further internationalize the university as a whole to foster more world leaders who can contribute to the resolution of global issues. These leaders will be able to address contemporary issues, represent the frontier spirit as they forge new ways ahead, and contribute to the development of human welfare and society. The initiative will be in effect until 20...

Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University  苏州大学功能纳米与软物质研究院 China The Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), founded in 2008, is characterized by its global vision and interdisciplinary research directions. It is located at Soochow University in Suzhou, a historic city with a dynamic culture. It is led by the founding director Prof. Shuit-Tong Lee, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The Institute includes a provincial key lab: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-based Functional Materials and Devices. Two years after the foundation of FUNSOM, the corresponding educational college, College of Nano Science and Technology (CNST) was established in 2010. Furthermore, FUNSOM is part of the Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology (NANO-CIC), which is under the National 2011 Plan Program in China. Shuit-Tong Lee is the founding director of FUNSOM and NANO-CIC, and the founding dean of CNST. ...

WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), Tohoku University  東北大学材料科学高等研究所 Japan Established in 2007, the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR) at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, has been conducting cutting-edge research in materials science for over a decade. It was launched as one of the research centres founded under the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) of the Japanese government, which promotes the establishment of world-class science hubs. In 2017, the AIMR became a member of the WPI Academy, which consists of WPI centres that have achieved world-premier status. The AIMR has about 100 leading researchers, including 28 internationally renowned principal investigators. About 40% of these researchers are from overseas. The institute has four materials-related groups, which are exploring the physics of materials, non-equilibrium materials, soft materials, and devices and systems. In addition, the AIMR’s Mathematical Scienc...

Toxins from the world’s longest animal can kill cockroaches The stuff in this sea worm’s slime also took out invasive green crabs THANK THIS WORM   A bootlace worm glides along in its mucus, which has newly described toxins shown to paralyze or kill cockroaches and invasive crabs. ERIK JACOBSSON Email Print Twitter Facebook Reddit Google+ SPONSOR MESSAGE Bootlace worms with spooky-stretchy bodies secrete a family of toxins new to scientists. These compounds might inspire novel ways attack pests such as cockroaches. Tests first identified the toxins in mucus coating a bootlace species that holds the record as the world’s longest animal, says pharmacognosist Ulf Göransson of Uppsala University in Sweden. This champion marine worm ( Lineus longissimus ) can stretch up to 55 meters, longer than an Olympic-sized pool, and coats itself in mucus smelling a bit like iron or sewage. That goo  holds small toxic proteins , now dubbed nemertides, that are also found in 16 other bootlace w...

Eggshell nanostructure protects a chick and helps it hatch Nanoscale changes occur as a chicken egg incubates JUST HATCHED   Scientists have zoomed in on the internal structure of the chicken eggshell to figure out how it can protect developing chicks while eventually letting them break free.  LUNGKIT/SHUTTERSTOCK Email Print Twitter Facebook Reddit Google+ SPONSOR MESSAGE A chicken eggshell has a tricky job: It must protect a developing chick, but then ultimately let the chick break free. The secret to its success lies in its complex nanostructure — and how that structure changes as the egg incubates. Chicken eggshells are about 95 percent calcium carbonate by mass. But they also contain hundreds of different kinds of proteins that influence how that calcium carbonate crystalizes. The interaction between the mineral crystals and the proteins yields an eggshell that’s initially crack-resistant, while making  nanoscale adjustments over time that ultimately let a chick peck...