NewsRx

"Oregon National Primate Research Center's animals represent one-quarter of all NPRC monkeys—and more than 5% of all research primates in the U.S.—which are vital for biomedical studies across the country."

Economics studies use causal interference, and increasingly so over time. Meanwhile, in psychology descriptive correlative is king. This excellent graphic shows the difference in methodological approaches between the psychology and economics fields.

Top five hurdles faced by early-career researchers We identify the five biggest challenges facing young researchers out in the “publish or perish” market—along with expert tips and solutions.

The top five hurdles faced by early-career researchers:
#1: Funding: Federal funding for major science agencies is at a twenty-five year low...
Full article here -->
ideas.newsrx.com/blog/top-fiv...

Greenland is important for global research: what’s next for the island’s science? Geopolitics made Greenland the unexpected focus of the world’s attention. But the territory has long been a unique region for science.

Excellent feature article on what Trump's ambitions mean for Greenland's scientists, on the frontiers of climate research: (4/4)
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Today, climate scientists from around the world measure, analyse and predict changes in Greenland’s ice sheet. If it were to melt, it would raise the global sea level by 7.4 metres; it is responsible for around 20% of current sea-level rise, or about 0.8 millimeters/yr. (3/4)

Greenland's history of research stems from Inuit traditions, European polar explorations and US military expeditions. By the 1990s, the island had become a global centre for climate-change research, after research teams drilled ice cores to reveal past changes in climate. (2/4)

Greenland is important for global research: what’s next for the island’s science? Geopolitics made Greenland the unexpected focus of the world’s attention. But the territory has long been a unique region for science.

The streets of Nuuk, Greenland, were bustling in November — for a scientific conference with a theme of ‘All Eyes on Greenland’ — a resonant title following US president Donald Trump’s threats to take over the island. (1/4)
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

AI has supercharged scientists—but may have shrunk science Analysis of 41 million papers finds that although AI expands individual impact, it narrows collective scientific exploration

One way to push back, says Zhicheng Lin, a psychologist at Yonsei University who studies the science of science, is to build better and larger data sets in fields that haven’t yet made much use of AI. (4/4) Full study:
www.science.org/content/arti...

But what was good for individuals wasn’t good for science. Researchers found that AI papers covered 4.6% less territory than other studies. AI-driven papers also spawned 22% less engagement and orbited a few superstar papers, with 1/4 of papers earning 80% of citations. (3/4)

On the one hand, papers that used AI drew nearly twice as many citations per year as those that did not. Scientists who adopted AI also published 3.02 times as many papers and received 4.84 times as many citations over their careers. (2/4)

AI has supercharged scientists—but may have shrunk science Analysis of 41 million papers finds that although AI expands individual impact, it narrows collective scientific exploration

An analysis of 41 million papers finds that although AI expands individual impact, it narrows collective scientific exploration. To uncover these trends, researchers began with more than 41 million papers published from 1980 to 2025: (1/4)
www.science.org/content/arti...

3) A decline in quality and integrity follows as profit-driven models compromise peer review and oversight
4) The volume of publications makes it difficult to identify authoritative work. Fraudulent journals spread hoax papers
5) The scholarly system is overwhelmed --> enshittification (2/2)

Thought-provoking article. Per the author, academic "enshittification" consists of:
1) The commodification of research shifts value from intellectual merit to marketability
2) The proliferation of pay-to-publish journals spreads across and expands both elite and predatory outlets (1/2)

Congress passes bill to fund U.S. science agencies, rebuffing Trump’s requested cuts Senate boosts funding for NASA, NOAA, and NSF beyond Trump's request, emphasizing science and research investment.

Senate boosts funding for NASA, NOAA, and NSF beyond Trump's request, emphasizing science and research investment.

2025 Research Trends from NewsRx’s BUTTER NewsRx’s BUTTER research platform reveals that 2025 was an exceptional year in fields like artificial intelligence, medicine, and sustainability research.

4) In sustainability research, Asia is king. Led by China, Asian nations produced more sustainability research than Europe and N. America combined. 2025 also saw more sustainability articles coming out of the African continent than the U.K. Full article: ideas.newsrx.com/blog/2025-re...

3) Drug development is slowing down. Today, the average time-to-market for a new drug is 12 years, with failure rates as high as 90%. Accompanying these trends, data shows that the number of clinical trials exploring drug development is increasing year-over-year.

2) Peer-reviewed research about large language models and AI exploded last year. 2025 saw a record 6,668 peer-reviewed articles about GPT, other LLMs, and the technology writ-large.
Among these articles, some of the biggest sub-topics included education, medicine, and robotics.

2025 Research Trends from NewsRx’s BUTTER NewsRx’s BUTTER research platform reveals that 2025 was an exceptional year in fields like artificial intelligence, medicine, and sustainability research.

Here are 4 trends in 2025 research, using data from NewsRx's BUTTER platform:
1) Stagnation in research productivity in traditional fields. Social science articles declined 40% from 2021 to 2025, and chemistry, biology, and ecology all saw 16-22% drops.
ideas.newsrx.com/blog/2025-re...

Read the Declaration | DORA The Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) recognizes the need to improve the ways in which the outputs of scholarly research are evaluated.

DORA seems to be a positive model to counter this trend, but it doesn't seem to have picked up as much momentum as you'd hope over the last decade.
sfdora.org/read/

In the New Vaccine Schedule, Signs of Bigger Changes to Come?

Comments by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allies suggest the revised schedule may presage an approach to immunization that prizes individual autonomy and downplays scientific expertise.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/h...

Important piece for the current climate! Provides key tips about outsourcing, discussions with stakeholders, and successful examples of contraction.

The best science and nature books of 2025 From the threat of superintelligent AI to the dangers of overdiagnosis; plus the evolution of language and the restless genius of Francis Crick

3) "Is a River Alive?" (Hamish Hamilton) by Robert Macfarlane explores the idea of the landscape having rights.
4) Biologist Neil Shubin has led expeditions to Antarctica and takes the reader to the "Ends of the Earth" (Oneworld). Full list: theguardian.com/books/2025/d... (3/3)

2) "Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction" (Allen Lane) by historian Sadiah Qureshi, is about how colonial expansion and the persecution of Indigenous peoples implicitly relied on Darwinian theories about some species being fated to outcompete others. (2/3)

The best science and nature books of 2025 From the threat of superintelligent AI to the dangers of overdiagnosis; plus the evolution of language and the restless genius of Francis Crick

Great science and nature books from last year, for your winter reading list.
1) "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies" (Bodley Head), by computer scientists Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, which argues against creating superintelligent AI.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d... (1/3)

2025 Research Trends from NewsRx’s BUTTER NewsRx’s BUTTER research platform reveals that 2025 was an exceptional year in fields like artificial intelligence, medicine, and sustainability research.

Major 2025 research trends, using data from NewsRx's Butter, including on AI research, genetics, and the stagnation of traditional fields:
ideas.newsrx.com/blog/2025-re...

Science’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year: The unstoppable rise of renewable energy Clean energy infrastructure is being deployed with unmatched scale and speed—and China is leading the way

In 2004, it took the world a full year to install 1 gigawatt of solar power capacity. Today, twice that amount goes online each day. Now, the real driver is self-interest: lower cost and greater energy security. (5/5)
www.science.org/content/arti...

Material advances are enabling wind turbine blades to get longer and harvest more energy, while designs for floating turbines could vastly expand the offshore areas in which they could be deployed. (4/5)

Technological progress could power future gains. Solar cells today are made of crystalline silicon, but another kind of crystal, perovskites, can be layered in tandem with silicon to make cells that gain efficiency by capturing more colors of light. (3/5)

China’s industrial engine is the driver. After years of nurturing the sector through subsidies, China now dominates global production of renewable energy technologies. It makes 80% of the world’s solar cells, 70% of its wind turbines, and 70% of its lithium batteries. (2/5)

Science’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year: The unstoppable rise of renewable energy Clean energy infrastructure is being deployed with unmatched scale and speed—and China is leading the way

Science's 2025 Breakthrough: The Unstoppable Rise of Renewable Energy
This year, renewables surpassed coal as an electricity source. From Jan to Jun, solar and wind energy grew fast enough to cover the entire increase in global electricity use. (1/5)
www.science.org/content/arti...