In November 2022, I migrated from Twitter to Mastodon. Since then, I also started administering a Mastodon server, and have gotten much more into the technical details of hosting services. I semi-understand ActivityPub, which Mastodon is built on – so I wondered, how does Bluesky actually work?

Previously, we discussed non-equilibrium dynamics in tidal dwarf galaxies. These are the result of interactions between giant galaxies that are manifestly a departure from equilibrium, a circumstance that makes TDGs potentially a decisive test to distinguish between dark matter and MOND, and simultaneously precludes confident application of that test.

One of the things that comes up over and over — on this blog, at conferences like DinoCon, on Q&A websites — is how to become a palaeontologist. As I’ve said before (at some length) the way to become a published palaeontologist is to publish papers about palaeontology.

Das DINI-Zertifikat definiert seit über 20 Jahren die Kriterien, die wissenschaftliche Publikationsdienste erfüllen sollten, um Qualität, Nachhaltigkeit und Interoperabilität sicherzustellen. Viele wissenschaftliche Einrichtungen und Bibliotheken orientieren Ihre Publikationsdienste an den bewährten Standards, um verlässliche, nutzer*innen- und autor*innenfreundliche Open-Access-Dienste anzubieten.

Clear Skies’ data analysis shows that peer-review rejects papers where we flag concerns. When I buy something with a credit card, I tap my card on a card reader to make a payment. It’s very convenient. Every now and then, I might go into a shop where I’ve never been before. Then, when I tap my card, I am asked to enter my Personal Identification Number (PIN) to verify that I am me. Why does this happen?

As we enter Peer Review Week 2025, we would like to propose the use of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles for scientific peer review , using these to make the process more scalable, efficient and also better equipped for the increasing use of AI in publishing. Today marks the start of Peer Review Week 2025 (PRW 2025), an annual event celebrating the vital role peer review plays in ensuring the

Appalachian History Series Blue Springs, known locally as the community around Midway and today within Mosheim, sat on the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad. On October 10, 1863, Union forces under Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside met Confederate cavalry under Brig. Gen. John S. “Cerro Gordo” Williams here and drove them from the line.

Appalachian History Series Bull’s Gap sits where the railroad and the road squeeze through Bays Mountain between Greene and Hawkins counties. In the fall of 1864 the gap again became the key to East Tennessee. Across three days, November 11 to 13, Major General John C. Breckinridge pressed a smaller Federal force under Alvan C. Gillem, roughly 2,500 effectives, with about 3,000 Confederates on the field.

Appalachian History Series A Yard Built for Coal Country On a broad bottom along the Cumberland River, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad built a new classification yard at Shonn, the rail hamlet that would soon be known as Loyall. Construction occurred in 1921 to serve the coal boom that was transforming Harlan County. Contemporary descriptions and later summaries agree on the timing.

Abandoned Appalachia Series A school on Browney’s Creek Cubbage Elementary stood in the Miracle community of far-southeastern Bell County, Kentucky, near the junction of KY 987 and KY 219. Locals often identify the broader area by the stream that drains it, Browney’s Creek, and by the clustered family names that gave Miracle its name.

There is a crisis in scientific publishing. Science is haunted. In early 2024, one major publisher retracted hundreds of scientific papers. Most were not the work of hurried researchers, but of ghosts—digital phantoms generated by artificial intelligence. Featuring nonsensical diagrams and fabricated data, they had sailed through the gates of peer review. This spectre of AI-driven fraud is not only a new technological threat.