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Years of dedicated efforts to tackle gender inequality in Europe show positive trends, but equality has not yet been achieved. This Perspective reports on the most recent initiatives in science and technology, with a special focus on the field of astronomy.
The BlackGEM project brings a wide-field robotic optical telescope array with outstanding image quality, sensitivity and field-of view to the Southern Hemisphere to explore the multi-colour explosive Universe, explains Principal Investigator Paul Groot.
PhD bridge programmes provide an asset-based model to improve access and inclusion for students from underrepresented groups. Several well-known PhD bridge programmes in the United States are described and lessons learned from their experiences are discussed.
Good intentions are not enough to advance diversity. This case study of a 2019 postdoctoral fellowship competition in astronomy illustrates how incorporating lessons from social science research into the evaluation process mitigates bias, identifies outstanding scientists, and improves diversity.
Astronomy across world cultures is rooted in indigenous knowledge. We share models of partnering with indigenous communities involving collaboration with integrity to co-create an inclusive scientific enterprise on Earth and in space.
The International Astronomical Youth Camp has benefited thousands of lives during its 50 year history. We explore the pedagogy behind this success, review a survey taken by more than 300 previous participants and discuss some of the challenges the camp faces in the future.
An overview of the nationwide programmes that are making an impact on diversity, culture and climate in Australia is presented, along with the most promising and innovative initiatives in Australian universities and institutions.
The convoluted challenges that stifle equity in academia can be understood in terms of dynamical systems descriptions of conflict developed in the social sciences, explaining the persistence of exclusive cultures and the inadequacy of simple fixes.
Spectropolarimetric data combined with high-resolution numerical simulations reveal a resonance cavity above a highly magnetic sunspot. This technique conclusively determines the three-dimensional structure of solar active regions from relatively commonplace two-dimensional data.
Protonated buckminsterfullerene (C60H+) may be the most abundant interstellar analogue of C60, and its gas-phase laboratory infrared spectrum is presented here. C60H+ has more infrared active modes than C60, giving it a richer spectrum that may be detectable with future infrared space missions.
After George Gamow first proposed the idea of a hot Big Bang in 1948, it took 15 years for the burgeoning cosmology community to recognize his contribution for what it was.
Nineteen dwarf galaxies from the ALFALFA catalogue support previous observations of dwarf galaxies that suggested a deficiency in dark matter, challenging the formation theory of low-mass galaxies within the standard cold dark matter model.
Multi-frequency observations by the upgraded LIGO/Virgo and the proposed LISA space gravitational wave detector will be used to detect intermediate-mass black hole binaries in their inspiral, merger and ring-down phases out to cosmological distances.
16 out of 17 spectral observations of Europa, spanning from February 2016 to May 2017, did not see anything, but the one on 26 April 2016 shows evidence of a direct detection of water vapour, compatible with a column density of 1.4 ± 0.4 × 1019 H2O m−2. Whatever water activity there is on Europa, it is very sporadic.