February 11, 2025: Today we're covering Earth's inner core, NIH funding cuts and forensic firearms analyses. —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | | Google DeepMind's AI AlphaGeometry2 aced problems set at the International Mathematical Olympiad. Wirestock, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo | | | • Rain is forecast this weekend for the fire-scarred Los Angeles area, potentially offering a respite from fires but also increasing the risk of debris slides. | 3 min read | | | • A lander called Athena is set for spectacular lunar science following a touchdown as soon as February 26. | 4 min read | | | Earth's Inner Core Changes Shape | A new analysis of seismic waves that travel vast distances across Earth suggests that the shape of the planet's inner core is changing, reports science journalist Alexandra Witze. Using data from pairs of both magnitude- and location-matched earthquakes occurring years apart, the researchers examined how the shapes of the waves, or waveforms, from each event differed as they briefly passed through Earth's inner core. These changes helped reveal that the inner core's shape itself was changing.
What the experts say: "For the first time we're seeing that it's deforming," says seismologist and study co-author John Vidale, referring to the inner core.
Why this matters: The finding contributes to a longstanding debate about what is causing the shapes of core-penetrating seismic waves to change over periods of years and decades. Some researchers have pointed to the rotation speed of the inner core, which differs from that of the remainder of Earth. Others attributed the waveform changes to inner-core shape shifts arising as the solid inner core rotates within a molten outer core. The new analysis concludes that both forces are responsible—rotation, as well as changes in shape. | | | Earth's inner core was long considered to be completely solid, but research has shown that it can be deformed. Pavel Chagochkin/Alamy Stock Photo | | | The U.S. National Institutes of Health is immediately slashing its funding for biomedical research nationwide by about $4 billion a year, the agency recently announced. The cuts target spending on lab equipment, data storage, materials, utilities, security, maintenance and other administrative costs. "These are all costs that are vital to running labs at universities," David Skorton, president of the Association of American Medical Colleges, told Scientific American editor Dan Vergano. "...You need this infrastructure to study many, many problems. So no, it's not frills."
What the experts say: "Laboratories would literally go dark," if these cuts are made, Skorton says. "The research would stop." Separately, medical professor Theodore Iwashyna told CNN, "Frankly, this means that the lives of my children and grandchildren—and maybe yours—will be shorter and sicker."
Why this matters: The cuts will ravage crucial public health research at universities and other research centers. Specifically, the cuts will likely affect research projects such as cancer clinical trials, which have demonstrated the efficacy of newer treatment approaches such as immunotherapy, and also so-called basic research, the basis of vaccine research and nearly all biomedical findings. | | | • A botched forensic firearms analysis last year at the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory belies larger systemic flaws in the procedures used in such investigations, which increases the risk of wrongful convictions, writes psychologist Nicholas Scurich, who has a joint appointment in the criminology, law and society department at the University of California, Irvine. Reformed procedures should account for confirmation bias, ensure that verification practices are blinded from prior conclusions and otherwise uphold objectivity and scientifically grounded methods, he writes. | 4 min read | | | The earth science finding above reminded me that the massive scale of geologic time and forces is always impressive to consider, especially when encountered for the first time. Nine years ago, my spouse, former Scientific American editor Steve Mirsky, and I took a raft trip on the Colorado River where it flows through much of the Grand Canyon. It was the trip of a lifetime, as he recounted here. But his first opportunity to take in the canyon came a few years prior, on a day trip while visiting an Arizona relative. In my youth, I had backpacked the canyon a few times, so I made sure to watch him closely as the depth of the canyon came into view. His comment: "No way." | Have you visited any stunning geologic sites that gave you a sense of the scale of planetary forces and time? Let us know by emailing: newsletters@sciam.com. | —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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