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Imagine you have just observed something that is going to revolutionize science. The first thing you’d do is probably check everything multiple times – is this correct? Is it really happening? And if you were in a big international collaboration‚ you might even want to ask around to check if this is a prank or a test. Or maybe‚ you might consider something more sinister: someone has created a fake.This is not a hypothetical‚ but what actually happened during the weeks following the momentous first observation of gravitational waves. Let’s go back to September 14‚ 2015. On that day‚ the two LIGOs (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory)‚ one in Hanford‚ Washington‚ and the other in Livingston‚ Louisiana‚ detected for the first time vibrations in space-time.A LIGO is made of two arms 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) long. A laser is split and shot through the arms. It bounces off mirrors at the end of each arm and comes back to its origin. If the length is indeed the same‚ as it comes back the laser beam is designed to cancel out. But if space-time is disturbed by waves‚ you’ll see something. And that is what happened. A signal was seen across both instruments.      “Like many others‚ I simply didn't believe it. The reason is that many of us thought it was a test: an ‘injection.’ We used to do many tests where we inject fake signals into the data of our detector‚” Professor Pia Astone‚ from La Sapienza University‚ told IFLScience during our interview for CURIOUS Live. “And then in the end‚ we had a meeting and the spokesperson of the collaboration said‚ no‚ this is not a test.”The data suggested a collision between black holes of similar masses‚ one weighing 36 times the mass of the Sun and the other 29. And the signal looked very good. This was one for the history books‚ but as the excitement increased so did the concern. Could the signal have been faked?“The second step was even more complicated. We thought: ‘Okay‚ but is it possible that someone cheated? In the sense that they introduced the signals having in mind to do something bad‚” Professor Astone explained. “And so we got together a group of people. They were charged to really try to see whether it was possible to enter the labs and inject a signal without leaving any clue. After one week‚ they gave us a report and the conclusion was: ‘Okay guys it is very difficult‚ but not impossible.’”      But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence‚ and the fact that we had truly detected a collision between black holes had all the proof needed. The remote possibility of sabotage was merely a "not impossible". The focus shifted from a "What if?" to an "Oh wow!"“I started to realize this is something fantastic and I am in it. I remember that the period from October 2015 up to February 2016 - when we gave the press conference - was probably the most intense‚ difficult‚ but also full of emotions of my entire working activities‚” Professor Astone told IFLScience. “We knew that we were writing a paper that would make history!”And make history they did. Gravitational waves have been observed time and time again following that first detection and a new era of astronomy began that day – with a little dash of drama behind the scenes.

Wasps‚ let's face facts here‚ are not everybody's favorite insect. Despite playing important roles in pollination and regulating plant pests‚ they still lose out heavily in the PR war to their old rivals the bee.In fact‚ one attitude survey in 2018 found that wasps were "universally disliked by the public"‚ which is unfair on an insect that also regulates other insects known to carry human diseases. The negative attitude towards wasps‚ which pollinate crops as they search for nectar just like bees do although not to the same extent‚ likely comes from encounters with yellowjacket wasps. These are the classic yellow and black-striped social wasps‚ which can become aggressive and sting people‚ particularly as their food supply becomes scarce.Though these are the wasps humans are most likely to encounter‚ they make up less than 1 percent of stinging wasps. There are approximately 100‚000 species of wasps in the world‚ most of them not ruining your picnic.One species of wasp will actually enhance your picnic‚ given that it produces honey.         Despite bees getting all the glory‚ honey production does not stop at bees. Honeypot ants have their own particularly strange way of storing this "honey"‚ inside the abdomens of their comrades.  Though some wasps will produce a small amount of honey in their nest‚ Mexican honey wasps (Brachygastra mellifica) are one of the only wasps that make honey on a large scale like bees‚ producing it in huge honeycombs by regurgitating nectar into their nest.The wasps‚ smaller than a honey bee and black in color‚ get pollen stuck to their hairy bodies‚ and pollinate crops as they go. These wasps were likely among the first pollinators of avocados in Central America‚ before the arrival of the honeybee.What is surprising about the wasp‚ is that they bear little relation to bees."They're really interesting because they're really distant relatives of the honey bee‚" Dr Elli Leadbeater from the Institute of Zoology and Zoological Society of London explained in a YouTube video‚ "and so genetically they're very different but they do exactly the same behavior. We want to know if it's the same genes that control the behavior in both species."The wasps make less honey than bees‚ but it is just as edible to humans. Its flavor is described as like maple syrup. Samples of the honey have found it contained sunflower‚ mesquite‚ and honeydew.

The world has changed significantly since the HIV epidemic began. The development of new drugs has allowed people living with the virus to have a healthy life‚ and even to not pass on the infection. But for this disease to be removed from the list of the main public health threats‚ what is needed is a vaccine.Together with tuberculosis‚ HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus) is a leading infectious global health threat. In 2022‚ there were 1.3 million new infections and about 630‚000 people died from HIV-related causes. National and international organizations have set out a goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030. Having a vaccine is believed to be a very important tool to make that a reality.The quest to develop an HIV vaccineThe quest for a vaccine has been arduous. The virus is an adaptable adversary and the various approaches that have been experimented with over the years have so far not shown significant protection in clinical trials.“HIV is an incredibly successful virus when it comes to evading the human immune system. It rapidly hides inside cells‚ it integrates into the DNA‚ kills immune cells‚ and has a protective glycan shield on its envelope protein that masks antigen targets from immune effectors‚” Dr Johan Vekemans‚ the senior science and clinical advisor and HIV vaccine development lead for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)‚ told IFLScience.“It is a master at inducing immune responses and antibodies that are not neutralizing and not protective. These are among the major scientific challenges‚ but probably the leading challenge relates to the very‚ very high diversity that the HIV vaccine envelope protein displays. Just within an infected host‚ there can be a very‚ very important diversity expressed in the pool of infecting viruses.”So HIV can hide and can destroy the immune system. If an immune response is produced‚ it is ineffective. And the variety of virus strains‚ even within a single individual‚ made traditional approaches ineffective. These properties make it a challenge to eradicate the virus once it has infected an individual and to prevent the infection‚ so no cure or preventative vaccine has been successfully developed yet.The latest researchFailure to develop a successful candidate is certainly disappointing‚ but researchers have not given up. Each unsuccessful trial provides new clues and understanding about this virus and hopefully how to fight it for good. The ideal vaccine would activate an immune response that produces broadly neutralizing antibodies that kill the diversity of viruses and prevent them from infecting cells; the vaccine-induced activation of protective T-cells would add another arm of the immune response that can seek out and kill infected cells‚ which would potentially progress prospects for developing a cure.“We're switching from an approach that has traditionally been quite empiric in vaccine development to an approach that aims to be more deductive and evidence-based. That is the case for the target generation of neutralizing antibodies‚ as well as the target generation of protective T-cell responses. It's important to understand that we're learning from nature‚” Vekemans told IFLScience. It is the study of HIV patients with chronic infections that‚ for example‚ led to insights into broadly neutralizing antibodies. The ability to induce such an immune response is seen as an important avenue in creating a preventative vaccine. There have been some successful steps forward in this direction. A vaccine candidate was able to develop the precursors to broadly neutralizing antibodies in a Phase I clinical trial.Two vaccine clinical trials are now attempting to further guide the immune response along‚ one being conducted in the US and another one being conducted in Africa‚ by African scientists. In these studies‚ the engineered immunogens that trigger the response are delivered by mRNA technology.“There is also active research in the curative field. And it may be useful to highlight that there might be cross-learnings in these two fields. We might understand better how to prevent and how to get rid of the virus through curative approaches by combining tools‚” Vekemans continued.A Phase I clinical trial for a T-cell vaccine design was concluded last July with results expected to be published soon. Other approaches are being investigated in preclinical trials and are being informed by the knowledge accumulated over decades‚ as well as new technology including machine learning algorithms.“The key lesson is the fact that we shouldn't be shooting in the dark. And it's really important to understand and master the protective immune response and use an approach that focuses on generating the rightly characterized protective immune response‚” Vekemans explained to IFLScience.What's the outlook for tackling HIV?While a vaccine is not here yet‚ we are not defenseless against the virus. Education and prevention are very important. Drugs such as PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) can prevent infections and there are new versions that could be longer lasting and even easier to administer‚ such as the injectable form.For people living with HIV too‚ despite the lack of a cure‚ there have been huge steps forward. New antiretroviral drugs allow for completely healthy lives. Beyond that‚ it has been shown that once the viral load becomes undetectable it is impossible for them to pass the virus on. This remarkable achievement is encapsulated by the phrase undetectable equals untransmittable‚ or U=U.Despite the progress‚ however‚ people living with HIV continue to experience stigma and discrimination due to political‚ religious‚ and socioeconomic conditions. This contributes to those most at risk not being able to access lifesaving drugs and crucial information about the disease.

Record efficiency in CIGS solar cells has been independently verified‚ showing there is still life in the once-popular technology that has been shaded in recent years. Today‚ the vast majority of photovoltaic systems are silicon-based. However‚ silicon cells are approaching their maximum efficiency‚ and require relatively high temperatures to produce‚ creating a floor in cost and embedded energy that is hard to get below. The much newer perovskite technology is improving at an astonishing rate‚ but doubts remain about perovskite cells’ longevity.Consequently‚ some researchers are keen to keep options open for an alternative approach. Moreover‚ stacking different types of solar cells on each other leads to efficiencies none could achieve on their own. Both of these keep CIGS relevant as a potential part of fossil fuels’ replacement‚ despite its decline in market share since the early 2000s.The letters in CIGS stand for copper‚ indium‚ gallium‚ and selenide‚ a combination of which are coated on an ordinary sheet of window glass‚ along with silver and sodium. A team at Uppsala University created one such cell that outperformed predecessors using several innovations‚ including adjusting gallium concentrations in different parts of the cell.This composition sounds expensive – some of those metals are quite pricey. The fact they need to be treated with rubidium fluoride‚ a molybdenum layer placed behind them‚ and a transparent layer placed in front‚ doesn’t improve the situation.However‚ these types of cells are not called “thin film” for nothing. The sheets are so fine that the quantities of metals required should not be prohibitive compared to silicon.If CIGS is to be worth using‚ however‚ it needs efficiency at least close to competing technologies. For decades‚ solar engineers were more concerned about getting production costs down than improving efficiency‚ but solar cells are now so cheap that efficiency gains have been prioritized in recent years. Standard commercial panel efficiencies have more than doubled over a decade‚ allowing far more energy to be generated from rooftops with limited space‚ as well as easing concerns that utility solar will compete with agriculture for land. Uppsala University researchers held the record for CIGS efficiency in the 1990s‚ but that feat had been exceeded for decades. Recently‚ however‚ they produced a cell that their own tests suggested was closing in on 24 percent efficiency. Independent testing by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems has now produced a value of 23.54 percent. “The measurements that we have made ourselves for this solar cell and other solar cells produced recently are within the margin of error for the independent measurement‚” Uppsala University's Professor Marika Edoff said in a statement. This reclaims the CIGS crown‚ beating the previous record set by Solar Frontier of Japan by 0.29 percent‚ although still behind silicon’s 27.6 percent and perovskite’s 26.1.However‚ CIGS doesn’t need to beat silicon’s efficiency to matter. Different cell technologies work best at capturing different parts of the spectrum of sunlight that reaches Earth. Tandem cells are topped by a layer that is good at capturing blue to ultraviolet‚ and relatively transparent to longer wavelengths‚ with another layer more suited to capturing red light below. These can be more efficient than any single-layer cell – with a record currently standing at 33.9 percent.“Our study demonstrates that CIGS thin-film technology is a competitive alternative as a stand-alone solar cell. The technology also has properties that can function in other contexts‚ such as the bottom cell of a tandem solar cell‚” said Edoff. CIGS’s high reliability also gives it an advantage over some other candidates.Inevitably‚ tandem cells are more expensive per unit area‚ and currently per unit of energy as well. Consequently‚ they are only used in cases where efficiency is much more important than cost‚ such as powering satellites. However‚ if improvements continue across multiple technologies‚ tandem‚ or even triple or quadruple cells‚ could become much more widespread. The study is published in Nature Energy.