The Cost of Working in English

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If English is not your native language, you need to have some level of proficiency to really engage with science. There are papers that are published in other languages, but the vast majority are in English. Some people who were interviewed for this article said that they have had reviewers explicitly say that their English puts into doubt the quality of their research or just gave them feedback on their English when they're sort of submitting papers. So it seems like there is certainly an additional cost for people who don't have English as their native language when they are participating in science.

In this episode:

00:46 How to see in the dark like it’s daytime

There are many methods for better night-vision, but often these rely on enhancing light, which may not be present, or using devices which can interfere with one another. One alternative solution is to use heat, but such infrared sensors struggle to distinguish between different objects. To overcome this, researchers have now combined such sensors with machine learning algorithms to make a system that grants day-like night-vision. They hope it will be useful in technologies such as self-driving cars.

Research article: Bao et al.

News and Views: Heat-assisted imaging enables day-like visibility at night

09:27 Research Highlights

Benjamin Franklin’s anti-counterfeiting money printing techniques, and how much snow is on top of Mount Everest really?

Research Highlight: Ben Franklin: founding father of anti-counterfeiting techniques

Research Highlight: How much snow is on Mount Everest? Scientists climbed it to find out

11:47 Briefing Chat

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, the cost to scientists of English not being their native language, and the mysterious link between COVID-19 and type 1 diabetes.

Nature News: The true cost of science’s language barrier for non-native English speakers

Nature News: As COVID-19 cases rose, so did diabetes — no one knows why

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

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