How Long Does It Take to Read and Write Papers in English?

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A new story from Nature looks at how much longer it takes people whose native language is not English to write papers and read papers in English. It took them between 13 and 50% more time to write a paper as well, the study found. If you are PhD students writing your thesis, for example, you would spend 19 additional days just reading papers. So, it could be quite a considerable difference between native and non-native English speakers.

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

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