Today’s physics news: Scientists sign petition to boycott academic publisher Elsevier, Fourth potentially habitable planet discovered and more

Today’s physics news: Scientists sign petition to boycott academic publisher Elsevier, Fourth potentially habitable planet discovered and more

Scientists sign petition to boycott academic publisher Elsevier
More than 3,000 academics, including several Fields medal-winning mathematicians, have put their names to a petition declaring their intention to boycott the academic publisher Elsevier. The “Cost of Knowledge” petition claims Elsevier charges “exorbitantly high” prices for its journals and criticises its practice of selling journals in “bundles” so libraries “must buy a large set with many unwanted journals, or none at all”. It says the publisher makes “huge profits by exploiting their essential titles, at the expense of other journals”.
Guardian

Fourth potentially habitable planet discovered
A fourth potentially habitable planet outside our solar system – about 22 light-years from Earth – with temperatures that could support water and lifen has been discovered by international astronomers.The team analysed data from the European Southern Observatory about a star known as GJ 667C, which is known as an M-class dwarf star and puts out much less heat than our Sun.
Telegraph

Slow graphene down, speed computers up
Professor Konstantin Novoselov, the co-discoverer of graphene, has found a way to stop the free-flow of electrons in graphene, making it possible for the material to reside in ‘on’ and ‘off’ states. This is an ideal property for the much-sought-after application of graphene: high-speed computers. The findings are published in the journal Science.
New Scientist

Researchers feel pressure to cite superfluous papers
One in five academics in a variety of social science and business fields say they have been asked to pad their papers with superfluous references in order to get published. The figures, from a survey published today in Science, also suggest that journal editors strategically target junior faculty, who in turn were more willing to acquiesce.
Nature