Where You Meet Shapes What You Ask: The Hidden Geography of Scientific Discovery
The physical setting of a scientific conference does far more than provide a backdrop—it actively curates which research questions rise to the surface and which remain unasked. Hosting OSAPS 2024 in Cebu, Philippines, places a distinct regional lens on the physics agenda, surfacing experimental priorities that US-centric venues routinely bypass. For American physicists accustomed to the familiar circuits of Boston, San Francisco, and Chicago, that shift may be the most consequential variable of