We’re all familiar with the regular phases of matter: solid, liquid and gas. I’m sure many of you have heard of plasmas too, a more exotic state of matter similar to gas but where all […]
Get the Fact Out
In the current age of post-truth, flat-earthers and alternative facts, it’s worth bearing in mind where we would be without objective reasoning. Science as an instrument is the finest honed tool that humans have ever […]
Bodies of Evidence
Odds are you’ve most likely never heard of William Herbert Sheldon. No, not the guy from the Big Band Theory, or whatever it’s called. Chances also are you haven’t heard of his somatotype psychology theory […]
Plastic Panic! How does synthetic waste affect the oceans?
“There is no away – because plastic is so permanent and so indestructible. When you cast it into the ocean, there is no away” Sir David Attenborough Plastics are almost in everything that we touch […]
The March for Science
In protest to the Trump administration’s views on climate change, science policy and their continual exclusion of scientific evidence from policy decisions, scientists organised rallies and marches in over 600 cities around the world on […]
Tribology: A little bit of friction goes a long way
This weird sounding word does not mean the study of tribes, as many puzzled people have asked me before, though perhaps the subtitle has given it away. Tribology is the study of interacting surfaces in […]
Trees die. Let’s plant some more
On Monday America’s oldest oak tree – located in a New Jersey Presbyterian churchyard – was felled, bringing an end to a life that had spanned 600 years. Yes, it hadn’t reached the age of […]
From Cove to Captivity: Taiji’s deadly dolphin secret
Today, on National Dolphin Day, we devote some time to celebrate this intelligent and beautiful mammal. We also celebrate that the once glamorous marine animal performance industry has taken a serious hit in the last […]
IPA And All That – A Memorable History Of Alcohol Part 1
Humanity has always had a drinking problem. From our hunter-gatherer days, to when we settled down to farm and onto the modern day where we produce alcoholic drinks in industrial quantities; consumption of alcohol has […]
Good Grief, it’s a new coral reef
A 3,600-square mile coral reef ecosystem has been discovered beneath the murky waters of the Amazon river’s mouth and is now known as one of the greatest reef systems in the world! This 600-mile-long reef […]
Losing a language – a war of attrition
Linguists describe the languages we’ve learnt from birth, and throughout our teenage years, as our native language, native tongue or mother tongue. You have probably heard these expressions before, however in linguistics – the study […]
What’s new in science this week?
Computer Operating system and short movie stored on DNA: Scientists at the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science have shown that it’s possible to use an algorithm, normally designed for streaming videos on mobile […]