An infectious form of Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite hosted by domestic cats, has spread to Beluga whales in the western Arctic. The infection is thought to have arisen through water or fish contaminated with cat […]
Science | Lasers hold the key to clean energy
What seemed like a futile experiment, ongoing for over 60 years, may have finally revealed a viable solution to the world’s future energy requirements. The process of nuclear fusion is a replication of the reaction […]
Science | What causes the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)?
Although 93 million miles away, the Sun’s activity is the actual cause of the Aurora Borealis. Huge magnetic storms on the Sun’s surface send waves of charged particles into the Earth’s atmosphere via solar wind, these […]
Science | Bionic hand restores feeling to amputee
A Danish man has become the first amputee in the world to feel sensation in an artificial hand thanks to groundbreaking new research conducted by Silvestro Micera and his team at the Swiss-based technology institute […]
Science | 800,000 year old footprints found near Norwich
The town of Happisburgh, 15 miles from Norwich, now boasts the oldest evidence of human existence ever found outside Africa. A total of 50 footprints found on a beach exposed for only hours whilst the […]
Science | ‘Thinking’ guts influence thoughts
Termed the ‘second brain’, our bodies have a completely separate nervous system, which carries 500 million neurons and stretches to nine meters, from oesophagus to anus. Historically thought to be for controlling digestion, the enteric […]
Science | #sharkatrack: tweeting sharks to save lives
They are commonly portrayed as the oceans’ deadly killing machines, responsible for savaging beach goers and terrifying sun bathers, but thanks to twitter you can now literally “follow” over 300 sharks off the Australian west […]
Science | New biosensor for Alzheimer’s
A new biosensor developed by scientists at the University of Leeds could revolutionise the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. The research explains how the biosensor measures harmful clusters of the protein amyloid-beta in a patient’s bloodstream, […]
Science | See through brains with CLARITY
Last year, Karl Deisseroth and his team at Stanford University announced the development of a technique to make whole issue samples transparent, while maintaining their cellular structure. The technique, called CLARITY, turns whole, soft tissue […]
Science | What is the world's most dangerous animal?
In terms of damage infliction, the saltwater crocodile is extremely well equipped! As the largest species in the crocodilian family, an average male can reach up to 5m in length and 450kg in weight. Their […]
Science | How do didgeridoos produce their distinctive sound?
This term sees the beginning of ‘Science Shorts’, a series in which science questions will be answered in approximately 100 words. The first one, all in aid of Australia day, looks at how didgeridoos produce […]
Science | Comment – Mephedrone, not for human consumption
Mephedrone, more commonly known as MCAT or Meow Meow was the first of a new type of drugs, and it will not be the last. A synthetically produced research drug belonging to a group of […]