News
Covid triggers poaching and destruction
How a global pandemic has revealed the fragile relationships between endangered species, ecotourists and local communities. The rise in ecotourism has brought many species back from the cliff edge of extinction, but with the rapid spread of COVID-19 and the ensuing national lockdowns and holiday cancellations, many of the benefits brought by ecotourism may be…
Trapped in a glass home – A shrimp’s life in lockdown
Below fathom five, at depths you cannot fathom, both of them have found their forever home. Now their kids are leaving to find their own houses of glass, but they have to be careful—because they, just like their parents, will then become trapped for the rest of their lives. They will look out at the…
The sleeping dragon – could lizards hold the secrets of human sleep?
Sleep is a phenomenon that ties us irrefutably to our relatives in the rest of the animal kingdom. The requirement to sleep is not only present in the most complex of organisms, such as Homo sapiens, but also in more primitive species, such as the jellyfish Cassiopoiea and the nematode C. Elegans. Even in light…
Covid-19: a spotlight on science
I am very aware that we all can’t move for news stories about the coronavirus at the moment. But in a time where things seem a bit bleak, I’d like to take a moment to appreciate all science has done and is doing to fight this pandemic. So here’s my 2p. First, a quick recap….
The War Against Cancer – Are Our Bodies Our Own Greatest Weapons?
Over the last few decades, our treatment of cancer has been revolutionised. The field has been transformed by a focus on ‘personalised medicine’ which involves treating patients’ individual cases rather than grouping them together. It is universally recognised that there is no single cure for cancer, and increasing evidence suggests that there is not a…
An antidote to fear
10 million people in the UK suffer from some sort of phobia. At the heart of these anxiety-related disorders are aversive memories, which are formed when the brain makes a link between an object, animal, place, or situation and a traumatic event experienced at the same time. Currently, treatment for these phobias involves gradually exposing…
Explosions: Inventions and Uses
Bang! A gun shot. Or the burst of a firework. Explosions, big and small, can cause delight or pain, but always manage to grab your attention. Over the centuries they have been used to win wars, break through defences, and mine deep into the earth for precious materials. But the power they have to generate…
Got a bad feeling in your stomach?
Recent research into the gut-brain axis For every one of the human cells in our bodies, there are ten bacterial cells, meaning each one of us is, in some ways, more bacteria than human. This thought may be uncomfortable given the media’s portrayal of bacteria as inherently hostile and harmful to human health, but new…
Antarctic temperature record: A warning for the future?
Brazilian scientists have recorded the highest-ever Antarctic temperature. At midday on 9 February, air temperature at the Marambio research base hit 20.75ᵒC. This is the first time that a temperature exceeding 20ᵒC has been recorded anywhere within the Antarctic climate zone – the area further than 60 degrees south of the equator. Marambio is located…
Smart Living on the Blockchain: A 10 Minute Catch-Up
Bitcoin – it is everywhere. Last year was the tenth anniversary of the famous Bitcoin whitepaper by “Satoshi Nakamoto”, but the future of cryptocurrencies remains uncertain as it is shrouded in skepticism and a lack of familiarity outside of the tech community. However, Bitcoin’s underpinning technology, blockchain, has a rather more optimistic outlook. In a…