By Katie Jones A team of researchers collaborating across the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), and the universities of Vienna, Hamburg, Würzburg, and Konstanz, have successfully sequenced the complete genome of the Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri). The lungfish genome is the largest animal genome to ever be deciphered, a record-breaking feat made possible using…
Video Credit: Andrea Vale As the number of vaccinated people steadily increases, it seems that each day brings us closer to a return to some sense of normality. However, as unprecedented as the current COVID-19 pandemic has been, it is by no means the first disease to wreak havoc upon humanity and, if we fail…
By Sandra Saade, Rita Kimijima-Dennemeyer, and Laura-Bianca Pasca Image Credit: Daffodil Dhayaa Humanity will not wait millions of years until Mother Nature will hand it a functionally better brain…[Humankind] will directly, openly and consciously take part in evolution. Corneliu E. Giurgea In Netflix’ groundbreakingly popular mini-series The Queen’s Gambit, we witness the prodigious performance of…
By Albini Dania From the food we eat to the air we breathe, plankton help maintain and produce life on Earth. What is plankton? The word ‘plankton’ derives from the Greek “planktos” (πλαγχτος), which in turn comes from the Greek verb “plazo” (πλαζω) meaning to “drift” or “wander” and is used to describe tiny plants…
By Jia Jhing Sia and Connor Forsyth For the past year the Oxford vaccine has been making headlines as one of our most important tools in the fight against COVID-19. This has been especially true in the last few months, over which the vaccine has been authorised for clinical use in the UK, India, and…
By Tom Leslie and Mason Wakley For the past year the Oxford vaccine has been making headlines as one of our most important tools in the fight against COVID-19. This has been especially true in the last few months, over which the vaccine has been authorised for clinical use in the UK, India, and recently…
Sophie Thompson The digitisation of healthcare is not a new idea—indeed it was a clear ambition of the NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, which proposed that all patients should have the right to a ‘digital first’ primary care offer by 2023/2024. The pandemic, however, necessitated a much more rapid realisation of this…
Hannah King When you picture a zoo, what do you see? A lone bear in a concrete cage, its fur matted from neglect, pacing listlessly in front of an audience of impatient tourists? Or do you imagine a butterfly house, with a flurrying kaleidoscope of insects and children gazing upwards, eyes alight with wonder? Or…
Jin-Gyu Chang Think back to what you learnt in school about the history of racism, and you will find that it’s a very simplified and discontinuous narrative that goes something like this: slavery and empire (which is quite often portrayed as a good thing, or at least a necessary evil), the Nazis and WII and…
Fatima Arif The Paris Climate Agreement [1] is a document which lays out a set of international climate goals. These aims include limiting global warming to under 1.5°C in order to prevent the worst effects of climate change[2]. The document also focuses on minimising the damage to people’s livelihoods, by preparing and adapting for climate…
