The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has recently commissioned three private companies, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin and General Atomics, to develop nuclear fission thermal...
Science
Black Swans And Other Deviations: Like Evolution, All Scientific...
Discussions about the nature of science and scientific theories are often confused by the outdated view that such theories are rendered false when anomalies arise. The notion of a scientific theory...
Origin Of Life: Lightning Strikes May Have Provided Missing...
The origin of life on Earth is one of the most complex puzzles facing scientists. It involves not only identifying the numerous chemical reactions that must take place to create a replicating...
Farming Without Disturbing Soil Could Cut Agriculture’s Climate...
Perhaps because there are no chimney stacks belching smoke, the contribution of the world’s farms to climate change seems somehow remote. But agriculture accounts for a staggering 26% of all...
Animal Adoptions Make No Evolutionary Sense, So Why Do They...
Scientists used to think that humans are special because we have larger brains than other animals. However, some experts in human evolution have suggested that it isn’t how we think that makes the...
Nuclear Power: How Might Radioactive Waste Water Affect The...
It’s been just over a decade since the fourth most powerful earthquake of the modern era triggered a tsunami that struck Fukushima on the eastern coastline of Japan, causing thousands of deaths and...
From Bioweapons to Super-Soldiers: How the UK is Joining the...
The UK government recently announced an £800 million, taxpayer-funded Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria). The brainchild of the British prime minister’s former chief...
Mars: How Ingenuity Helicopter Made The First Flight On Another...
Imagine that you are flying a model helicopter or a drone. You are there with the auto controls. You switch them on. The rotors start to turn, gradually increasing their spin. You watch, then push...
COVID-19 Vaccines are a Victory for Public Research, Not ‘Greed’...
Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, reportedly attributed the success of the COVID-19 vaccines to “capitalism” and “greed”. But he is wrong – the idea that private ingenuity and naked competition...
Transparent Wood is Coming, and It Could Make an Energy...
Wood is an ancient material humans have been using for millions of years, for the construction of housing, ships and as a source of fuel for burning. It’s also a renewable source, and one way to...
How to Build a Moon Base
Half a century after humans first walked on the moon, a number of private companies and nations are planning to build permanent bases on the lunar surface. Despite the technological progress since...
Science of Champion Runners: Inside The Body of Elite Endurance...
The 40th anniversary of the London Marathon takes place on Sunday, October 4 2020. Athletes will run on a closed-loop circuit around St James’s Park before finishing on The Mall. This year’s lineup...
Nature Versus Nurture: How Modern Science Is Rewriting It
The question of whether it is genes or environment that largely shapes human behaviour has been debated for centuries. During the second half of the 20th century, there were two camps of scientists –...
Super Shoes: Explaining Athletics’ New Technological Arms Race
In the 1960s, when traditional cinder athletics tracks were replaced by spongy, synthetic surfaces, endurance running experienced a revolution. Long distance runners began clocking far faster times...
Chimpanzees in Volatile Habitats Evolved to Behave More Flexibly...
A new study explores how chimpanzees behaviour becomes more flexible in the face of climate volatility and what that might say about human evolution One of the reasons humans are so resilient is our...
Here’s How Scientists Know the Coronavirus Came from Bats and...
One of the conspiracy theories that have plagued attempts to keep people informed during the pandemic is the idea that the coronavirus was created in a laboratory. But the vast majority of scientists...
Europe is Recruiting Astronauts: Here’s What it Takes to Become...
For the first time in 11 years, the European Space Agency (ESA) is recruiting new astronauts. Applications will open on March 31 2021 for eight weeks, followed by a six-stage selection process to...
Phosphorus is Vital for Life on Earth – and We’re Running Low
Phosphorus is an essential element that is contained in many cellular compounds, such as DNA and the energy carrier ATP. All life needs phosphorus and agricultural yields are improved when phosphorus...
Marie Stopes Opened the UK’s First Birth Control Clinic 100...
Marie Stopes opened Britain’s first clinic offering birth control advice to married women. Born in Edinburgh in 1880, Stopes was an author, women’s rights campaigner and trained paleobotanist. She...
Coronavirus is Evolving but so are our Antibodies
The emergence of “variants of concern” has raised questions about our long-term immunity to the coronavirus. Will the antibodies we make after being infected with or vaccinated against the dominant...