Vergani Fotografia/Shutterstock There’s a good chance that you when you leave the house today you’ll put on a face mask that obscures your mouth. Such coverings can affect our ability to communicate and provides a particular challenge to those that need to see lips to understand speech. But what ofContinue Reading
John Tyndall. wellcome/wikipedia, CC BY-SA It is surprising that the Irish scientist John Tyndall, born 200 years ago on August 2 1820, is not better known. This is despite the existence of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, the Tyndall National Institute and the Pic Tyndall summit on theContinue Reading
Current solar technologies aren't good enough. Antonio Garcia on Unsplash, FAL The demand for cheaper, greener electricity means that the energy landscape is changing faster than at any other point in history. This is particularly true of solar-powered electricity and battery storage. The cost of both has dropped at unprecedentedContinue Reading
Pearl PhotoPix/Shutterstock The “infodemic” of misinformation about coronavirus has made it difficult to distinguish accurate information from false and misleading advice. The major technology companies have responded to this challenge by taking the unprecedented move of working together to combat misinformation about COVID-19. Part of this initiative involves promoting contentContinue Reading
ffikretow/Shutterstock Viruses are often termed “the invisible enemy”. They aren’t visible with the naked eye, or even by using a standard optical microscope. So how do we know they exist or what they look like? There are biochemical methods, such as the ones used to confirm COVID-19 infection, that lookContinue Reading
What will be Britain’s place in the world after Brexit? Since the publication of the UK government’s research and development (R&D) roadmap, one part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s answer to this question has become far clearer: the future of the UK is, apparently, as a “science superpower”. At firstContinue Reading
Jolanda Aalbers/Shutterstock The internet is filled with blogs and articles offering advice for parents who are trying to coax children into eating greens. Anyone with kids can relate to stories of mealtimes becoming a succession of attritional confrontations, where you cycle through ineffectual strategies before accepting the reality of theContinue Reading
Tom Wang/Shutterstock What makes language special is part of what makes us special, so understanding what language is made of and how we learn it brings us closer to our human nature. Is language special because it runs on its own unique piece of mental software written into our DNA?Continue Reading
Franzi/Shutterstock There has long been a general assumption that human beings are essentially selfish. We’re apparently ruthless, with strong impulses to compete against each other for resources and to accumulate power and possessions. If we are kind to one another, it’s usually because we have ulterior motives. If we areContinue Reading
The scale of public anger over the automated downgrading of thousands of students’ A-level results highlights how much social and political power algorithmic decision-making now has. As well as students’ grades, algorithms are now deciding all sorts of things that hugely impact ordinary people’s lives, from loan applications to jobContinue Reading
