Klein Ongaki Hamdi was just an infant when his relatives first brought him to the Dadaab refugee camp in north-eastern Kenya to be registered as a refugee – despite the fact he was a Kenyan citizen. Like many ethnic Somali citizens of Kenya living in the vicinity of the camp,Continue Reading
The novel coronavirus is affecting our brains, whether we've caught it or not. Teo Tarras/Shutterstock Whether you have contracted COVID-19 or not, your brain is likely to have changed over the past few months. The virus itself can cause a number of neurological problems, along with anxiety and depression. TheContinue Reading
Quantum computers may be more trustworthy. Yurchanka Siarhei/Shutterstock MIP* = RE is not a typo. It is a groundbreaking discovery and the catchy title of a recent paper in the field of quantum complexity theory. Complexity theory is a zoo of “complexity classes” – collections of computational problems – ofContinue Reading
Zoka74/Shutterstock Every time you put on a coat, hug somebody or sit on a sofa you leave behind tiny little fibres from your clothing. You also pick up fibres left behind by other people. This movement of fibres is known as fibre transfer and forensic scientists can use this toContinue Reading
There are over 175 COVID-19 vaccines in development. Almost all government strategies for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic are based on the idea that one of these vaccine candidates will eventually provide widespread protection against the virus and enable us all to return to our normal lives. But there’s noContinue Reading
shutterstock Individualistic western societies are built on the idea that no one knows our thoughts, desires or joys better than we do. And so we put ourselves, rather than the government, in charge of our lives. We tend to agree with the philosopher Immanuel Kant’s claim that no one hasContinue Reading
Tool made out of horse bone. UCL Institute of Archaeology, Author provided Boxgrove in Sussex, England, is an iconic, old stone age site. This is where the oldest human remains in Britain have been discovered – fossils of Homo heidelbergensis. Part of an exceptionally preserved 26km-wide ancient landscape of stone,Continue Reading
Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock, Author provided Young people have probably spent much more of their time than usual playing video games over the last few months thanks to the coronvirus pandemic. One report from telecoms firm Verizon said online gaming use went up 75% in the first week of lockdown in the US.Continue Reading
Aaron Hunter, Author provided The English town of Lyme Regis is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. It was here in the 1830s that William Buckland, better known for the discovery of the first dinosaur, Megalosaurus, collected fossils with another pioneering palaeontologist, Mary Anning. One of their discoveriesContinue Reading
It is unclear how well masks work. People Image Studio/Shutterstock Although political leaders have closed borders in response to COVID-19, scientists are collaborating like never before. But the coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) is novel – and we don’t yet have all the facts about it. As a result, we may have toContinue Reading
