lewan/Shutterstock Plants have colonised the vast majority of the Earth’s surface. So what is the key to their success? People often think of plants as simple, senseless life forms. They may live rooted in one place, but the more scientists learn about plants, the more complex and responsive we realiseContinue Reading
Pixabay Are you a doom scroller or a frequent Tweeter? Do you pass the time by flicking endlessly through others’ posts on social networking sites, or perhaps you use these platforms to share your own content? Psychologists believe our style of social media usage has important effects on our psychologicalContinue Reading
Dr Sarah Mothulatshipi and Topo Mpho Çhengeta in Gweta, Botswana exchanging knowledge with the local community about long term environmental change and stone age archaeology in the area. Sallie Burrough, Author provided “You know what’s wrong with scientific power? It’s a form of inherited wealth. And you know what assholesContinue Reading
Chemists are often the unsung heroes of scientific breakthroughs that change our lives Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock Real-world technology is often foretold by science fiction. In 1927, characters in the film Metropolis made video calls to each other. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry hung flat-screen colour monitors on the walls of theContinue Reading
Alena Ozerova/Shutterstock Do live-born lizards have belly buttons, and do live-born reptiles have an umbilical cord? – Gaelle, aged 12, Bristol, UK What an interesting question! A belly button or tummy button is technically known as a navel or umbilicus. Humans have belly buttons because before we are born, weContinue Reading
Artist's impression of Starship cruising past the Moon. Space Exploration Technologies Corp./SpaceX Flickr, CC BY-SA It’s been an eventful year for space exploration, with successes including the completion of Nasa’s Artemis 1 mission (finally), the inauguration of the James Webb Space Telescope, and the completion of China’s Tiangong space station.Continue Reading
Rachael Blackmore is among the top jockeys in the UK PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo The bookmaker (nearly) always wins, as the adage goes. But if you want to tip the balance in your favour, look to female riders. Gamblers’ biases have created a situation where punters can makeContinue Reading
It takes a lot of self control not to peek Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock When asked if they peeked at a toy, 40% of children falsely confessed to peeking, even though they did not do so, in a recent study of lying in toddlers. When so many children made up falsehoods with noContinue Reading
SUKJAI PHOTO/Shutterstock Why doesn’t the rainbow have colours like black, brown and grey in it? – Ivy, aged four, Kent, UK Many of us have seen rainbows in the sky once the sun starts shining again after a spell of rain. For us to see a rainbow, the conditions needContinue Reading
Can this dragonfly feel pain? Stefan Csontos/Shutterstock At least a trillion insects are killed annually for food and animal feed. Routine slaughter methods include extreme heat and cold, often preceded by starvation. By comparison, “only” around 79 billion mammals and bird livestock are slaughtered every year. Scholars have long recognisedContinue Reading
