Have you ever watched a duck sleep and wondered how it keeps one eye open? Ducks, like many other birds, sleep with one half of the brain awake while the other half sleeps. This is called “unihemispheric sleep” and allows the animal to monitor the environment for predators while gettingContinue Reading
Climate change is already killing people, but countries don’t have an easy way to count those deaths. A new project might change that.Continue Reading
Virtual character may soon be smarter than us. Michelangelus/Shutterstock Most research into the ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) concerns its use for weaponry, transport or profiling. Although the dangers presented by an autonomous, racist tank cannot be understated, there is another aspect to all this. What about our responsibilities toContinue Reading
mycteria/Shutterstock In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that almost half the world’s population was at risk of malaria, while some 627,000 people died from the disease. Although a malaria vaccine may soon be available (the WHO recommended one for children last year), malaria is just one of severalContinue Reading
The locations of 115 candidate free floating planets in the region between Upper Scorpius and Ophiuchus European Southern Observatory, CC BY-SA We now know of almost 5,000 planets outside the Solar System. If you were to picture what it would be like on one of these distant worlds, or exoplanets,Continue Reading
The Matrix is among the most influential science fiction films of all time. Nearly 20 years since the third film in the series premiered, a fourth chapter, The Matrix Resurrections, was released in December to great excitement. But one of The Matrix’s most enduring cultural contributions has been to conspiracyContinue Reading
Hoteliers in Bristol have made a fresh plea to the Government to extend the current reduced rate of VAT for their businesses, which face a bleak start to 2022. Most members of the Bristol Hoteliers Association (BHA) suffered a difficult end to 2021 with many reporting business was at leastContinue Reading
wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock In an episode of the popular TV series Black Mirror called Crocodile, an investigator asks a witness to smell a bottle of beer. The aim is to refresh her memory of a crime scene (the crime took place near a brewery). This might not exactly be standard practice, butContinue Reading
Could it happen? Triff/Shutterstock Don’t look now – but we are currently experiencing a rash of stories about a forthcoming global catastrophe. But in a change from reports of pandemics and climate change, this global catastrophe is produced by the impact of a giant asteroid. Or comet. Or both. ThisContinue Reading
Vadim Sadovski/Shutterstock Commercial spaceflight companies such as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are now offering exclusive opportunities for celebrities and civilians to travel to space. Traditionally, astronauts have been subject to rigorous training and medical scrutiny before going to space, and the risk of death from natural causes was consideredContinue Reading
