Science (Page 226)

Fruit bats are the main animal host of the nipah virus BTS-BotrosTravelSolutions / Pixabay The severe and devastating consequences of the coronavirus pandemic were undoubtedly made worse by a substantial lack of pandemic preparedness, with the exception of East and South East Asia, which had built up defences after theirContinue Reading

Flick through a news feed on your phone and you are likely to scroll across an article discussing the heated rivalries of the new space race. Forget the geopolitical struggles of a cold war. This time, it’s Tesla CEO Elon Musk versus Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: the two richest menContinue Reading

RossHelen/Shutterstock As any local solicitor can tell you, some of the most bitter legal disputes originate from disagreements between neighbours. Whether it’s property boundaries, loud music or parking spaces, what might initially be minor irritations can gradually lead to a full-blown court battle. A relatively recent development in neighbour conflictsContinue Reading

Jorge Gonzalez Were dinosaurs unfeeling scaly brutes or caring, well behaved and intelligent? This debate has continued since dinosaurs were first discovered 200 years ago, and has spilled over into the movies and popular consciousness. In seeking to answer questions like this, palaeontologists generally look at the nearest living relatives,Continue Reading

insta_photos/Shutterstock Picture this: it’s April 2020, you’re between Zoom meetings, and scrolling through your social media newsfeed. Headlines like “Death toll continues to rise”, “COVID-19 may cause long-term health implications” and “Health-care systems overwhelmed” flash across your screen. Your mood takes a dive, but you can’t stop scrolling. If thisContinue Reading

Glenn Carstens-Peters/Unsplash In the wake of the tragic death of the member of parliament for Southend West, David Amess, fellow MPs have been talking about how to best protect both politicians and the public from abuse and harm. This has included a strong focus on enacting laws designed to haltContinue Reading

There's more going on in the universe than we know. Zolt Levay/Flickr, CC BY-SA The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) sparked worldwide excitement in March as particle physicists reported tantalising evidence for new physics – potentially a new force of nature. Now, our new result, yet to be peer reviewed, fromContinue Reading

Irina Polonina/Shutterstock Although babies and young children are at lower risk of getting very sick with COVID-19 compared to older adults, a small proportion of babies will require hospital care. There has been immense interest among scientists, health-care workers and new mothers especially in understanding whether potentially protective antibodies againstContinue Reading

Nasa / Unsplash, CC BY-NC As space travel for recreational purposes is becoming a very real possibility, there could come a time when we are travelling to other planets for holidays, or perhaps even to live. Commercial space company Blue Origin has already started sending paying customers on sub-orbital flights.Continue Reading