Normally we don’t think of cancer as an infectious disease – but what if we told you there is a contagious cancer, thousands of years old? This cancer is not, however, caused by transmission of a virus. These are cancer cells that can be physically passed on between dogs. InContinue Reading
Shutterstock Reindeer are loved the world over for their dark, expressive eyes, majestic antlers and magical association with Santa Claus. The moment you learn the cold, hard truth of how Christmas presents arrive under the tree is a harrowing one that blights many a childhood. But reindeer are more specialContinue Reading
Press conference for the announcement of the Higgs boson discovery. Cern Ten years ago, scientists announced the discovery of the Higgs boson, which helps explain why elementary particles (the smallest building blocks of nature) have mass. For particle physicists, this was the end of a decades-long and hugely difficult journeyContinue Reading
There’s huge potential to generate renewable energy far out in the ocean. But designing turbines that can survive rough waters isn’t exactly a breeze.Continue Reading
China dominates the global supply chain for lithium-ion batteries. Now rival countries are scrambling for more control over “white oil.”Continue Reading
Sometimes the body moves, but not the mind. fizkes/Shutterstock If you have moved from one country to another, you may have left something behind – be it a relationship, a home, a feeling of safety or a sense of belonging. Because of this, you will continually reconstruct mental simulations ofContinue Reading
Even anger serves a purpose. TeodorLazarev/Shutterstock As psychiatry, which uses medical and biological methods to treat mental disorders, has largely overtaken psychotherapy, which relies on non-biological approaches such as conversation and counselling, psychotherapists have sought alternative challenges. One common approach is to focus on enhancing the happiness of mentally healthyContinue Reading
From acoustic tweezers to holograms, engineers are taking inspiration from the field of optics—and riding the sound wave.Continue Reading
Maths can describe how we update our views to make a decision based on the information available. Triff/Shutterstock Understanding the human mind and behaviour lies at the core of the discipline of psychology. But to characterise how people’s behaviour changes over time, I believe psychology alone is insufficient – andContinue Reading
Yaroslav Vitkovskiy/Shutterstock What is cosmic microwave background radiation? Did it happen after the Big Bang? – Sreehari, aged nine, Kerala State, India The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB for short), is light: the oldest and most distant light that we can see in the entire universe. It comes from soon afterContinue Reading
