Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock The world-altering coronavirus behind the COVID-19 pandemic is thought to be just 60 nanometres to 120 nanometres in size. This is so mind bogglingly small that you could fit more than 400 of these virus particles into the width of a single hair on your head. In fact,Continue Reading
Keeping vaccines stable. Shutterstock/Rohane Hamilton Amid unpredictable outbreaks, and fears of a second wave, the hunt is on for a vaccine against COVID-19. The reason for this is simple: vaccines work. They save lives and economies. For example, there were 11.6 million smallpox cases reported between 1920 and 1978, andContinue Reading
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is likely to survive a suspected poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok, according to the hospital treating him. There have now been at least six known cases of serious Novichok poisoning in the past two years. But only one victim tragically died from it. WhyContinue Reading
Videoflow/Shutterstock The advent of mass working from home has made many people more aware of the security risks of sending sensitive information via the internet. The best we can do at the moment is make it difficult to intercept and hack your messages – but we can’t make it impossible.Continue Reading
The demand for cheaper, greener electricity means that the energy landscape is changing faster than at any other point in history. This is particularly true of solar-powered electricity and battery storage. The cost of both has dropped at unprecedented rates over the past decade and energy efficient technologies such asContinue Reading
Artist impression of merging black holes. Mark Myers, ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) One of the greatest things about being an astrophysicist is that you keep discovering things you didn’t think were possible. Now the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo Observatory have discovered theirContinue Reading
Vergani Fotografia/Shutterstock There’s a good chance that you when you leave the house today you’ll put on a face mask that obscures your mouth. Such coverings can affect our ability to communicate and provides a particular challenge to those that need to see lips to understand speech. But what ofContinue Reading
John Tyndall. wellcome/wikipedia, CC BY-SA It is surprising that the Irish scientist John Tyndall, born 200 years ago on August 2 1820, is not better known. This is despite the existence of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, the Tyndall National Institute and the Pic Tyndall summit on theContinue Reading
Current solar technologies aren't good enough. Antonio Garcia on Unsplash, FAL The demand for cheaper, greener electricity means that the energy landscape is changing faster than at any other point in history. This is particularly true of solar-powered electricity and battery storage. The cost of both has dropped at unprecedentedContinue Reading
Pearl PhotoPix/Shutterstock The “infodemic” of misinformation about coronavirus has made it difficult to distinguish accurate information from false and misleading advice. The major technology companies have responded to this challenge by taking the unprecedented move of working together to combat misinformation about COVID-19. Part of this initiative involves promoting contentContinue Reading
