Kids know… PathomP Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the year 2020 has been dominated by data. But with great amounts of data comes great responsibility to communicate it properly. Unfortunately, the accurate and clear communication of complex information has been an area where many have fallen short this year. TheContinue Reading
The brain is a mystery. Orla/Shutterstock How much are you conscious of right now? Are you conscious of just the words in the centre of your visual field or all the words surrounding it? We tend to assume that our visual consciousness gives us a rich and detailed picture ofContinue Reading
Private company SpaceX launched SN8, a prototype of its Starship spacecraft, designed to go to the Moon and Mars, on December 10. Its short flight attracted a great deal of attention for it’s final few seconds before landing – when it exploded. But consider the near perfect totality of itsContinue Reading
Tube sponge (Porifera). kaschibo/Shutterstock The theory of evolution shows that all of life stems from a single root and that we are related, more or less distantly, to every other living thing on Earth. Our closest ancestors, as Charles Darwin recognised, are to be found among the great apes. ButContinue Reading
Daydreaming in lockdown? Keep it future focussed. fizkes/Shutterstock The COVID-19 pandemic has created a tough year for people across the globe, with billions facing at least one lockdown. And it’s not over – there may be further lockdowns needed in the new year. Luckily, researchers have been busy studying whatContinue Reading
Test pilot Chuck Yeager in the cockpit of the Bell X-1, in which he became the first recorded pilot to break the sound barrier – although others had likely died trying. Jack Ridley/USAF Charles “Chuck” Yeager, who has died aged 97, epitomised the movie test pilot of the 1940s andContinue Reading
The only six sites on the farside of the Moon suitable for telescope arrays of around 200km across. NASA When it comes to the Moon, everyone wants the same things. Not in the sense of having shared goals, but in the sense that all players target the same strategic sitesContinue Reading
Refugee holding a mobile phone at a refugee accommodation centre in in Berlin, Germany, 2016 EPA/Kay Nietfield New technologies deployed on borders for migration management and border security under the umbrella of smart border solutions are ignoring the fundamental human rights of migrants. Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones, for example) areContinue Reading
We could edit our genes to make us more resistance to viruses. Natali_ Mis/Shutterstock Hollywood blockbusters such as X-men, Gattaca and Jurassic World have explored the intriguing concept of “germline genome editing” – a biomolecular technique that can alter the DNA of sperm, eggs or embryos. If you remove aContinue Reading
Large radio telescope dish in Arecibo national observatory. Shutterstock/photospirit Astronomers are mourning the loss of the world’s second largest radio telescope in Puerto Rico. The US National Science Foundation said the Arecibo telescope’s 900-tonne instrument platform fell onto a reflector dish some 450ft (137 metres) below – just weeks afterContinue Reading
