CATEGORIES
Migratory Birds Can Benefit From Merging Coffee Plantations With Colombian Forests
Rather than clearing Colombian forests to make way for coffee plantations, merging the two could benefit migratory birds.
Digital Vs Analogue
How tech has transformed the creative process
The Sharpest Tools
Tool use is not restricted to humans and is found throughout nature. Here are some of earth’s most innovative animals
Pioneering Gel Could Mend Damage After Heart Attack
World-first trial shows promise for pioneering treatment following heart attacks
Why Tummy Noises May Indicate Health Problems
Listen carefully, the gurgles of a grumbling belly could be a cry for help.
What Would Alien Life Actually Look Like?
As we discover ever more planets orbiting other stars, and plan missions to potentially habitable moons of Saturn and Jupiter, will we find life – and if we do, will we even recognise it?
Sniffing Out Disease
In just a few years, we could all be carrying a device in our pocket that detects the aroma of diseases like malaria or cancer before we even realise we’re ill.
How We Can Save The Oceans And How They Can Save Us
Seven-tenths of the world is covered by the oceans. They put food on our plates, provide up to 85 per cent of the oxygen we breathe and regulate the climate. But human activity is putting that at risk. On 25 September, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change presented a report on the oceans that made dire reading. It said that even if greenhouse gas emissions declined sharply and global warming was limited to less than 2°C, sea levels could still rise by 30 to 60cm by 2100. Plus, we’re emptying the oceans of animals, having passed the point of ‘peak fish’ in 1992 when total global catch began a relentless decline. A third of marine mammals are at risk of extinction. Our carbon emissions have made the oceans 300 per cent more acidic since pre-industrial times, threatening aquatic life in many ways. But many people are working to turn things round. “There are lots of solutions out there,” says conservation scientist Dr Heather Koldewey, from the Zoological Society of London. “It is quite extraordinary, the power of good in the world.”
Angels Of The Forest
Madagascar’s mountain forests are haunted by one of the world’s rarest and most beautiful primates, the snow-white silky sifaka.
The Transport Revolution
From hyper-fast trains to flying taxis, we look at the vehicles that are set to transform how we get around
The Hunt For Planet 9
Beyond Neptune, a handful of small worlds are moving in harmony. Astronomers think they might be dancing to the tune of a third world lurking in the darkness, one that’s four times bigger than Earth and significant enough to be named our Solar System’s ninth planet. Now they think they know exactly where to look for it…
Building For The Future
As overpopulation and climate change take their toll on our cities, engineers and urban planners are adapting their designs to cope with an uncertain future
How Britain Saved Einstein
Exiled, homeless and on the run from Nazi assassins, 1933 was a grim year for Albert Einstein. Yet not all was lost, writes Andrew Robinson, as the famous physicist discovered during his visits to Britain
Salt Of The Earth
Salt has a life far beyond the dinner table. From land speed records to ancient lakes, this mineral is intimately tied to our lives and our land
Stranger Than Fiction
A mammal that lays eggs and secretes venom, the peculiar platypus has been fascinating scientists since the 19th century but faces an uncertain future.
Ice Bears
When the temperatures plunge in Canada’s Yukon so do the grizzlies – into the Fishing Branch River to catch salmon.
Technicolour Dinosaurs
New discoveries of dinosaurs’ colours and patterns are revealing how these ancient beasts lived
When Great Minds Thought Alike
Far from working in isolation, artists and scientists have drawn inspiration from one another for 250 years – as Tilly Blyth, curator of a new Science Museum exhibition, tells Ellie Cawthorne
How To Help Dementia Patients!
By 2025, the number of people living with dementia in the UK is expected to exceed one million. What can be done to help them? New research shows that having a job and getting involved in creative projects could be the answer…
Science Of Tidiness
Should you bust out the duster, or have a cuppa instead? Behavioural scientist kathleen vohs tells us about the science of tidiness
Is Addiction On The Rise?
Video games, tv series and social media. It seems that many of us are hooked on something. But are things as bad as they appear?
Explaining Life With Physics
In the demon in the machine, Physicist Paul Davies explores an emerging area of research that aims to merge Physics and Biology, to explain how life began
Britain's Next Native?
In September young little owls go in search of their own territory – but times are tough and populations are plummeting. Yet it’s a struggle to get this non-native species onto the conservation agenda in Britain. Matt Swaine meets the researchers trying to find a solution.
A Million ‘Pretty Boys'
When conditions are right, Australia’s wild budgerigar populations explode and form gigantic super-flocks – a far cry from a talking parakeet in a cage. Helen Pilcher investigates.
The Last Survivors
Steve Humphries has spent the last 25 years talking to people who lived through the first World War. Here, he describes his conversations with six members of an extraordinary generation
The Truth About Breakfast
My first talking tour of the UK has just finished, and one of the subjects that has come up a lot is breakfast.
Songs Of The Damned
Aleksander Kulisiewicz survived five years in a Nazi concentration camp, where he committed the music and lyrics of his fellow inmates to memory. As Mark Burman recounts, it was an act of defiance that allows us to glimpse a manmade hell
New Secrets Of The Supermassive Blackhole
Last month, scientists unveiled a photograph of a cosmic phenomenon that defies the laws of physics, making headlines worldwide. So how did they do it, and what does this landmark achievement actually teach us?
Look Up At Particle Detectors
Whether deep underground or perched on a volcano, particle detectors help scientists to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos
What We'll Eat In 2028
We’ve all heard that the future menu may involve less meat and dairy. But don’t worry, we could have customised diets, outlandish vegetables, robot chefs and guilt-free gorging to look forward to instead. And we reckon that makes up for missing out on the odd sausage.