CATEGORIES

A Scientist's Guide To Life: How To Look After Your Teeth

Brush. Floss. Repeat. Brush. Floss. Repeat. This month, we ask dentist Hannah Woolnough how best to manage your dental health

Money: Does The Internet Need Ads?

Advertising was just one business model that people considered at the start. Google originally thought maybe 15% of their revenue was going to come from ads; most of their money was going to come from licensing their search engine to corporate clients. It’s funny; their search algorithm was the origin of programmatic ads.

Coronavirus: Can We Stop The Spread Of More Variants?

From South Africa to Brazil, Bristol and Liverpool, a string of worrying coronavirus strains has emerged. But why? And can we prevent more from developing?

Privacy: Can We Protect Future Generations?

In 1989, while tinkering with a system to share scientific notes, a 34-year-old CERN scientist named Tim Berners-Lee invented something that would change everything.

How Does Memory Work?

Some things seem to stick while others don’t – what’s happening?

On The Origin Of Us

Palaeoproteomics, a new technology that studies the proteins of ancient remains, is shaking up history. Not only can we now peer further back in time, but the technique is also letting us see our past in a new way…

Diners Enjoy World's First Restaurant Meal Made From Lab-Grown Meat

Singapore-based restaurant served up real chicken that didn’t require the slaughter of any animals, paving the way for new ideas about how we eat meat

It's A Slug's Game

Sea slugs sport some of nature’s most unreal adaptations, including solar-powered skin and disposable penises. Welcome to their weird world…

Endangered Elephants Tracked From Space By Artificial Intelligence

The world-first study opens the door to more effective methods of monitoring the movements of endangered species

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Cheese

When milk and microbes come together, there’s no doubt something wonderful happens. We asked a food scientist how a choreography of chemistry, biology and psychology make cheese the ultimate food

Why Is There A Hurricane Season?

What causes hurricanes?

Inside The World's First Airport For Drones And Flying Cars

Plans to build the world’s first off-grid transport hub for drones and air taxis have just received government funding in the UK. The Urban AirPort, located in Coventry, will offer flying electric vehicles a place to charge and load up. The project aims to lay the groundwork for a web of transport hubs that could provide a green, clean remedy to cities’ groaning infrastructure…

Has Our Behaviour Changed During The Course Of The Pandemic?

There’s no doubt that the introduction of new rules and regulations has had an impact on our actions over the past year. But what are the factors at play when it comes to getting the public to protect each other?

The Coronavirus Vaccine: Is It Safe?

Alongside wild conspiracy theories, many people have raised doubts over approved COVID-19 vaccines. Is their dose of scepticism well-founded?

Beat The Burnout

How science can help you get the better of pandemic fatigue

How To Sit

Stiff as a board, or slouched like a sloth? Pull up a chair and take the weight off your feet, as back pain researcher Dr Kieran O’Sullivan explains

The Psychology Of Resilience And How To Cultivate It

No matter what life throws at some people, they seem to roll with the punches and come through the other side stronger than ever. With 2020 being a time, for many, of bereavement, illness, job loss and insecurity, what can we learn from these resilient individuals, and how can we be more like them in 2021?

Stem Online Learning Resources

Online learning has taken off in recent years, with courses popping up on every subject imaginable. If you want a taster of what you might learn at university, here’s our guide to what’s available…

Turning The Red Planet Green

If humans are to stand a chance of successfully setting up a colony on Mars, we’re going to need to figure out a way of producing food on the planet

In Praise Of Caffeine

There’s more to a cup of coffee than just an early morning pick-me-up

Face Masks: Are They Changing How We Behave?

Wearing face masks could affect how we communicate

THE SEE-THROUGH ZOO

Welcome to a menagerie of transparency

NEW WORLD ORDER

In 1993, the internet was brought to the masses, changing the online world forever. Now, COVID-19 will transform our virtual lives again

MIT RESEARCHERS CREATE WEARABLE DEVICE THAT CAN INFLUENCE THE CONTENT OF DREAMS

The technology, created by biomedical engineers Adam Haar Horowitz and Tomás Vega, could be used for further experiments into how dreams impact emotion, creativity, and memory

HINDSIGHT IS 2020

It was an annus horribilis for almost everybody last year, but there were some bright spots. Here are 10 events it’d be lovely to leave behind for good, and 10 that might give us hope for the future…

Know Your Mind

Our brain uses shortcuts to think quickly but, sometimes, these mental timesavers let us down. Dr Pragya Agarwal discusses the science of cognitive biases, and why it’s more important than ever to understand how they hold sway over our views

An Ocean Of Mysteries

Earth’s biggest habitat is also the one that we know the least about. Now, a new wave of innovators are engineering the technology that will help us find out more. Here’s what they are discovering…

To The Ends Of The Earth

Scientists are going to extreme lengths to find out how climate change is affecting our planet

Of Pandemics, Paradoxes And Cognitive Dissonance: Covid-19

Living through this difficult time raises demanding questions about what – or who – the real problems are

Covid-19 Could Cause Delirium, Brain Inflammation And Stroke

A study carried out on a small number of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients at England’s National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery has linked the coronavirus to a number of neurological conditions