After many years of research, we still do not completely understand the brains of even the simplest organisms. The human brain with its 80 billion neurons is largely a mystery. But with better tools we…
If they go after your computers, it could get worse than that.
Alexandrre Claude
The theft of intellectual property (IP) online is a serious matter. A 2011 report by the UK Cabinet Office estimates the value of lost IP to the UK economy at about £21 billion. Until recently the debate…
Scientists are using Twitter to charge up their impact.
nicolasjon
Social media is no longer a new thing. But to scientists it still might be. There are few who are starting to take advantage of social media for professional reasons. What can other scientists learn from…
The most recent bridge collapse in Washington was due to an oversize truck collision.
EPA/Dan Levine
Bridge collapses are often tragic, but are also fascinating for bridge engineers as they usually provide puzzles to solve and often lead to major changes in design, construction and management. Complete…
How much do we really spend on research and development, and how does it vary internationally? To provide some context for this science funding debate, the Scienceogram team has broken down spending across…
Scientists take to the streets, optimistically.
PA
The UK government’s spending review is coming up and scientists are worried. They fear that there may be cuts to science funding, which they were able to just about avoid in 2010 after a strong campaign…
Public money can put on a show about the Industrial Revolution, but it can’t start one.
Jon Smith
There are times when only clichés work. There is a 400-year-old elephant in the science lab and the emperor, frankly, has no clothes. It was in 1605 that Francis Bacon, a British politician and lawyer…
The key to becoming the dominant species on the planet.
Gabriel-Alexandre Decamps
In Kubrick’s masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, a group of our ape-like ancestors encounter a towering black rectangle somewhere in an African desert. Something in them changes. A seed is sown. Everything…
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
During the autumn of 1944, the US Air Corps forecasting team made a series of perfect predictions about weather patterns over the Pacific Ocean. Or so it seemed according to reports from aircrafts flying…
After many months of rumours, speculation and discussion on the next offering of Microsoft’s gaming console, details of the new Xbox have finally been revealed. Christened Xbox One, it is to be their third…
Hopefully this will remain a rare sight.
Edgaras Zvirblys
There was chaos on the streets of Halajba in March 1988. In this corner of Iraq, at the time Iraqi Kurdistan, people had suddenly started experiencing cold-like symptoms – tight chest and nasal congestion…
Leading biologists argue the world must embrace GM plants.
Will de Freitas
Today’s wars are not about food, but not too far in the future they could be. The number of people dying of starvation has been falling for decades, but the decline in the numbers of hungry people is slowing…
You’ve got a message. Hackers knew that before you.
Akshat Rathi
There are now more mobile devices than people on our planet. The amount of personal data we share through mobile devices is also increasing. So it is not surprising that cyber-criminals want a piece of…
The drugs don’t work. But a swifter way of identifying bacteria could reduce the need for antibiotics.
AAP
Researchers have taken the first step towards designing a rapid way of identifying harmful bacteria in infections, demonstrating the potential for faster patient treatment and decreased reliance on antibiotics…
Be ready for a one-way trip. Deadly fungus lies ahead.
Paxson Woelber
A deadly fungal infection has been spreading across western North America. The number of human and animal cases has grown rapidly in recent years, to the extent that government agencies in US and Canada…
Not so super now. The end may be nigh for Staphylococcus aureus.
Wikipedia
Antibiotics have probably saved more lives than any other form of medication. Prior to their development, things that we now consider trivial, such as a prick from a rose bush or a sore throat, could easily…
Worrying about ageing is a waste of your time.
Faith K Lefever
I want to live longer and help others do the same. I assumed the most effective way to do that is by understanding the science of ageing and then engineering solutions to extend human lifespan. That is…
In our lab we have a phone that rings several times a day. The conversation is always the same. A man from somewhere in the UK is desperate to know the answer to one question: “Am I a Viking?” An answer…