Ashwellthorpe Lower Wood in Norfolk, England has been managed by coppicing, an ancient form of forestry, for more than a thousand years. It was recorded as coppiced woodland in the Domesday Book published…
Even with water temperatures down to -20°C, Deep Lake is home to a surprising amount of life (and not just our research camp).
Rick Cavicchioli
Imagine a lake so salty its water exists in a liquid state at -20 °C – then picture something thriving in that seemingly lethal environment. Such an organism exists; several of them, in fact. In a paper…
You get hauled out of bed in the morning not just because of an alarm clock. We are genetically encoded with a 24-hour (circadian) body clock that allows us to live in harmony with our environment. But…
Sex in mammals, including mouse and human, is determined genetically and depends on the paternal sex chromosome - X or Y - received at the time of fertilisation. If nothing goes wrong, an XX individual…
Metal-resistant trout: first Cornish rivers, then the world.
Philthy54
Contaminated during the surrounding area’s history of mining, the River Hayle in Cornwall contains metals including copper, zinc, nickel and cadmium at levels that can kill brown trout, a particularly…
The display of a frozen mammoth in Japan has again raised questions as to the possibility of creating a live born clone of extinct animals. Theoretically, mammoths could be cloned by recovering, reconstructing…
What matters more when it comes to intelligence: nature or nurture?
Brain image from www.shutterstock.com
A news report recently informed readers that the reason children from poorer backgrounds struggle is due to genetic “inherited abilities”. According to the article, a new Productivity Commission report…
RNA is similar to DNA in lots of ways. But an extra oxygen atom makes all the difference.
Image from shutterstock.com
Our genetic material is encoded in DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). DNA is famous. But you may also have also heard of RNA (ribonucleic acid). So, what is RNA, and what is it good for? Quite a lot really…
Three metres of DNA is looped and folded so it fits into a tiny human cell nucleus, but what other effects does this have?
dullhunk
When scientists first decided to sequence the human genome, it seemed an impossibly large and complicated challenge. A decade since achieving this aim, scientists are faced with a similarly overwhelming…
At least I’m not French … oh, wait.
Mark Richards/PA
The front-page of The Times carried a story today that William could be “Britain’s first king to have proven Indian ancestry”. The story continues inside, along with an advert for the personal DNA testing…
The Times claimed today that Prince William has Indian ancestors.
Vincent Lyon-Dalberg-Acton
An ancestor of Prince William’s from the 19th century was half Indian, according to The Times. This claim is based on analysis of his distant cousins’ DNA. We have such technology today, but how comfortable…
The genetic mutation causes hearing to deteriorate in the late teens or early twenties and get progressively worse with age.
Image from shutterstock.com
Australian researchers have uncovered the mechanism by which a rare genetic mutation causes premature deafness in people in their early twenties, paving the way for early detection for this type of hearing…
The humble fruit fly: teaching us more about melanoma skin cancer.
Flickr/John Tann
Melanomas may be less common than other skin cancers but their ability to become malignant and spread to other parts of the body makes them some of the deadliest if not caught early. More than 10,000 people…
Mice have revealed many of biology’s secrets.
Stuart Read/APN
Our series, Animals in Research, profiles the top organisms used for science experimentation. Here, we look at a species familiar to most: Mus musculus, or the mouse. Mice have been close companions of…
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…
Children are getting their (mis)information about some scientific concepts from mass media sources.
Genetics image from www.shutterstock.com
“DNA is your blood in you, we can use DNA as evidence if someone’s been stabbed. We can run tests in suspects.” (Girl, 12, central Queensland) “DNA has to do with blood types and fingerprints, it helps…
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford