More and more scientists are communicating via social media to find, publicise and discuss current research. This trend has been highlighted in two recent papers that look at the influence of social media…
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David Cameron arrived at the G8 saying the usual things about world leaders recognising the needs of low income countries. But developing countries should not hold their breath waiting for real action…
On March 25th 1968 a relatively unknown French medical journal l’Ouest Medical published a remarkable paper based on observations of 127 children with mothers who drank heavily. Paul Lemoine, a paediatrician…
When it comes to the thorny issue of Islamisation in Turkey, most external commentators focus on whether Turkey is becoming more Islamic in its governance, and what this would mean for Western interests…
Foundation essay: This article on the different international attitudes to fracking by Professor John Paterson, Chair in Law at Aberdeen University, is part of a series marking the launch of The Conversation…
So what’s so special about this lot? Who decides which countries get to be in the gang? Can you get kicked out? How does it stack up against the G20? If spies were to listen in, would they hear anything…
Researchers have found that dishwashers are particularly conducive to the growth and spread of disease-causing fungi. These fungi have been implicated in causing lung diseases and sometimes fatal infections…
While few would now argue against the importance of a diverse judiciary, do women judges, or judges from minority backgrounds, change the actual substance of judicial decision-making? In other words, do…
Trade is one of the big buzzwords at this G8 summit. Along with tax and transparency, it makes up the “three T” priorities for the UK’s presidency of the group. But it is not at all clear whether multilateral…
With the UK and France free of their EU obligations to refrain from providing lethal assistance to the rebels and the US now deciding that the time has come strategically and politically to do so, all…
It seems somewhat eccentric if not a little absurd to suggest that a planet is a living thing. Earth has life on it, but it’s not a biological organism. Any theory or argument which concludes that the…
Data on hospital performance often shows a wide variation and this poses the question of whether it should be available to the public or kept confidential. The government wants more transparency and announced…
Japanese PM Shinzō Abe has a problem, and he might end up killing an awful lot of frogs to solve it. Shares are up in Japan, but everything else has flatlined: kick-starting the stubbornly moribund economy…
President Obama’s confirmation that the United States would begin arming Syrian rebels has prompted an urgent debate about both the legality and the effectiveness of the decision. The announcement, ahead…
Accusations of scientific bias are the new catch-all weapon for anti-science commentators and climate deniers. Why are they effective? New research shows they may exploit part of our psychology. Climate…
As many as 500 brain scans are performed in Scotland every week. These scans are mostly used to diagnose - or rule out - serious diseases like strokes and tumours, but this is not their only function…
President Obama had always insisted that any use of chemical weapons by the regime of Bashar al-Assad would be a “red line” which should not be crossed. The rhetoric emanating from the White House implied…
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 scandal brewing around Conservative MP Tim Yeo, who stood down from the government’s climate committee amid lobbying claims this week, certainly raises questions about the relationship between energy…
Millions of women in the US will have access to affordable genetic screening for cancer after the US Supreme Court ruled that a commercial company cannot patent human genes. The screening tests for mutations…
World leaders head to Northern Ireland for the annual G8 summit, pursued by the usual claims that such meetings are “ineffectual”. Are the critics right? Are these summits nothing more than hot air? It…
When I took the UK citizenship test in 2009, I got the number of MPs in the House of Commons wrong, not because I didn’t know the answer, but because the Home Office didn’t. Preparing for the test was…
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…
I pitched my idea for a LEGO Minifigure Catalog to both Lego and its preferred publisher several times. They were not interested, so I published it myself with some success. When looking at all those faces…
While protesters were asleep, police stormed Istanbul’s Gezi Park using tear gas and water cannons. They set fire to the encampments. And yet pictures of bloodied protesters, or those blinded by plastic…