Category Science

The billions of microbes that make up the rich menagerie of life on our planet can be traced back to a humble beginning over 3.5 billion years ago, when our…

Retrospective storytelling alone cannot be used to evidence research impact. And that is one core point underlined in the 2029 Research Excellence Framework (REF); in fact it highlights that impact…

In the realm of science fiction, the concept of mining asteroids is a classic trope. The idea of humans prospecting for precious metals and other resources on low-gravity rocks floating…

Amongst the hype of settling the moon, building out spaceports, and using it as a base to launch humanity to Mars, there is an ongoing and vitally important effort to…

There are lots of visual illusions: an old woman who turns into a young girl, a drawing that’s either a duck or a rabbit depending on how you look at…

In 1957, a German pharmaceutical company introduced Thalidomide, a drug meant to combat anxiety and insomnia. It was widely believed — incorrectly — to be safe to take during pregnancy,…

Each time your fingers curl around an object, you are using a structure shaped over hundreds of millions of years. Human hands, like all vertebrate limbs, have a clear top…

In the evacuation zone in Fukushima, implemented after the nuclear accident in 2011, numerous animals have thrived in the absence of human activity. Even previously domesticated breeds have found a…

In 1871, a farmer dumped five cattle on a small, inhospitable island in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean. Against all odds, this tiny herd not only survived but…

Most components of the human body have been driven by natural selection to ensure our species’ survival — the chin, though, is not one of them. Chins are uniquely human,…